Long range retirement ideas?

OK, I turned 50 about 6 weeks ago, Mrs. Duke is slightly older, we've recently become semi-permanent empty nesters, we just bought a Chrysler Town & Country, work is starting to get really tedious for both of us, and I'm feeling curiously itchy on this crappy non-spring Monday. I'm eager for things to progress to some unidentified next level, but simultaneously lazy and unwilling to do much outside my comfortable routine.

So I figure if I'm planning on retiring in 10 years or so, I better start now, and let continental drift move at its own pace.

Mrs. Duke and I are pretty compatible. We like each other, we like pretty much the same environments; we are fairly introverted, and don't require constant outside stimulation. She supports my autocross activity and I support her stuff. Neither of us is athletically-oriented at all, but we'd like comfortable and interesting places to walk for some physical exercise. We're not religious, have no interest in being recruited into a religion, and don't really want to be somewhere that's going to cause friction. Politically, I would consider us pretty independent: socially tolerant, but fiscally conservative. We both have our circles of not-terribly-close friends, and we both have the remnants of not-terribly-close families in the NE / Midatlantic region. All of our siblings are older, so those families will be diminishing further as the years progress.

We currently live in the suburbs, in a medium-sized college town of around 15-20,000, about halfway between Philly and Baltimore. We like the size and the college-town vibe, because it stays fresh and active. We like spring and fall. We've done the rural thing and enjoyed it, but don't need to do it again. We're really not urban people but we like to have a decent, interesting city within an hour's drive.

We like our house well enough but could replace it. Our neighborhood is good enough but our location could be better; we don't really interact much with our neighbors (which is fine) but our street is kind of a cut-through and it's on the edge of a small commercial zone. I'd like to have a slightly bigger garage / shop. Other than financially it wouldn't break my heart to move away from this house. Ideally I'd like to design and build one, tailored to our needs, but fiscally I just don't see that as a really valid goal unless we move somewhere very cheap. Real estate here is decently valued and I wouldn't have any problem unloading this house, but I'd be unlikely to find something significantly better locally, without significantly more investment. Cost of living here is not unreasonable (property taxes are not killer compared to a lot that I've heard) but it's not cheap, either, like anywhere along the Boston-DC corridor.

The house is probably worth somewhere between $300k-$325k. It's our only long-term debt and should be paid off in less than 5 years. That will leave us with about 5 years to bank what had been our mortgage payment before we really expect to retire. We've been putting away about 15% of our (very typical) income into retirement savings for the last 15 years or so, and Mrs. Duke will have a moderate pension. We're not independently wealthy by any means but we are looking at being able to retire at 60 or so without having to live in a refrigerator box and eat cat food.

So, the basic questions:

Do we just stay here and not spend the money that relocation would cost?

Do we cash out of this house and replace it with something nicer in a cheaper location... if so, WHERE?

I understand this is a 10-year lookahead, but it can take us 6 months to buy a car and years to accomplish anything more substantial. I like to perk ideas over in the back of my mind for a while before really getting down to implementation. So please put my mental coffee on to perk. Thanks!

Where will your kids be in ten years and do you want to be near them?

JohnRW1621 wrote: Where will your kids be in ten years and do you want to be near them?

Honestly, they could be anywhere from here to Chicago to Korea. Yes, I would like being near them, but I am not convinced that will remain possible.

Mexico

Aruba

There is something to be said for becoming an ex-pat. Say for the sake of argument you retire to the Phillipines, you are likely to find that your modest income stateside goes MUCH further in another country.

And it's a big adventure which is always a good thing.

We're maybe not that adventurous. I'd rather travel than overcommit to living outside the US.

Too bad...

I know a nice little place in Panama.

Too bad there's a distinct lack of large flat paved areas in that neighborhood.

One thing to consider, $300K+ will buy a lot more house if you move south. Or you buy the same house for $150K and bank the rest.

