<p>IMO, those lists of “best” and “worst” states to retire are a joke. Kiplinger’s lists California as the worst state in the nation to retire. Forbes lists California as the 10th best. Go figure.</p>
<p>Similarly, Kiplinger’s lists Hawaii as the 8th worst and New Mexico as the 9th worst. Forbes lists Hawaii as the #1 best and New Mexico as the 7th best.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all “best” or “worst” list. For some retirees, top priority is quality health care, which is highly variable. We have outstanding health care here in Minnesota; many retirees move to Rochester just to be near the Mayo Clinic. But we also have cold winters and high taxes. Florida has warm winters and low taxes, but generally not-so-great health care. Illinois has a reputation as a high-tax state, but it exempts retirement income from the state income tax, and taxable income is taxed at a flat 5%–roughly half our top income tax rate in Minnesota (9.85%), which doesn’t exempt retirement income. Also, Illinois has a $4 million exclusion on estate taxes, compared to Minnesota’s $1 million. Other priorities for us are a lot of urban amenities and a good public transportation system, so we’ll still be able to get around when we’re ready to give up driving. Chicago ends up at the top of our list because most of the other cities with good public transportation and outstanding urban amenities–Boston, New York, DC, San Francisco–are in states with lower estate tax exclusions and higher income taxes (and in New York a city income tax on top of the state tax), and no income tax exclusions for retirement income. Chicago has cold winters, yes, but we can spend a few winter months in the South, or perhaps with our friends in Brazil where January is midsummer.</p>
<p>Retired in July. Sold our condo in Madison in September. Bought a house in Port Royal Plantation five minutes from the beach in October. Moving to Hilton head on December 3.</p>
<p>Congrats! We’ve been at our place here for the past few weeks and loved every minute of it, as always. Good luck with the move. The weather in the upcoming week is supposed to be even warmer. I can’t recall if you’re familiar with the area but if you’d like any recommendations, let me know. We’ve had our place here for almost five years now so I’d be happy to share. :)</p>
<p>Alwaysmom thank you. We have owned two Marriott timeshare weeks at the Barony since 2002. We have visited often so we are pretty familiar with HHI. I would be interested in knowing what cable company you chose. </p>
<p>We have everything with Hargray - phone, cable and internet. If you need a good tech guy to set things up for you, let me know. We’re heading back north tomorrow. Back in a month or so. :)</p>
<p>“I want a winter residence and a summer residence” - We’d like simplicity. My ideal for now is a home base here, and vacations (or long winter stays) elsewhere. But our priorities might change when we see where the kids settle. </p>
<p>My parents were snowbirds. Had a retirement home in a gated retirement community on the New Jersey shore and a townhouse in West Palm Beach, Florida. They loved their life. And we loved having a place to stay in Florida during the winter.</p>
<p>May stay in our current house as it is paid for. Will not have to pay state taxes on retirement funds if we stay in the state. </p>
<p>But the winters are very long and grey. So H and I are thinking of </p>
<p>This was an interesting thread for me, as I have been looking into the possibility of a more tax-friendly state than CA when we retire. Then I got to the posts praising San Diego (our current home) & that gave me pause. We did just have an amazing week of Thanksgiving weather in the 80’s. I don’t think a big move would be worth it just to save a few thousand in taxes every year - we’d probably spend that much to come back & visit every year. It is fun, though, to see what kind of property we could buy in other locations for the cost of our tiny house in SD.</p>
<p>My folks and all my sibs live on Oahu. Our kids haven’t figured out where they will finally settle but are hoping it will be Oahu as well, so no plans to uproot at this point. If they do settle somewhere other than HI, we may rent a place near them to have extended visits–will have to see how it goes.</p>
<p>It took so much to get here (moved to Hawaii 6 years ago), I can’t see us leaving. It’s expensive but the great weather and outdoor opportunities make up for it. We were just talking, as we strolled on the multi-use path by the beach on Thanksgiving, how glad we are that we can get outside in decent weather all year long, and how we really have to make efforts to remain active as we age. </p>
<p>We just have to save enough that we can afford to visit DS, wherever he settles (which probably won’t be here). Looks like our niece might settle here, though, so we won’t be all alone.</p>
<p>@HImom, I should know this, but if I get a pension from former employment with the state of NY, I know it won’t be taxed by HI, but will it be taxed by NY? I think not, but do you know?</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t know what NY tax laws are. You are correct that currently HI does NOT tax any pensions. There are some proposals that were floated and bills that were introduced to tax pensions above a certain minimum amount but those were defeated in HI legislative committees. Glad you’re enjoying living in HI. </p>
<p>So far, two of my nieces (older than my two kids) have opted to return to HI to settle. We’re all hoping that ALL our kids return to HI to live, but no idea whether it will actually happen. At the moment, we and our kids are able to fly and visit one another several times a year. If there are ever any grandkids, we will want to visit for much longer than a few weeks here and there. All the nieces, nephews, and our kids SAY they plan to move back to Oahu, but time will tell. Right now my kids are in Arlington, VA and Los Angeles, CA.</p>