The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: Daisyedwards800 on November 12, 2019, 11:57:35 AM
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Or would you move somewhere else? If money wasn't an object.
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I really enjoy Chicago but it's already 17 degrees with sludge and salt all over the place.
Only reason I'm here is family, certainly not some all-important job that is easily replaceable.
I mean my mom, dad, and twin brother primarily. But a ton of other family and cousins (though some have blown to NYC, LA, Seattle, or on the road).
That said, I feel like I would live a more Nomadic lifestyle without a job (or a remote/ traveling job). That could be cool.
Maybe we can have a big family meeting and all move to warmer climates ha.
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"If I didn't have to work" and "if money were no object" are not the same thing! If money were no object I'd live on the west coast of the U.S.
I like where I live in Canada but my retirement plans involve wintering someplace warmer, probably Asia.
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"If I didn't have to work" and "if money were no object" are not the same thing! If money were no object I'd live on the west coast of the U.S.
I like where I live in Canada but my retirement plans involve wintering someplace warmer, probably Asia.
I was hoping to avoid the whole discussion of where the retirement money will stretch the best, and get at more of, where would you settle down if you could within reason?
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"If I didn't have to work" and "if money were no object" are not the same thing! If money were no object I'd live on the west coast of the U.S.
I like where I live in Canada but my retirement plans involve wintering someplace warmer, probably Asia.
I was hoping to avoid the whole discussion of where the retirement money will stretch the best, and get at more of, where would you settle down if you could within reason?
Fair enough. I like Canada, it has great first world infrastructure, but it feels beige and boring and the winters are pretty bad. Generally speaking I like my residence to be boring and my travels to be exciting. Not sure if settling down is really in the cards for me, but things change.
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Exploring the city where I live and spending more time enjoying cultural events with my friends is one of the reasons I want to FIRE. It helps that where we live is not crazy expensive.
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I am leaving as soon as possible.
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I hate where I live lol
The only reason why I live where I do is because of how close to work it is.
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I don't have to work, but money is an object, so I compromised. So far I've been happy with the decision, but I'll see how I feel when I'm deep into the rainy season.
If I had a bigger budget, or if health insurance were less of a factor, I probably would have chosen a warmer state.
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I love the place where I live but if money/work weren't an object I'd definitely go back to a more nomadic (travel combined with stretched multi-month stays in places) lifestyle for the next couple years.
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I’ve spent the last 10 years moving all over the country (around 8 states, over a dozen cities) moving specifically for the highest paid work. I have never lived where I “want” and have actually lived in some pretty crappy locations that are the polar opposite of what I want.
For us, right now, the sacrifice is worth it. If I were to go to my locations I plan to FIRE (mountains, rural, etc.) I’d either have no work or very minimally paid work.. I’ll sacrifice my location for the time being part, knowing I will have much better options in the not-so-distant future.
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I would absolutely move to the mountains if I didn't have to work. We have a couple places in mind for when that time comes, although we will probably stay put until the kids are through school even if we FIRE before then because I'd prefer not to uproot them if it could be avoided. I like cold, quiet, and grey days. Southern California is seriously wasted on me, but I grew up here and went to college here and stayed after college because of the good employment prospects.
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If money wasn't an object, I'd live on the Isle of Schaefer Light (a spectacular island in the Caribbean and home to the best golf course this side of Augusta National) and my armada would shoot anyone who tried to come ashore without my permission ;).
If I was simply retired, I would leave my city and move to the beach. Probably somewhere on the gulf coast of Florida. I see no reason to stay in a place with crappy traffic and no beaches.
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I really enjoy Chicago but it's already 17 degrees with sludge and salt all over the place.
Only reason I'm here is family, certainly not some all-important job that is easily replaceable.
I mean my mom, dad, and twin brother primarily. But a ton of other family and cousins (though some have blown to NYC, LA, Seattle, or on the road).
That said, I feel like I would live a more Nomadic lifestyle without a job (or a remote/ traveling job). That could be cool.
Maybe we can have a big family meeting and all move to warmer climates ha.
This exactly. I joke with my family that we should all pick a better location and move as a group. :)
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Or would you move somewhere else? If money wasn't an object.
I'm FIREd and I live exactly where I want to so though I could move I have no desire to do so.
