To be honest, I don't know much about Greenville, SC other than it has an active cycling community. From watching the evening news it has a lot of a crime too. Not sure how much the media plays that up though.

I agree with what you say. Here in the mountains of NC, we get so many seasonal retirement residents it really stresses the system to handle all of them. Mostly they seem to get in the way.

Holy crap!

Some of you seem oblivious to the fact that you'll be drawing on "SS&M" soon, and that three years before you die you'll be entering the last three years of your life.


Have we become such a disposable culture that unless you're generating tax revenue your life is not worth living?


This scares the crap out of me.

IMHO tax rate itself is not the issue, it is the value you get for the taxes you pay. Where I live now the community is paying for generations of waist and a blotted system. For the services I get I would be glad to pay twice what I would pay where I lived most of my life, but not 5X. I do believe that if you want nice bike paths, parks and roads with big shoulders you will pay higher taxes, but it has to be reasonable, you need to see the value. I feel I have to move to protect my estate. The multi-tier government bureaucrats are likes pigs at a trough.

Not far from were I grew up, in north costal san diego county. I left the area for several years, then came back to marry a woman I connected with at a high school reunion. She reconnected me with so many people I had drifted away from. I feel too much at home to want to leave. For me it is all the intangible things. Cost of living? The woman I am with now rescued me from rural Nevada. I'll take quality of life any day.

Crossville, TN??? Blah. Supposed to be good for golfing. I've not actually been to Fairfield, so I can't tell you anything about it one way or the other. I've ridden my motorcycle through Crossville a hundred times though going to the Smoky's. I don't golf, so there's nothing there that interests me. YMMV

Great post.

I think you have solved many of the issues. Unfortunately, most Americans are oblivious.

I grew up in a great town with great schools. Everyone benefited from the investment in education, people moved here from all over for the the opportunities and quality of life that the education system supported.

About 25 years ago I noticed that most of the BB started complaining about the taxes and the welfare state. Most of these people had made a fortune on the thriving economy and increase in property values. Now most of these same BB are dependent on Medicare and none of them are refusing their SS checks.

My wife and I have decided to retire from our current careers, but we will both work or volunteer or both. We will continue to fund our children's education and we will provide direct care-giving to our parents so that they can stay in their home and not end up in some geriatric warehouse.

Staying fit and eating a healthy diet will be key to our quality of life, also.

America can solve it's problems, but most people don't understand what provided America with it's prosperity. We continue to elect politicians who only serve a few narrow special interests and who long ago stopped caring about the general well being of society.

The thread is mainly about North American options, as well it should be.

Personally, having married a lovely North American, and helped her to maintain a nice little Victorian cottage in Santa Cruz CA, I'd always thought of retiring there. The Santa Cruz Tandem Riders club takes off from just across our road.

Just can't afford the medical risk. 40 years diabetic, uninsurable. Everything, even being knocked off my bike, would be 'downstream risk of an existing condition'.

Pity. I like the Pacific Coast.

I am giving some serious consideration to Ecuador. Cost of living is low, as are taxes. Lots and lots of expats living there. Much slower life style. The expats I have talked to said they wished they had moved there long ago. Check it out on Internationalliving.com. Maybe I will see you there.

+100 My retirement location will depend on where my grandchildren are living when that time comes. Currently, they are a Navy family and there Dad still has several deployments ahead before he retires. So, when the time comes for me to retire, my wife and I want to be close to my grandsons. I agree with Chasm54's statement retirement is about people not places. I just hope wherever they settle down is a bike friendly location. quote.

This idea can backfire. We have friends that have moved three times to be near there children. Funny how the kids jobs will transfer or change along with location. One time they moved to Ireland and had to come back. For us its let the kids find us if thy can. This is our time to go and go. Just saying.

What are BBs?

Baby Boomers.

Thanks.

All this negative talk about BBs, in spite of the fact that we're all guilty as charged, reminds me of a funny book by Joe Queenan called Balsalmic Dreams. He has a bit to say about us, not all of it bad, and most of it quite funny.

I now return this thread to its scheduled self-loathing.

Do I recall your saying you hailed from Yorkshire? Nothing much wrong with the Dales as a retirement location. I lived in Skipton for a year, loved the place. Tended to avoid Park Rash when out on the bike, though... Torture at any age.

One fact often over looked by proponents of the Greatest Generation theory is that it's one thing to engage in dangerous pursuits when your family, friends, and society regards you as a "hero" for doing so. It's another thing to stand tall for what is right (think Civil Rights, Women's Rights, anti-war, etc.) when it flies in the face of societal norms and can get you ostracized, hurt and/or killed. At best you are reviled by the society in which you live.

