<p>I guess our outlook on retirement comes from both of us coming from a long line of really old farmers. H sees himself as that little wizened up old guy in overalls three sizes too large, chugging around the orchard on a 1942 Farmall tractor, with his cane on the side.</p>
<p>H and I have 2(H) and 2+(I) years left before we retire. Until this past summer we were pretty sure of not only the country (Spain), but the part of the country. Now, we can’t seem to agree on the part of the country. We agree that it will not have harsh winters, though.</p>
<p>I would like a city condo, H wants somewhere on a lake so having 2 places might work for us. I would prefer being by one or both of our kids (wherever they end up) and neither of us wants to go anyware with hot weather. We aren’t beach people (maybe cause we are midwest natives?).</p>
<p>The one thing that I really, really want most of all wherever we end up is a sense of community. I want to know my neighbors and have friends. I want to have people to invite over and people who invite us. That’s a hard thing to find and it’s really hit or miss.</p>
<p>Until CC I had never thought about people moving for retirement. My parents lived in their home till they passed away. They lived in the home we grew up in. My inlaws moved to their present home when their children left home but my FIL was not yet retired. I think they will stay in their present home as long as they are able. They have considered moving 45 minutes to our community but they have a life and friends.
I don’t see us moving locations. Our present home will be large for just two of us but I doubt it will be cost effective to downsize. It helps that we live in a mild climate location. We live in a semi-rural area where a car is absolutely necessary. I sometimes think it would be nice to have a small cottage near downtown and in a part of town that gets more sun.
We are lucky that my H has already begun to work less. We have also set up our investments so that they continue to provide us with an income even once we are not working full time.
Having been born and raised and having lived my entire adult life in Ca I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I do have a strong desire to see other parts of the US. As we have more time I look forward to seeing other areas of the country.
We hope that at least one of our children settles nearby.</p>
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<p>I get what you are saying. My in-laws have lived in the same house for 50+ years, my own parents still live in the neighborhood where I grew up (different house) and no ones going anywhere. It’s pretty much unheard of in the small towns where H & I grew up.</p>
<p>But…H and I have lived in the suburbs of a major city for many years. We like it, our kids were both raised here and it really is a nice place to live. But we don’t have roots here and it’s not home. Neither of our kids want to live here. We could stay, but our community will all have moved away by then. That’s already happening to some extent.</p>
<p>^^^ Sheesh, didn’t either of you watch Seinfeld? Whose parents moved, like a billion other northeasterners, to old folks’ communities in Flahhridah (insert nasal NY accent) ?</p>
<p>PS: ;)</p>
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<p>We would have loved nothing more than to stay in one place for 50 years, but we found ourselves in the position of having to relocate multiple times for DH’s career. Now, after 4 transfers, we are far from home and in a part of the country that we never really wanted to live in. Even though I don’t relish the thought of another move, retirement is our opportunity to go back to the city we enjoyed the most and that is exciting.</p>
<p>I grew up in a retiree paradise, Arizona, and have spent much of my adult life in the cold upper midwest. The community, the social services, the medical care, the activities are wonderful here, most far superior to Arizona. I always say I can’t stay here due to the property taxes, and the cold keeping me inside for much of the year thrills me less with time. But it is hard to imagine leaving, especially being single, for other parts of the country where I have fewer ties. One of my absolutes is access to gardening, as I like growing my own food and flowers, and a time spent digging and pulling weeds is part of my fitness plan. So most condo or apartments are out of the question. Lololu, western Michigan is a little slice of rural paradise! </p>
<p>I’ve told the kids to settle down, and I’ll pick a place near one of them. Thus far, they’re all on the west coast, but far from settled. </p>
<p>Ok, that’s one mind set. The other is to move to Central America or Asia, and find some way to make myself useful to the local community, working with healthcare or English teaching.</p>
<p>^^^I grew up in western Michigan – sometimes I miss the Lake so much, my bones hurt.</p>
<p>Y’all may want to take a look at the October 2011 issue of Money Magazine. Topic: Retirement Guide 2012. Includes an article on 5 great low cost places to retire.</p>
<p>My mother lived in the house I grew up in until she passed away at 78 yrs. old.