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I was hoping to avoid the whole discussion of where the retirement money will stretch the best, and get at more of, where would you settle down if you could within reason?
When deciding where to retire my #1 criterion was rural acreage with lots of peace and quiet.
#2 was mild winters.
I live @ elevation ~2700 feet.
I have a panoramic view of mountains and forests.
I can see the beautiful mountains on the southeast border of Yosemite National Park.
OP, where would you like to live?
Mountains?
City?
By the coast?
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If money weren't an object, we would probably live in northern Michigan most of the year but bail to a warmer location (e.g., San Diego) during January-March. We love Michigan and our family is here, but it's not even Thanksgiving and we have 8.5 inches of snow on the ground. Blah.
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I'd continue living where we live but SO grew up here and wants to leave.
We're looking. In a town+ and near mountains.
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If money weren't an object, we would probably live in northern Michigan most of the year but bail to a warmer location (e.g., San Diego) during January-March. We love Michigan and our family is here, but it's not even Thanksgiving and we have 8.5 inches of snow on the ground. Blah.
You should have Thanksgiving in October like us!
We've been looking around for mountain communities in Alberta/British Columbia, but so far haven't found anything suitable. Kimberley is close, though. We'd like to live in the mountains, or at least the foothills.
Work and aging parents are keeping us in Ontario for the time being.
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Where I live now (Melbourne, Aus) would be, like, my 3rd preference and a totally excellent compromise. It's insanely HCOL but if I'm not working I can bike almost anywhere I want, avoid traffic and enjoy a lot of the green space I live next to. So it becomes a lot better after quitting. Summers can be ugly, but there's always variation over the week - it might be stupid hot a day or two, but there'll also be some milder days too.
I'd prefer Canberra as the best mix of home, friends, liveability and affordability. Though maybe if all my friends moved away it'd drop right off the map.
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Nope. Vancouver is a great city, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to live in ANY city. My dream retirement locale is an island.
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Eh, I don’t really have a reason to stay in this particular town. We are right between my kids’ two surviving grandparents so that is reason not to make a drastic shift.
Although DH would move south in a heartbeat. He hates the cold and snow. I certainly don’t love it (and the move from 60 to -15 in 3 days was a little insane this week) but I can’t imagine the holiday season without snow. My dog thinks he’s a husky so he loves the snow.
Honestly, we’d probably keep this as home base and just travel more so we wouldn’t have to uproot the kids from their best friends.
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If it weren’t for jobs, we’d be outta here so fast it would make your head spin. Virginia was a nice state that has really begun to suck.
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My FIRE calcs are for our current location, the Bay Area of California. My wife is from here and honestly I'm not sure any place can offer as much of what I want 365 days a year. The climate is great, the ocean is near, access to a vacation home in Tahoe is 3 hrs away. I consider moving to Tahoe where the COL can be a little less, depending.
If I didn't have to work and had the means, I would probably follow the seasons. I would ski at more places out west in the winter, and follow good weather to climbing destinations the rest of the months. Or I could live in the Bay Area and do all those things while not living out of a van.
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I don't like where I live. I grew up here (FL) and know nothing else, but I also know I like being near mountains and areas that have seasons. Most of my family and social life is here though, so if money weren't an object, I would just take off to mountain towns during summer and fall for hiking, leaf-watching, and festivals. Maybe do some seasonal gigs or volunteer at National Parks.
I cherish the idea of home and roots, so though I'd travel around to different areas, I'd also probably get a cabin, or a rustic house in a wooded neighborhood to be a permanent second home, where I could visit frequently, maybe even have roommates that stay year round, take seasonal job, join active/hiking groups...all so that I could integrate myself into a community and carry that feeling of home with me when I need to escape the Floridery-ness of Florida.
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Love Canada. Love big cities. If money were no object I’d still be here
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I really enjoy Chicago but it's already 17 degrees with sludge and salt all over the place.
Only reason I'm here is family, certainly not some all-important job that is easily replaceable.
I mean my mom, dad, and twin brother primarily. But a ton of other family and cousins (though some have blown to NYC, LA, Seattle, or on the road).
That said, I feel like I would live a more Nomadic lifestyle without a job (or a remote/ traveling job). That could be cool.
Maybe we can have a big family meeting and all move to warmer climates ha.
