Retirement location

FrankS said:
I'd like to thank everyone for their contribution of ideas!
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Frank, I'll suggest another option:

Stay in Canada? Winters in the Niagara Peninsula are manageable. Victoria is beautiful year round. And there's also the Okanagan Valley. You will get snow there and minus temps but the winter is milder and much shorter than most of Ontario. Nice dry heat in the summers. And you have great access to a lot of beautiful country.

I assume you know the above and have considered it but combine that with some travel and I think it would be rather pleasant.
 
Paddy C said:
In big parts of Canada it's about the weather and that's it. I would wager that with milder winters many Canadians would be quite happy with where they are year-round.

In Ottawa this year it was -20 to -30 celsius every day of February. And January and March were hardly better. We get little sunlight and it all starts to make a person quite grumpy. Even at my age I would like to leave here for those three months.
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The Pacific coast of BC is kinda inviting to me. Someone recommended the "Sunshine Islands" very near Vancouver.

If I were rich I'd buy something in Montreal in the "Old City" by the Saint Lawence River and use that as my summer home to escape the sometimes hellish weather in NYC. I could then live in NYC and Montreal and still not need a car.

I figure not owning or needing a car saves me about $8K to $10K every year. Not sure when I'm in my eighties that I want to be tied to needing a vehicle. Montreal is about 4 million people and NYC is about 8.4 million (likely 10 million within a decade IMHO). I already walk a lot.

I'm sure I could get away without a car in Portland Oregon, and Vancouver is not that far away if you want to keep in touch with Canada. Perhaps this could be like my NYC-Montreal except on the west coast with a milder climate.

Cal
 
I'd settle for a cliché.

Somewhere warm, not too many people, fruit trees, crystal waters and perhaps a little wooden boat to fish and swim from....and life that moves slowly. Perhaps having to take a ferry of some sort to get there so I have a little time to unwind as I travel there.

Reading that back it sounds like I've just finished reading Captain Correlli's Mandolin🙄
 
You can live without a car in Portland. I find it easier and cheaper to be car-less in Portland than San Francisco. However, I would budget the occasional car rental though, so you can get out and explore the great state of Oregon. But please! do not invite any more southern Californians. I'm trying to get a measure on the ballot that implements a much needed policy for Californians -- They can visit, but not stay. We'll check at the border and deport offenders. The program is easily paid for by visitation fees charged to every CA licensed vehicle that enters OR, and every CA resident that enters through our ports (airport, seaport).

In all seriousness, the west coast of US/Canada has seen explosive growth (not counting southern California) and I've seen entire quaint communities (where I would have happily retired) consumed by urban/suburban blight and homogenization. A truly ugly process to witness. Thus, I like to keep my favorite communities a secret.

A secret that has already gotten out: Vancouver BC. My absolute very favorite big city on the planet. Lucky to have family there.
 
For a year round experience the Pacific Northwest is wonderful. I Moved up to Seattle in January 1996 and fell in love. The year round temperatures range mostly between 30 and 80 degrees fahrenheit, there are some swing days below freezing and some in the 90's but the majority are very nice. I found that you can keep a boat in the water year round which I could not do in the New England area. Also can ride a motorcycle year round as well as seakayaker year round as well. In the 18 years I have spent up here there has only been two years that had a winter storm that had a impacted the Seattle area. Most are mild with some rain. The annual amount of rainfall is similar to Boston, Dallas and San Francisco. The Pacific Northwest has similar cloud cover days as New England. On the eastern side of the cascades it is milder temperatures and more rainfall than snow. In the mountains there is snow and skiing available for those would want it. There is also lots of hiking, bicycling, fishing, camping, which people participate in year round.

A lot of people have retired to the northern end of the Olympic Peninsula since they have a section called the banana belt created by the circulating winds generated by the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and the intersection of the San Juan de fuca Straight, Puget Sound, & Straight of Georgia.The Northern Peninsula along with Victoria BC benefit due to the clouds and moisture being pushed to the east and they experience a bit less moisture and more sunshine.

I have spent a number of winter long weekends to week long trips to Victoria during the winter months. They have milder temperatures and more sunshine than Seattle to go along with some nice cultural activities, restaurants, gardens, hiking trails in the area. The off-season rates and package deals offered by B.C. Ferries systems make for a enjoyable destination that is close by and reasonably priced.

Down side is there is a cost of living issue in Seattle and other areas around the Pacific Northwest. There are also areas where you can find reasonable housing and still be close to large cities, wilderness, along with a host of activity available in either setting.

The downside may be that the Seattle area is expected to add about 60,000 people to the work force in the upcoming year. So housing stock for buyers and renting is scarcer and the prices are going up. There are still lots of areas in the state where you can find housing and reasonable costs.

The big bonus is that the photographic opportunities are endless.

Good luck with your search.
 
OK thread for those with some ''ideas'' about greener pastures during the winter months. Less so for perpetual expatriates like myself who are looking for a place to settle down permanently. It's all good. P
 
FrankS said:
Thanks guys!

Roger: Je parl France' com un vash Espanol. 😉 So, not so good! We did enjoy our week in southern France back in 2009, and enjoyed meeting you!

