@sherpa, yeah. I know a couple of people who live there. They like it in Park City. One person moved there because the cap gains tax is 5 percent. I doubt the state has an estate or inheritance tax. I doubt he would have moved there.
I haven’t been there for 14 years. I liked Park City. I guess not that much. I haven’t gone back. I remember Park City being a misnomer. 
@dstark, I think I mentioned that my parents lived in the East Bay for 18 years after I was off to college. They worked in the financial district in SF. They loved being in the Bay Area and so did I whenever I visited. They hoped my sib or I would settle there, but we didn’t. I almost attended Boalt Hall, but did not.
Years later, when they saw our D and were retired, they were easily persuaded to move nearer to us. They sold their house during CA’s bad economy circa 1998 but they were ready to leave. I always feel bad whenever the summer rolls around and they have to deal with the heat. 1998 was also a terrible summer–bad timing.
But they (and my H’s parents when they were alive) played a large part in D’s growing up and she has been very fortunate to know her grandparents.
@busdriver11, I did help my daughter buy a place. She doesn’t live that far away. The place is small and $800 a sq ft. You can buy a very big house in Texas with money left over for what they paid here.
I used to argue with a friend. He said he wanted to help his kids buy their homes. I said forget it. The kids need to stand on their own two feet. They have to buy their own places. This discussion went on for years.
End of last year, my daughter said, “we are thinking of moving to Texas”. I think it was Cedar Park, right outside Austin.
And my wife and I something like, “Hold on. We are writing you and your fiance some checks. You can cash them to buy a house here… Not in Texas”.
I talked to the friend a month ago and I said, “You were right. It’s too expensive here. We have to help our kids by places. By the way, I helped my daughter buy a place”.
My friend smiled.
I am wrong once in awhile. Not too much.
And when I am wrong, I change my mind.
@AttorneyMother, I understand what your parents did. My daughter’s husband has a brother and sister living near Austin so the threat of moving is always out there.
I don’t know what we would do if my daughter moved. My wife is entrenched in Marin. She said is never leaving. Maybe we will buy a condo in Texas if she moves. Rent a place. On the plus side, if they do well, they want to live near us.
There are many cross currents.
@AttorneyMother, What are you going to do if your daughter decides to live far away?
This is another big retirement issue.
That’s funny. But hopefully they aren’t going to sell the house you helped them buy, and use the profit to move to Texas!
I have one daughter is she moves anywhere I plan to follow her. I promised to torment her for the rest of her life. She is okay with that plan.
@tom1944, and those interested in the big differences in NJ property taxes:
A lot has to do with the county and the municipality. Taxes in Millburn/Short Hills are higher than those in Summit, a town adjacent. Because they are in different counties, fully one third of Millburn’s taxes go to Newark (a city undergoing a revival, but with miles to go), but Summit doesn’t lose funds to its county.
@busdriver11, Lol! Yeah.
And if you or anybody else want to help your kids by a place near you, you have my blessing.
@tom1944, has it worked out. 
Yes Essex County has very high taxes. I have family in Union County and Morris County. Taxes are high in Union also.
@dstark, part of the reason I am putting off the house-changing exercise is because I don’t want to move twice–once now and then again to get closer to our D depending on where she lands. We do like her a lot and the feeling is mutual.
She’s is just about to head off to college so we have quite a wait. But, depending on where she lands, we’ll most likely want to have a base nearby.
It’s great your daughter decided to stay close by, though the Austin area is a great. I know that area pretty well because my H’s parents lived there for decades.
How many retirees could resist such a call to move closer when they saw a grandkid? (especially when moving from a more expensive area to a cheaper area?)
I believe our son’s GF likes to live on the $$$ east coast. I do not think there is a chance they will move elsewhere (unless of course they break up, which is unlikely I think.) We do not think it is financially doable for us to move closer to them.
The cost of living at Cedar Park in the suburb of Austin is relatively low. It could be even cheaper if you are willing to live further north/NW along 183, like the more rural Leander area or even Liberty Hill. These cities are some of the places we are considering to relocate to after we retire (likely after we sell our house elsewhere.)
@dstark - You’re right, max LTG tax is 5%, no estate or inheritance tax.
We’ve enjoyed Park City, but our days here may be numbered. It seems we’ve got something in common with @busdriver11 's youngest son.
We recently purchased a waterfront home on an island north of Seattle and are seriously considering making it our primary residence. The property taxes seem high, but you gotta love the state income tax rate.