This is me too. I’m near St Louis. Ridiculously cold already. I only live here to be near my daughter. My son is moving back but still not launched, I’m so excited we’ll all be together again. I want to move to the south so bad I’m saving for it now. The heat is crazy but it’s not painful like the brutal cold, the cola is cheap. But I need them to come w me. If they don’t I’ll still go but it’ll be set up as a second home so I can go back and forth. I may just get the rv and be a snowbird. I have base privileges and just saw the 10 day forecast in key west. Heavenly.
Family is number one. I have a great home in a nice area, we’re together and safe, life is good. But I want to move so bad I dream about it.
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If money wasn't an object in any way?
Absolutely not. And we are in one of the most expensive markets in the country. But we'd move to an even more expensive place (~$1000 per square foot).
We really like where we live. Like, we are deliriously happy. (Though we have yet to go through a winter, which is a big deal for my weak blood, even though winters here are extreme!) But we'd rather be closer to family and living in a place with what we consider to be terrific weather, as well as daily access to the beach.
Alternatively and in direct contrast to my "closer to family" criterion, we might consider moving to Europe, if we could work out the immigration and other concerns.
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No, not at all (Los Angeles area). I don't understand the attraction of big cities, aside from the economics. I despise the overcrowding, the pollution, the traffic, the traffic, the lack of access to the outdoors, the traffic, the feeling of being trapped in a giant monster of concrete, the lack of bike infrastructure, the ugliness, and the traffic. Also the cost, though this is supposed to be without the need to work.
Weather is good, though a bit too hot at times.
I plan to move when we FIRE. Biggest thing holding us back is good friends in the area, but there's no doubt in my mind that leaving is the right thing to do. My wife, however, is not so sure on that regard.
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See my profile comment
It helps me a lot to see that others have the same wanderlust and the same indifference and indecision about where to live once they are not working. Sometimes I wonder just how messed up I am for having these thoughts. I want to be a nomad, and could list about 17 places I'd like to live. I don't know if it just gets too boring to be in one place, or if I'm doomed to never make long term friendships by moving too often. Knowing that I'm here for the next decade until my kids are grown feels almost like a prison sentence at times, although I know this is the best community we've been in since they were born.
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No. Barring something unforseen, I expect to leave my current locale long before I reach FIRE. I live in a LCOL area and have a job that pays quite well relative to the cost of living here, but to put it quite simply, I don't fit in here.
I'd gladly pay more(and plan on doing so) to live in a locale where there are more people like myself.
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I'd prefer somewhere in the mountains, a little more rural. We moved here because of my wife's family over a decade ago and now we're pretty well settled so it would be hard to uproot. I grew up in the NW and like aspects of it - but I don't miss months of overcast and rain after having sun year round. Also, NM is now a pretty blue state and crime in Albuquerque is pretty bad (#1 in auto thefts), albeit not so much where we live.
Maybe Idaho or Utah - definitely western US. Possibly Montana. I like some snow in the winter but not multiple feet. I can deal with the heat alright - but the humidity in the south and east - no thanks. Though I'm about to spend a lot of time in a very hot and humid place so I guess I'll get used to it.
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Absolutely yes. New Jersey gets a bad rap in some quarters but I really like the diversity of my town. My street is very quiet and yet New York is literally just 3 miles away. My kids have benefitted greatly from growing up so close to a big city.
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If I wasn’t working, I wouldn’t be living here, since my work provides my (free) housing.
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I live in Maine, and I'd stick here for a few years post retirement.
My wife is stuck in Florida, and we'd get her the fuck out as quickly as possible.
Long term we're probably going to end up in Alaska, but neither of us have plans of exactly settling down.
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I live in Sydney, which is a damn beautiful place to live and while I've considered moving awal because of the high cost of living I think I'd be pretty sad to go. So I'd like to retire here, Brussels or Paris. I really enjoyed living in Brussels and Paris is pretty similar but with better food, so those two are also attractive.
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No. Life is easy here, but I'm using easy to save up for an easier retirement in somewhere warm. Probably Central America.
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Well technically I'm here because of my SO, and ultimately because of her family. But when we retire, we plan to move elsewhere, probably closer to a beach. Probably staying in the same region, though, since we both have aging parents within a few hours of here.
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I love where I live.
