Missouri Good Place To Retire?

[Jimmie]

Getting close to FIRE, still 3 years away though. DW is from MO and has 2 brothers that still live there (and both will retire there). She's being quite vocal about her desire to move back to MO, near her bros. As you can imagine, it's generating discussions.

We are going to take our vacations for next couple years to possible retirement places to help us make up our mind before FIRE. My goals are to retire on a lake/river, with decent fishing & about 5 acres, and near a decent-sized city. Also needs to have ample walking trails.

I've seen the list of "best places to retire" and MO is in middle of the pack for the most part. Any opinions/comments are highly appreciated.

 

[REWahoo]

She's being quite vocal about her desire to move back to MO, near her bros.
....
I've seen the list of "best places to retire" and MO is in middle of the pack for the most part. Any opinions/comments are highly appreciated.

Based on the first sentence I quoted above, I don't think it matters how good/bad MO is as a retirement location. Hope you enjoy living in the show me state!

 

[haha]

My goals are to retire on a lake/river, with decent fishing & about 5 acres, and near a decent-sized city. Also needs to have ample walking trails.

I think it is often a good idea to avoid living on a river. Lake great, ocean in non-hurricane area great, river anywhere, not so great.

Ha

 

[Chuckanut]

My former nieghbor's father lives in Missouri. For the price of a dinky, fixer upper, efficiency condo in my area he has a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath home on an acre of land in Missouri.

Yea.... Sounds good to me.

By the way another great place to retire is Arkansas. My friends from Arkansas call it 'The forgotten state' and hope it stays that way.

 

[Red Badger]

Happy wife = happy life.

I spent a few months (in weekly buckets) doing project work in the St. Louis burbs. You could certainly do worse. Lake of the Ozarks is noteworthy for recreation.

Good luck!

 

[MRG]

Based on the first sentence I quoted above, I don't think it matters how good/bad MO is as a retirement location. Hope you enjoy living in the show me state! [emoji23]

Haha yep.

We spent 38 years around KC. nice city with very nice people. Low COL. There's a lot of ground water and plenty of fishing. Plenty of ponds, lakes and rivers, trails too. The Ozarks is a pretty good retirement location, at least many of my former co-w*rkers think so.

You should be aware of the weather. It gets hot and humid in the summer, semi frequent ice storms in the winter. Some times very cold. I recall -22°F temperature(not windchill) in KC. Obviously there's tornados and T-storms too.

 

[W2R]

After Katrina, we wanted to move out of New Orleans (for obvious reasons). After an exhaustive internet search, followed by multiple vacations in our top three choices, we decided to move to Springfield, Missouri. For us, it seemed like a great retirement destination. Others here warned us about the conservative, religious environment there but that was not an issue for us. There is a lot of fishing and hiking that can be done in that beautiful part of the country, and it is quiet and beautiful and matched all of the many requirements we had on our list.

We couldn't move right away since we had to finish up here and retire, and then we had to get our houses on the market. By the time we did all of that, it was 2011 and New Orleans was improving (either that, or we got used to it). Anyway, we decided to stay here. But we think that southern Missouri is a wonderful area and worth looking at for retirement. However it is not everyone's cup of tea, so I would recommend several extended vacations there first.

 

[athena53]

I'm also in the KC area on the MO side. Just got in from shoveling my driveway, but missed church because the only road out of my neighborhood is an uphill that still hasn't been plowed and after I started to slide, I carefully backed down and went home! As MRG said, definitely not a place with optimal weather.

Overall, I'm very happy here- moved from NJ 15 years ago, which would have been unaffordable in retirement. I have a lovely house on a lake; unfortunately, the HOA owns the lake and we're having serious problems with leakage in the earthen dam that formed the lake years ago, so be careful about actually OWNING a lake. It can be expensive. Housing and utilities definitely cheaper here than the East coast; food and gas about the same. It's less crowded although I get impatient now going through Overland Park, KS, where I used to live- there's everything you could want there but they have traffic lights every half mile and I swear I hit every one when they're red. Excellent medical care; hospitals all over the place. The KS side charges full sales tax on food; in MO we pay a smaller tax (5.6% on food, 8.725% on everything else at Costco). Both states, unfortunately, include your taxable SS in taxable income for state purposes if your income is over a certain level (mine is).

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I went to grad school in Columbia. If you like college towns it's a nice one. Often it's on Money Magazine's "best places" list. It does get beastly hot and beastly cold.

If your in-laws live in one of the metro areas it's within easy driving distance but not too close.

 

[InTheSticks]

I live in southwest Missouri. What part of Missouri are you thinking about?

 

[Ronstar]

My BIL and SIL retired to MO. About half way between DesMoines and KC. Judging from what I’ve seen in MO, you should be able to find a nice rural 5 acre place on or near water. Don’t know if it would be near your DW’s bros.

