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If you were retired and could live anywhere?

Forrest Gump said it best. “My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

My wife and I have been to many locations on our travels in the RV, some were short duration others were a few months. We have yet to find that spot for us. There are many reasons for this but nothing has really struck us and said here I am.
 
Ha! We left Fairbanks, Alaska and retired in western Montana because of the short and mild winters. I guess freezing one's butt off is relative. :p

In the past 12 years, 9 people have retired and moved to Montana. You and Annie are part of an elite but unique group. :)
 
I visited a cousin near Hot Springs, SD last week. She's upset, home prices are shooting up. It too has become a Mecca for west coasters. My only objection to her location is the rattlesnakes.
 
Ha! We left Fairbanks, Alaska and retired in western Montana because of the short and mild winters. I guess freezing one's butt off is relative. :p


Western Montana is tropical compared to ND!

My mom lived in Columbia Falls for twenty years, it rarely got much colder than freezing!

I remember going out to drive a U-Haul truck back to NW Minnesota when she moved back. We left Columbia Falls at 6 AM and snow was melting and water was dripping off the roof. 90 miles later we pulled into Browning MT and it was -20F and that probably was the high temp for the trip across! I remember buying a couple 20 ounce bottles of Coke, tossing one on the floor of the truck and drinking the other. An hour later I reached down for the one and it was frozen solid.

It was a cold and ugly drive!
 
and the wildfire smoke?

Ha! We left Fairbanks, Alaska and retired in western Montana because of the short and mild winters. I guess freezing one's butt off is relative. :p

So how is the wild fire situation there? I enjoyed a week long trip to Kalispell years ago and skied the local resort. Other folks I have interacted with say the summers are pretty smoky near Glacier park etc? Thanks
 
North Dakota! Have I said enough?

I am tired of sub zero temps and snow!

Oh come on now, is it really that bad?? :laugh

You guys on the eastern side of the state have it even worse than us westerners. I spent two years in Wahpeton and it was the worst cold I've ever experienced. You mentioned the cold and snow, even worse is the accompanying wind. Put the 3 together and there you have it, ND misery. I don't aim to live here forever either.
 
So how is the wild fire situation there? I enjoyed a week long trip to Kalispell years ago and skied the local resort. Other folks I have interacted with say the summers are pretty smoky near Glacier park etc? Thanks

This is our 11th summer in Montana and I think the third where there was any appreciable smoke, but this is the worst year by far. Here are headlines from a local online news outlet.

  • Granite Pass Complex fires surpass 4,000 acres
  • Thorne Creek fire grows to over 10,000 acres
  • Hay Creek fire near Polebridge grows to 1,800 acres
  • Stateline Complex fires grow to 3,740 acres
  • South Yaak fire grows quickly to 3,382 acres
  • Revised estimate puts Big Horn County wildfire at 75,000 acres
  • Mandatory evacuations issued for Woods Creek Fire
  • Jet fuel shortage is hampering aerial firefighting efforts in Montana
 
Oh come on now, is it really that bad?? :laugh

You guys on the eastern side of the state have it even worse than us westerners. I spent two years in Wahpeton and it was the worst cold I've ever experienced. You mentioned the cold and snow, even worse is the accompanying wind. Put the 3 together and there you have it, ND misery. I don't aim to live here forever either.

But having lived in Bismarck, Dickinson, and near Minot I don’t think there’s anything prettier than a late May day on the plains, with it’s rolling expanses of gently waving prairie grasses overseen by meadowlarks singing on the fenceline, as they keep a wary lookout for the birds of prey soaring overhead in their search for rabbits and rodents. Just sayin’…:)

But yeah, when I lived there a popular tee-shirt proclaimed “North Dakota: 40 below zero keeps out the riff-raff”
:rolleyes

Best,
DeVern
 
So make a reservation now........