The winters are brutal, but to me that only really matters when you are forced to drive somewhere in really bad conditions. Otherwise, snow and cold are no big deal, especially since I live in a high-rise with underground parking. Otherwise, I like winter.
I live in a major Canadian, multi-cultural city with world class amenities and infrastructure. I'm also right by the water.
I could see us being partially nomadic and "living" all over the world for various stretches of time, but we'll maintain our little apartment as home-base.
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Nope, I'd be on a boat sailing and diving around the world. It also wouldn't be the 18°F it was here this morning outside Atlanta.
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Where we currently live was picked almost entirely on two bases: (a) abundant jobs, (b) lowish COL. So no, although it's a nice place, if we didn't have to work and money was no object, we wouldn't live here.
If money was no object we'd likely live near one of the sides of the family, so either MD or the UK. Probably the UK since we prefer the lifestyle there overall and if money was no object we could even buy ourselves out of the things we didn't like about our lifestyle there.
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Nope, I'd be on a boat sailing and diving around the world. It also wouldn't be the 18°F it was here this morning outside Atlanta.
This is totally off-topic, but have you been to the quarry just north of Cartersville? I think it's called Kraken Springs now. I've been wondering if it's worth the drive. I really like the shop that owns it, but haven't made it over there yet.
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From now (November) thru May, I wouldn't want to live anywhere but Florida - great weather, excellent beaches, low taxes & cost of living, and good infrastructure. From June thru early October, not so much - heat and hurricanes are a drag.
We will eventually add a summer residence in the Rocky Mountain West.
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I really enjoy Chicago but it's already 17 degrees with sludge and salt all over the place.
Only reason I'm here is family, certainly not some all-important job that is easily replaceable.
I mean my mom, dad, and twin brother primarily. But a ton of other family and cousins (though some have blown to NYC, LA, Seattle, or on the road).
That said, I feel like I would live a more Nomadic lifestyle without a job (or a remote/ traveling job). That could be cool.
Maybe we can have a big family meeting and all move to warmer climates ha.
This exactly. I joke with my family that we should all pick a better location and move as a group. :)
I might have to suggest this...
TN is nice, except for the brutally humid summers and the colder than I'm comfortable with winters.
I'd love to spend winters in south Florida, though I'm not sure where I'd rather be for summers. I've never been anywhere that I found particularly pleasant (west Texas, southwest Ohio, middle Tennessee).
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Absolutely not. If I were FIRE tomorrow I would leave immediately. I'm trying to come up with a plan to GTFO of the great frozen white north where we are already getting below zero windchills in November! Most jobs in my field are in cold places though so I'm feeling kind of stuck.
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I wouldn't live where I do were it not for my job. It's a very high cost of living area, in a high tax state and municipality, and winter is miserable. Once I'm done, I'm out in a heartbeat.
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I'm a very "bloom where you're planted" kind of person. I've really enjoyed most of the places I've lived, and they've been pretty diverse in terms of climate, COL, job opportunities, etc.
I really love city life though, so Chicago is my jam. And I have a wife who really wants to continue working, so we're tied here even if I didn't have to work. We would be FI if we moved to lower COL, but we choose not to.
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I like where I live, and plan to live here post FIRE. Our family and friends are close, we get four seasons to enjoy, and we are close to metro areas while still being small enough that we have a neighborly feel. We are also very close to outdoor amenities such as Lake Michigan, Door County, several national forests and state parks that are great.
We will probably travel more post FIRE, but we will still call Wisconsin Home.
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I'm FIREd but my husband's not and we have cats, so I am effectively stuck in one place and that place is due to husband's work. Luckily I like this location (Bay Area) except for winter when I find it too cold. I'd rather be in a place where highs only in the 50s are rare. I came here from San Diego and that would be better, though there were still some cold days. And San Diego wouldn't be good year-round because it gets too hot in the summer. Of course, here in the Bay Area, we had two weeks of heat waves hitting 100 degrees this summer, and no one here has AC. But generally, summers here are nice with days in the high 60s and 70s more standard. I think the bottom line is, if I had it my way, there's no one place I'd live year-round.
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I'd move to Colorado for the mountain biking.
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I'm looking forward to stealth camper traveling for months at a time each year when I retire. Given what was just said moving wouldn't do much for me.
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If I FIREd today, we'd still live here. I don't want my kids to have to change schools, so we would stay until they finish high school.
