Where did you retire?

[Car-Guy]

Born, raised and worked in Houston "but" by the time I was in my 40's, I knew I didn't want to live there once I retired... There's a lot of reasons why, but crowds, taxes and crime were near the top of my list. I moved to the open countryside of central/east Texas. Population density in my entire county now is < 15 people per sq mile, but around me it's something like ~5. (maybe).... In place of the city sounds of sirens, traffic, aircraft and screaming neighbors, I now here cows and horses. I do hear more gun shots out here in the country, but for different reasons and I don't feel the need to run for cover when shots are fired. My property taxes here are about 10% of what I paid in the big city. The list of "why" goes on.... There are different issues to deal with living in the open country but well worth it, IMO.

 

[harllee]

I was born in NC and lived all my life in NC and Virginia. When I retired I moved to Chapel Hill, NC, home of the University of North Carolina where I had gone to school and taught during part of my career. It is a small town with a large University and an easy drive to larger cities and an airport. I love living in a college town, so much to do for retirees and excellent health care. Cost of living is low compared to most places. The only down side to me was hot summers so I bought a cabin in the NC mountains near Banner Elk so I have the best of all worlds.

 

[Gumby]

Retired in the same place we have been living since 1989. On the Connecticut shoreline. Are there cheaper places? Yes. Are there better places? No.

 

[Montecfo]

Have lived in Texas, Arizona and here in Northern VA (DC area) where we worked and retired in place. Not exactly LCOL but manageable given the benefits.

We will move when we find some place better, we look constantly.

 

[finnski1]

Retired in place in SW NH. We love our property and location and lifestyle and social network. Access to the ocean (albeit 2 hours) the mountains, Boston, Maine, VT etc.etc. We also sill love the snow and hopefully always will.
I hate the heat and would rather put on extra layers in the winter than suffer in the summer. Besides we can always snowbird if necessary.
We do get humidity for several days for a few of the summer months but nothing like many other places. The new mini split A/C unit is fantastic and quiet 9 acres of total privacy yet only 25 minutes to 2 hospitals, college activities, chain stores etc. is ideal to us.
Live literally a 5-10 minute walk from 3 clean lakes and ponds. One has no houses and the loons are nesting on it right now. Kayaked to them yesterday and watched them rotating an egg on the nest. No one around. This is our idea of bliss!

 

[mboley]

I've lived in SoCal my entire life and San Diego for 35 years, retired here, and Ill live here until I die. Its the greatest place on earth and even better in retirement IMO. Expensive but worth every penny.

 

[f35phixer]

SOMD, been here since Jan 1980. This is where friends and family are!!!! Love our house and location on Patuxent River. DW started the snowbird in 2019, i started last year and that is the plan on out. Will stay with dad or SIL/BIL in FLA.

 

[Car-Guy]

I've lived in SoCal my entire life and San Diego for 35 years, retired here, and Ill live here until I die. Its the greatest place on earth and even better in retirement IMO. Expensive but worth every penny.

Is Blacks Beach still open and as "interesting" as it was ~30+ years ago?

 

[mboley]

Is Blacks Beach still open and as "interesting" as it was ~30+ years ago?

LOL, I havent been there myself and you dont hear much about it anymore. FYI for everyone, Blacks Beach is unofficially a clothing optional beach below Torrey Pines golf course. If you watched the US Open recently, you saw it.

 

[Car-Guy]

LOL, I havent been there myself and you dont hear much about it anymore. FYI for everyone, Blacks Beach is unofficially a clothing optional beach below Torrey Pines golf course. If you watched the US Open recently, you saw it.

Well of course I was talking about the beautiful golf course... Not the cliffs that overlook the clothing optional beach. But for those that are interested in seeing the beach from above, bring a telescope or good zoom lens for your camera... The dang cliffs are pretty high so don't fall off.

 

[RAE]

Where in FL?

Crystal River area, which is in west-central Florida.

 

[Souschef]

I moved to the best kept secret in SoCal, Ventura County. Before we met, DW had found a home in a +55 park, and when we married, I moved there from the San Fernando Valley.
The temperatures are much cooler, and the topsoil is great, compared the adobe in the Valley.

 

[RAE]

Live literally a 5-10 minute walk from 3 clean lakes and ponds. One has no houses and the loons are nesting on it right now. Kayaked to them yesterday and watched them rotating an egg on the nest. No one around. This is our idea of bliss!

yeah, we have a similar situation here in N. Michigan where we spend 7 months of the year. Dozens of lakes nearby (most uncrowded, except for the larger ones on the weekends), nesting loons, nesting bald eagles, etc.. National Forest just down the road that is 1 million acres in size. Very little traffic in our small town. We have a big old house with a double lot, so I have room for my big vegetable garden and fruit trees and shrubs. We even have a close friend not far away who owns 500 acres and all the shoreline around a 90-acre lake. We're welcome to go out there just about anytime we want, and we go fairly often (he lives in Europe most of the year). I could never duplicate all of these things at a new location, so we plan to stay here for the duration. Winters are just too long, though, which is why we head south for the winter now.