Costa Rica.. Seriously.. look into it. Lots of retiree's there from the US with lots of great medical setups.. http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/may/30/retiring-costa-rica-dream-and-reality/

Proper answer now: I would seriously look at Upstate South Carolina, Tenn and Kentucky. You have some winter but mostly warmer areas...

Or use this.. http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eehd45eejif/10th-best-state-texas-tie/

My in-laws are in a dell webb community and seriously.. They love it.

You and your wife sound a lot like my wife and I. We considered relocating when it came retirement time. After a lot of soul-searching we could not come up with any good reason to move. Unless there is something that you really don't like about where you are, why move?

Honestly if I could talk the wife into it I'd do the Costa Rica thing. Long been fascinated by the idea. The panhandle of FL, Pensacola, Destin, etc is low cost, low key but not crazy florida. It's my eventual target.

In the foxtrapper household, we occasionally spin the globe and look. Getting emails from the likes of internet magazines like International Living, and having some friends who do indeed do the globe hopping thing really gets me revved up. Familial ties are the thing that keeps us in this region of this country. Those will fade as we age. Panama is interesting, as is Costa Rica, France and even Hawaii (and not as inherently expensive as you'd think).

I find slowly coming to understand the dread of winter that older folk have enlightening. Falling down on the ice in my 20's was funny. By my 40's, it was getting painful. In my 50's, I lightly fear it. Can't imagine the terror being in my 70's would bring. Nor do I like how the winter cold creeps into the bones a little deeper each year. I am very much coming to understand running away to warmer climates either as a snowbird or permanently.

I do not want to go into my dottering old age with a house that requires frequent maintenance and repairs. No more cold floors, drafty windows, repaintings, caulking, thawing pipes, etc. Nor do I want stairs to fall down, or not be able to get my wheelchair/walker up and down. I want it easy to maintain, because I won't be so able to climb ladders and such by then.

I like country living, but I like being able to go into town easily even more. I want activities. Movies, stage shows, pizza, etc. Things to do. I have no intentions of sitting on my porch watching the grass grow all day, every day. So probably some sort of burb living, preferably nearish to a college town just for the youthful influence.

To my amusement, I find myself somewhat interested in some of the retirement communities. They vary tremendously, and price does not align with services. I had no idea I would be able to afford some, I'd always assumed they were vastly out of reach, they are not. The notion of a place where I don't have to do the repairs and maintenance has its appeal. Especially since it would let me spend my time doing other things. Ericksonliving.com is one in particular that intrigues me. I've kin that retired to one (Riderwood).

We are in the same mode- although, theoretically closer to the time we both want to retire.

The whole moving thing really takes some thought- it's evloved for us to live in various places around the world to likely staying where we live now- it offers a lot of benefits, with the only real downside of winter. But I would suggest travelling and doing the research where you want to live- I know of no place that does not have some kind of drawback- to the deep hot of the south, hurricanes on the coasts, cold of the north- whatever.

We've actually be joking about moving into a smaller place as we age- first one that does not have stairs, and second one that's more of a condo vs. a house. As fox pointed out, there are some quite good retirement communities to offer support too (which is another reason why we won't retire in some places).

I love living in a college town, and the opportunity it offers for post retirement work/volunteering.

One other thing- we are 30 min away from a very nice hub that we can get to pretty much anywhere in the world- lots of them on direct flights, too.

Similar couple and social dynamics here. About six years ahead of you in the timeline.

I have a house I like with a well equipped shop and the peer infrastructure to enjoy the hobby. Have even dabbled in making money from it.

I cant see bailing on Canada full time. As a fluent Spanish speaker, the warmer climes of South America call to me as does the Latin culture. However, once the first three weeks go by, what the hell am I going to do there? I think that having to bird-dog the non-spanish speaking wife in just about anything she did would also get old.

