Retirement Planning: Our Members Are on the Move!
Category: Retirement Planning
August 23, 2017 — There is one very clear conclusion from our latest Member survey, “Selling Your Home and Retirement Planning” – our Members overwhelmingly plan on moving to a different home when they retire. And, they plan on moving on in much greater numbers than does the general population. Some 90% of our recent survey takers said they definitely will sell their home, are thinking about it, or have already sold. That contrasts with just 6% that say they will definitely or probably stay in their current home.
Topretirements’ Members itch to move is starkly different from a recent AARP survey, where 90% of people over 65 said they want to remain in their own homes and community as long as possible. For comparison, a Del Webb survey some years back found that about one third of baby boomers plan on moving in retirement.
The Topretirements.com survey from last week asked 10 questions about moving, downsizing, and what kind of home you intend to buy for
Comments on "Retirement Planning: Our Members Are on the Move!"
Johnny says:
Exodus OF Illinois! A mass departure of smart people.
State of Corruption and Chaos!
Chuck Kerstein says:
Well conducted survey. Loved the comments from others who have already gone through the process. I share with the majority opinion on most questions, it's just a matter of doing it.
HEF says:
Missed the survey and we are in the middle of buying a new place for our retirement. We are moving from a low cost of living area to a higher one, moving from south to north, moving to be near better medical support and more things we like to do! Wish we could have found a one-level home but the master is on the main floor. Houses were selling FAST, and for lots of money, this summer so we had to take what we could get. Got a good location though and lots of things within walking distance. We're goin' to MAINE!
Mel says:
Just my opinion that using boxes from grocery stores to pack and store items in can draw mice and rats, they can smell any residual food odors in the box.
louise says:
For the person who commented: My children don’t want my books, which makes me very sad. My books are the heritage I’d always expected to share and Wednesday, Aug 16th pass on. There aren’t many places to sell used books, except for store credit, and I frankly need cash, and fewer books.
There are apps called Book Scouter or cash4books.net that you can put on your Smart Phone. You can scan the bar code with your phone and it will tell you what it is worth. They will buy the books from you. Plus, there is another place you can sell books and is called Half.com. Of course there is always ebay. I think the apps would be a better choice because Half.com and Ebay can be hard to sell books unless rare.
Michael says:
My wife is retired now and I will be in a couple more years. When I do, we are gone from SW Ohio. Right now we are looking at NH as our top choice. That said, I suspect that the reason folks subscribe to this website in the first place is because they were predisposed to moving after retirement - we generally are looking for good information on retirement locales other than our current resident locations. Thus it is not surprising that huge percent of your respondents indicated they planned to move after retirement! There is probably a name for this type of survey bias. I'm guessing that the population of nearing-retirement folks in this country looks more like the AARP or Del Webb survey results. However, the comments from your respondents - as usual - are interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Editor's note: Michael, we think your instincts about our audience vs. others is probably correct. Glad you are enjoying the comments as much we are.
Raman Patel says:
You are missing-out a one BIG Factor. That is one's health condition and current network of established medical specialty professionals.
says:
We did the Scouting trip! Spent a week, in 2015, with list in hand. Health being at the top, we talked to the Neurology group (they were so very welcoming an helpful!), checked out the Medical Gym (they remembered us when we joined this summer), drove around the city and surrounding areas and talked to a LOT of people. We made the move in Dec 2017 and are SO HAPPY we did. What we found was superior to what we had, where we had gone for work. We are HOME!
RichPB says:
I responded to this survey in 2017 and answered truthfully that we were definitely planning to move -- at the time. This was after years of debate and back and forth and searching for a preferred location and new home. But after beginning the process of preparing to move (including selling my old truck), it became apparent that the sell, buy again and move would just not make practical sense for us. We are happy here. NC is more than satisfactory for us. We could never achieve or replace the home we've built over 25 years, all the lost (at least left behind) friends, service providers, and comforting surroundings -- let alone be left with move hassles, starting new, etc. And for possibly 40 or 50 thousand profit? (Yes, we are fortunate that the money is not make or break.).
Since re-thinking the decision to move, we have invested in securing/upgrading our home to be even more what we wanted. I got a less old and nicer truck (a winter priority back here in the hills). ? And we've become completely at peace with the idea that we are here permanently -- just as we had planned for so long.
So shift one vote from that definitely moving over to definitely staying.
Editor's comment: Thanks RichPB for the update. Plans change and it is good to be able to adjust!
Kathleen Mayer says:
After working in Florida for 21 years, we moved to New Mexico 14 years ago when we retired. We made a lot of money on our Flirida home. Now, we are moving to Del Webb in Georgetown, Texas for better medical, dining, shopping, day trips, hunting, and fishing, among other things. We will lose over 100K on the NM house, but will be worth it to be somewhere we enjoy. Everyone's situation is different, but I I didn't want to end up a widow with no support group and substandard medical. I can't imagine dealing with this move alone. We plan on it being our last one.