Have you thought about where to live in retirement? Most of my retirement coaching practice these days involves working with individuals and couples on their lifestyle retirement planning. While each person’s situation is unique, we invariably begin our discussions with the two subjects: WHEN and WHERE.
The WHEN conversation is usually not about financial concerns. My clients are primarily concerned with how to find purpose in their lives after they stop working. We talk about the challenges of navigating decreased social interaction, loss of daily structure, diminished career status, etc. Since many people have been working for thirty to forty years, they worry about how they will react to the abrupt change to the only life they have ever known.
In subsequent sessions, we begin talking about the WHERE of retirement. This is not a simple chat about destinations. It’s about their responsibilities to aging parents, their desire to be near their adult children and grandchildren, or a yearning to be in a completely different climate and vibe with walkability and proximity to where the action is. We discuss their daily routines of interacting with friends, family members, and colleagues. Many are uncertain about their responsibilities to others and how those needs will impact the issue of where to live in retirement. Sorting through all of that takes time. We also focus on the many opportunities, choices, and resources that are available to them today that weren’t available twenty to thirty years ago. These deliberations become more urgent once an individual or couple has set an actual date for retirement.
Where To Live
Once you have a good idea of your timing, you are ready to focus your energy on the question of WHERE to live in retirement and what kind of lifestyle you’ll want. This will affect where you decide to call home. In fact, this is such a hot topic, I have written an entire book—Where Will You Retire? A Retirement Guide And Exercises For Deciding Where To Retire, Buy A Second Home, Or Relocate*—to help you with this crucial decision. In addition to valuable information, the book contains thought-provoking questions and exercises to guide you through this complicated process.
There are emotional aspects to this question that defy easy answers and are distinct and personal to every individual or every couple. You can read more about my own “Retirement planning: where to live” decision here.
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