Hello fellow fodorites:

Not quite a travel question, but I would like to hear some opinions on where YOU would look to retire to, and why?
I am thinking about somewhere in New England,I would like some natural features (land, water, mountain) I do not mind the winters and I love the 4 seasons (not the group!)
JOHN

I think I read to my amusement that Rhode Island was named by some magazine or group as a new and popular retirement spot. It actually has lots to offer... the ocean is less than an hour from most cities/towns, lots of colleges, great resturants, beautiful old neighboorhoods with lovely old homes and a lot of vitality. The mountains would be about 3-4 hours away in NH and Maine.. we used to do a day trip to LLBean in Freeport with no problem. The negatives are a hot real estate market, lots of traffic and some say rudeness ( I say character) of the people. Good luck, I guess you pulled your money out of your 403 B before everything crashed!

My two cents worth----I am from New England and retired(early) 5 years ago to Northwest Montana. For more info try
www.discoveringmontana.com
www.travel.state.mt.us/

Taxes are universal:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...l=030401retire

I'd choose a little town in the Adirondacks. I love North Creek, but perhaps Lake Placid if that is too remote.

You said New England, but you described Western North Carolina to a tee. Four distinct seasons - no extremes; Blue Ridge Mountains, Great Smokey Mountains; lakes, streams, rivers galore.

Shameless plug - UNC Asheville (my employer) has the College for Seniors with classes (with no grades) geared toward seniors.

Let me know if your definition of "New England" is a little further south than you intended.

Mike Honeycutt

Great question- I'll look forward to reading the replies. We were planning on moving to California (San Diego) for this purpose and have put our move on hold for now. I love the weather there, but I also love experiencing four seasons. I know nothing about the New England areas. We'll probably end up on either coast - California or Carolinas. We like Charleston the most so far. We're visiting Wilmington, NC next month but I haven't found any homes/developments/neighborhoods that interest me there yet. Good Luck!

Mike Honeycutt's got the right idea. The winters in New England and westward from Michigan's UP can get a bit lengthy....

Reminds me of a conversation with my brother a couple of years after he moved to Hawaii. I live in PA--we were both raised here. Says he, "I really miss the seasons." And I asked, "What about heating bills?" He said, "Well, it gets cold over here sometimes." I queried, "Well, what do you do?" Knowing he had no furnace. "Close the windows." came his response.

Have you ever spent a winter in New England? Have you ever been to one of these beautiful natural places in the summer when masses of tourists descend? And if it is rural enough to avoid that, what about isolation? Wherever you decide to settle, is there some way you can do some long-term renting before you commit? Not trying to sound negative about everywhere, but visiting and living in a place are so different.

Or maybe you are flexible enough to try a place and then if it does not suit you, try someplace else (my parents did that 3 times before settling)

As for me, if money were not an object I would stay in my home base (near Boston) and escape for 6-8 weeks in the winter to someplace warm and spend another 6 weeks or so traveling. But this would assume that my kids college costs do not bankrupt me and the stock market improves a great deal in the roughly 20 years I have to plan.

I live in rural New England, and have been here for 22 years. We love it here, but it is definitely not for everyone. Here are some pros and cons:
PROS - communities that are close knit and care about their local govenment, environmnet, and quality of life.
Great opportunities for outdoor activities such as skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, canoeing, etc.
Some beautiful scenery.
You can be rural but still be within a few hours of Boston or Montreal. Everywhere is within a few hours of the oceans or mountains.
Low crime rates.
CONS:The winters can be very very long and harsh (we are expecting snow tonight). This also makes for a short (but productive) gardening season.Cabin fever is a fact of life in late winter.
High cost of living. Contrary to what most people think, living in the country up here is not cheap - you need to think about heating, snow removal, etc.
Blackflies! They can make it difficult to enjoy the outdoors from mid May to early July.

Realize that as you get older, dealing with ice and snow becomes a big factor.

South Florida. I have 18 months, tops. Husband and I haven't decided though. Looking at Punta Gorda, Naples, South Beach (family) and the Keys.

Whoopeee! Retirement before 40!

I agree with Zootsie. We have started to talk about retirement and will stay in New England for the better part of the year, which happens to be spring, summer, fall, and Christmas. After that, we hope to head south for January, February, and March. Winters get longer as one gets older. Other than that, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

That's funny. Several of my Silicon Valley collegues are exploring the same thing. We all agree that northern California has a lot to offer but geesh, it's so expensive. We can sell our houses and buy something somewhere else and bank the balance. Most seem to consider climate as the first criteria. Then proximity to an airport hub, cultural amenities, and general lifestyle. Bottomline, their results are widely varied so it all lies in the eye of the beholder.

