Finding the Best State for Retirement Is Personal
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 11, 2021 — Moving to a new state when you retire is not a decision to be made lightly. Only a tiny percentage of retirees make a move that significant, but when they do they usually do it for important reasons. Often they trade in a valuable home in a high-priced market for a less expensive but nicer one in the Sunbelt somewhere, getting warmer winters and a friendlier tax environment in the bargain. They might move to a more age-appropriate home in a state where they can live the lifestyle they dreamed about. Or they might change states to be near family or friends.
If you choose to move or not, this is a very personal decision. Consulting lists of the “best states for retirement” might give you some ideas, but ultimately you need to choose based on the lifestyle, cost of living, taxes, politics, and culture, that will lead you to a happy retirement.
The most popular states for retirement
Comments on "Finding the Best State for Retirement Is Personal"
Trapper says:
I’ve spent about 6 years whittling down what states and parts of states would be good for our lifestyle. We knew some states, like FL and CA were out. Currently living in CT, one of the worst retirement states, I’ve always known I want to leave the state when my spouse retires.
We’ve been working on getting our home ready to sell. We’ve also getting rid of “stuff’ that we no longer need. We are almost ready to downsize and move. One hitch came up.
My spouse doesn’t want to leave the state. At this point, with so much time invested in planning our retirement, I have nothing to do, but wait until a decision is made where to go…or stay where we live and find a smaller, one story home.
My advice to you is don’t spend as much time on the decision and wait until it gets closer,. Also, don’t buy land not in a subdivision now. We had a friend who bought land 15 years ago (a buildable lot then) which today cannot be built due to changes in laws, or discovery of an endangered plant on the property.
Scott L says:
I think part of the process is to stay flexible, both in terms of location and your own abilities.
My wife and I thought we had a pretty good plan.
Then I had a major stroke and lost most of my mobility. We've had to reboot, and we may just stay put. (We'll put a "Don't laugh, it's paid for" sign on our front lawn.)
As for the article, Texas may have some affordable places, but Austin sure isn't one, and it'll be worse once Tesla moves there. (I live in Fort Worth, which used to be very cheap.)