Hello from Bay Area CA

[samcat]

We're here, too, on the peninsula. Paid off home. We are still working part time to pay some bills and give us funds to travel.

 

[anothercog]

Another Bay Area peep here. Living in San Mateo county and still working. Echo many of the same sentiments. Cost of housing is the main challenge here. Fortunately I bought 17 years ago so my mortgage and prop taxes are reasonable. Cost of gas isn’t an issue because everything is close by we don’t need to use much. We also have a plug in hybrid we can charge at home every night and the 30 mile charge covers our average daily driving.

The weather is nearly perfect here except today where it’s now 100 degrees. We don’t have AC but we do have a portable unit that I have now turned on for the third time this year.

My biggest concern about early retirement is cost of healthcare. I’ll have deferred income from my job that will disqualify me from significant ACA subsidies. I’m not likely to retire until my youngest kid graduates high school in 5 years but if my company offers me a package to leave with healthcare I wouldn’t turn it down.

My biggest concern about retiring in the Bay Area is that it’s unlikely my kids will be able to afford to live here.

 

[samcat]

We're in San Mateo County also. One son lives in Memphis, the other in SF. The SF son can afford to rent here but will never be able to buy. It's sad. Maybe a whole generation of kids won't live here.

 

[RobbieB]

I worked there where the wages are high, but live in the central valley where the housing is low. Yeah, 3 hour commute.

But now I'm retired in my mortgage free house and close to my low rent slip where I dock my yacht in the Delta a half hour drive from home.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We need all the negative posts about the Bay Area to keep more people out.
If you are fortunate to have a paid off home in my opinion there is no better place to live unless you want snow, and even snow is only about 3 hours drive away.

We've been retired here over ten years now. It is still a lot of fun and we haven't even come close to visiting all the big parks, tourist attractions and museums yet. In one week we might go wine tasting in Napa, catch a play in the city, and go for a hike in the Redwoods. We moved here from a prairie city with extreme weather conditions and no scenery, and before that a factory town with not much to do. We are very appreciative now of what we have and try to make the most of it.