For those that like being ‘on the beach’ or beach area, there are several popular beach areas along the Gulf Coast in AL. Here is a recent article about one with new development:
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My husband grew up not too far from Youngstown and his goal was to get out of there as fast as he could.
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Well look at that Toledo cracks another top 10 of “desirable” - hot real estate market earlier this week and affordable place to retire! 
Here’s what I’ll say about my city AND some of the others on this list that may not seem desirable.
- There really is a “middle America” people - a large % of the population who cannot chose to live in a high COL area or a bustling popular city.
- Small town living is quite desirable to many. Can be a really great place to raise a family. Sure when kids grow up they may want to skip town. But “Midwest is best” can really ring true in many cases.
- Location, location, location - not necessarily of the city you live but the REGION. Toledo is fine, an affordable place to raise a family, home state of SO many great Ohio schools (we actually do have a lot of higher education. BUT in 1-2 hours - an easy day trip we can be:
Ann Arbor
Detroit
Columbus
Cleveland
South Bend (take the train into Chicago!)
Canada! (One hour folks!)
That is a lot of food, art, school, health care opportunity in a pretty reachable backyard.
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That’s how I feel about living in the Detroit area. It’s affordable, and it’s close to lots of cool places. Midwest makes a lot of people think of depressing & boring … but those of us who live in the Midwest know that it’s not … plus, it’s affordable.
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Not to mention ALL THE WATER - lake living and enjoying!!!
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A very close friend of mine left NYC 15 years ago for Toledo. It took some adjusting, but she plans to stay even after her mom, who also lives there, has passed away. I go out there a couple times a year, and I have to say, there are great city parks and trails, and home affordability is great.
Disclaimer: My parents are midwesterners and I spent a significant chunk of my childhood in midwestern states. Most of my dad’s side of the family are still in that part of the country. We drove cross-country last year and that area STILL gets to my heart.
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Born and raised in the midwest, so may be biased.
People thought we were nuts to retire in a midwestern city (especially one known for cold), but we love it. Unfortunately where we live is not as affordable as many other areas, but after spending 38 years in DC area, there was no sticker shock for us. We feel we have the best of a lot of worlds.
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DH and I were raised in WI, but we are happy in the South/Southwest. We are not ‘beach’ people, but some people - that is their dream. Our DDs/family are in FL and TX, so we are in general region. At some point we will move, and then see what is the best for our family situation. DD in TX is a nurse, and DD in FL is an engineer – and we will also need to see where the grandkids are at that point. The Gkids are very young now, but family is ‘my thing’. DH is fine with me having extended stays to help out with the grandkids; right now I have a good retirement pattern where we are, and just plan shorter trips. Our TX road trip for Christmas (including seeing other friends and relatives) will be a baby step for me being away from our home longer. I plan to be in Europe for a month like I was in 2016 w/o DH (with friends and family there in Switzerland - this trip will be all about visiting with them; this trip will also include a girls’ trip 7 day vacation starting from Switzerland). DH is happy to be home - he has been to Switzerland with family already, and he has had his fill of international and national travel over his work career.
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So true for me, too. Michigan (Detroit 'burbs) will always be “home” to me no matter where I live or how old I get. Every time I’m there, it feels like I’ve never left, in the best way.
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I don’t know, the impoverished town I grew up in holds a lot of memories, but every time I’m there it feels like no one else ever left, in the worst way.
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@Twoin18 - I get that. I do feel that way about the small towns where H and I were raised. But we chose not to return there.
I am near year-end. I have always contributed the max to retirement plans (403b, then 401k and defined benefit plans) and can certainly contribute to the max to my 401k. I have a lot of my assets in the 401k. I’m a few years from RMDs. Is there an argument to stop making 401k investments at some point (assuming as I do that I will continue working)?
I live in a rather well to do suburban/rural town, two towns over from the rundown, impoverished city where I grew up and where my parents lived until they both died. Agree, it’s kind of sad to drive through there, seeing what were crowded neighborhoods of earnest hard-working people reduced to empty gutted out buildings.
I feel like this is a tax driven question. What you save now on taxes by making the contribution and earning tax free on the contribution, will that be offset by what you pay later in taxes when you do have RMDs? I think you need to make sure you continue to contribute the max that your company will match (don’t lose that free money).
We struggle with having too much in 401k / retirement savings, because once those RMDs kick in they will force us into a pretty high tax bracket and did we actually save in taxes in the long run?
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As long as you are fine on liquidity, I’d invest what I could into Roth plans. You can better manage future distributions to minimize tax rates. Also the time value of deferring taxes on a traditional retirement plan is less as you grow closer to retirement and drawing taxable funds.
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We were lucky to have enough non-retirement savings that we will be spending basically 4 years with no significant income. My husband retired early (got laid off) and we are not going to take any retirement income (SS, Pension, or IRA distributions) until we are both old enough to be on Medicare. This way our income is low enough to get good rates on market health insurance.
So keep in mind that there could be some benefit to adding to non-retirement savings instead of piling more into IRAs for the end of the year.
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@BKSquared, I’m OK on liquidity. I don’t think I can invest in Roth plans. This is a first world problem.
@kiddie, I think that is precisely the question. I own the company so the match question is not meaningful. I think I can contribute $30K. Let’s assume that my combined marginal Federal tax rate is 40%. If I make on the contribution, I avoid paying $12K in tax and the assets grow at the market rate. If my wife and I live a long time, we pay tax when I withdraw it. Assuming I am at a high rate both now and when I withdraw, I am better off deferring the tax. If my marginal rate were going to drop, I would certainly want to defer the taxes.
I have convinced myself that I ought to max out my contribution to the 401k rather than buy a non-dividend paying stock in an account for them
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The last year my husband worked, he got a big severance payoff. So, we knew that year we would be in a very high income bracket. He maxed out his 401 K plus the catchup for being over 50 (and got some of it company matched). That was a smart tax move that saved us a ton in taxes that year.
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This might be helpful to some on this thread.
Assuming that a significant portion of money will be going towards inheritance, making taxable investments will have the advantage of step up basis at death