Hello Everyone,
Thank you to those who responded with your ideas and experiences about deciding where to live ,in retirement. It appears the overwhelming sentiment was to take into consideration where family lives, especially when long term needs are a consideration.
After much deliberation and all your input we have decided…drum roll…a little more drum roll…we have decided to continue to explore our options and put the final decision on hold for a little longer. We do, however, have a list of “must haves” that surfaced which I am happy to share with you.
First and foremost, we must have high speed internet. For too long we have struggled daily with inconsistent service and that inconsiderate blue buffering square which shows up when streaming stops. Second, we must have an Aldi grocery store. They have some unique things at good prices and it’s one place I get to go without much push back from Judy. Third, we enjoy our peace and quiet living in the woods without having to listen to noisy people, traffic and all the other interference that comes with living an arm’s distance from your neighbor. The fourth “must” is good water. We have lived in places where our water heater element was dissolved within a few months, where you got to guess what shade of brown would come out of the tap each day and where the smell of rotten eggs would have been an improvement. Our water now is won_der_ful. Fresh, clear, cold, tasty limestone water from our own well. And finally, rounding out the list of must is minimal traffic. Enough said on that one. We are making good progress, don’t you think? At this pace, we will have everything discussed and decided by 2025!
The next big thing to decide is: what are we going to do in retirement. Knowing what we want to do will help us determine how much money we will need for living expenses. Sure, there are many other things that impact expenses, but this is a good starting point for our next discussion. Can’t wait! Until next week, keep your ideas and experiences coming and let us know what you look (looked) forward to doing in retirement. Remember, as my daddy always said, “ if you want it, go get it”!
Valerie. Zagami says
Seems like a great plan as this is a big decision. Good job!
Judy Laquidara says
It is a huge decision and I think it’s harder because, even though we’ve moved a lot, we always knew there was another move a few years down the road. Now, we’re planning this like it will be our last move and that makes it hard. How do we know we’re going to go somewhere and want to stay in one spot for the duration?
Liz (in OK) says
Would it help if you think of having two or three moves?
Think of staying in your current house as move #1 that you will stay for x number of years. Then you can plan to do things to your home, or not. My neighbors decided that they were going to stay in their current house and so they have made major changes to their house. They have a motor home, so they found a spot in TX where they spend the winter.
Move #2 would happen when x number of things change and then you plan to go to location #2.
Move #3 happens if and when your health dictates action and then the move could be to a community that works with elderly. In the OKC area, there are more places being built that have garden homes, apartments, skilled nursing facility, and memory care facility. At any point in time, you can use the community activities such as dining and entertainment. It has worked for several friends when the health of one spouse went downhill faster than the other person.
I’m currently happy where I am, but I am looking at the renovation needs to decide if I want to do some remodeling or start looking for the option #3 within 5 years and establish myself in that little garden home.
Ellen says
The list of must-haves is most definitely the first step. I’ve witnessed too many retirees moving closer to their children and said children moving for career purposes. I know you 2 are cautious of this as Chad/Nicole have already made several moves.
I’m looking forward to your journey to retirement!
Judy Laquidara says
One thing about moving to where Chad and Nicole are — all of her family is there so if they do move away, at least when they come home to visit, they could see us all at one place. Heck, I’m not opposed to moving if they move. It isn’t like once we get there, we have to stay forever.
Karen Sutton says
As for expenses – we found that we needed far less money after retirement and didn’t have to change our lifestyle. We lost all those expenses related to working – I was putting 50 miles/day on my car just getting back and forth to work, had to gas up at least once/week. Now, generally takes 2-3 weeks to use half a tank of gas. Also, no more ‘work clothes’.
smassena2014 says
Retirement must have something to m get you out of bed in the morning and keep those muscles moving. For me it is sheep and a garden. For you??? It is too easy to get into a couch potato form. Good luck
Judy Laquidara says
I kinda feel like I’ve been retired for many years and I don’t have any trouble with inspiration to get up. In fact, if I wake up at 2 or 4 a.m., I know I have to go back to sleep really fast because if my mind starts thinking of something fun, I’ll be out of bed before I’m done sleeping. Vince . . he may struggle not being a couch potato.
