So I am sitting here on my back deck. I hear crickets and some traffic. I have my citronella candles lit. No bugs, fairly peaceful, why leave.
Fast forward 4 or 5 months and why are we here?
So the answer is to be here in the good months and away in the bad. Duh,
So in the NE we all know what is good and bad. Any suggestions for adult only all inclusive resorts? Would consider any 4 or 5 star rated.
@bookworm, we used to live in Cambridge and I had to drag ShawWife out to the exurbs. When the nest was empty, I asked her if she wanted to move back to Cambridge and she said no because of the outdoors and the community (some of her close friends live in Cambridge though). But, in Cambridge, we could probably rent or AirBnb our place much more easily than out here. I took her to Miami as it has a good contemporary art scene but she thought it was too hot in the winter.
@greenwitch, it does make the trips to Europe longer. From Boston, I can take day flights to London and after a nearly full day of meetings, I can catch a flight from Heathrow and get home that evening. From SFO, I think it adds two days to the trips. From Boston, I can leave Monday, have two days of meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday and be back Wednesday night and certainly on Thursday. From San Francisco, I think it is pretty much the whole week. But, it is worth it for the weather.
ShawD really liked Sausalito when she visited us there but I suspect that the Bay Area is probably too expensive for almost every kid who isn’t going to be a tech millionaire. But, if she were to move there, it could really simplify things.
This wouldn’t work for me because the idea of having to take care of two of everything would be very burdensome to me. We’re looking to simplify and streamline as we get older. Our life is so complicated right now-we’re looking forward to being bums :).
@MotherOfDragons, you are right that at some point we will need to simplify. It is a bit of work organizing a yearly trek from East Coast to West and back – packing, shipping car, etc. We may end up with duplicates of things. Our lives are complicated as well. I have an executive assistant whose job has always been to make me productive and take from me anything that I don’t need to do. I hire people for this position who are a) bright; b) resourceful and proactive; c) way above average in social skills; and d) a bit anal compulsive (this is needed because I am not). They don’t need any specific job knowledge. So my current assistant organized major aspects of getting us back and forth. Having a crackerjack EA doesn’t reduce the complication but lessens what we have to deal with. So, we are getting lesser complexity with the benefits, such as they are, of greater complexity.
If we own both places and rent them out, it probably would make sense to engage property managers in both places. I don’t know how well that works in practice. With executive assistants, I have found that people who have had that job for years haven’t worked out as well as kids one year or so out of college who are good on criteria a through d above but were English majors or something like that and don’t have great job options. (I’ve hired older, younger, straight, gay, female, male, … so no discrimination in hiring, but I’m reporting my observation). The candidate with the profile above ends up being pretty well-paid and loves the job for about three years and then have mastered it and start to get bored. My guess is that the same thing is true with property managers: when I talk to people, I get the sense that the typical property management company is overpaid and underperforms but that a conscientious individual might be great. We currently rent out a couple of properties and ShawWife is tired of doing that.
By the no-go phase, it would be obvious that we’d need to consolidate to one property. I’m not ready for that.
@shawbridge we’re so different it’s funny. You talk about having an assistant to manage everything, I’m talking about deciding whether I want to wear pants that day. 
Pants? I have to wear pants? That’s one of the things I like about retirement. 
Do yoga pants count as pants? (Please say yes.)
Yes. 
Awesome. I’m sitting at a car wash right now waiting for my car to be ready and I don’t think the other patrons really want me to take them off
@MotherOfDragons, I love my work and social life. But, I’m not good at lots of little decisions so I outsource. I don’t think I would like retirement at all. But, other people are very different from me and I respect that. I also think I have been blessed to have found doing work that is really fun.
A lot of people have jobs that are tolerable but not really fulfilling; they will be happier when they no longer have to do that kind of job. They’d be much happier playing golf and reading. No negative judgment on my end. I just feel fortunate that I can’t imagine anything that retiring would be anywhere near as engaging as what I do.
Being a physician for me was an intense life. There did not seem to be relaxing day. About 20 years ago I never even thought of retirement but in the last 10 years I thought about it more and more. I am retired now for 6 months. I really could not just take off if I did not feel well or my kids were ill or the appliance guy needs to come out or I just want to take my vacation days without one year notice- without more stress. I had a government job and sick days! There is very little options to slowly retire. I did not know what to expect in retirement. So far so good. Staying put for now.
Those who have jobs that they want to work without retirement- good for them!
Shawbridge - I hear you; I retired in February. But I’m filling my time with a lot of cultural stuff in my city that I haven’t had a chance to do (just did a “lit crawl” last night with a twentysomething friend, and I’m still pretending that I got carded because they didn’t believe i was 51 rather than the real explanation, which is that they card everyone, LOL). I am working on helping my synagogue run an event, joined a house corporation board at my alma mater, and am doing pro bono work for a woman who gave a TED talk in a field of my interest. It’s amazing how busy one can keep oneself!
@shawbridge wrote
And that is totally cool. But why are you on this thread, then?
@MotherOfDragons, my wife and I are actively thinking about moving and how to organize our lives as we hit the go-go/slow-go phases. Maybe the go-go phase is not retiring but for me the slow-go phase will be my retirement.
I also take @Pizzagirl’s point that there are lots of things to do and lots of ways to contribute other than in a job. I have been trying to build other things into my life – and particularly into my working life. So, the slow-go phase includes using my talents in pro bono projects. I have been working on a project to help Congress do better on important national security concerns. I’m looking for my next interesting pro bono project (I contributed to settling a civil war once, which was immensely gratifying). For me, phasing into retirement means phasing in more pro bono projects rather than staying home. It is akin, I think, to what @Pizzagirl is doing, just in my own area of distinctive expertise and only for part of my time. So, at one level, my transition from go-go to slow-go is my retirement and it is in both under consideration and in process.
I am always amazed at people that have a desire to actually keep working, I have a relative who is approaching 80 years old, owns a software business, and still goes to work all the time. Hardly ever takes time off.
Me, I don’t ever want to talk about work stuff ever again in my life, ha.
“I contributed to settling a civil war once, which was immensely gratifying”
Wait, are you Jimmy Carter?!
^ No, but I also occasionally have lust in my heart. Just looked it up. Jimmy Carter actually said, “I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” Not brilliant for a presidential candidate.
He has definitely worked on settling civil wars in his retirement.
Not brilliant for a husband to admit. I wonder how comfy the Carter household couch is?
Doesn’t look like Jimmy Carter is ever going to retire either.
At least Jimmy Carter did not commit adultery with another organ.
"Wait, are you Jimmy Carter?! "
I personally am having a hard time figuring out how to put my vast talents to use when I retire, they are so plentiful, and it would be unfathomable to let them go to waste. Save the world, or create an endless energy source, whatever shall I do?