AM TOTALLY SERIOUS ABOUT CHECKING OUT N.W. Georgia..........as a wannna be farm/home sitter:brow
The worst thing you have to do is haul a load of wood from the wood shed to the porch in the JD tractor bucket. That is to keep the wood stove going from late October til early March. lol...:nono You dont have to do that cause you will have 2 heat pumps going but for me the economy is worth the effort......Then, I will ask you to use the back pack blower on the leafy roads........Pay you? Yes, a stipend if I have to. The leaves on the mountains happen in mid to late November.......Yes, you are surrounded by national forest so if you hunt for antler variety meat. It's there. Oh, I will ask you to RIDE the mules. Which is no big deal. For some folks others like to hike to get the peace instead of plodding along, clippoty clop. Anyway, give it some thoughts......ohhhhhhh, did I mention all the ROADS?????? lol....:nyah The world class bicycler's would like to keep them to themselves........:clap


So, am serious about this; but it's a chance to see what retirement for me and a growing number of (actually to many lately) pretty nice folks are seeing. God bless.....Dennis
 
Definitely outside the U.S.

Monaco.

Andorra.

IOM.

French Polynesia.

Punta del Este.

The problem is mostly controls apparatus (i.e., government) for my part. Increasingly, I view dual citizenship as a necessity.
 
I made that decision in 1995

After 25 years of working in and for the Navy it was time to choose a place to finish my career and for retirement. After a lot of research we chose Boise Idaho. There were a number of reasons, it is a college town, that is just big enough to supply most everything you might need. It as a VA hospital which both my wife and I use for healthcare. I finished my navy/contractor time in Information Technology and there was a good chance of getting a good paying job which I did with the JR Simplot company. But mostly it was the quality of living. At the time, home prices were on the low side compared to most of the country, wages were in the middle, cost of living low, outdoor recreation high. In the 25 years we have been here, housing cost have gone up 300%, with the area becoming one of the hot spots for growth. The climate has gotten hotter (as has the whole west). But the quality of life has remained high, and we would not consider living anywhere else. An independent in a red state. DSCF0229.JPG
 
Nice looking homestead!

I spent a lot of time on my Zillow research on Idaho a few years back. Love the lakes there too. Got to stay at my wife's friend's floating house on one of the lakes. Great environment.
 
Idaho?

Definitely outside the U.S.

Monaco.

Andorra.

IOM.

French Polynesia.

Punta del Este.

The problem is mostly controls apparatus (i.e., government) for my part. Increasingly, I view dual citizenship as a necessity.
No longer happy with Idaho?
 
No longer happy with Idaho?

Oh, no. I very much like where I live right now. Have three homes, two in California (where I will never live again). One here in Idaho.

I'm more than a decade out from what I would view as a satisfactorily liberating retirement, and I'm not sure this property will suit after that time. I presume we'll keep it as it's fine for entertaining on the lake. Esto Perpetua.

Even if I could retire today, I'd be prioritizing an arrangement (dual citizenship) allowing on-demand egress from the United States over a specific location; the ability to leave and "repatriate" to another country while whatever happens here happens here is more important to me than the actual country of destination. Relatively few of the places I know (maybe wrongly) to be havens from confiscatory tax are clearly preferable. I mean, the Isle of Man looks like a pretty miserable place to live. So if the tax arrangement will be static or slightly better, then I could see ultimately rotating between two or three homes in two countries (some on that list...Uruguay especially). Long way to go.
 
Retirement

If your retirement funds are generated in the US, they'll be taxed no matter where you live. I know cost of living is a very important factor for where one retires to, but for me the most important thing would be quality of life. Does the area offer what I want/need...etc. After 70, every day equals 10 days of living, given the limited time left, especially time left on 2 wheels
 
If your retirement funds are generated in the US, they'll be taxed no matter where you live. I know cost of living is a very important factor for where one retires to, but for me the most important thing would be quality of life. Does the area offer what I want/need...etc. After 70, every day equals 10 days of living, given the limited time left, especially time left on 2 wheels

Well said


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I enjoyed reading through this thread for ideas. I've made my decision to stay here in northern WV for various reasons. Otherwise if I were to retire now I'd consider having two small homes, one in say Michigan, Wisconsin, etc, the other in NM, Utah, etc. Close up one in the Fall and shift to the other.
 
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