I'm beginning to think that the retirees have all headed south for the winter. Hopefully they'll get back on-line soon as they get settled in. Keep checking in.....

I do wish this forum was more active (sigh).

Yes i would think it would be nice for retirees to chat. I wondered how others handled retirement. My husband retired from the police dept after 30 years and was only home about 8 months - now he is driving a school bus of all things! guess he could not shake that 30 regimen of going to work every day.
deb

LOL Deb, I bet his experience with the police department with hold him in good stead when he deals with kids on the bus! LOL (I taught school for 28 years.)

LOL oh the stories he has to tell.....but he is happier working and doing "something" plus i think there are other retirees there for him to talk to. and you are right, his diplinarian type mannerism usually commands respect on the bus....but there are exceptions to this too!

deb

I am on the verge of retirement and I come and "lurk" in this forum. I love reading all the different points of view, tips on different subjects, and of course the humor! Thanks to all the brave souls who share. A.

Deb - my husband has 29 years with LAPD (Los Angeles) and will retire in 34 months. He talks about getting a "little job" after retirement also although he wants to learn to make furniture and have a nice workshop for a hobby. I do worry about him being bored (or is it that I worry about him becoming boring??). His favorite thing to do is read a book and I worry about him becoming too sedentary so a fun part-time job might be good.

Right now we are trying to decide where to retire - we don't want to stay in So. California.

This week we returned from an almost 3 week vacation to the south (VA, NC, SC,GA) to look for the "perfect" retirement spot and of course there are issues with every single place we looked at (historic Savannah, New Bern North Carolina, Asheville N.C., Colonial Williamsburg VA, Lexington VA, Abingdon VA, etc.). We also took a trip this summer to KY which seems to look promising.

Our dream list of what we want in a retirement spot includes affordable housing on at least one acre with mature trees in a quiet neighborhood (we are thinking of building our house), low taxes, low crime, a major airport that is within a drive of an hour or two, church, not too cold winters - some snow okay, a nice little historic town nearby, good services, light traffic, good economy. Of course - we haven't found an area that has all these things but a few have come close.

We have talked about retiring for 10 years but now it seems so close that it is scary. We are contemplating a big move across the U.S. and we don't want to make a mistake.

I'd love to read posts on those of you who have relocated after retiring and those of you who are contemplating doing so.

Let's keep this forum active! Hugs.

Cathleen

Cathleen, I wish you both luck and congratulations! Your "dream" spot sounds like what my husband is looking for. he wants about 5-10 acres and a house sitting by itself.
although he was very "ready" to retire, he really struggled with it. we still had kids in school, paying tuition and college, the whole bit. being the wife of a policman, you are well aware of the stresses these men endure during a career. and in my husbands case, it was compounded by all the politics going on at city hall. i encouraged him to leave and told him it was time to go. it was time for him to move on to things that he wanted to do. you know how you say, gee, if i had the time i would get this done and that done? well he got all those things completed, and after several months, he said he just needed a little something to do. i still work so i think that he was lonely during the day, plus just could not shake the 30 years of working and having some place he had to be every day. he started getting depressed and he didnt know what to do with himself. we did move, but only about 20 miles away, out of the city. i still work so we could not move that far away.
i wish you and your husband luck and i am glad he is reached that wonderful age of being able to claim his time as his own.
kind regards,
deb
ps if you can swing building a house, that would certainly give him plenty to do!

Cathleen, we bought six acres in Kentucky several years ago and the location is beautiful. It is about sixty miles south of Louisville, near Munfordville. We haven't built a house on it but hope to do so one of these days. The prices of real estate in that area seem to be increasing, but still lower than average. You might be interested in checking with realtors in the area (Elizabethtown and Munfordville). Good luck with finding your "dream area". Bettye/AZ

Thanks for the tip Bettye - I'll look into that area. 6 acres in Kentucky sounds wonderful.

If you cotemplate moving to a far place, or unfamiliar area nearby, it could well be a good idea to rent for a while to see how you like it.

You might find that you'd prefer a different type of housing, living, etc.

Much easier to make alterations if you're renting than owning - especially if you decide that you'd rather settle elsewhere.

Ed Baker