Retirement

[SamV]

RedHawker just posted about funeral and burial plans and it reminded me of my sisters. They are both older than me. We all live in different cities and have always wished we lived closer or in the same city. Their kids are grown and they are very close to retiring. I am a decade younger and still have about another decade to work. Plus, my wife and I still have a bunch of kids in high school and college.
Almost every get together, the question thrown at us is "Where are you going to move to when you retire?" We get the question several times a year. We never have an answer because we don't really know yet.
I am not sure what to think about my sister's new question.
"So, where you gonna be buried?"

 

[mohavesam]

My Mother did some planning once and asked me with all good intentions, where I wanted to be buried... I thought about it and concluded there can be no thought more immersed in pure vanity...
I was reminded of the old addage: "If you want to hear God chuckle, just tell Him of your plans."

 

[CGDustDevil]

My Mother did some planning once and asked me with all good intentions, where I wanted to be buried... I thought about it and concluded there can be no thought more immersed in pure vanity...
I was reminded of the old addage: "If you want to hear God chuckle, just tell Him of your plans."

There's some 24 karat truth!!

 

[BucolicBuffalo]

When you retire you gain somewhere around 50 hours a week to spend money.


I am way busier now that I am retired than I was when I was working. Everyone says that. It is true.

 

[Pat-inCO]

For "where you going to be buried?", just tell them "Where ever my kids
want, because THEY are paying for it." . . . . . Think about it, that's the
truth.

For "where are you going to move when you retire?", with ten years left
to go, you don't know. I'm looking at moving to AZ because my daughter
lives in the Phoenix basin, but the prices (I've been watching them for
more than two years now) are changing QUICKLY. They will vary by ten
to fifty percent in one year, and then change back by a large percentage
of the previous change.

One of the communities has some that went from $185K to $250K to
$300K and are now back to $225K. Another community has MANY
that are now on the market for LESS than they sold for in '05 to '08!
(that's why you want them paid for!)

The one thing I . . strongly . . recommend, is to make sure where ever
you move to, the "new" house is PAID FOR! If you do that, the only real
question is "do I like the neighborhood"? If you do AND it's paid for,
WHO CARES where it is. It's easy to travel where you want to.
(One possible exception {for me} is Flagstaff. They went up a HUGE
amount, but even there I see the prices slowly going back down.)

P.S. For any that are about to whine about the tax advantages in paying
interest on a loan . . . . I'll take the 70% of each dollar that is taxable,
and YOU take the 30% of what's paid in taxes. :shock:
Let's see who has the most spendable at year end. :shock: . :shock:

 

[exavid]

I bought the last two houses we had for cash on the barrelhead. It's really great not to have to deal with a mortgage. We've always paid cash for everything except our houses so now it's very nice not to have any debts. The one thing a retiree that's planning on relocating needs to consider is that once your mortgage is gone and your income drops with retirement taxes become a much larger consideration.

 

[Pat-inCO]

The one thing a retiree that's planning on relocating needs to consider
is that once your mortgage is gone and your income drops with
retirement taxes become a much larger consideration.

Very true.
My property taxes, plus Insurance, plus utilities run about $500 per
month. In looking around at Real estate, I've seen many that cost
more per month for taxes alone than I pay in total.

 

[exavid]

It's a sad fact but in any county, city or town, city in the country you can't actually own a house. At best you pay the town for your property as long as you own it. Go broke and they throw you out of 'your' house for non-payment of taxes.

 

[Mobuck]

"It's a sad fact but in any county, city or town, city in the country you can't actually own a house. At best you pay the town for your property as long as you own it. Go broke and they throw you out of 'your' house for non-payment of taxes."

I've heard this over and over. So you don't want to pay taxes but you want all the infrastructure that the taxes provide????? How does THAT work???????
I pay quite a chunk in property taxes. My kids went to a decent school and a state supported college. The roads here aren't great and we Rosie O'Donnell a LOT(another road commissioner meeting tomorrow evening) but the cost of maintaining those roads doesn't get cheaper. Those taxes support the local library(worthless to me but helpful to many folks), law enforcement, and county health agency. All in all it's pretty darned hard to live w/o the infrastructure we've become accustomed to. I don't see many folks who would(or could) hack a path to the village store alone.

 

[nvbirdman]

I could probably afford a house almost anywhere (the Clinton mansion in New York would be somewhat out of reach), but every time I start to consider moving somewhere I think about packing up all my crap and then having to unpack it all, so I just stay put here.

 

[pete44ru]

.


My wife & I know where - my state's Veteran's Cemetery.

As a vet, burial and a metal ground plate / headstone are free - BUT, I learned the hard way that when the 1st person's burial is set up, a reservation MUST be made for the 2nd person, or the 2nd person may be buried elsewhere in the cemetery.

I learned that fact when my Grandfather (a WWI vet) passed away - we didn't know about the reservation requirement, and when his wife (my Grandmother) passed a few years later, the VA wouldn't bury her in the same plot.

IDK the reason, since I don't think the VA stacks un-related folks in the same plot - but do know that, sometimes, the "eagle" (US Gov't) works in strange & mysterious ways.........(I learned long ago, not to mess with the "eagle")


.