Wherever you choose to move to, I would rent for a while before buying.

 

[KCGeezer]

As a long time Missouri resident I agree with all of the following

Weather can/will be extreme (less so in southernmost areas)
Lots of lakes and rivers (seasonal traffic is heavy depending on location)
Politics can be issue, urban areas vs rural
Lcol unless you get a McMansion (even then there's no comparison to SoCal or urban NE)

A couple of issues not mentioned so far

Reasonable commute times from areas near urban areas, limited but growing public transportation
Vibrant and growing arts areas both KC and St Louis, not as familiar with Springfield
Plenty of pro and college sports
But it's a long way to the beach or international travel

I'm sure I'm a little biased but after traveling in 40+ states, I haven't found anywhere that has a better overall balance.

 

[MRG]

A couple of taxy and other thoughts:

If you choose to live in, or work in either St. Louis or KC you do get the privlige of paying a 1% earnings tax on income.

MO has the lowest gas and cigarette tax in the nation. This becomes more apparent when you stay there.

And wildlife:

You mentioned fishing, look at the stats in miles of shoreline. The lakes are mostly man-made, some are warmer water. My point of reference is NY, PA, CO. so that may factor in.

Other draws are wildlife, monster whitetail up North, Bald eagles and other raptors, flyway birds abound. A resurgence in bear, cougar and a small elk herd.

 

[athena53]

But it's a long way to the beach or international travel

But Icelandair will have nonstops between MCI and Reykjavik starting in late May. Woo-hoo!

 

[KCGeezer]

I saw that Athena, can't wait.

 

[athena53]

I saw that Athena, can't wait.

Yes, I suppose we should warn the OP that MCI is too dinky and there's not enough "retail space" and it's inefficient to have a separate TSA line for each cluster of gates (i.e., they could process more passengers per agent with a single line and likely increase wait times for everyone).... so the businesses who have contributed the most to the politicians will be building a big, new, inefficient, splendiferous airport in a few years.

Seriously- I like flying out of MCI and am not looking forward to a replacement that will remind me of Newark!

 

[timo2]

I lived in Saint Louis County and in the Ozarks. The Ozarks can meet your space by a river requirements. very nice.

 

[braumeister]

A vivid memory from when I lived in the St. Louis area for a few years a long time ago: simply the worst summer weather I've ever experienced in the US. Hot and extremely humid

Other than that, it was really a great place to live.

 

[timo2]

A couple of my college classmates have retired to places on the Lake of the Ozarks.

 

[MRG]

Yes, I suppose we should warn the OP that MCI is too dinky and there's not enough "retail space" and it's inefficient to have a separate TSA line for each cluster of gates (i.e., they could process more passengers per agent with a single line and likely increase wait times for everyone).... so the businesses who have contributed the most to the politicians will be building a big, new, inefficient, splendiferous airport in a few years.

Seriously- I like flying out of MCI and am not looking forward to a replacement that will remind me of Newark!

+1

A few of the years that I was a frequent flyer(pre 911) I lived within 20 minutes of MCI. What a wonderful experience flying was.

Seriously, the best in/out larger city airport ever.

 

[ears20]

Yes, I suppose we should warn the OP that MCI is too dinky and there's not enough "retail space" and it's inefficient to have a separate TSA line for each cluster of gates (i.e., they could process more passengers per agent with a single line and likely increase wait times for everyone).... so the businesses who have contributed the most to the politicians will be building a big, new, inefficient, splendiferous airport in a few years.



Seriously- I like flying out of MCI and am not looking forward to a replacement that will remind me of Newark!

+2

If I don’t have to claim luggage I can be out of the parking garage before everybody’s off the flight I just came in on. The new terminal is going to improve on this exactly how -?

Also can’t wait for the non-stops to Reykjavik!!

 

[Souschef]

While San Andreas and Cascadia are well known for their potential to cause a megaquakes, researchers have warned a little known fault in the midwest is also long overdue a tremor.
The New Madrid Seismic Zone is 150 miles long, and experts say a quake would impact seven states - Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.
They claim 'all hell would break loose,' with 715,000 buildings damaged and 2.6m people left without power.

​

 

[KCGeezer]

2.6 without power? That's just a couple of good ice storms!

 

[cooch96]

MO is a good sized state with a bit of variety. The summers are too hot, buggy, and long for my taste. And it can get some real cold snaps throughout the winter.

I think the best hiking trails would be in the southern part of the state, featuring the Ozarks. Without knowing the fine details of what you want, MO might be your best value for riverfront acreage.

 

[irishgal]

I moved from Southern California to Wildwood (about 25 miles west of St Louis) nice house on 5 wonderful acres. Very nice people, I’ve made a lot of friends.
But- I’m a coastal California girl- and I can’t get out of here fast enough.
The point is- it’s reversed for your wife. If MO is where her family is and it’s calling her- you probably want to take a serious look at moving.