Where Should we Retire?: We wish to retire to somewhere the kids and grandkids would wish to live too. Our bill is $7,000 a month — where should we go?

I’m 68 and my mother is 61. We will have about $800,000 in sum assets and IRAs, and an income of $7,000 monthly including my Social Security. We now rent.

We wish to equivocate high-humidity summers, yet also try to stay divided from a dried heat. Trying to equivocate shoveling a lot of snow, too.

We like gardening, cycling, hiking, boating and fishing, so entrance to H2O would be a blessing. It would be good to means a half-acre or more.

Our subsequent dual generations may follow us, so practice opportunities for them would be an additional benefit.  

I’m stumped on where to go, so your assistance would be severely appreciated.

Russ

Dear Russ,

Congratulations on being on a fork of retirement and a start of a new adventure.

I’m conference we contend both a South and a Southwest are out, given a weather. There are still copiousness of options, yet we competence have to concede a bit on winter weather. (How many snow? How many rain?) 

If we wish a subsequent dual generations to follow, we need an area where stagnation has been next normal (at slightest pre-pandemic). A fast-growing area could be a bonus. You competence wish to ask them what trade-offs they’re peaceful to accept before we collect a spot. we wish it’s not only sad meditative on your part.  

A thought: Why not demeanour for a townhouse or over-55 village where a fees to a homeowners organisation embody sleet shoveling? Maybe mowing too? That competence meant giving adult on a half acre, yet we can still do a lot of gardening on reduction land. Just check those HOA rules. A village garden could be a backup plan. Regardless, don’t blink how many work a half-acre can be!

Read: Four questions to ask when looking for a 55+ active adult community

Here are 3 really opposite places to consider. The MarketWatch “where should we retire” apparatus can indicate we to some-more possibilities.

The Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge is only south of Salem._ReedLanePhotography


Reed Lane Photography/courtesy Travel Salem

Salem, Oregon

You will shun summer steam in a collateral of Oregon, home to 175,000 people. You also won’t have to trowel many — yet a flip side is stormy winters.

You’ll find those fishing opportunities on a Willamette River within city limits, yet we can also expostulate reduction than 45 miles to Silver Falls State Park, deliberate a climax valuables in a state parks system. Two hours easterly is overwhelming Detroit Lake, 400 feet low and some-more than 9 miles long. It’s in a Willamette National Forest, that covers 1.6 million acres over 8 forest areas, so you’d also have copiousness of hiking options. And when we wish to bike, start with Salem’s 11-mile Minto-Brown Island Park Paved Path.

Salem is in a core of a Willamette Valley, so vineyards aren’t distant away. If grapes can thrive, so can your garden.

Housing costs are somewhat above a inhabitant average. Here’s what’s on a marketplace now, regulating listings on Realtor.com (which, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp.). You can simply flip to see rentals.

An choice could be Corvallis, suggested here.

Read: Health caring will cost this many in retirement — yet substantially even more

A male fishes in a Watauga River during Sycamore Shoals State Park nearby Johnson City.


iStockphoto

Johnson City, Tennessee

This partial of northeastern Tennessee could make a fisherman in we utterly happy.

You’d also be only west of a Blue Ridge Mountains, so there are copiousness of hiking opportunities. In fact, a Appalachian Trail isn’t distant divided if we wish to travel some segments. Biking? Start with a 10-mile Tweetsie Trail to Elizabethton.

Blue Ridge Outdoors repository has described a reader-chosen leader of a 2018 tip midsize city vote as a comparatively new journey city with a “reawakened downtown.” 

You’ll have assuage summer steam and normal Jul highs in a mid-80s. Average layer in Jan is 3 ½ inches, so there’s not many shoveling to do.

Away from outside activities, Johnson City boasts of a live song scene. Eastern Tennessee State University, that is here, has a distinguished bluegrass song program.

On a income side, Tennessee has no state income taxes, and a phaseout of a taxation on investment income (known as a Hall Tax) will be finished on Jan. 1. Housing costs run good next a inhabitant average; they’re a cheapest among my 3 suggestions.

Here’s what’s on a marketplace now, regulating Realtor.com.

Johnson City also is a smallest of a 3 suggestions, with around 67,000 people. The broader tri-cities civil area, that sprawls into southwestern Virginia, is home to some-more than 500,000.
If this is too tiny for a younger generations, they competence wish to bottom themselves in Knoxville (suggested here) reduction than dual hours away.

If Johnson City isn’t utterly right, an choice competence be Roanoke, Va., recommended here.

Read: What should we with all that income we saved for retirement? This male is spending it, and it feels great

A travel in a revitalized and colourful Short North Arts District in Columbus, Ohio.


Courtesy Brand Columbus

Columbus, Ohio

You can find your half-acre lot here, in a collateral of Ohio, or we can demeanour in Franklin County’s suburbs. 

Fast-growing Columbus has 900,000 people and is home to Ohio State University. The wider metro area tops 2 million, so you’ll find a operation of communities as good as home prices and rents. The website Livability described Columbus as “quickly apropos one of a many renouned cities for millennials” when it put it on its list of 100 best places to live in 2019. It jumped to 11th in 2020, when a list was reconfigured for a COVID-19 universe and a increasing ability to work from anywhere. 

One reason is jobs. The younger generations will find corporate domicile of companies like Cardinal Health, Nationwide Insurance and L Brands as good as many other big-name employers.

For a H2O partner in you, check out Griggs Reservoir on a west side of a Scioto River in Columbus, toward a suburb of Hilliard, and a boat club there. Or conduct to one of several lakes north of a I-270 loop.

I know…you’re meditative it’s a Midwest, so what kind of hiking can there be? Woodland options abound. Start with Christmas Rocks State Nature Reserve 40 miles southeast of a city. . Or tackle a Buckeye Trail—more than 1,400 miles that loop around a state.

You’ll find many bike trails, including a 25-mile Alum Creek Greenway Trail. This one is also partial of a 326-mile Ohio to Erie Trail between Cincinnati and Cleveland, if we wish to keep pedaling.

Weather-wise, it’s no warn that we will get 4 seasons. Jan is a snowiest month, with an normal of scarcely 7 inches. Average summer highs strech a mid-80s, and steam is moderate. Your garden will adore it.

Despite a size, housing on normal doesn’t cost many some-more than in Johnson City. See what’s on a housing marketplace in Columbus and across Franklin County regulating Realtor.com.

Readers, where do we consider Russ and his mother should retire? Leave your suggestions in a comments section.

Now read: We wish to leave cold Midwest states for ‘warmer and drier climes’ and affordable health caring on $44,000 a year — so where should we retire?

This entry was posted in Featured Articles and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.