 

[contender]

I often hear about how people move when they retire. I can understand some folks who desire to move, (bad gun laws etc,) but I often think; "Why do people feel the need to move,,, just because they retired?" In my home area, (I was raised here,) we are full of retirees. They move here, then talk about how much they liked it where they came from, or how it was living there, (always during the condemnation of how we do things here,) & want to CHANGE this area to like it was where they came from.
I guess it has always amazed me at how people feel the "need" to move when they retire.

 

[exavid]

I spent most of my life first as an army aircorps then USAF brat moving all over the place then shifted around Alaska with the FAA and when I retired moved near my parents so I could help them out until they passed. Then it made sense to move near where my oldest daughter and SIL were to be close to the grandkids.
Unlike many I have on 'place' to be. Having been a 'nomad' for so long and not having many surviving relations it really doesn't matter where I live.
I suspect a lot of retired people are in a similar situation, they've moved in their careers and have no real attachment to any one spot. So why not go where you will?

 

[vito]

I'm retired and still living where I moved to for work 20 years ago. I have no roots in this community but for now I am staying put. In part its because the Great Recession hit hard here, and I would lose more than I think I could tolerate if I sold right now. But the main reason is that four of my five children, and ten of my 12 grandchildren live within a two hour drive of this location. As I get older, family is more and more important to me. I want to be a real part of my grandchildren's lives, and it certainly won't make that any easier if I live 1,000 miles away from them.

But I caution anyone against moving to a location just because that is where their children, or child reside. Ours is still a pretty mobile economy, and of my four local children three of them might be moved without much notice by their employer, or an opportunity too good to pass up might arise for any of them. Only one son, who works for the State, and whose wife works for the local university, is likely to stay put for the rest of their working life (which is probably longer than my time remaining here on earth). I have known several old Army friends who picked up and moved to be near a child and grandchildren, only to see them move far away for job related reasons, leaving the retirees in a location that they don't particulary like but are now stuck in.

Maybe the cleverest strategy was by an old Army officer I knew whose three children ended up living on the East coast, the West coast and the last in the Midwest. He bought a large travel trailer for him and his wife and they lived in it full time, moving every few months to where each of the children/grandchildren lived. Considering that even a really large travel trailer or any RV is still smaller than most small apartments, it is not a lifestyle that all could tolerate, but it did meet their needs.

If and when my grown children move away from this part of the country, then I will have to re-think what I will do with my remaining years. As to burial, that's easy for me. I have told my wife that I want to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and as a retired Army officer I am entitled to such. I can't think of a nicer place for my relatives to visit if they want to pay their respects to me after I am no longer around.

 

[GunnyGene]

A couple thoughts on Retirement and what inevitably follows:

On Retirement

A HERMIT'S house beside a stream
With forests planted round,
Whatever it to you may seem
More real happiness I deem
Than if I were a monarch crowned.

A cottage I could call my own
Remote from domes of care;
A little garden, walled with stone,
The wall with ivy overgrown,
A limpid fountain near,

Would more substantial joys afford,
More real bliss impart
Than all the wealth that misers hoard,
Than vanquished worlds, or worlds restored--
Mere cankers of the heart!

Vain, foolish man! how vast thy pride,
How little can your wants supply!--
'Tis surely wrong to grasp so wide--
You act as if you only had
To triumph--not to die!

Philip Freneau

****************************************************

Come Not, When I Am Dead

COME not, when I am dead,
To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave,
To trample round my fallen head,
And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save.
There let the wind sweep and the plover cry;
But thou, go by.

Child, if it were thine error or thy crime
I care no longer, being all unblest:
Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of time,
And I desire to rest.
Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie;
Go by, go by.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 

[Colonialgirl]

I spent most of my life first as an army aircorps then USAF brat moving all over the place then shifted around Alaska with the FAA and when I retired moved near my parents so I could help them out until they passed. Then it made sense to move near where my oldest daughter and SIL were to be close to the grandkids.
Unlike many I have on 'place' to be. Having been a 'nomad' for so long and not having many surviving relations it really doesn't matter where I live.
I suspect a lot of retired people are in a similar situation, they've moved in their careers and have no real attachment to any one spot. So why not go where you will?

exavid; I'm in the same boat (Aircraft?) as you; Born Portsmouth VA Naval hospital and KNOW I lived in Boston, Chicago, Bremerton, WA ;Costa Mesa, San Diego, Honolulu and then Ford Island, Oahu; Pensacola, Millington, TN; Jacksonville , FL; Port Lyuatey, Morroco, Bartlesville, OK; Portland, OR; Okla City, Garden Grove, CA; Whittier, CA; City of Orange, CA; Chino, Ca; Severn, MD; Hagerstown, MD; Elkhart, IN.; Orlando, FL, Tampa, FL and now finally Wesley Chapel, FL which is closer to Zephyrhills, FL.
My kids are all up in Orlando, My Brother and nieces are in California and cousins in Oklahoma. Always liked Bartlesville, OK; But find that the area around Contender is attractive.