Once they finish school, I'm out. I do like the area, but I want to live in a smaller town. I'm not sure where we will end up living. We may nomad it for a bit before picking a location. We are still nearly 10 years out, so I haven't given a lot of thought to a final location.
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I’ve been mulling this over. I want out of SF proper, but love Marin / West Sonoma, except for the housing cost (and the fire risk). I’ve got a lot of transition in the next few years, with children leaving the nest, and a marriage that’s... perhaps not meant to last forever. I love Fairfax, but it’s housing cost approaches that of SF, and even Petaluma has become so expensive, and the fires are changing the picture more and more. But my community is in the Bay Area, and it’s hard to imagine uprooting and starting over too far away, so I like the idea of staying in a smallish town within a 2 hour drive of SF, and reasonably near the coast. Ideas are welcome!
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I would still probably live where I am now, because of family.
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I would absolutely move to the mountains if I didn't have to work. We have a couple places in mind for when that time comes, although we will probably stay put until the kids are through school even if we FIRE before then because I'd prefer not to uproot them if it could be avoided. I like cold, quiet, and grey days. Southern California is seriously wasted on me, but I grew up here and went to college here and stayed after college because of the good employment prospects.
Big Bear Lake?That's where I moved to a couple of years after I FIREd and wanted out of OC and the LA sprawl. Didn't stay long but it allowed me to be close to aging parents to help them and was inexpensive housi g-wise. Too small of a town for me but I'll be moving to a much larger different Calif ski area by months end.
Big Bear is still too so-cal-ish. The skiing sucks, and if there is snow then it's full of people from LA. We are considering: Durango (still expensive but not as expensive as it is here), Tahoe area (family nearby). My oldest is in college now in Virginia and we like the small city where he's currently located, but no skiing to speak of there. If money were no object we love Jackson, WY but it's outrageously expensive. Youngest is in 2nd grade so we'll probably stay here through high school even if we FIRE and will make a move somewhere we love then.
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I really like where we live now, and if we had to settle down in one place permanently it would probably be on the list, but there are too many other places to explore, so the current FIRE plan is to go nomad.
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One thing I discovered livibg a semi-nomadic life is that I do like having a home base even if I don't plan to be there much.
If I were a traveler (I'm not interested in traveling) I'd still have to have my home base.
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I would absolutely move to the mountains if I didn't have to work. We have a couple places in mind for when that time comes, although we will probably stay put until the kids are through school even if we FIRE before then because I'd prefer not to uproot them if it could be avoided. I like cold, quiet, and grey days. Southern California is seriously wasted on me, but I grew up here and went to college here and stayed after college because of the good employment prospects.
Big Bear Lake?That's where I moved to a couple of years after I FIREd and wanted out of OC and the LA sprawl. Didn't stay long but it allowed me to be close to aging parents to help them and was inexpensive housi g-wise. Too small of a town for me but I'll be moving to a much larger different Calif ski area by months end.
What about Park City? Easy to fly to Jackson from there too.
Big Bear is still too so-cal-ish. The skiing sucks, and if there is snow then it's full of people from LA. We are considering: Durango (still expensive but not as expensive as it is here), Tahoe area (family nearby). My oldest is in college now in Virginia and we like the small city where he's currently located, but no skiing to speak of there. If money were no object we love Jackson, WY but it's outrageously expensive. Youngest is in 2nd grade so we'll probably stay here through high school even if we FIRE and will make a move somewhere we love then.
Yeah if money wasn't an issue I'd be in Jackson too! But Tahoe or some other similar sized lower cost ski town in more my speed. Durango is nice but it's far to Telluride. I havent really checked out too many of the Colorado ski towns as they all seemed expensive or too small. If I didn't have family and friends in Calif Id be living in Maine or Europe. Still may but right now I have the old beater hovel as a home base to go anywhere from so that will work for now. One thing I discovered livibg a semi-nomadic life is that I do like having a home base even if I don't plan to be there much.
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We specifically chose to live in this part of the US (smallish-town MT) because we absolutely love the mountains and access to wilderness. We chose it despite the fact that we could make more money in other places. We have considered doing just that (recently flirted with a corporate job in Des Moines that would have more than doubled our household income). But the mountains keep us here. Every morning, I make coffee while looking at the mountain range on the other side of the valley, then I bike or drive just a few miles to work and school. Almost every evening, I walk my dog up our little mountain into trails that feel like they're miles from anywhere. A few days a week, I spend my lunch hour trail running in the hills behind my office.
