irwin7638

Nope. I've lived in the south and didn't care for the two seasons, hot &humid-humid & rainy. I like my four seasons, my bike friendly community, great inexpensive golf courses, ski slopes nearby, university in town, and only two hours to the Chicago Loop.

Marc

Gerryattrick

I've never seen the point in relocating when you retire unless for health reasons or you don't like where you live when you're working.

I love my city, my friends and my family and the thought of drifting to some community populated mainly by old farts like me horrifies me.

The weather could be better sometimes, but at least it has variety and we are lucky enough to afford a few foreign holidays a year if we want a sunshine fix. We can leave home at breakfast and be in most parts of Europe early afternoon.

If I had to relocate though, northern Italy would definitely be the place I'd go.

Lazarus Short

My wife and I relocated from Kansas City to Carlsbad, NM three years ago. Now, we're thinking of moving into the mountains near Ruidoso. Yeah, we're both retired.

volosong

Carpenteria, a few miles south is a more affordable. A few more miles to the north, Santa Maria is even more affordable yet. (Well, at least by California standards.)

TiHabanero

I have learned quite a bit about retirement location from my parents who are now deceased. They made the move to Arizona from the Great White North. Lived out their until my dad passed, mom stayed another few years and realized there was no family there to visit with, help her with things and be close to. She moved back to snow country and died very happy, in fact, she had a smile on her face when she passed.

I am staying up here with family, and can winter in the warm climes as needed. Family is all we have in the end.

Dudelsack 

It probably wasn't ironic. I read on Wikipedia that Antioch was (redacted: Please refrain from inflammatory remarks and relying on Wikipedia as well)

Dan Burkhart 

If you do re-locate to Edwardsville, and I'm still on the road next year, (still not sure that will be the case). we might be able to hook up for a ride some time. I get through Edwardsville / Granite City from time to time. I'd love to try out the trail system there.

stapfam

Lived in my current house for 25 years before I retired. I know it is big enough for the pair of us and the house is sound. On top of that family and friends are near by and if I moved I would lose all that. Then there is the garden that is big enough and well sorted to be easily manageable. I can't see the point of starting my life over again so I am staying put.

Gump

I just noticed your about 20 miles from me.

Dudelsack 

Didn't mean to offend, but the remark was pretty stupid. That's what I get for posting at the Starbucks before cerebral blood flow was reestablished after my ride. My apologies.

chuckb

Still a couple of years away, but we are thinking: Santa Fe (or near there), Denver, Asheville, NC, Eugene or Ashland, OR. Probably sell the house, put most of the stuff in storage and rent in a couple of those cities before deciding what to do...

Frankfast

Next month I will officially be retired. I love where I live. It has sentimental value since I built it myself (really) and both my children were born while living there. Real estate taxes may force us out since they've exceeded ten grand. I have no idea where we will go but I know I won't feel comfortable no matter where it is. It would take time and how much of that is left, no one knows. The problem is that this is home.

JohnDThompson 

I'm seriously contemplating BC. Not sure exactly where in BC yet, though. Probably not one of the big cities.

chasm54

I didn't see the problem, personally. Except that you can't spell the offending word, that is...

Mobile 155

Been there, done than, have the T-shirt. Started thinking about retirement early, Live in a resort community and started planning on paying it off. Not cycling friendly but a nice place, Lake Arrowhead, Ca. Had a place paid for in the desert closer to Palm Springs but I had almost given up cycling. Then I decided to retire early and sold the resort home just as the market started to tank. Made a small profit, paid off all of our bills, and moved into the paid off place. Got back into cycling and think I made the right decision. My retirement goes farther and I can even save some money and travel. But I agree the list is strange, Pittsburgh, high crime rate and shrinking population to pay for the city expenses. Remember what happened to Detroit? Cleveland is as bad as Pittsburgh crime wise and when you look at urban decay there are several pictures of Cleveland there. Buffalo has snow and cold. In fact anyplace that even knows where to buy Studded tires is no place for me and my bikes. Only fort Lauderdale, though I don't like the "Humidity" and Sea-Tac, Bellevue, I used to live there were in the running. But it is hard to give up a small town close to the mountains and the beach so I found my place.

Dan Burkhart 

B.C. is certainly one place I would seriously consider if I were inclined to pull up roots. The Okanogan valley is where I would most likely put down.

cyclinfool

By lake side - I mean Watertown - the Great lakes.

