South? Midwest? East? Northwest?

[kanwedoit]

Life Situation: Married, 35yo, DH 43yo, 2 dependents, 8&9 yo, currently live in Alaska

Gross Salary/Wages: ~$225,000 (total 2 incomes)

Individual amounts of each Pre-tax deductions: $18000 X 3, (2) 401ks & (1) 457b

Other Ordinary Income: $4000 AK PFDs

Adjusted Gross Income: $171,000

Taxes: Federal ~$40000, $0 state/local, and FICA ~$20000 *guesstimates from pay stub 

Current expenses: 
   $180   Mortgage Interest, principal $1730      
   $608   Taxes & Ins            
   $214   Automotive & Ins      
   $943   Groceries            
   $566   Restaurants            
   $490   Hobbies               
   $456   Childcare            
   $350   Gasoline            
   $315   Utilities            
   $254   Gen. Merch.            
   $247   Internet/Phone/TV      
   $130   Cell Phones            
   $130   Medical               
   $125   Clothing            
   $95      Entertainment         
   $70      HOA                  
   $100   Cash & Other         
   $956   *A very abnormal year, normal ~      $250   Travel               
   $1258   *One major expense, but not sure what normal is we've been   Home Imp                                
         finishing this house for the last 5 years
   $7487 ($89,844 annually) Total Expenses

Expected ER expenses:       
      
   $  0   Mortgage Interest   
   $250 Taxes & Ins         
   $120   Automotive & Ins   
   $700   Groceries         
   $150   Restaurants         
   $500   Hobbies             
   $  0   Childcare         
   $ 50   Gasoline         
   $150 Utilities         
   $250   Gen. Merch.         
   $120   Internet/Phone/TV   
   $50   Cell Phones         
   $300 Medical, not sure what to add for ins.
   $125   Clothing         
   $100   Entertainment      
   $  0   HOA                
   $100   Cash & Other      
   $250   Travel            
   $120   Home Imp         
$3335  -Total Expenses    $40,020 annually

Assets:    
      401ks      $392,000
      457b        $106,000
      Roths      $85,000
      Pension      $22,000 
      Taxable      $51,700
      College Acct   $31,000   *Just a taxable investment acct earmarked
      House      $450,000
      Total Assets   $1,137,700

Liabilities:    Mortgage   $80,000   10 year loan begin Feb 2012, 2.5% interest, $200k initial bal.
                     Total Liabilities $80,000

Other Future Asset:   Pension estimate about $3000/mo beginning in 2032.  Can take as soon as 2022 but would be
                                        about half that amount.  Would really like to have this more nailed down the estimate is pretty
                                        rough right now.

Specific Question(s): We would like to retire in 2019.  We are planning to downsize our home, and are not opposed to moving somewhere less expensive if we can make it work.  Living on $40k doesn't even seem feasible in Alaska, but it's also hard to guess how our expenses will change when we're not going to work everyday.  I'd like to hear from people who live in low cost areas that think they could live pretty luxuriously for $40k with a family of four and could find a nice house in the area around $200k or less.  Being from AK I'm not sure we could live without some semblance of mountains, but we could probably trade for beach.  We love northern ID, and have lots of family in Denver area.  I have never been to Tennessee but it looks pretty, I have been to northern Georgia and it's beautiful.  Rule #1 – I will not live anywhere that has regular wind gusts over 15mph, the norm here is 40mph and it's miserable.   Things we enjoy are golf, fishing, gardening, hockey, biking and hiking.  We are more acquainted with cities less than 100k pop, but are open to new things. Do you know the perfect place for us?  Is retiring in 2019 feasible?

[Millennialworkerbee]

Commenting on the location for retirement- check out the Triad in NC (Greensboro, Winston Salem, High Point). We live here and really love the location. 3 hours from the heart of the mountains, 3 hours from the beach. 200k is plenty for a modest house- housing prices are still so low here.

Only downside is if you think you'll miss snow, you won't get much here. We see it every year, but sometimes just flurries. A 6 inch snowstorm is a BIG deal here, which I have to laugh about growing up in PA.

Another cool thing I've found is that most people have moved here from somewhere else- so you won't feel like the odd man out.

[Poeirenta]

Wenatchee would fit the bill pretty well, though they have been seeing a spike in housing prices. The hot market in Seattle seems to be spilling over the gaps in the mountains.

[kanwedoit]

Thanks for the suggestions I will check them out!  Anyone else love where you live??  The wind has been blowing 35mph here all day, and it’s only 20 degrees.  FIRE can’t come soon enough!

[bocopro]

One vote for Colorado!!
Denver is big - urban and suburban, but the Boulder County area (home of MMM, and me!) is amazing.
300+ days of sun, snow that melts mere days after falling, mountains within 30 minute distance, a connected airport, etc. etc.!
Everyone here is also a transplant it seems, so you won't be left out.

Boulder itself is super-spendy (I live here - grrr.) with median home prices north of $1.4m this year, but a mere 10 miles in any direction, you can buy more than you need for $300k. (Longmont, though it's getting fancier), suburbs, countryside, etc.

Check it out!

[fuzzy math]

You're spending 2x what you anticipate your retirement expenses to be. I think you'll have a tough time hitting the lower budget if you can;t start chipping away at the excesses now. Why do you think you can spend half the amount on TV and cell phones in retirement if you're not willing to do it now?