 

[Starsky]

We lived in the San Diego area and chose to retire there. My wife and I were born and raised in So Cal. and it's hard to leave such a vacation destination.

As far as bang for the buck, one nice place that is still relatively inexpensive is North Carolina - Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte and Asheville seem very hospitable and reasonable. Asheville is quite unique. It even has a nice coast - but the weather there can be terrible during hurricane season.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

I've lived in SoCal my entire life and San Diego for 35 years, retired here, and Ill live here until I die. Its the greatest place on earth and even better in retirement IMO. Expensive but worth every penny.

FatFIRE?

 

[W2R]

After planning a move to another state, we ended retiring right where we were (New Orleans).

We are happy here and plan to stay, barring the unforeseen. He's a New Orleans native and I have lived here for a quarter century by now, longer than anywhere else.

While still working, moving sounded so appealing. But once we retired, we realized that we were perfectly happy without moving and could save time, effort, and money by staying here.

Where were you going to move? NO is also LCOL.

We wanted to move to Springfield, Missouri. We liked how low key and peaceful it seems in that out-of-the-way Ozarks town. People seemed so friendly and civilized, and seem to share our old-time American values. Our dream of that town was sort of similar to Mayberry RFD, although in reality it is probably not like that. But that's what we were thinking at the time and that appeals to us. Also there are no hurricanes there and there appears to be less violent crime there, than in New Orleans.

While New Orleans is not expensive, we loved that Springfield is even less expensive, especially for housing. However, now we both have paid off homes so the cost of housing no longer seems like such a burden. Also, moving is expensive too, and we didn't have to pay for a move.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

We had plans to retire to a small town in Ohio near Hocking Hills state park, but decided to stay in our house in suburban Detroit.

Great.

 

[finnski1]

yeah, we have a similar situation here in N. Michigan where we spend 7 months of the year. Dozens of lakes nearby (most uncrowded, except for the larger ones on the weekends), nesting loons, nesting bald eagles, etc.. National Forest just down the road that is 1 million acres in size. Very little traffic in our small town. We have a big old house with a double lot, so I have room for my big vegetable garden and fruit trees and shrubs. We even have a close friend not far away who owns 500 acres and all the shoreline around a 90-acre lake. We're welcome to go out there just about anytime we want, and we go fairly often (he lives in Europe most of the year). I could never duplicate all of these things at a new location, so we plan to stay here for the duration. Winters are just too long, though, which is why we head south for the winter now.

Sounds almost perfect to me. However I do like being only 2 hours from the ocean and 2 hours from some 5 and 6000 foot mountains as I am an avid hiker. Oh and the VT and NH foliage is great too.
There are a lot of Michigan area snow birds at BIL's condo in Bonita Springs FL

 

[Scuba]

We wanted to move to Springfield, Missouri. We liked how low key and peaceful it seems in that out-of-the-way Ozarks town. People seemed so friendly and civilized, and seem to share our old-time American values. Our dream of that town was sort of similar to Mayberry RFD, although in reality it is probably not like that. But that's what we were thinking at the time and that appeals to us. Also there are no hurricanes there and there appears to be less violent crime there, than in New Orleans.

While New Orleans is not expensive, we loved that Springfield is even less expensive, especially for housing. However, now we both have paid off homes so the cost of housing no longer seems like such a burden. Also, moving is expensive too, and we didn't have to pay for a move.

Not to mention I imagine the food in NOLA is far superior!

 

[Alan]

When we retired in 2010 we moved immediately to The Woodlands, Texas, from Louisiana. We had lived there for a few years while working and got to like it very much.

In January 2017 we sold up and moved to England to the small town where both of our children had been born.

 

[mboley]

FatFIRE?

FatFIRE? Im new here, can someone fill me in on some of the lingo? Also clarification on DW and DH, I assume DaWife and DaHusband, speaking like a Bears fan?

 

[braumeister]

Look here:
Early Retirement FAQs/

 

[W2R]

Not to mention I imagine the food in NOLA is far superior!

That's for sure!

 

[RetiredHappy]

We could have stayed put in Northern CA when we retired but my husband really wanted to leave CA. We retired in 2016 and moved to Henderson NV. We belong to a country club here, golf 4 to 5 days a week and travel for 3 to 4 months a year. Our expenses have certainly not gone down in retirement but we love where we now live.

 

[rk911]

“Where did you retire?”...

the next day we took off on a 12-week RV trip through the upper midwest. we’re in the same home pre-FIRE as post-FIRE.