The ideal state for retirement?

[feralmerril]

I guess if we wanted to live on the cheap we could move to Haiti. Moving to where nothing but lizzards, rocks, cactus and 125 degrees might condition us for hell may have its points in a way. Then we can go the other direction, maybe devils island and swat mosquitoes as long as we have money to buy corn starch to fight the humidity.
Good gun laws? I heard yesterday on my electric television set that now in Israel most people pack. I dont want to live there nor in Iraq.
When I retired and remarried we went back to Wisconsin where I was raised with the idea of retiring back home. Whats the saying? You cant go home. The property was cheap but the taxs high. I now no longer recognized anyone, a stranger in my own land. Actually, in the villages I lived in now are even smaller. The village stores closed, cant compete with walmart in town etc. You cant step off the side of a road without a no trespassing sign getting your attention. I will stay here in SW utah where I can ride our RzR on the trails for a hundred miles any given day and choose my weather all in one direction or another in a hour. Today I could go ride south in a 115 degree heat if I am nuts enought to want to, or I can go up the mountains and ride at 10,000 feet and take a jacket with me. I wouldnt like living somewhere where I would have to drive 500 miles to see a change as in texas or wyoming.

 

[Wyo]

Wyoming would be good as far as gun laws and taxes go. No income tax on anything, sales taxes never over 6% and less in some counties, property taxes run about $2000/yr. on a $350,000 house. Constitutional carry, machine guns and suppressors OK, no requirements for transfer except what the feds impose, carry a loaded gun in the car if you want, and lots of public land to go out and shoot on. 'Course, it does get a mite bit chilly now and again, but that just helps keep the riff-raff out!

 

[Muley Gil]

"Western Virginia.'

Hush up. We got enough dang Yankees 'round here.

 

[Herknav]

Raleigh/Durham NC is on the list.

Well, if that's what floats your boat. You should know that the suburb of Cary jokingly stands for "Containment Area for Recalcitrant Yankees." Good luck.

 

[islamoradamark]

i like it warm and hot i aint gunna chop no wood

 

[diamonback68]

i like it warm and hot i aint gunna chop no wood

Amen brother and can I get a hallelujah?

 

[hangnoose]

YOU DON'T SHOVEL HUMIDITY!

NO, but lately it feels as if you could. Being able to wear little to no clothes 350 days a year is nice. I don't care to be dependent on a/c to survive. It's not as if you can drive an hour (or less) to the mountains & cool off & a/c only seems to break down during the hottest times. To each his own, and everywhere has it's +/-'s. I'm more of a mtn/low humidity guy but $, spouses medical needs, closer to family, good airports that have many direct flights & low prices (rental cars too) for visitors, make Fl a good choice for many. If/when it's just me, I'll be out of here in a NY minute to one slope or the other of a mtn range somewhere the climate is somewhat "moderate".

 

[THE PILGRIM]

NO, but lately it feels as if you could. Being able to wear little to no clothes 350 days a year is nice. I don't care to be dependent on a/c to survive. It's not as if you can drive an hour (or less) to the mountains & cool off & a/c only seems to break down during the hottest times. To each his own, and everywhere has it's +/-'s. I'm more of a mtn/low humidity guy but $, spouses medical needs, closer to family, good airports that have many direct flights & low prices (rental cars too) for visitors, make Fl a good choice for many. If/when it's just me, I'll be out of here in a NY minute to one slope or the other of a mtn range somewhere the climate is somewhat "moderate".

I was raised in a bunch of humidity and a fair amount of humility.
Fair warning - if you ever move away from the humidity, it would be really hard to ever move back.
I lost my sense of humility hanging around with Yankees.

 

[lawandorder]

Muley Gill gave some real valuable advice to anyone moving to a new local.

Nothing will make you unwelcome faster that complaining about the place you moved to, and wanting to change it into a replica of where you left.

Just stay where you are at if that is the way you are inclined.

 

[Pete99004]

Do what we do - we find a place we think we'll like to retire in and research the heck out of it - if we don't find anything we can't live with, we schedule a 2 or 3 week trip to check out the area and surrounding towns. So far, it's been really nice to come back home from all our vacations...so I guess this might be where we stay.


Pete

 

[feralmerril]

When I left home one of my first jobs was working in yosemite and the grand tetons national parks. Most of the seasonal workers were college students who had connections with uncle congressmen etc that used pull to get their jobs. I recall one friend was a farm boy from the middle of kansas. He was probley homesick and was going on and on about Kansas and their was nothing pretty or to do here like back home. I was sitting there thinking I was in the middle of paradise.
Retirement and living anywhere is a personnel thing. You cant have someone else like us decide for you what you will like. I have a quirk that anywhere I am I need to get out of it regularly and see something else. People come from all over the world to see SW utah, the national parks that I live near. I have lived and worked in many areas. In my case things can get boring real quick in the center of paradise if you cant get out regularly for a change.

