How to Decide Where to Retire

Mike

1 year ago

A key component to living a happy, healthy retirement is where you choose to live. Therefore, a big first decision in retirement is where to retire. Hence, this post, “How to Decide Where to Retire”. A full analysis will consider costs, lifestyle preferences, the quality of life, and what you lose and gain by moving in the first place, when selecting a place to retire.

Do We Really Need To Move?

Before you consider moving far away, you should determine whether moving is really necessary. If you are happy where you live, it is affordable and perhaps the mortgage is paid, it may be prudent to think before you leap. In addition, if you are close to friends and loved ones, there may be little reason to move.

If your primary purpose in moving is to reduce costs, you could consider downsizing and moving to a smaller, more affordable abode…perhaps with less maintenance and care required. If you have been filled with dreams of adventure, consider first taking a few vacations to see if that satisfies that sense of adventure.

However, if your current living situation is undesirable or too expensive, there is no time like retirement to change your life for the better and seek your Shangri La.

Deciding What is Important

If you have decided that moving is right for you, take a quick self-assessment. Why is it you are moving? Is it cost of living, a lifestyle change, or it could be a host of other reasons. Whatever they may be, it would be wise to write those down in order of importance. Don’t forget to include access to health care and the ability to age in place (you may start out in self housing, but are their alternative living accommodations in the area as you age?).

Cost of Living

In retirement, your income is likely to be only 55-80% of what you made during the last years of your professional life. This in itself might be enough reason to consider downsizing, if not relocating. Assuming you have chosen to move, cost of living is a major consideration. There are several factors to consider; cost of housing, cost of and access to health care, transportation and gas, as well as other living costs. Don’t forget the costs of taxes; income, property, sales and taxation of social security and pensions. As stated later in this post, once you have narrowed your choices to one or two locations, make an exploratory visit. During those visits, check out local stores and other services that you would anticipate frequenting to assess the overall cost and convenience of living in that community.

Lifestyle-Quality of Life

Referring back to your list of what is important to you; quality of life can take on many forms. A primary consideration is what kind of community you are looking for. Does living in a bustling, urban environment appeal to you or do you favor the thought of a smaller, quieter community? Even if you prefer a quieter community, many suburbs offer a small-town feel with the convenience of those services and amenities that can only be found in a larger city. Given that you will be moving into a new community, you will want to be sure that you will have access to people both of your age group as well of similar interests. This might even mean looking into retirement communities or in the least, communities that revolve around a long held passion like golf, tennis (pickle ball!?) or fishing.

Climate

For some, climate is synonymous with quality of life. If you have lived your entire adult life shoveling snow endlessly, you probably have dreamed of living in a warm, pleasant climate close to the beach upon retirement. If that is you, it is time to seek your just reward. That said, warmer winter temperatures without snow can sometimes be offset by heat and humidity (I for one would not do well in a hot, humid climate). This again reinforces the need to visit your location and try it out before taking the plunge.

Similarly, for some, their passion might be living in an outdoorsy, mountainous locale where they can hike, fish, snowshoe and ski to their hearts content. As wonderful as that sounds, depending on the extreme of your choice, it would be prudent to visit in the dead of winter to see if that is really something that suits you. I know some areas of the upper mid-West and higher elevations in the Rockies and Cascades can have snow on the ground from Thanksgiving to Easter and beyond.

Access to Travel Resources

The importance of access to travel resources (primarily airports and train stations) of course will depend greatly on the lifestyle you intend to live. If travel is a top priority, proximity to a major airport might be one of the most important things you consider. As a related issue, proximity to family and loved ones might also influence this decision. The feeling of being far away from loved ones might be lessened if you are close to convenient transportation alternatives that make it easy to reunite on a moment’s notice.

Conclusion-Making an Informed Decision

As I’d mentioned before, the process of choosing where to live in retirement is not a decision to be made hastily. Once you have narrowed down your choices, it would be highly recommended that you give each finalist a dry run. This would mean not only visiting to get a feel for the community, but also checking out possible housing alternatives, the convenience and cost of groceries and other services, checking on traffic around the city as well as what services are available for senior citizens.

Other Resources

Where to Retire Quiz: Where Should I Retire? – Take our Where to Retire Quiz! (best-place-to-retire.com)