We all have a dream retirement spot: somewhere dry and arid, or sunny Florida, or floating on a boat near a Caribbean island. Wherever you dream of retiring, the important thing is that you’re beginning to consider what your retirement will look like in a practical sense. While there’s no one perfect place for everyone—if there was we’d all be there by now—there are perfect places for everyone individually. There’s really a large number of reasons why seniors decide to move away when they retire. Here’s a short list of the practical things to consider when deciding the best place to move when you retire.
Property Taxes and Cost of Living
When you’re no longer bringing in earned income, you’re forced to rely on a fixed income for the rest of your retirement. Having a set budget for the remainder of your retirement—for the rest of your life—means careful and intentional planning on how you’ll live comfortably, and do the things you always wanted to spend your retirement doing. In order to make the most of your fixed income, you can consider moving somewhere that maintains lower property taxes and cost of living. When you spend less on housing and monthly bills, you can put more into the things you want to do.
Weather Patterns
From slippery, dangerous winters, to hot and humid summers, some places across the country get the worst of any and all of the seasons. Consider what you’ll want to deal with in your retirement both personally and practically. Winters often come with car and home damage—think about how much burst pipes can cost!—and often make it dangerous to travel. Hot and humid summers make it hard to enjoy the outdoors. Arizona is the most common state for senior retirees to move to and it’s mainly because of their dry, predictable weather patterns. It’s a bonus that precipitation decreases plant growth—no more weekly mowing!
Personal Preference
Maybe the two sections above roll into this one, but a lot of folks begin to dream about their retirement early on and where they’d love to spend it. Perhaps it’s overseas and a favorite destination spot, or maybe it’s in a warmer, drier area of the United States. Whatever the reason, you may be interested in gathering your belongings and moving somewhere you’ve had your eye on for a long time. This is okay! Retirement is the time to sit back and enjoy all the things you’ve worked hard for. Even if your fixed retirement income isn’t enough to get you where you want alone, there are many ways you can raise funds in order to live out your retirement where you’ve always dreamed.
One of those ways is selling an unwanted or unneeded life insurance policy in a life settlement. Use our qualification calculator to see if you qualify.
This article was provided by Leo LaGrotte, President of Life Settlement Advisors.