Linda in NE says
Guess you won’t be coming to NE Nebraska! 🙂 While we may have the low traffic, peace & quiet and good water, the Internet sucks in the areas that offer those things. And Aldi? I have no idea where you would find one of those. Maybe in Omaha or Lincoln, but then you lose the peace & quiet, get plenty of traffic and water full of chlorine. I have faith that the two of you will figure it all out.
Judy Laquidara says
I think your weather rules out NE Nebraska. 🙂
Melissa Raddetz says
I think access to great health care might be important. Modern, state-of-the-art treatment can be the difference between Comfort and suffering. As you age it might be nice to have a doctor well versed in geriatric issues. Do you want to drive several hours for an MRI? Will immunotherapy be available locally if you need it?
Judy Laquidara says
We’ve considered that and it’s a trade off. Most places that are large enough to have great health care are places we don’t want to live. We’ve discussed this and decided we’d rather live in the country and not have to drive more than a couple of hours for good medical care but not live in a city. Here, we can get to Abilene in a bit less than two hours and it’s an easy drive. Of course, Texas has great highways with wide shoulders, reflective paint, etc. We can get to Dallas or Austin in a little over two hours but we’d probably both choose to stay home and die rather than drive in that traffic.
Right now, neither of us have health issues so our feelings may change once we do but we’re not willing to spend our “good years” living where we don’t want to be just to make it convenient during our “bad years”. Almost all of my family spent many years in a small town two hours from the closest good medical care. I have aunts who are in their upper 90’s still living there and they’re doing great. Of course, one major illness and we may be singing a different tune.
The best treatments, overall, are probably always going to be in the big cities – Dallas, Houston, etc. but no, we are not moving to a place like that.
We really are concentrating on eating right and exercising and hoping to reduce our need for lots of medical care.
kathlelen says
If you look at your next move as your last move, make sure you have funds to upgrade and fix the place to your taste. In our previous houses I wanted things and thought “well in our next house”. Now that we’re in our ‘last’ house, I want to do the things I’ve always wanted. I’d rather have buy a house under budget and make it mine than get something bigger and ‘better’. I’d also suggest you agree to what you want to do to the new house before buying. My hubby really sees a house as a box with heat and it’s a battle for any changes I want.
Ellen says
Totally agree Kathleen. There were always 2 things I didn’t like about our house (purchased in 1991 when we were just 30). In 2003 we decided it was our forever home after doing some research and discovering that it would cost us $200k more to move and get exactly what we wanted. We spent $10k in 2003 followed by $54k in 2004 followed by $13k in 2010 getting exactly what we wanted and here we are 15years later and loving it and grateful for every penny we spent making it so. We’ve never wanted bigger as 1850 sf is plenty for us. I’ve told nieces/nephews they’l carry us outta there in a box and they can have whatever they want! 🙂
Joanne says
We retired many years ago. My husband was an engineer. First, we built a log home out in the “country” — loved it. 1st problem — internet was like you have now — spotty at best and expensive. Couldn’t even get Dsl since we didn’t have the “right” kind of telephone lines!. We lived about 30 minutes from a big city — so only went to town once a week for errands and groceries. We lived on a gravel road at first, little traffic and then people discovered our road was a great way thru without going the by-pass. Not tons of traffic, but more that we liked! We had twelve acres of woods, so my husband spent most every day out in them cleaning them up. Before he died, it looked like a park.
So, then he died, and there I was, 23 acres, two story log home, etc to take care of. I finally sold it three years later and moved to town. And now four years after that, I just moved to another state to be near my daughter and her family — who are going to have to take care of me in my old age!
Retirement money was never a problem we owned our home free and clear, so expenses were utilities, taxes and food. I’ve done some traveling — Europe, Alaska cruise, Hawaii, etc. I think you know how to handle money, so unless you’re planning some big expensive shopping sprees, retirement won’t be a problem. You don’t have to buy clothes for work, etc.
