BACKGROUND: My brother, his girlfriend, and my partner and I all immensely enjoy each others’ company and eventually we’d like to retire together, perhaps sharing a duplex or maybe two adjacent residences. My brother’s girlfriend’s job is shaky in the current economic downturn, so they may want to move into their retirement quarters in the near future. (My brother runs a Web business, which he can continue to operate wherever he lives.) My partner and I, OTOH, anticipate continuing to work another half dozen years or so, assuming the downturn doesn’t impact us too. Thus we’ll probably want to purchase the intended retirement property at the same time as my brother does, probably renting it out until we are ready to retire ourselves. IOW, we may need to make a decision about where to retire in the near future.
GEOGRAPHICAL CRITERIA: We’ve been trying to figure out the best retirement area for us, and I’d like to solicit some input from other Slowtwitchers. (My brother joined Slowtwitch recently, so he may chime in too.) Our basic selection criteria, based on considerable discussion, are approximately as follows:
-
Mild, dry climate. In our current location, our mild winters (average January low of 40 F) are fine, but the hot, humid summers (average July-August high of 92 F) are difficult for us to deal with and would be even more so for my brother.
-
Opportunities for a physically and mentally active lifestyle. Good road cycling, running, and swimming training venues are a must. Also highly desirable are opportunities for intellectual and cultural stimulation (e. g., continuing education).
-
Affordable cost of living (including low taxes). We expect to live for many more decades, so we can’t afford to consume our retirement nest eggs prematurely.
-
Healthy, safe environment. Not too high a crime or pollution rate, in particular.
-
Avoiding some of the worst depredations of statism.
-
Aesthetics. My brother and I are especially partial to the scenery of the US West–Arizona, California, etc.
BTW, we would not rule out settling in another country, even a non-English-speaking country, if it satisfies the above criteria.
POSSIBILITIES WE HAVE DISCUSSED:
Based on what we’ve investigated so far, it seems unlikely that any location in the world will meet all six of the above criteria, so we will have to compromise to some degree.
At first, we were discussing Arizona as a possibility, until we started investigating the climate statistics and realized that we would have to deal with either very cold winters or very hot summers (possibly both), depending on the altitude of the town we chose. It seems that Arizona would be a very nice place to live with respect to all the other criteria, though.
Thinking more about the climate criterion #1, it seemed to us that the only US state that really meets that criterion very well is California. A town like Santa Barbara would also offer a stimulating and pleasant environment. But does any place in California have a very affordable cost of living? Also, living in California, where the regulatory atmosphere is extreme and the government is in upheaval, would be problematic in view of #5.
Looking abroad, Australia and New Zealand seem to be among the most freedom-loving nations according to several surveys. From the statistics in Wikipedia, New Zealand seems to be rather too cold for us. We were looking seriously at Sidney, a very beautiful and culturally friendly city with a great climate, until we noticed in Wikipedia that it is the 15th expensive city in the world. (By way of comparison, NYC is 22nd.)
Can anyone offer some relevant information regarding these or other geographical possibilities?
EDIT TO ADD: JenHS’s post reminded me of another point. Although it would not be a necessity, a plus for the new location would be opportunities to for post-retirement employment, perhaps part-time. (My career has been in IT, although my degrees are in music.)