I bought my retirement home in the Rockies. I love the dramatic beauty of all the seasons. My only second guessing is at buying a place with two flights of stairs at 9,400 feet. What will I do if my knees quit working?

Great, Great replys! I can relate to all the respondents:

Collette: I have labled Providence RI as an area to explore! I am hearing great things about it...but I am afraid I will be just trading homes (New Jersey) with minimal improvement. (no jokes now..Jersey is a nice state!!)

John: Montana sounds like a dream. I love skiing and sounds like I can get a nice home on a lake..but, wow it IS soo far away, I have only moved 4 times in 50 years, all around 20-50 miles from NYC. I have to think about that one!

Mike Mahoney: I use to work for a company that was based in Charlotte. I am pretty familiar with NC and the surrounding areas...I just might have to put that one on the ' short list'!! Thanks!

Gail, Zootsi, and Buzzy: Very wise and sobering information about New England! As you all know, we are comming out of one hellacious winter! I have my health and strength now....gotta think about the later years....Hmmm North Carolina..sounding better and better!

Keep em' comming, Group!
JOHN

Recently on msn.com there was an article on this subject. It spoke mostly about various states taxes, how there taxes work and not to be fooled by some who say there is not a property tax, but higher sales tax,etc.etc. As I am not at the retirement age as of yet, I didn't read it carefully. As I recall Utah rated very high for economical reasons. Of course what is important is ones likes and dislikes. I am not a cold weather person so Utah would not appeal to me. Also Texas, Colorado, Montana. Since you like the 4 seasons it would seem like some of these states would appeal to you.

Someone mentioned Punta Gorda Florida. I visited this town last Spring, although it was very clean, it is an extremley quiet town. Very quiet.

Punta Gorda, I spent a week there one night (paraphrasing John Denver)! Actually we were there 6 yrs and felt like an eternity. Money Magazine has highly rated this small community for years and I wonder if they have been there. No restaurants (well, nothing a Foodie could tolerate), no retail except the most basic, very poor grocery stores, minimal health care, zilch cultural life. We looked to Sarasota and Fort Myers to get a little more to do as we drove to one or the other for almost everything and chose Fort Myers as it is just starting a new growth phase. If you are an avid boater and want to have your yacht tied behind your house, you can still buy a tear down house in Punta Gorda for 500-600k. The good news is Punta Gorda is a straight shot across a national fish refuge to the Gulf of Mexico. Fisherman heaven. LMF

I was being "kind" in my assesment of Punta Gorda. I heard it was in the Money magazine also. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???? My husband is a boater, but in order to acess the ocean it is quite a ride. Mind you we happen to love FLL. So you can imagine how quiet this place seemed to us. We drove around, which seemed an eternity. We were winging it and had contemplated staying there a day or 2 but a few hours was quite enough. We headed over to Ft. Myers for severa days. We ended up back in FLL. It was like coming back from the living dead. We are in our 50's but hey-- we are not dead!!

great feedback
-lots of good advice for retirement choices HOWEVER..One issue that one needs to consider is availability&distances to health care facilities-- I know we all don't like to think about this aspect of retirement, especially as we age. In my profession, I see many people retire to wonderful areas, some of which are isolated. Only to develop a health problem that requires frequent trips to MD and/or hospital and involve s long or tedious driving.I don't mean you have to live in a town with a medical center. Just consider the availability of emergency services and adequate hospital facilities.

There is a magazine that explores various towns and reports on their pros and cons for retirement homes. I read their most recent issue which discussed small towns with good access to the arts. It named Tarpon Springs, among others, in Florida which interested me. Sorry I can't remember the name of the magazine but it's out there on the newsstands in your Barnes and Noble or at your public library.

If you like four seasons, stay away from New England. We now have 2 seasons, very hot and very cold. I live in CT and it SNOWED at my softball game last night! It's almost May and it's still "winter". When the weather changes, it will go from 30 to 80 in a week.

The problem with CT, RI, MA, is it tends to be such a rat race wherever you go. If I was to retire here, it would have to be somewhere like the "quiet corner" of CT but nowhere along the commuter corridors.

If money was no object, I'd go to Marin Co. CA.