If money were no object, we'd probably spend a few months traveling to warmer spots in late winter, but that's about it.
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Will stay where we are (small town in Massachusetts) until DS finishes school. Will move to a lower COL area, ideally near the beaches, after.
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I would just live in hotels and move around whenever I felt like it.
Otherwise...Maybe a family home in Boulder?
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No. We came here for dh’s work. The weather is terrible. However when dh retires we’ll probably move to someplace with even worse weather for family reasons.
I have zero wanderlust. What’s the opposite of wanderlust? That’s what I have.
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We will be moving to be closer to either my husband's or my family/friends once we are FI. This place is lovely but our roots are not deep here.
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No. We came here for dh’s work. The weather is terrible. However when dh retires we’ll probably move to someplace with even worse weather for family reasons.
I have zero wanderlust.
+1
What’s the opposite of wanderlust?
stay-putlust
Ha!
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I moved to where I live now because it was a good place to raise my children and to be close to relatives. It's a very family oriented town, good schools, reasonably affordable real estate market and access to the outdoors for camping, cheap ski opportunities and such. I've built a business here, have acquired well performing rentals and made good friends. I don't regret the decision to live here.
But I don't love it. The town and outlying areas skew conservative politically. The mountains are pretty as are the rivers and lakes but it gets very hot in the summer, many many days of triple digit temps. My main purpose was to provide a stable environment for my children and that goal has been achieved. One child has left the nest and is launched, the middle child will be in college next year, and my youngest has about 5 years left to go.
In my idle time I daydream and research other places I might like to live. Near the beach somehow? A lively mountain town? Wine Country? Not sure I see myself living abroad, though more travel in my future is definitely a plan. My west coast roots are deep; my family is spread from Washington to Arizona, and somewhere in there is a place I'd like to call home. Lots of options out there and in no rush to make any decision today. It would be fun to take a year and tool around looking for that spot.
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This particular house was chosen primarily for proximity to public transit and both our work locations. Post-FIRE, we'll move out of the city and to a bigger plot of land, for sure. Whether we'd stay in the general geographic area... currently a LOT of our family lives within an hour of us, and I don't think I'd want to lose that. DH has floated some other places, based on climate, tax laws, and other considerations. I think I'd be happy any of those places, but it's a hard sell with all the family here. If family started moving away, we'd probably do the same.
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We moved to our current location (NC) because it was both the place we wanted to be long-term, and I had a very lucrative job opportunity that allowed us to get over the finish line to FIRE. The stars were aligned.
I FIREd earlier this year, and we love it here. I've been fairly nomadic this first year of freedom -- doing about 2 months of bucket-list travel and family visits -- but this is home.
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I would like to live elsewhere when I retire. My ideal location would be in northern California close to old growth redwoods forests. Someplace so far north, it's practically Oregon. I have visited that area before and really like hiking those forests. I haven't looked deeply at real estate, taxes, or general cost of living in that part of California yet. It's probably not as expensive as the Bay area or LA, but I'm sure it's more expensive than where I am in Ohio. I'm also concerned about wild fires. That part of the state didn't seem to be as dry as further south, but there is evidence of past fires if you look.
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I think @ice_beard and I might be neighbors. I love my slice of the Bay Area's East Bay, mostly for my connections in the community. The weather's pretty great, too. Our house is paid for, so the HCOLA isn't particularly onerous. DH walks to work, which is crazy rare in these parts, and he loves his low-pressure job.
We have rentals in a SoCal Desert retirement community and plan to spend part of the year there as well.
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Home is where the FIRE is for wifey and me... We worked damn hard to simplify lifestyle and LOVE our smaller but nicely trimmed new nest that’s just outside a trendy area near one of Atlanta’s mega traffic highwAys. The FIRE plan is about 14 months from now. Now the fun part is we live on a road that is jammed with commuter traffic each day at 7:30am and again at 5pm... It’s not something to be proud of, but I am looking forward to sitting on my front porch with a cocktail each afternoon and smiling at the bumper to bumper cars trying to get to the exurbs... And if the traffic ever annoys me, I will simply go pick okra in the back garden!