Mountain Mitch

[QUOTE=DanBurkhart;]B.C. is certainly one place I would seriously consider if I were inclined to pull up roots. The Okanogan valley is where I would most likely put down.[QUOTE]

As an (almost) life time BCer I think you're on to something; particularly the part about not one of the big cities. I live in one of the 'undiscovered' mountain biking and ski small town capitals of the world (according to various magazines that discover us about every other year). Unfortunately road biking opportunities are more difficult to come by; although you certainly learn to love (or at least tolerate) 'hills' - typically measured in the thousands of vertical feet (I mean metres)! But when you do find a suitable road it can be idyllic: 4 hour rolling rides where you see ~ 5 cars. This is an extremely active area and almost everybody is into cycling and most of them are very good at it. If you think you are reasonably fit be ready for a humbling experience when you get to know some of the locals.

The Okanagan (Canadian spelling) is definitely another beautiful area and I know there are a lot of triathalon types from that valley. I think there are some more road riding opportunities there but there is still a ton of vertical.

My advice is that if you plan to move to BC you make sure you've got a good mountain bike for everyday use and a good light road bike for climbing. I won't move from here but I will probably spend a lot more time traveling - both for biking and other interests. I'd like to do more riding in Japan, the Western US, Ireland, France and Italy.

RonH

We both retired at the end of 2008. Did a 6 week cross country trip to see the USA and looking for a good spot to retire. Found several we liked but didn't like the cost of living, politics, etc. Renovated our 50 y/o house in 2010 (took 4 months) and decided we'd just stay there in the "new" house. After two more years of suffering in Atlanta traffic, noise, and over-crowding we decided to move to FL. We'd been here a few times to visit family and discovered there are bike trails everywhere and cycling is a year round activity. No more riding the trainer when the temps are below 35-40F. In fact I sold my KK trainer a few weeks before we moved. Been here since Nov 2012.

[edit]
I forget to mention that we have everything we need within a few miles. And if we absolutely have to go to the big city, Tampa is about an hour south and after we move to the house we're building, Gainesville/Ocala will be about 45-60 minutes northeast.
Right now the Gulf of Mexico is about 1/2 mile away.
[/edit]

lphilpot

Would love to retire somewhere other than here, where I've lived for the past 29 years. But, it's only 10 years to retirement more or less and with a recent job change I don't think my retirement prospects are quite the same as before. Hopefully still doable but probably fewer options. I don't have anything against where I live (and it certainly does have advantages), but it's just been waaaaay too long in the same place for me. Plus, a move to an environment that's drier and (if you can believe it) more rural would be phenomenal.

scooter bopp

Interesting topic. My wife and I are both fifty and had planned on retiring when we were 58, and moving up to northern Wisconsin, (we both love winter). But after the economy took a dump and took a huge chunk of our retirement with it, we don't see that happening now. In fact we've been putting money into this house with plans to stay put. Its all good, we love this area too.

cyclinfool

Yea - I had planned on retiring in 2006 when I was 50 but in 2000 my wife surprised me with a new baby - oh well, it was 50% my fault. So I decided to wait until 2018 which is my current plan. We recovered nicely from the blip in 2008 and I am still working for the same company I have worked for since 1979 so I am grandfathered into the defined benefits plan. Conservative investments and a frugal life style have kept us in good shape. The big issue now is that we have a tiger by the tail with my young daughter, her education will likely run in excess of $300K as she is most likely Ivy league bound, my only hope is that her many talents will yield scholarship money.

mkane77g

Northern Sonoma County, way out in the sticks. House is a bit big and way to much land. No neighbors, no street lights, no phone. Retired in 2008. Wife's not far behind. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Rowan

My in-laws are in BC, on the eastern outskirts of Vancouver. It's really out in a rural setting, nestled below mountains with the Fraser River meandering through. It's a gorgeous location with all the services I would want close by. I've said to Machka I would live there in a heartbeat, but there are some significant immigration hurdles for me, plus the jobs don't pay as well as they do in Australia.

We'll see how things pan out over the next decade. Right now we are planning to move to Tasmania, my home state. But we also plan to keep on travelling, and we might find our Nirvana when we least expect it (the west coast of France really left an impression on us when we were there last year, and is on the Nirvana list at the moment).

Machka also has relatives in the Okanogan Valley, and I have a work interest in orchards, which abound there thanks to the lake. I also am a keen water sports person. But the Okanogan seems a bit remote and the winters, I think, are somewhat harsher than near the coast.

Dan Burkhart 

The southern part of the Okanogan is semi arid, so snowfall is light. Vancouver has lots of rain in winter.