Are You Looking For A Place To Retire?
Updated Resources
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, early in their planning, 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 decide to stay in place, purchase a second home, or move your primary residence to another city or state. There is no easy or correct answer for WHERE to live in retirement. You have your own dreams, desires, needs, and responsibilities when deciding what’s right for you. The information and resources provided here will help you evaluate your options for the decisions you need to make.
Three Choices For You To Consider
1. Staying Put
The most inexpensive, least disruptive, and easiest decision you can make is to continue living where you already live. There are numerous positive reasons why this is the best choice for many retirees. You may not want to start over navigating a new area of the country and building new relationships.
While this might be the easy answer, you need to recognize that your house may still require some major and extensive structural accommodation to meet your needs as you age in place. You may find it easier to stay in the same area and move to a home that already accommodates aging in place and avoid going through renovations.
2. Relocating After Retirement
For another group of retirees, there may be just as many reasons to “get out of town.” In many ways, the rationale can be the flip side of your decision to stay in place. You may relocate to be near your adult children, grandchildren, or aging parents. You might just want a slower pace of life or to lower your cost-of-living.
Some people choose to relocate to specific destinations like the mountains, the beach, the desert, small towns, college towns, or historical destinations. You may simply want to move to get away from all the traffic or to embrace an urban or suburban lifestyle. Increasingly, baby boomers want the adventure of starting over in a new locale and creating a new way of life for themselves. There is no right or wrong reason for moving. It’s a matter of personal preferences and needs/wants. Most important is the need to communicate your needs and preferences with your partner and those who will be impacted by your decisions. If you are single, make sure you are sharing your ideas and plans with family and friends even though the final decision is yours.
3. Purchasing A Second Home
There is another alternative to the concept of WHERE to live in retirement. Perhaps it can be defined as having your cake and eating it too. This concept involves purchasing a second home that you live in during certain times of the year while maintaining your present residence. If you currently live in a colder climate, you may want to explore a second home in a warmer climate. If you are currently living in a warm climate, you may decide to find a second home in an area where there are milder summers to escape the heat and humidity, while at the same time enjoy the bonus of being closer to family and friends.
If your budget permits, this can prove to be the very best of both worlds. This is the decision my husband and I made while exploring where to live in retirement. We love where we live in northern Virginia and can’t imagine giving it up on a permanent basis. We both have large families and close friends we want to stay connected to. We bought our condo in Tampa after much research and exploration regarding various lifestyle needs. We wanted the area we chose to be in a warm climate no more than 15-20 minutes from the airport, to provide good medical care close by, and to offer cultural stimulation and entertainment of all kinds. We really wanted an escape from the winter weather. Buying our second home in Tampa on Florida’s west coast has been great for us.
Resources For the Curious
If you plan to relocate for your retirement years, consider these interesting lists and resources for places you can retire. Keep in mind that the creators of these lists do NOT know your desires or your unique circumstances. You must decide if you want to be near family, good medical care, in a warmer or colder climate, near the mountains, etc. These lists are only intended to give you some ideas and guide you to the best choice for you.
While everyone’s situation is different, make sure all your decisions are preceded by honest and heartfelt discussions with your partner and financial planner. If you are single, have conversations with your family, friends, and financial planner. As you consider the places on these lists, note both what appeals to you (and why) and what you really dislike (and why). This will lead you to decisions that will help you make the best of retirement lifestyle decisions.
1. US News And World Report ranked the best places to retire in 2023
In the past, they have created lists of places to consider living after retirement based on the following criteria:
- Places to Retire on Just Social Security
- Retire on $75 a Day
- Sunniest Places to Retire
- Fast-Growing Retirement Spots
- Places with the Oldest Population
- Best Places for the Wealthiest Retirees
- Best Places for Military Retirees
- Best Places to Retire for Singles
- Best Places to Downsize in Retirement
- Bargain Retirement Spots
- Retire for Under $40,000
- Places with the Most Retirees
- Places to Launch a 2nd Career
- Historic Places to Retire
- Places to Reinvent Your Life
- Affordable Mountain Towns
- Great Places to Retire for Wine Lovers
- Affordable Cities for Long-Term Care
- Best Places to Build a Nest Egg
2. AARP recently created “Top 5 States Where Retirees Are Moving” and “Top 10 Most Livable U.S. Small Towns For 2022.”
Earlier “10 best places to live” lists included:
- Places to Live on $100 a Day
- Great Sunny Spots to Retire
- Most Affordable Cities
- Charming Small Cities
- Terrific Cities for Singles
3. Forbes published its 25 best places to enjoy your retirement in 2021.
4. Money posted “The 10 Best Places To Retire In The US in 2022“.
5. Kiplinger shared “7 Standout Places To Retire (2022)“.
Where will you make the best of the rest of your life?
Dee
As you face life’s challenges, I welcome the opportunity to assist you. I am offering corporate and group seminars as virtual consultations and virtual presentations. Please contact me.
Dee Cascio
Author, Speaker, Licensed Psychotherapist, Certified Life Coach, Retirement Lifestyle/ReCareer Coach, and Life and Work Transitions Strategies Coach.
The Life and Work Transitions Community
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