DH’s parents moved to a beach resort area in their late 60’s/early 70’s. </p>
<p>DH and I grew up in small towns/rural counties. We’ve lived our entire married life in a city/busy suburb (same state as our hometowns). The 'burb was an OK place for our kids to grow up and I guess they’ll always view it as “home” but for DH and I, it’s never been a “hometown” kind of place. We thought it would be when we moved here but things changed. Pop. went from 3500 when we moved here to (23 years ago) to almost 50,000! Now it’s bad traffic with shopping centers and fast food places lining every road,overcrowded schools and people who are always in a hurry. </p>
<p>We don’t want to spend the rest of our life here so have chosen to return to what we grew up with, a rural county closer to family members and a slower pace of life. We’ve always wanted to be on the water so built a house on a river that is eight miles from the nearest stoplight.<br>
For now, we go there on weekends but hopefully in the next couple years we can move there permanently.</p>
<p>PackMom, that sounds absolutely wonderful.</p>
<p>What will you do when you can no longer drive though? That’s our main worry.</p>
<p>MY H faces mandatory retirement in 3 years. We live in a college town and have a small summer home in the mountains of NC. If we had too we could live very inexpensively and comfortably in the mountains. We would miss the sports, students and the culture of our college town but the people in western NC are so hospitable and between the Asheville airport and the Greenville airport, I can get anywhere. My taxes in the mountains are much lower, I have a good, deep, well and no grass, just two acres of hardwoods.</p>
<p>Everyone seems to be worried about what they will do when they can no longer drive. When my mother’s illness started, she lost her ability to walk any distance due to balance and gait problems. She could however, drive to a store, park in a handicapped spot and do her shopping. My father is now in the same situation, due to congestive heart failure. If they lived in the city and had to walk or depend on public transportation, they would have a much harder time managing.</p>
<p>If I couldn’t walk( or otherwise get myself to) the 1/2 block to the bus stop- you might as well just bury me now.</p>
<p>There are access buses which will pick up seniors to deliver them to their appts etc- whereas for that sort of service in a rural area may be dependent on " the kindness of strangers".</p>
<p>I find that in the city I stay much more active than if I had to drive to get to the grocery store. Either I or my H or both of us, walk to the grocery about everyday, & I am crossing my fingers that staying active will help keep us younger longer.
YMMV.</p>
<p>I’m thankful my parents don’t share your attitude; I’d miss them.</p>
<p>They live in an area that has that service (suburban Chicago), but to depend on it whenever they need an errand run would be very limiting, not to mention frustrating for them. The service would not transport my mother the distance she needs to go for her volunteer work, which is very specialized and could not be replaced with something closer to home. Nor could they get to my sister’s or visit many of their friends.</p>
<p>I m also able to walk or bike to the market, library, etc.; on most days our car does not leave the driveway. But I would not say I am any fitter than my suburban mother was at my age. She worked outside almost year round, walked to the post office daily and to to meetings in their small town. She didn’t have her fingers crossed; she assumed she’d have the same long independent life her own mother had. Sadly, that is not the case.</p>
<p>My dad can barely drive…my mom can barely walk…</p>
<p>hmmmmm…</p>
<p>the discussion for my parents now is…move to an assisted living place…
move closer to their adult children
have groceries delivered and find out what other services exist in their area…</p>
<p>my parents thought they moved to a place where they can retire…but as people age things change…</p>
<p>My parents had the sense to move to a smaller, single story home. If they had the same health their parents enjoyed they’d be in fine shape. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out that way. And neither is willing to discuss where this is headed. dstark, you might want to join us over at “Aging Parents living with children”.</p>
<p>My grandmother lived with my parents for 10 years or so until she had to go into a nursing home, and my mother swore she would never do that to her children. So she’s already bought into a place that offers assisted living with an on-site nursing home you can transition to when needed.</p>
<p>Fortunately she is in good health and still independent in her own condo at 81.</p>
<p>I have to admit, there is a lot to be said for those types of communities. Parents of good friend of mine moved to one. When her father’s health failed there was no desperate search for a new place and her mom was able to be with him easily every day. </p>
<p>My own town has a wonderful Quaker retirement community that offers three levels of care (independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing). The campus is adjacent to my children’s Quaker school. When we built the school we did not include an auditorium; whenever there is a play or concert everyone troops next door and the residents are able to enjoy the production along with the school families. The school has a steady stream of “reading buddies” and other volunteers from next door. I was surprised when I first began meeting the residents there how many had moved from other areas and had no real connection to my town. They did the research many of us are doing now and chose to move here because of this particular community and everything the surrounding (college) town has to offer.</p>