 

[Farmer17]

I've lived in OK most of my life and I'm sure I will retire here and still call it home, but if you are retired why live in one place all the time. I could see having a fifth wheel and hauling it to Colorado in the summer and maybe to Florida in the winter or many other parts of the U.S. just to see American and try different places. Call home where ever the taxes and RV lot rental is the cheapest!

 

[feralmerril]

Lots of angles to consider. One thing I didnt check when we bought here in utah after retiring in california that cost`s us dearly. In california we had HMO insurance. Here we cant get it and have to get PPO insurance. That alone cost`s me about $700 to $800s now out of my retirement check!!!!
Also when we were looking my wife insisted on living within minuets to a walmart and a hospital. At first that wasn't ok with me but now I can see she was right on that one. In this country I know of settlements that are at least a 100 miles away to either.
When I retired I was single and thought I would stay that way. My plan was to retire, lay around for six months or so and then go to truck driving school and see the country on someone else`s dime and paid to do it. My 401 K was pretty good. That was january of 2000. I think it was march when the market nosedived and I lost almost half of my 401K and Ira`s! Two months later and I got hit by a drunk leaving a AA meeting, didnt go to a doctor and got a pulmonary embolism from a bump on my knee. Almost killed me and in ICU for over a week. That took care of my truck driving idea. Doc said no driving for me plus rat poison (warfarin) for life. "Stuff" happens. Point is things can change no matter how much you plan. Maybe it`s just me and most normal people wont have such luck. Bottom line, we are making it anyway.

 

[hangnoose]

ALL YOU LOST WAS YOUR HUMILITY?

Alright Pilgrim.TSK, TSK. Talk to Ned Beatty about what he lost in the movie deliverance. Stick with your banjo lessens. So sorry if MY PREFERENCE for mtn's & low humidity, isn't the same as yours.

 

[Rule3]

Washington DC!

Realize Florida is 3 separate climate zones

Northern Florida is a whole different world than South.

The Panhandle is really pretty nice. Central pretty much all pine forest (lumber) Cattle, Citrus, Horse Farms

S Fl is were it is really hot and humid. You do get the breeze from both the Gulf and Atlantic. Even East VS West Coast is different.

Last night the temp was 90f but the humiture was 95 at 11 pm!!

Having lived in central and South now I want out of here real bad. It is brutal in the summer and even hotter and more humid further South. It is not at all what it used to be 20-30 yrs ago (no where is) if you stay away from the coasts there is lots of nice places, low taxes, GUN SHINE STATE no income tax

Don't cross off North to say as far down as Clearwater

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Alright Pilgrim.TSK, TSK. Talk to Ned Beatty about what he lost in the movie deliverance. Stick with your banjo lessens. So sorry if MY PREFERENCE for mtn's & low humidity, isn't the same as yours.

Don't know where to get in contact with Ted Beatty, but New Mexico good old boy Ronnie Cox, the guitar player in the movie, lives down in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. That is a no kidding mountain town , high up in the Sacramento Mountains. And it's got really big trees. It was founded as a logging town.

 

[raylan007]

Generalization of Oregon

California has the best climate, and that's all. The northwest is wet and damp. Oregon is going left. Colorado is starting to show liberal anti gun tendencies.
About the only warm dry places left are Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and maybe Nevada. Utah is not bad but pretty dry. North of that can get cold.
How do you feel about snakes?
The southwest is the only area that seems to satisfy your criteria. If you don't like humidity, none of the southeast states will work. I personally like the Carolina mountains, but there will be a mild winter.

I am sure that most of your opinions of what other states have to offer are similar, have you ever been out of your own? I have lived in Central Oregon for the past 20 years and I can state from a first hand experience your comments reflect what you have read and not seen or experienced. As they say words are cheap or in your case meaningless.

 

[feralmerril]

You could ov fooled me! I thought his opinion was right on in my experience, and I have been in every place mentioned. Lived and worked in most of them.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

New Mexico and Arizona have similar Gun laws, terrain and weather.
Advantage probably goes to Arizona- better state government lower taxes.
Utah is a beautiful state but is dominated by a specific closed group who call the shots.
Colorado has already been pretty well discussed. When you get away from the front range and The ski towns, there are some very nice places in CO.
I like Northwest Nevada, up around Carson City and Reno.
I think it is worth repeating. The answer to the good weather out west is elevation. You're probably looking for 5 to 6000 ft elevation. Much over 6,000 like Santa Fe and Flagstaff gets chilly!
This morning I was leaving for my daily walk. The lady across the street has a sold sign and she was backing out of her garage.
So I say hello and then I ask her where are you moving to?
She says I'm going back home to California. Then she says I'm really going to miss this weather here. We are at about 5800 feet here.

 

[ladder13]

I love these "my state is better than yours" threads.