Retirement & High Cost of Living

[goldye]

We're recently retired (forced - somewhat planned).  We live near NYC (meaning high cost of living, housing & overall a highway robbery state).  We don't want to move - having lived here our entire lives, but having spent the past few weeks researching statistics on cost of living outside of New York and my mouth drops every time.  I also researched health care amont the 50 states & learned how different & varied it is.

So is it inevitable we will have to move outside of NYC area?  Probably.  Yes, salaries are higher here & as a teacher, we receive a generous pension + eligible for Social Security.  Reality is the generous pension makes retirement here very challenging.  Outside of NYC, our pension can make us look like we can afford a mansion & travel the world (well almost).

The last regular paycheck was Oct. 15th & we're waiting for the 1st pension check to come in Dec. 1st.  When we calculate the net check against our budget, we'll come up with what gets axed, changed or how it will affect our retirement lives.  Fun, fun, fun.  Back to the drawing board & pointing an arrow at a state or place that has low cost of living, low taxes, relatively mild (short cold winters OK), excellent health care & fun things to do in a major city nearby.  

[s804940b]

North Carolina is a good choice. You can live just outside of some of the larger cities and enjoy a reasonable cost of living. We get many half backs here. That is a person that moves from the extreme north all the way to Florida and realizes it is just too big of a change. They move half way back to NC to enjoy four seasons, many beaches and beautiful mountains.

[bentonbay]

My husband and I are both retired and living on fixed incomes on ssd. We also have a grand child to raise (teenager). Living in New York the cost of living is so very high. I do all that I can to make things work including strategic shopping and how we use our utlities and our vehicle. I have learned to coupon shop and save from $35.00-120.00 monthly on a good sale . Shopping for the month works out cheaper for us and saves alot of money. helpfu hint.

[retiredtraveler]

You have interesting times ahead of you. I'm not going to make any suggestions on where to move as there is too much subjectivity involved. But, if you are not afraid to make a jump (and I know it must be difficult as you've been in one place so long), then spend a good year not only researching online, but visiting, and staying in the area for a few days, places you would consider. It's a big country. Have fun with the process.

   And actually, it's a big world out there. As you may have read in many AARP articles, and elsewhere, lots of retirees opting to move out-of-country. That brings another set of considerations and challenges, but is certainly doable.

[goldye]

Thanks for the reply.  Moving out of the U.S. - forget it!  The only country we would consider is Canada (we've been to Vancouver, Montreal & Quebec).  Vancouver is the best.  As for the U.S. I've been looking at Virginia, Maryland, Washington State, Oregon & Delaware.  We;ve been to all these states several times.

[retiredtraveler]

I vote for Washington State. Wish we could move there. Well, we could, but won't move from family.

[EveRH]

@retiredtraveler wrote:
I vote for Washington State. Wish we could move there. Well, we could, but won't move from family.

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Isn't the area around Puget Sound pretty expensive?

[retiredtraveler]

"...Isn't the area around Puget Sound pretty expensive?...".

   Yup. But I wouldn't go to Seattle. I would go to eastern Wash state, Spokane or small town further north general area, where I'd be closer to Canadian Rockies as well as eastern end of the Cascades. Also, would be relatively close to Glacier NP, Yellowstone, Tetons. The beauty spots of U.S.

[3278443860]

The area around Richland / Kennewick / Pasco Washington is reasonably expensive, in the Columbia Basin wine country, it's a nice quiet safe place. But it's a "cold desert" climate, dry and shrub / steppe vegetation, very different from Puget Sound. It's also conservative; Sarah Palin's father was from Richland.