I have considered the ex-pat thing as well. The reasons I have pretty much put it aside are distance from family, difficulty in transplanting to an area which has any active paved race track (yes this is important to me), I could learn a new language but why?, many parts of Mexico and Central America (most attractive areas to me) are prone to hurricanes etc and I am so over those berkeleying things. Plus, say if I were to move to Mexico it gets pretty lawless in some areas. Not sure I want to go to all the aggravation of moving just to land somewhere that pretty much guarantees I'd die by bullet.

So that leaves the US and Europe. The cost of living in Europe can get pretty high in places where I'd want to live on top of the cost of moving itself, so naw.

I'm pretty well settled on moving somewhere in northwestern Georgia, upstate SC, western NC. Reasonably close to Road Atlanta and CMP. Then with a longer drive, VIR, Barber, Roebling etc along with a hillclimb scene that is expanding. Autocross in Charlotte, at Laurens (Michelin Proving Grounds) etc. Twisty hilly roads for spring/fall top down excursions. Summers can get hot but not as brutal as Charleston or Columbia etc. Close enough to Asheville, Greenville, Atlanta etc for a reasonable day trip. There's also a lot of National Forest land to explore on a dualsport bike.

I would never in a million years live in Florida. There's just nothing I like about that state. Everybody hold your 'but Florida is great!' comments, no it ain't.

Hmm... this has me pondering the idea of a retirement community oriented towards car-people... large garages with work-shops... maybe a central wrenching/hang-out area... additional storage and more lenient parking rules compared to other retirement communities...

Taxes are definitely a concern. At least to me. Where I live in PA the taxes are pretty low. That combine with the fact my house is paid for (I'm 44) and my general plan is to stay put. Unfortunately, I'm probably looking at another 25 years before retirement, so at some point I hope to develop a "retirement" job or jobs that will provide income and be more enjoyable than my current line of work.

In reply to Ian F:

That would probably work pretty well near a track like RA or etc. Don't know about doing it without a draw like that, though.

I do know of one house in the Charleston area which is sizeable, like 6k sq ft and the whole underside is a garage full of Ferraris.

My father's first requirements for finding a place to retire was whether or not they have state income tax. So you're already ahead of that living in Delaware; don't underestimate just how big of a nasty big wet chunk the government can take from you.

I think that list is Delaware, Texas, New Hampshire, Washington (retirement income only?), Alaska, and Florida. My dad has mostly lived in Seattle and tried the others (from Baltimore) since he retired, but hasn't stayed anywhere more than 9 months. He's in Hawaii currently, camping out of his Jeep. His retirement plan is to wander the earth until he can't anymore.

My own plan right now is survive the next 20+ years and keep putting 15% of our money in the 401k and retirement savings my wife and I have. Then hopefully follow my dad's path.

Delaware actually does have income tax. What we don't have is sales tax, which is nice.

Obviously, taxes are a huge consideration and since they come in many flavors, it isn’t possible to score a state’s “tax desirability” without knowing a specific individual’s current as well as future finances.

For instance, some states treat Social Security income differently than ordinary income. So, if you’ve got a large portfolio, how Social Security is taxed isn’t going to make a big difference but if Social Security will be a major part of your retirement income, it’ll matter a lot.

Property taxes vary wildly between states so if you intend to have a large percent of your net worth in your home, you’ll want to avoid states like New Jersey.

The complexity goes on and on in terms of how estate, stock dividends, bond interest, government pensions, etc. get treated.

Add to this the fact that taxes are a moving target so you’ve got to look at the trends over time.

Admittedly, I’m not a tax expert so I may have gotten a few things wrong but in a general sense, I know you can’t just assign a single score to a state…it totally depends on your unique situation.

Added later...

Here’s an article by Kiplinger on picking a tax friendly retirement state.

Kiplinger Article

Not to boast but it looks like I nailed the key factors off the top of my head.

What a state doesn't charge in taxes it makes up for in fees. Caveat emptor!