Retired recently - Dec 2019. Stayed in the condo I've had for 20 years, in a suburban area. Happy here, no plans to move yet.
We found this house on 25 acres close to Clarksville, just before I retired. I've been retired for more than 14 years. we are still here but maybe not much longer.
@Marie Mallery We retired thrice. First time was no choice, work lay-off, Reagan Recession. Second was to live off grid on -proceeds of sale of our home, which we self-built. Third was when I reached S/S benefit age, many years ago. I think I beat their game.\ Frank
@Marie Mallery Crime exists, of course, wherever one looks, more predominantly in some areas than others. That it is concentrated in certain urban areas is well-known. Every possible sustaining reason for this has been investigated, hashed over, re-hashed, debated, and hypothesized, mostly to no avail regarding conclusions. IMO, criminal activity seems to have a mobile nature: areas having little population turn-over appear less crime-prone than highly transient areas. The stable folks remain stable, and only turn to crime when desperation demands it. Frank
People don't protect their n-hoods like they use to. So many safe places are now being changed.Unless you live where it is really cold crime is increasing.
lived in rural nc...foothills...til husband retired.... sold out...downsized...to move near our daughter in southern Illinois cornfields...very less population...one small town...less than 1200....no red lights... we've traveled in the rv around USA.....I'm done with that
I haven't retired yet, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I plan on living in a retirement home. All my kids have their own families now, and they all live pretty far away from me and I live alone. I personally know people who live in a retirement home and are happy with their decision. They get to live with different people of the same age and experiences and have someone taking care of them. It doesn't sound bad at all. This article also has great information about retirement homes. You can click here.
There are many times I have thought of that option. Not only would I be free of the daily home maintenance tasks, but there would be a variety of activities available that I would just have to show up for. And there would be other things I could do and not have the normal "life overhead" to mess with. Of course, with the past 2 years of lock-downs, distancing, and mandatory vaccinations, I'm glad I did not go that route. We had a member here (now deceased) who lived in such a home for a number of years, and he enjoyed it for years, but then went through periods of eating alone in his room during all this COVID mess. I'm sure there are other tradeoffs to not being in your own home (I get tired of being around other people real easily.) But that is certainly a viable option for lots of folks. And no one could have anticipated COVID. I'd imagine some folks felt safer in a retirement home than they would have navigating life on their own during this stuff.
Bought our home in1997, retired in 2004, worked part-time until 2019, this is my final resting place until death reaches me.
If I'm ever on my own again, it's a retirement community for me for sure. I like the idea of lots of activities and transportation available for when I can no longer drive.
First question is, Maria, why don't you live closer to your family? Many Senior that live alone, change where they live and move to where family is. That is, if their family wants to help them. Wife and I haven't lived close to her family for 19 years and we chose to have it that way. Unfortunately, retirement homes cost. The more things offered, the higher the cost. Many of us, on this forum, could hardly believe how much Lon Tanner was paying for his room, but he had a lot of neat things that came with the cost. Many of his meals looked absolutely delicious and a dining room that looked great. There are those of us that don't get a Pension, like wife and I, so we have to survive on savings and SS.