Where do You Want to Retire... and Why?

Somewhere with seasons, forest, elevation, good trails, and no traffic or crowds.

 

I think you can get quite a bit closer to those areas without prices through the roof. Two friends got houses in Heber ("cabins" they call them, LOL) for pretty cheap. I'd look at Cottonwood or other Verde Valley locales or even out west. Being within shot of Blue Diamond NV will get you great winter riding without having to deal with the traffic near Phoenix, etc.

 

I visited with my in-laws about ten years ago. They were looking for a place quieter than their current Big Bear home. They moved to BB back when the main drag was one lane each way and no stop lights. We also looked at Prescott, Flagstaff & Payson. The first two were just too big and busy. Payson and Show Low both were pretty spot on especially the home pricing. The only thing (yeah, they had a checklist) that hurt Show Low was the amount of complaints about the Reservation problems spilling into town. Lucky for me they stayed in BB so I always have a place to crash after riding Skyline Trail.

 

I was just about to add something...

I've been harassed far, far more on bike and in car on AZ, NM and WY reservation land than anywhere else.

 

ADD water supply to that list! Lack of H2O in California has me freaked out.

 

Retire??? What’s that? I will live until I can do no more and then I will “ride off into the sunset”.

 

True that. Somewhere wetter and norther. But not too far north

 

I am thinking about Sisters for summer and traveling south in winter. I love lava lands, probably why I live in a volcano

 

you mean Vancouver Wa, just across the bridge. Wa no income tax, Or no sales tax.

 

There is VERY LIMITED legal mountain biking in the city of Portland. It is NOT a mountain biker's paradise.
I LOVE the bike culture there, but they Sh!t on mountain bikers.

 

One of my brothers lives in Vancouver and loves it. Its beautiful there. I have another brother that lives in Prescott.

 

My ashes spread in the Pacific Ocean

 

Where do You Want to Retire... and Why?

Short answer: Nowhere; I don't.


I like what I do for a living, do it from anywhere, and need rest days, so why stop?

I don't see putting more roots down anywhere anytime soon. Nowhere is great all year. Then, after you get that "perfect" place, something beyond your control happens a few years later that makes it suck. Bad value! What place can truly be said won't change in decades ahead? Temporary housing FTW, IMO.

If I had to pick a place to root down, it would be near our elders. Helping them in their senior years is, to us, a higher priority than outdoor rec.

The traditional concept of career/retirement does not/never has worked for me. We're sticking with our version of whatever you wanna call it.

 

My wife tells me she doesn't think I'll ever retire. She's probably right, to an extent. But doing what I do, it doesn't really matter where I live. So, after our son graduates high school in a little over four years, there is nothing keeping us in Southern California except her family, and her family isn't reason enough to keep us in SoCal.

As we've talked about this over the years, our plan has evolved. Monterey or somewhere else on the central coast was our usual conclusion, but as California gets nuttier and nuttier, it's less likely that we'll stay in this state. There are lots of things to love about this state, but taxes are going to have to keep rising, and exponentially, if things keep going the way they're going. It will simply be unaffordable. So we've been looking farther afield. I love the idea of someplace in the mountains - Park City is awesome, Boulder area would be cool - but only in the summer. I'd have to live somewhere else in the winter. We have some friends with means that live part of the year in Park City and part of the year in Hawaii. But they like winter sports, so they're in Utah December-February and back for a bit in the summer. Couldn't afford it anyway.

I like the idea of the Pacific Northwest, but my wife feels like it would be too damp. She seemed surprisingly receptive to Austin. My other hobby is auto racing, and it's also the primary industry in which I make my living, so Austin ticks several boxes there. Plus I'm originally from Texas.

Honestly, it probably depends on where our son settles down (he's an only child). If or when grandchildren enter the picture, I suspect that will become a huge factor.

 

This. I will probably never retire unless an injury or illness takes me out. But will most likely move within range of the boy and find another job to pay for the shiny things. I spend to much and am not willing to change that.