OK back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I think your statement is overly broad and full of generalizations.

At least in my arena of disability advocacy, I am continually writing and saying things that - in many cases - go against the grain of lots of folks. Just a couple of examples:

http://www.ourwebs.info/IssuesFromPadco.htm

http://www.ourwebs.info/LEGPROFOREXT...FDDDSYSTEM.doc

While many hate my guts (literally), we do make a bit of progress, with the recent firing of an Executive Director who was our main nemesis. Whether or not my writing had anything or much to do with it, I don't know, but I suspect it did.

So, by at least one group, I am highly respected.

Dude. You're doing the right thing.

+1, Denver what you and your family is for the good of many. and these people need good advocates like y'all. Keep stepping on toes and ruffling feathers.

Bill

I totally agree. My two children are the most important thing in my life, but they may end up,anywhere. If I live close enough to a good airport they can visit me.

The information web sites listed early in this thread have lead me to several places to investigate. Over the next year or two I will need to allocate some vacation time to this cause. One area that has raised it's head is Pocatello Id. I did visit this area once almost 20 years ago, was there for only a day but I recall it as being very nice. I will have to go back.

Me too. I've been here since 1995. We have no debts and will avoid purchasing a second home which will enable us to travel to various parts of the US, Brazil and Europe during the hot summer months. We have friends from a small oceanside village in Croatia so we'll start there. My wife's from Brazil so that's an option as is our desire to stay in Italy for a few months also.

The whole idea of a "greatest generation" is a generalization. The point I was trying to make is that the Baby Boomers generation (in contrast to the "greatest generation") often acted in opposition to society's norms (yes a generalization) as a way to make society better (IMHO). The entire panoply of civil rights, including those of peoples with disabilities, grew out of that awareness and effort.

In the mid-'70's I was the Director of Personnel and Labor Relations at the Mansfield Training School in CT. This was a 24/7, 365 days a year residential facility for people with mental ***********. I helped create and implement a program of investigations of alleged abuse of the residents. This eventually became an independent office enacted into law by the State Legislature. The activists of the day were almost all of the Baby Boomer generation an they put into motion protests and lawsuits that forced the closing of the Training School and allowed the clients (that's what they were called back then) to move to group homes where they could live in "the least restrictive environment." The movement for "disability rights" grew out of the Civil Rights movement of the '60's IMO. Again, acting against society's sentiments of the day.

Oh, for God's sake you can't even type ******ashun?

Individual(s) with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Emphasis on the "individiual," not the condition.

That other word is extremely offensive to almost everyone (parents/family, clients, professionals) now in the field and has been outlawed in all governmental usage.

Group homes are no longer the "LRE." Folks are living in apartments with supervision or, as in my son's case, a home where he lives with a family as the only individusal with a disability living in that home.

However, MANY folks leaving high school at age 21 nowadays are living with their parents, some until their parents are in their 80's, due to massive and never-ending waitlists. Please see:

http://www.noewait.com

also, in regards to the argument that "natural supports" will resolve the problem, please see:

http://www.ourwebs.info/naturalsupportmain.htm

As you are no doubt aware, the famous Olmstead decision under the ADA is the catalyst for many Justice Department interventions reaching agreements with states to close institutions all across the country.

How does this relate to "Where should I retire?"

Those folks in this forum who have, as family members, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities severe enough to require lifetime support and/or care have a huge other factor in when, where or whether or not they can retire. A complicating factor is that Medicaid Home and Community Based Services do not transfer from state-to-state, so, if I was to want to retire in Florida (and have my child near me), for example, I would face a waiting list of 21,000 folks of about 15-20 years (I would be 92) for services.

For individual and heartbreaking synopses, please see:

http://www.facebook.com/NOEWAIT

Where, every day, I post one more short story of an individual or family on the waitlist, such as:

I am a 37 year old Mentally Challenged Adult with an elderly mother whom is also not well. We do the best we can to get by, but we need HELP as to many American Families!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Sister typed this for me, but I told her my thoughts in my own words

and

"My son has brain injuries and resultant severe developmental delays. He has been waiting in Florida for any kind of services since 2003. We adopted Chris when he was 6, he's 37 and we see no relief in sight."

The most devastating (and this is true) situation is where an adult child living and receiving services in Utan has both her parents die, has other supportive family in Colorado who want to provide support, but can not be serviced in Colorado because she would go to the bottom of Colorado's wait list. She remains in Utah with no family support.