The southern US is convenient because of the language and being able to drive there.

Asia: that sounds exciting. Finding the right location there would be very important.
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I just got back from Thailand. April is the hottest month of the year there, followed by 3 months of rain. So maybe jet out before April.
I really liked many places there, but Hua Hin - about 2 hours from Bangkok - seemed especially good. I stayed in some pretty luxury condos there fronting the nicest beach I've ever seen. A lot of people there, Thai and expat alike, buy condos there and rent them out when they're not around to help cover the mortgage.
With the exchange rate being what it is you could find a good place for much cheaper than here or the US. And the food is terrific 🙂
 
rfaspen said:
In all seriousness, the west coast of US/Canada has seen explosive growth (not counting southern California) and I've seen entire quaint communities (where I would have happily retired) consumed by urban/suburban blight and homogenization. A truly ugly process to witness. Thus, I like to keep my favorite communities a secret.

A secret that has already gotten out: Vancouver BC. My absolute very favorite big city on the planet. Lucky to have family there.
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Unfortunately the same is happening right here in NYC. Use to be that the population hovered at 8 million for decades. During the workday the population swells to 10 million, but NYC is being made into a city for the rich and affluent, and affordable housing is becoming scarcer.

As all the gentrification and redevelopment takes place I expect NYC population to become 9 million within 5 years, from today's 8.4 million, just due to two big development projects alone (Hudson Yards and Queens South in Long Island City). Perhaps in a decade we will hit 10 million. Already there are rumors of covering over Sunnyside Yards, and if this mamouth railyard gets covered over and high rises are built, easily you could add another million. Note if you connect all the dots (inferstructure projects being currently built) it become obvious that this ambitious concept of a project is being made real due to the location of all the infrastructure building.

These new residents have more affluence than me, and the redevelopments and infrastructure being built is to make NYC almost like a gated community. Some of the projects are huge: Second Avenue Subway (new); a Long Island Rail Road termanal on the eastside of Madhattan; Extending the 7 Train to the Javit's Center; Hudson Yards redevelopment; Queens South redevelopment; extending the Highline Park to 30th Street...

I think it is just a matter of time before mega-gentrification pushes me out of NYC. Many of the gentrifiers here are the wealthy from other countrys. Saw some of this in Montreal. Build the luxury and someone from another country will buy it. Never thought that NYC would be like Zuric, Monte Carlo, or Monaco where the wealthy build bunkers for when they escape their own country.

I am being reminded of a scene from the film "Ben Hur" where Charlton Heston is being told by a Roman, "Row hard and live long Juda Ben Hur." My taxes are being used to support the wealthy in my city.

Cal
 
seakayaker1 said:
For a year round experience the Pacific Northwest is wonderful. I Moved up to Seattle in January 1996 and fell in love.
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I love Seattle and the Pacific Northwest in general. But Seattle is a particularly nice city. I'm in love with the Oregon coast since our visit there a couple years ago.

My wife is from BC and her immediate family lives close together in the Fraser Valley. So we tend to see a lot of the west coast (both US and Can) as well as an eastern corridor (TO-MTL, NY, MA, VT etc.). One thing I've noticed about this is that the west coast is enticing because of its weather, big natural scenery and a certain lifestyle. But its lacking culturally. The eastern corridor I mentioned is absolutely packed with culture. We are 4 hours drive from TO, 2 to MTL, 8 to Bos or NYC. Whenever we need a fill it's so easy to get to. Travelling between the coasts isn't a hardship but it's not fun. I wouldn't want to do it regularly.
 
Paddy C said:
I love Seattle and the Pacific Northwest in general. But Seattle is a particularly nice city. I'm in love with the Oregon coast since our visit there a couple years ago.

My wife is from BC and her immediate family lives close together in the Fraser Valley. So we tend to see a lot of the west coast (both US and Can) as well as an eastern corridor (TO-MTL, NY, MA, VT etc.). One thing I've noticed about this is that the west coast is enticing because of its weather, big natural scenery and a certain lifestyle. But its lacking culturally. The eastern corridor I mentioned is absolutely packed with culture. We are 4 hours drive from TO, 2 to MTL, 8 to Bos or NYC. Whenever we need a fill it's so easy to get to. Travelling between the coasts isn't a hardship but it's not fun. I wouldn't want to do it regularly.
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Paddy,

Very nice summation. I kinda feel the same way. Although I'm from New York Seattle seems like a great ciy that I will visit soon. I really like Portland also when I visted there. There seems to be a youthful vibe and open thinking that I appreciated.

Your mention of the Northeast and Pacific Northwest have this in common: both have stable water supplies, unlike other parts of the country; and both regions are somewhat kinda buffered from natural disasters. The Northwest isn't known for hurricanes and tornadoes like other parts of the country. New York lately has had its share of severe weather though. Miami to me is a doomed city that eventually will be submerged. Parts of Southbeach already are with a high tide. Perhaps one has to worry about volcanic activity, but that seems kinda remote.

Cal
 
OurManInTangier said:
I'd settle for a cliché.

