Retiring to Florida with College Aged Kid

[Ncc1701]

Hi All,

Thanks in advance for your time, I just need a little life advice.

I and DW are looking to FIRE in 4 years and move from New York (Long Island) to Florida, most likely the west coast somewhere. My son is currently in high school and by the time we get to Florida, he will be starting as a junior in college.

My concern is that my desire to move to Florida may be short changing him when it comes to having a well paying career. He doesn't know what he wants to do yet but I feel that whatever it may be, he can make a heck of a lot more money by doing it in NY as opposed to FL.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? Are job prospects so bad in FL that I would be subjecting him to a lifetime of poverty? or am I just overthinking this? Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Sunset]

Your kid doesn't have to stay in FL , even to go to college.

 

[cathy63]

Why would your son's career be affected by where his parents move to after he reaches adulthood? If making a lot of money is important to him, and he thinks he can only do that in NY (weird idea, but whatever), then he can just decide to stay in NY. He's not required to live with you in FL.

 

[braumeister]

He's not required to live with you in FL.

Nor is he required to get a job after college in the same state.

Bottom line: Yes, you are overthinking this.

 

[FlaGator]

Hi All,

Thanks in advance for your time, I just need a little life advice.

I and DW are looking to FIRE in 4 years and move from New York (Long Island) to Florida, most likely the west coast somewhere. My son is currently in high school and by the time we get to Florida, he will be starting as a junior in college.

My concern is that my desire to move to Florida may be short changing him when it comes to having a well paying career. He doesn't know what he wants to do yet but I feel that whatever it may be, he can make a heck of a lot more money by doing it in NY as opposed to FL.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? Are job prospects so bad in FL that I would be subjecting him to a lifetime of poverty? or am I just overthinking this? Thanks for your thoughts!

No, job prospects in Florida are not that bad. There are substantially more high paying jobs in the major metros-Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm, Tampa/St. Pete, Orlando, Jacksonville.

Until the kid settles on an initial career path, I wouldn't worry about it.

There is also the idea that a successful life doesn't consist solely of a high paying job. Maybe the kid will end up liking offshore fishing. Hard to do that year round in NY

 

[Aerides]

Are job prospects so bad in FL that I would be subjecting him to a lifetime of poverty? or am I just overthinking this? Thanks for your thoughts!

You aren't subjecting him to a lifetime of anything. If he starts college before you move, chances are he won't even move with you, and will never really consider your new place (wherever you go) as his home.

With any luck he'll be graduating into a recovery, and go straight from his senior year to a job - anywhere he wants.

 

[OldShooter]

My worry would be whether a move to FL would be wise. With the increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes and global sea level rise, it may not be a really great place to live. Even if one dodged the direct bullets, the state-level costs to deal with these problems will fall on the taxpayers.

Though I do not see it in most of the chitchat here on the forum, I think the calculus of choosing a retirement destination has been changed significantly by climate change. We have friends whose brand new not-yet-occupied retirement house in Napa was destroyed in the fires a few years ago who are now in the process of rebuilding. As of today's fire news one might question whether that is a good idea.

 

[brett]

People move. Especially today. I went to university five hours from my home. Took a job 2500 miles away.

I would not be concerned about where you son will attend post secondary or where he will find employment

Both our children attended post secondary where we live. Now one lives eight hours away by car, the other 2500 miles away. And it could soon be a continent for him! He will go where the jobs are and where he wants to go.

 

[pb4uski]

Why would your son's career be affected by where his parents move to after he reaches adulthood? If making a lot of money is important to him, and he thinks he can only do that in NY (weird idea, but whatever), then he can just decide to stay in NY. He's not required to live with you in FL.

Nor is he required to get a job after college in the same state.

Bottom line: Yes, you are overthinking this.

My thinking too. He'll know, or should know, that certain parts of the country (or world) will have better career prospects than others for his chosen profession and will include those in his consideration of where to live after completing college.

 

[Amethyst]

My Dad retired early for health reasons (he was an electrician who worked on dangerous, high-voltage construction projects) and moved my mom and me to South Florida.

He had no notion of sending me to college, but since I was just 16 at high school graduation, he relented and sent me to a nearby community college, where they put in me in every advanced placement class they had. I flourished.

I transferred my credits to a local 4-year college (lived at home - helped avoid debt), got all A's, realized my career prospects were poor, applied for an intern program with the Defense Department, moved to Maryland, and retired at a senior rank at 57 after an interesting career.

Bottom line, my life was not ruined by my parents' moving to Florida, nor even by their benign neglect of my future. Everyone's mileage can and will vary.

Hi All,

Thanks in advance for your time, I just need a little life advice.

I and DW are looking to FIRE in 4 years and move from New York (Long Island) to Florida, most likely the west coast somewhere. My son is currently in high school and by the time we get to Florida, he will be starting as a junior in college.

My concern is that my desire to move to Florida may be short changing him when it comes to having a well paying career. He doesn't know what he wants to do yet but I feel that whatever it may be, he can make a heck of a lot more money by doing it in NY as opposed to FL.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? Are job prospects so bad in FL that I would be subjecting him to a lifetime of poverty? or am I just overthinking this? Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Ncc1701]

Thanks All. I should've mentioned that his mom would hope that he be near to us but I realize that may not be realistic

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Thanks All. I should've mentioned that his mom would hope that he be near to us but I realize that may not be realistic

Try to get him to go to school in Florida. He can lead the way for when you move there.