Most of the lower 48 would fit the bill for you if housing prices and wind speed are your only criteria. Do you have family or friends somewhere? I'd think you're going to be in for a big culture shock wherever you go, so it might be worthwhile to start thinking about somewhere that you have ties. Consider politics, topography (would not being near mountains or ocean freak you out?), and whatever your $500 a month in hobbies requires (climate, certain communities etc).

When I look up a new area I like to use www.city-data.com for info and meetup to see if there are like minded people meeting. There are a lot of cheap cities out there, but a lot of them do not fit my minimum criteria for happiness (outdoor opportunities, likeminded people, cultural events, music scene etc).

[Allie]

As a fellow Alaskan, I too get giddy when I think about how much cheaper things are in the lower 48.  Have you seen Root of Good's blog?  He has done some posting on his actual costs living in North Carolina.  There are enough personal finance bloggers from other areas out there to get a reasonable sense of what a family could spend in other areas and how closely their daily lives are aligned with yours.

My husband has a deep love of mountains and Alaska, but not the cold, dark, or wind.  We are considering a LCOLA in a warm place, too...so this is to give my completely uninformed thumbs up for your plan and ptf.

[Apple_Tango]

I have lived all over North Carolina but my home state of VA always has my heart. North Carolina has some tax benefits, no doubt about it. It is very Bible Belt and red so if that suits you then it might be a good fit.  all of the cities are awesome- Charlotte is so fun with endless stuff to do, national forests close by, lakes, etc. Rock Hill, SC is another option if you want to be close to charlotte with a lower cost, and that’s a nice city. imIf you want golf, Pinehurst, NC might be a place to check out.  Raleigh is busy with construction everywhere but it’s not hard to find easy and cheap parking and great open air festivals in the summer. Asheville is in the mountains and is just an incredible city it’s very expensive and incomes are low with homelessness as a problem but it is my favorite city on the east coast by far.  You’ve got the outer banks not too far away for a weekend trip, and  the southern coast has Wilmington and Carolina Beach. And of course chapel hill and Durham have great colleges and tons of culture. But all those places I listed are very Blue college towns. Drive 10 miles away from any college town and you will be in a very rural place, driving though corn and cotton where many towns are boarded up. The income inequality is horrible (VA is similar but not as bad). There just aren’t a lot of cute small towns. It’s either medium size college town, large city or bust.

I much prefer Virginia. Roanoke (my favorite Va city), Charlottesville (a little pricey but awesome) , Staunton (cute as a button, can get a fixer upper Victorian home for less than $200,000) and Harrisonburg (ski resort 5 min away, and very close to the Shenandoah national forest)would all fit your mountain needs, with skiing close by in the winter. These cities are VERY cute, with music and art festivals going on all the time.  Most  of these towns are smaller than their NC counter parts but are better in my opinion :) there are tons of hikes in the area, the Appalachian trail runs through central va. Good breweries and wineries all over the area. it is Appalachia so there are issues with poverty, drugs, and human trafficking  especially around Fishersville/Staunton where 81 connects with 64. But I have lived in both of those towns and have never felt unsafe.  if you’re looking for a city, Richmond has everything and the home prices are still very reasonable with an awesome nightlife and amazing restaurants everywhere. The main beach in the state Virginia Beach which is is next to a naval base so there is some crime but it’s still a good beach. And of course the megatropolis of Northern Va. worst traffic in the nation, And $200,000 won’t buy squat. I would skip this area. But it’s nice that it’s close for a weekend trip :) free national museums and monuments abound!

If I had to pick one city as far as outdoor opportunities, cost of living, and great weekend trips available, out of N.C. and VA I would pick Roanoke, VA. http://www.roanokeoutside.com You can easily get a house with Mountain Views next to the greenway under $200,000. There’s an airport, a great downtown area, look up either Carvin’s Cove Nature reserve or Mill Mountain Park.  the greenway trails go right through downtown. (Here’s a video:     
 http://www.roanokeoutside.com/land/biking/mountain-bike/ ) Some parts of the city get a lot of snow or almost nothing depending on the side of town that you live in. A river runs through the city so there is fishing, kayaking etc. there are lakes all around. It’s about 5 hours to the beach, 4 hours to dc, and 3 hours to the state capital. Less than 30 min to Va tech/Blacksburg. If cost isn’t a factor, my second favorite is Asheville Nc and my third favorite is Charlottesville Va. Roanoke is pretty red, Cville and Asheville are firmly dark blue.  This is the south so you will see crazy displays of racism and intolerance which is the worst part about the area.

[Bicycle_B]

There are comparative expense calculators that compare cost of living in different places.  Wherever you consider moving, see if those calculators estimate that the cost ratio steps down from your current spending to your target spending.  If not, either keep searching, tighten a little on expenses, or set aside a little more $.

I'm guessing you're close to ok, especially after counting in the pension, but as someone who also lives close to the line, long term success when you're close to the line depends on a series of details.  There's a big difference between "we have plenty and we like finding the bargains, so much fun to maximize all this joy" vs "I'm close to the edge, there's a chance of running out later... hmm..."   I myself bounced into retirement by losing a job, may be soon get off the couch and get a new job, just to decisively get off that line.  Not sure which side you're on yet - research carefully.  Your expenses and life, not someone else's, are the key.  Good luck!