Somewhere warm, not too many people, fruit trees, crystal waters and perhaps a little wooden boat to fish and swim from....and life that moves slowly. Perhaps having to take a ferry of some sort to get there so I have a little time to unwind as I travel there.

Reading that back it sounds like I've just finished reading Captain Correlli's Mandolin🙄
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Reading your list I'd guess you won't have to move from the UK...

Regards, David
 
Calzone said:
Unfortunately the same is happening right here in NYC. ...

I am being reminded of a scene from the film "Ben Hur" where Charlton Heston is being told by a Roman, "Row hard and live long Juda Ben Hur." My taxes are being used to support the wealthy in my city.

Cal
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Indeed - same here in Philadelphia. We schmucks who pay our property taxes subsidize the tax abatements for million dollar condos. One woman who was featured in the paper owns an expensive apartment, and had a TEN YEAR tax holiday. Then she got her first bill - $10,000 for the year. Shocking! And after all she had done for us by gracing us with her presence!

She went to the tax board and raised hell. Get this - they reduced her bill to $5,000!

And she was not happy, threatened to move out of the city.

(Gosh, could we help you pack?)

Randy
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Peter,

First sentence: some will. Or at least, they'll take it into account.

Second sentence: because I'm not a po-faced misery-guts accountant with a masochistic desire to go into unnecessary detail about the French tax code. Others are much better at that than I, and devote entire businesses to it.

Cheers,

R.
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I certainly take things like that into account. I'd never live anywhere where I have no access to good food and wine!
 
Some thoughts on retiring to the US. First of all, if you have (a decent amount of) money and/or health insurance, then I wouldn't worry about health care. If you don't, then I'd definitely worry.

Also, politically, things in the US tilt towards the right side of the political spectrum. Even the majority of Democratic Congressmen are basically coporatists. The political landscape has shifted greatly towards the right since the early 1980's. If you're OK with this, then great. If not, you may have problems. Especially in the South.
 
This is a very interesting thread to me. I would love to not only retire, but move to another country. Europe is most appealing, with France, Italy and possibly some parts of Central/Eastern Europe (my mother's family is from Croatia). My wife lived in France for a few years, and loves it, also (as well as Italy).

The major stumbling block I see is money. You need enough to survive for the long term, and if you don't have it, you'll need to get a job. There's the rub for non-European members. It's very difficult for a non-Euro member to get a job. If anybody has any ideas on legal ways for a non-EU citizen to move to the EU, then I'm all ears.
 
jpa66 said:
The major stumbling block I see is money. You need enough to survive for the long term, and if you don't have it, you'll need to get a job. There's the rub for non-European members. It's very difficult for a non-Euro member to get a job. If anybody has any ideas on legal ways for a non-EU citizen to move to the EU, then I'm all ears.
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Though far from easy, the best way around this is to bring your job with you. IE have your own business and be able to transport it.
 
Calzone said:
Your mention of the Northeast and Pacific Northwest have this in common: both have stable water supplies, unlike other parts of the country; and both regions are somewhat kinda buffered from natural disasters. The Northwest isn't known for hurricanes and tornadoes like other parts of the country. New York lately has had its share of severe weather though. Miami to me is a doomed city that eventually will be submerged. Parts of Southbeach already are with a high tide. Perhaps one has to worry about volcanic activity, but that seems kinda remote.
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The question about water supply is a difficult one. We were vacationing in Palm Springs this March and my father-in-law was of the opinion that it would get to a point where SoCal would just come for whatever water they could get to (including BC). Water in SoCal is a potentially (probably likely) massive and disruptive problem.

I agree about some of the coastal cities in the east. Could be lots of pain coming to some of them.

Ultimately, a lot of uncertainty in that department and we generally know the really bad spots and I would avoid those in my plans.
 
Several people have complained at how places change, become overcrowded, gentrified, overpriced, etc. The truth, though, is that "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" (L.P. Hartley). Very few places are immune from change, and not all change is bad: I quite like paved roads. Some change is bad, though: we lost our railway years ago, before I moved here, and the butcher's has disappeared since I've been here. Then again, I'm partly to blame for the latter: poor choice and high prices are why many people stopped supporting small local shops. If you want to live in the past you need either somewhere rural, or possibly a reasonably central location in a well-established (over 500 years) city.

Cheers,

R.
 
David Hughes said:
Reading your list I'd guess you won't have to move from the UK...

Regards, David
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I'm not too fussed about moving permanently from or to anywhere in all honesty. In many ways a base either here or there makes little real difference to me as the world is a big place much of which I can still discover. Having said that, the idea of a little bolt-hole to disappear in to, somewhere I have an affinity with and that ticks some of the ( not completely jokey) criteria mentioned earlier, would be a dream.
 
Roger Hicks said:
... If you want to live in the past you need either somewhere rural, or possibly a reasonably central location in a well-established (over 500 years) city.

Cheers, R.
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I think you could add a third criteria/criterium to that list: be immensely rich.

BTW, we had two old fashioned butchers in town. The sort that would come out of the shop to give my dog a huge bone now and then. No problems with competition and both had queues in them but when they both retired no one wanted to take over the shops and continue the trade.

Regards, David
 
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