We were within an hour and a half of where our daughter lives; then when I moved to town, only an hour away, and now, 20 minutes. The older I get, the more important it is to be close to family. In retirement, you’re free to travel to see the kids frequently, but you’re going to find yourself so busy, you’ll wonder how you ever had time to work!
Claudia W says
Hi Judy and Vince –
My husband is 75 and I’m 69. He’s been retired for 15 years and I’ve been retired for 10 years. I have no advice for you on where to retire, as we live in a middle class suburb of Chicago, with close neighbors and traffic, and we love it, which I know you would not.
But one thing you may not have thought of might be another thing to add to your list. It is a nearby full service health club/gym with indoor pool(s). This is something my husband and I use several times per week, even though we we never exercisers or athletes during our working years.
During your working years, you may get adequate exercise during your workday, or caring for your home and garden etc. But once you retire and you get older, you have fewer requirements to get up and move. There are fewer things you MUST do, so you don’t do as much. A garden may come to be too much work to maintain, or aching joints that dont work very well may make it impossible to do some of the physical things you used to do.
When that happens, it sounds counterintuitive, but that is when it most important to have a regular habit of exercise of some kind. Otherwise, it seems like you’re joints just sort of seize up
.Because my husband and I are old enough to have various aches and pains from arthritis, by far the most comfortable way to exercise is water aerobics. Our gym has many classes every week, and when we go to these classes (mostly during the middle of the normal workday) all the other people are just as fat and old and flabby and out of shape as we are, so there is no judgement. A side benefit of working out in the pool is that you get to know ‘the regulars’ and it becomes helpful socially as well as physically, which is also important when you are retired and don’t have the daily interaction with co-workers.
Anyhow this is just another thing to think about as you look for your retirement home. Best wishes and good luck making your decisions. Claudia W
Terri Schanz says
My husband always said he didn’t want to retire because he didn’t know what he would do with himself. I looked forward to retirement so I could do all the things I never had time for when I worked full time. We have had some health and financial issues, so we can’t do everything we thought we would, but we manage to stay busy. I am a voracious reading and I sometimes read 3 or 4 books a week. We live in a nice mobile home park and the clubhouse has an indoor heated pool, so we swim there. I like to sew and crochet, so I have been doing more of that. I also attend a crochet group once a week at the local library. I’m looking for a Bible study group. Our community education department offers all kinds of classes that are inexpensive and I have taken a couple of those, and there are lots of free/inexpensive activities year round in our community. I have lunch with my girlfriends a couple of times a month. My husband is more of a homebody, but he has taken up building wooden ship models and he bought an Arduino programmable controller that he uses to build the “internet of things.” (He said you would know what that means!!) He has made motion detectors that set off alarms, turn on lights, and other home automation things. Now that I’ve gotten used to all the beeps and whistles, it’s actually kind of neat!! He likes to cook so he does a lot of that too. He likes to garden, but does it mostly in containers now, since we don’t have a big yard. We spend time wtih our grandchildren. We’re really pretty busy and have something going on almost every day of the week. Staying engaged and finding something to do that you enjoy, and that keeps your brain working is important. Studies have shown that active seniors live longer and are less likely to develop dementia as they age than those that are inactive. So being busy at something is good for you!! .
cassews says
At least you all have thought things out and are willing to do what you need to do to be with your family. Good Luck and hope it turns out to be what everyone thinks it will be in life !!
Dorothy says
Other than the internet speed, are you sure you’re not already in your “retirement” home ??
Christi says
I know so many people who moved and weren’t happy in the end. Starting over in a new place when you are older is never easy. Lots to consider like doctors, hospital access, friends, family, weather, taxes. Moving itself is such a chore. We moved from the city to the country, Ill to NC. Took at least 10 years to adjust. Now it’s my home but it took a long time. Think long and hard before you do it.