 

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and came up w/ some criteria, in no particular order:

• Miles of trails from my door
• Bike culture
• Historic walkable working core (Not just restaurants and nail salons, but hardware store, bike shop, market, etc)
• High desert/dry vs rainforest
  
• Not cold for too long, not hot for too long
• Trader Joe's in town (spouse's requirement)
• Blue state or blue town in genuinely purple state.

Bend sure ticks a lot of those boxes, but a bit too big. It's getting a lot of sprawl on the east side. Redlands has a lot of them as well, so in no big hurry to move!

 

Hood River is less than an hour away.

 

Full Sail Brewery!
I want to be able to ride from my house... a big requirement.

 

I'm only 49, and my youngest is in 3rd grade. I not about to retire anytime soon......

I think the retirement location is secondary (for me). My primary question is when should I retire?
When is enough money enough? how long should I chase it, and when do you know you got more than you really need?
I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't be working at the age of 65, but I would like to be spending less time at working and more time recreating.


..... now it time to get back to work!

 

Two quick thoughts...

I think Monterey CA would be an awful place to root down without a righteous wad of capital. Lived there for a summer...no thanks. Great for a vacation, or if you're a marine biologist.

Trader Joe's is way overrated. We panicked that we didn't have one local until we started groc shopping at Walmart. Way more organic options, better selection of everything, lower prices. TJ's has items from time to time that are exemplary, but they don't stay in stock. Organic vanilla soy milk is the only TJs item we can't get at WM.

Back to, uh, retirement...

 

That one's not going to fly...

 

No place in mind, just focused on retiring early. Max my 401k out every year and my company has a pretty insane matching plan and additional retirement contributions on top of that. Problem is I’ll have to wait to use those funds so investing in other areas, especially in dividend paying stocks. Hoping I only have to stay in my industry for another 15-20 years (I’m 36) and then “retire” and live off investments and maybe some consulting, too early to know just yet.

 

Okay, then, have it her way. Here's your list of retirement locations to pick from: https://www.allstays.com/c/trader-joes-locations.htm

 

Way too early to even think about it. I'll wait until I am closer to 10 years away than think about it.

At this point, I am hoping to retire at 65'ish. But, I'm not making solid plans, I've got 27 years to go. My current job has a pension, but that is with the slim chance that the place stays open for me to retire after 10 years. I'll luckily get something pretty much no matter what, I just need to stay here 2 more years and I am vested.

I also don't know what my hobbies will be either. While I think cycling will be it, I don't know as I have changed who I am so much and so many times in the past 20 years. I would not recognize my current self as an 18 year old.

 

Tell us who you've been in the last 20 years.

 

My wife is a 3rd grade teacher and has worked for 20 years as one. She is kinda ready to retire but the income won’t be there to support us. Plus we will have a kid in college in 2 years and another one 3 more years after that.

I really didn’t think I wanted to retire ever just work till I die basically. Just supplemental income to make ends meets. Would like to move out of this shithole (Bakersfield) and move to the coast though.

I graduate college with a degree Business Administration in December and may start looking for a work anywhere from Pismo to Santa Cruz after the new year. So maybe My wife can semi retire and I pick up the slack.

 

An early congrats on the degree!

 

Thanks!!

 

Being close to a TJs is a social indicator, it’s not about an insatiable desire for store brand imitation Oreos.

There is still a lot of open space in the southern tier of the Rockies. But when you get there, it turns out it’s full of Texans, who don’t appreciate how important it is to buy frozen burritos in packages that are appropriately ironic.

 

Daydreaming about retirement is a nice way to while away the commute...

If I don’t need to tap home equity to fund my spending, I’ll probably stay put in OC. If I could ride midweek in the morning, with no traffic, or go to the beach, etc, this would be a great place. It turns out that California’s total tax burden isn’t that bad if you’re living in your own home with 30 years of Prop 13.

I do want some seasonality, so I do dream of getting a cabin in the Rockies to go along with that. We will see...

More places that I will explore: I like the southern Appalachian region, and the trail network in the Ozarks is intriguing. We shall see where the kids end up...the kinds of work and the kinds of lifestyle they are seeking won’t necessarily be available to them in OC.