My husband will join you at Disneyland and the club, @Madison85 – though I think he’d rather a pirate’s costume than a wench’s.
We had a good talk this weekend about retirement locales – we love our location mid-May-December, but wouldn’t mind going somewhere else Jan-mid-May. One option that would open up is possibly renting our place to a visiting professor for spring semester. (We live quite close to a university and four research institutions.) I would not feel at all comfortable leaving the house empty all winter. But, we also will be keeping an eye at where D chooses to eventually settle – I don’t want to be more than a simple plane flight away, preferably without a connection.
I just sent a poster your way, sherpa, who is planning a trip to Park City!!
@AttorneyMother, yeah moving twice would not be fun. Incoukd defintely see waiting to see where your daughter ends up.
By the way, we gave away almost everything when we moved. And almost everything else was brought to the dump. I did keep my comic books and tax records.
I have heard good things about Austin.
@mcat2, and prices are reasonable in Cedar Park. That’s why I had to open the checkbook.
Sherpa, I like Seattle a lot. My nephew lives there. My niece may move there. If my daughter moves there, I will visit. I don’t like the inheritance or estate tax the state of Washington has.
“We recently purchased a waterfront home on an island north of Seattle and are seriously considering making it our primary residence. The property taxes seem high, but you gotta love the state income tax rate”
The property taxes aren’t really that bad, unless you have a pricey property. Waterfront homes around here are pretty expensive, so it’s probably more that, than the actual tax rate. And yeah, can’t beat the zero income tax. As tax crazy as people are around here, at least they aren’t stupid enough to vote in an income tax yet.
I read an article in which the author argues (after his research) that the bare minimum of savings for an retiree to be “happy”, financially speaking, is $500,000.
He also mentioned an example: such a retiree may have $3000 monthly income from SS and $3000 monthly distribution from his retirement savings. But if a retiree takes a distribution of $3000 a month from his retirement nest egg of $500,000, will he run a significant risk of depleting his savings before he dies? Also, I am not sure how many retirees can have SS payment as high as $3000 unless he starts to cellect it at 70 yo, (I thought the average SS is only about 1200 to 1300 a month.)
Do you think he underestimated the need?
The only good explanation may be that some surveyed retirees are close to 80 yo and they of course can live comfortably with only $500,000 in their rest of lives (say, for another 5 to 10 years only.) I think a new retiree at 65 won’t be “happy” if he has only $500,000 in his savings (before or after tax here?)
How much will a new retiree need? Suppose his before-retirement income is $100,000. A number (from Fidelity?) is: 8 times $100,000 = $800,000. (does this include or exclude the equity accumulated in their home?)
Edit: It seems the $500,000 in savings includes the home equity. Also, it seems to be an after-tax number. (So, is it about equivalent to, say, $700,000 before-tax – assuming most of the savings is in traditional 401k or tIRA?)
"Moss surveyed 1,350 retirees about net worth and income, assets and home equity. But he wasn’t hunting for the number of dollars it takes to live - rather, he wanted to understand how money correlates to retirees’ levels of happiness. To that end, he posed a series of detailed questions about their lives: where they shop, what kinds of cars they drive, how many vacations they take annually, their family lives and the activities they pursue. Then he associated their levels of reported happiness with their financial condition.
Here’s what he found: Most people can be happy in retirement with savings of about $500,000. A higher number can buy more happiness, but only to a point."
The vast majority of the country, never mind the world, retires on much less that $500k. I imagine that their happiness depends much less on the dollar amount than it does on loved ones, health, friends, interests, etc. It is the topic of this thread, and it’s of interest to us, but I think we can sometimes lose sight of what is required for happiness, just as in the college part of this forum we sometimes lose sight of how good an education can be had at schools not in the top 20.
Is the 8 times your salary number for retirement assuming no pension? If you have a pension, likely 35-40%of salary, plus will get SS, is there a “magic multiplier?”
I spend more and more time trying to figure out how much is really necessary to have saved before retirement. I am going to start investing in retirement books, but so far have started reading BH and often pop in on this thread. Husband and I are 55 and 53, with at least 5 more years to work, but learning and thinking now is better than being surprised once we are retired.
@1214mom and @mcat2, how much are you currently spending and how much do YOU project you will be spending After you retire. YOU (and any spouse) have to calculate this–no one can say what these SHOULD be. Once you figure this out, it’s easier to figure out how much you will need in retirement from income sources and nest egg. This can be different for each person and couple. There is no one answer.