Pro's: Beach life (assuming one of the coastal areas). Warm during winter (hang outside, outdoor activities while not in class, girls in shorts). In the hot summer, he can hang out at home w/you.

 

[Bamaman]

To heck with climbing the corporate ladder.

Give me Friday afternoons on the strip in Gainesville with $3.00 pitchers of beer and some of the most beautiful co-eds in the world to hang out with.

You only go around once in this life, and it's time to grab all the gusto you can.

 

[jollystomper]

To the OP, you are over-thinking it . Those in college should be looking at job opportunities across the country (if not across the world), and it should have nothing to do with where their parents live. Most of my siblings first jobs after graduating college were in a different state that where our parents lived. Our mom hoped we would want to live nearby, and even tried to "bribe" me with free rent and use of the lower level of our house (which had its own entrance, kitchen, and bathroom) as my own. But I preferred to live elsewhere on my own.

DW had an aunt and uncle that, as soon as their only child entered college, moved from New York to Florida. It did not impact her cousin at all, his first job was in California.

 

[Dtail]

I think it depends also on what his career choice path might be.
Currently, there are many more Wall Street type jobs in the NY and surrounding areas than FLA, although some companies are starting to move down to the east coast of FLA as one example.
Florida will always need lots of doctors on the other hand.

 

[Navigator]

Thanks All. I should've mentioned that his mom would hope that he be near to us but I realize that may not be realistic

My wife wanted our kids to be near us, too. They had other ideas. When we retired, we thought about moving to Austin to be near them, but they told us that Hawaii would be a good place to retire to.

 

[Ncc1701]

Try to get him to go to school in Florida. He can lead the way for when you move there.

Pro's: Beach life (assuming one of the coastal areas). Warm during winter (hang outside, outdoor activities while not in class, girls in shorts). In the hot summer, he can hang out at home w/you.

It never occurred to me to send him first. That is an interesting idea....Thanks!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We live in an area with a high concentration of high paying jobs but many households also lead expensive lifestyles and are income but not balance sheet affluent. I would suggest reading The Millionaire Next Door and rethinking the idea of needing a high paying megcorp job location to succeed in life. Many of the millionaires profiled in the book have dull, normal small businesses like plumbing companies or accounting firms that every city needs. Posters on this forum, wealthy enough to retire early or plan on doing so, are from all over the U.S. and many different career fields.

Plus as others here have posted, adult children, no matter where the parents live, often go away to college and never move back to their home towns.

 

[Badger]

How do you know that his future choice in a career path is one that will pay better in NY? What makes you think a career path in a location other than NY will lead to a lifetime of poverty? Not everyone in Florida is a retiree or a homeless person trying to stay warm in the winter. There are quite a number of highly financially successful people in Florida. There are also people like me who had a more modest income and have lived in Florida for decades but now are financially set for life without a care in the world (other than getting older) and have been living my life in a place where people work all their lives in jobs that they hate just so they can move here when they retire. I've been living their dream for most of my life.



Cheers!

 

[Al in Ohio]

My worry would be whether a move to FL would be wise. With the increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes and global sea level rise, it may not be a really great place to live. Even if one dodged the direct bullets, the state-level costs to deal with these problems will fall on the taxpayers.

Though I do not see it in most of the chitchat here on the forum, I think the calculus of choosing a retirement destination has been changed significantly by climate change. We have friends whose brand new not-yet-occupied retirement house in Napa was destroyed in the fires a few years ago who are now in the process of rebuilding. As of today's fire news one might question whether that is a good idea.

I was going to make this very point myself. Crime and homelessness in Florida is also high. It is not on my list of warmer retirement locations to even consider.

 

[OldShooter]

I was going to make this very point myself. Crime and homelessness in Florida is also high. It is not on my list of warmer retirement locations to even consider.

Update: DW told me that the morning news now has the fires in our friends' NAPA vacation home area. Good thing they have not actually started to rebuild from the last one.

 

[Ncc1701]

I understand the concerns about crime and homelessness but I'm thinking if I stick to the areas near Naples, Sarasota or Tampa, I can somewhat reduce the concerns.

I guess my bias towards NY for a financially rewarding career comes from our personal experiences and from what I hear about the job market in FL.

 

[FlaGator]

I was going to make this very point myself. Crime and homelessness in Florida is also high. It is not on my list of warmer retirement locations to even consider.

True, but only in limited, easy to identify and avoid areas. Hardly a statewide problem.

 

[JoeWras]

My concern is that my desire to move to Florida may be short changing him when it comes to having a well paying career. He doesn't know what he wants to do yet but I feel that whatever it may be, he can make a heck of a lot more money by doing it in NY as opposed to FL.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? Are job prospects so bad in FL that I would be subjecting him to a lifetime of poverty? or am I just overthinking this? Thanks for your thoughts!

Wow. If you don't consider FL a complete state, then don't move there.

This is why there are bumper stickers in FL that say: "If you <heart> NY so much, go back."

I moved to FL to start my great career that lead to ER at 55. Just the opposite of your worries, so yeah, you are overthinking

 

[brett]

Are you assuming that just because you may move to Florida today that your college age son will spend the rest of his working life in Florida? That he will be working in an environment that is not conducive to moving his career and his life forward?


I do not understand your logic.