W2R
Moderator Emeritus
As many of you know, Frank and I are planning to move to Springfield, Missouri, in about two years after we ER. We are no less sure about that today than we were last week, last month, or last year.
What just became apparent to me, due to a series of personal messages this morning from a very nice board participant, is that I have not been clear that this is a TENTATIVE location for ER.
It is perfectly conceivable that we might stay here in New Orleans (which sings a siren song that can twist your soul in two), or we might move somewhere else, or who knows what. One never knows what life will bring, as we so thoroughly learned here in 2005. And life's twists and turns can directly affect this sort of decision.
Even though at this point we are probably about 90% sure we will move to Springfield, we are still constantly re-examining, re-thinking, and looking for anyplace else that would better fit our priorities.
If one does not have an ER location in mind where one has previously lived or has ties, determining a tentative ER location is not easy. The whole world opens up with possibilities. We are in this situation, and we see all potential retirement locations as having their positive and negative points. If anyplace is a Nirvana, and affordable, I don't yet know about it.
To me the task becomes a matter of identifying one's priorities, finding the location that presents the best balance of attributes within the framework of those priorities, and reading about and visiting it and the near runners-up to the greatest extent possible while still working. The next step is ER, then moving there and renting for a while, to see what it is really like.
A pitfall that I think most people fall into, is to give the higher priority to aspects you don't like about your present location, and lower priority to aspects you do like about your present location. People living in snowy areas seem awfully prone to look at the sunbelt with blinders on, with regard to other problems. Likewise, people living in high crime areas just want to live someplace safe, and might not think about the snow as much. And so on, and so on. To get past one's own viewpoint it is necessary to constantly question and re-evaluate one's priorities, and do a lot of soul-searching. It's just NOT as simple as saying that the weather and food are great in New Orleans, or the crime rate and cost of living are great in Springfield, for that matter.
And nothing is a done deal, until it is a done deal. Maybe not even then! We are just doing what we can to stumble along and develop a "Plan B" that is the best we can come up with.
What just became apparent to me, due to a series of personal messages this morning from a very nice board participant, is that I have not been clear that this is a TENTATIVE location for ER.
It is perfectly conceivable that we might stay here in New Orleans (which sings a siren song that can twist your soul in two), or we might move somewhere else, or who knows what. One never knows what life will bring, as we so thoroughly learned here in 2005. And life's twists and turns can directly affect this sort of decision.
Even though at this point we are probably about 90% sure we will move to Springfield, we are still constantly re-examining, re-thinking, and looking for anyplace else that would better fit our priorities.
If one does not have an ER location in mind where one has previously lived or has ties, determining a tentative ER location is not easy. The whole world opens up with possibilities. We are in this situation, and we see all potential retirement locations as having their positive and negative points. If anyplace is a Nirvana, and affordable, I don't yet know about it.
To me the task becomes a matter of identifying one's priorities, finding the location that presents the best balance of attributes within the framework of those priorities, and reading about and visiting it and the near runners-up to the greatest extent possible while still working. The next step is ER, then moving there and renting for a while, to see what it is really like.
A pitfall that I think most people fall into, is to give the higher priority to aspects you don't like about your present location, and lower priority to aspects you do like about your present location. People living in snowy areas seem awfully prone to look at the sunbelt with blinders on, with regard to other problems. Likewise, people living in high crime areas just want to live someplace safe, and might not think about the snow as much. And so on, and so on. To get past one's own viewpoint it is necessary to constantly question and re-evaluate one's priorities, and do a lot of soul-searching. It's just NOT as simple as saying that the weather and food are great in New Orleans, or the crime rate and cost of living are great in Springfield, for that matter.
And nothing is a done deal, until it is a done deal. Maybe not even then! We are just doing what we can to stumble along and develop a "Plan B" that is the best we can come up with.
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