I would love to live in San Diego. We visited once and I have some cousins that have lived there for 30+ years. The golf would be great. Cost is probably the biggest barrier to entry to going there.
Plus I pretty much know my best golf years are behind me. I have become much more fit in the past 2 years, but as they say Father Time is undefeated. Given that we will probably end up in LV. There is no place better to play poker than LV. Tons of options at all levels. Golf in LV will be good. Of course with LV it all depends on the water situation to live there. Luckily I won’t be making that decision for 8-9 years. I can see how it will play out. Also I just believe there is just too much money invested in that town for them to let it dry up.
Water is a huge deal. I think the issue may be the cost. I actually invested a bit in a couple of water ETFs (I know this is not the investment thread) because I think as reservoirs like the Colorado River are depleted, water will need to become more expensive. Las Vegas has actually been better than most places on water recycling/reclamation, but it won’t be unaffected by the shortage of water.
Interesting twist on the water situation: San Diego’s investment in desalination has given it a water surplus and provided an innovative deal for AZ and NV:
San Diego slashed its water imports from 95% to just 10%. Now, with the Colorado River in crisis, Arizona and Nevada want to buy what San Diego has left over.
…The proposed arrangement would not involve physically shipping water. Instead, the parties would trade access rights. Arizona and Nevada would fund a portion of the estimated 56,000 acre-feet of water the plant produces annually in exchange for San Diego’s share of the Colorado River. If the deal receives federal and other necessary approvals, it could supply enough water for approximately 500,000 people.
We have friends that have lived there since ‘05. LV does a lot to save water. At one point they were paid to pull up their lawn and put down fake grass/turf. Nothing being built now gets grass. It is all desert landscape, which is fine by me. I am tired of mowing my lawn
They will probably figure things out like @ChoatieMom referenced. Or I just stay here in the Midwest by one of the Great Lakes.
It will get me enough days. I am sure some days in the Summer it might get too hot. And a few in the winter might be a little chilly, but those can easily be poker days. I will say my retirement plans do change. 10-15 years ago it was a cabin in N. Wisconsin. The cold is the issue these days. Bring on the sun.
Like AZ, the Nevada sun is nothing to dismiss. People golf in AZ in the summer (one tournament is called “The Frying Pan Open”) as it’s about the only time most people can afford to, but it can be 100 degrees at 6AM with soul-sucking humidity during monsoon season. Same for Nevada, but I guess the whole summer could be casino (poker) days, right?
You won’t need to worry about that in Nevada if you’re used to the Midwest, winters don’t even come close.
I grew up in Michigan and moved to AZ in ‘99. Bought a cabin in Maine in ‘21 to escape the evil yellow ball June-Oct.
Hasn’t it become extraordinarily expensive to get insurance in FL? And haven’t a lot of companies left the state? For some people, not having coverage may not be a choice.
The cost of insurance is something I hear about frequently from WPB based S. I also wish I could afford to rent a house near them for 1-2 months during the January-February season.
Many have homes or mobile homes and basically self insuring. They buy for cash. They are not fancy places.
Our good friends who have a home in NE Florida say their insurance isn’t horrible. My sibling just bought a condo in the Fort Myers area. I’m sure a condo has to be insured. I have other friends who bought in central Florida.
It has occurred to me that super frugal retirees (not me) who want to minimize expenses could “reverse snowbird” with another couple. For example do FL in summer, NY in winter - trade houses.
Agreed. I live in a place known for harsh winters but I rarely leave in the summer because it’s pleasant then. ( unfortunately this year has been hotter than usual).
I don’t see the point of the reverse snow bird thing unless one likes extreme weather.
My brother has a townhome duplex in Key West. They bought in ‘16 or ‘17. He retired and moved there full-time in ‘23. His insurance has gotten pretty expensive. It is totally opposite of me in the Midwest. I have high property taxes and decent insurance. He has high insurance and decent property taxes. His place has never flooded.
Part of my retirement plan is to move to a location with lower property taxes. I will probably save $10K a year moving locations.
Reverse snow-birding sounds masochistic. If I wanted to cut costs, I’d pick a low COL area in the US or consider spots in low COL countries (Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico?, or in Europe/Asia).
Alas, in my case, we are choosing a high COL area – high property taxes for sure.
We talked to people in Sanibel last winter (I think or maybe the previous winter) who surprised us by saying that the insurance was not too hard to get and not that expensive. No data beyond that. My in-laws paid cash for their Sanibel property 30+ years ago and decided that with insurance was very expensive (flood, hurricane, etc.) and decided to self-insure. They saved quite a bit of money and when Ian hit Sanibel, their repair cost (carefully managed by ShawWife) was well under $100K. And, ShawWife got the work done very quickly because we did not have to wait for insurance companies to get their acts together.
