Right now I’m in a place that reminds me a bit of Walla Walla, but less touristy. I will say traveling that far to get to a major city gets pretty old. That’s part of why D is moving Whitman low on her list (we visited that last week too). 4 hour drive to get to an airport to catch a flight with a connection home, then a 3 hour drive after she lands. Even if we are heading to a place with a major airport, unless it is one that has the rare direct flight for us, it’s a full day to get anywhere.
White Salmon/Hood River seems good though. I’m kind of looking for a place where the kids can also get jobs and raise families, and I’m guessing the employment prospects aren’t great there, although I haven’t looked. It’s a cool area for sure though. We spent a few days there a few years ago.
Maybe you are aware of this, but there is an airport in Walla Walla that flies to Seattle (only), and an airport in Pasco that is a 45 min drive from Walla Walla that flies to Seattle and some other cities. Most kids take Whitman’s shuttle to Pasco and fly from there. Another connection for you but better than a 4 hour drive to Portland or Seattle.
We don’t really consider tax issues when we travel/explore/move TBH. Maybe we should/could, but we don’t. One thing I’ve liked about here is absolutely no one has brought up politics (yet) from either side. We’ve only been here a little over a week and have a lot more to go, but it’s a nice change from other places where it seems like you can’t escape it.
I would love to move to St. Pete’s/Tampa area PT but DH refuses to leave our Bay Area home. He is retired and has many hobbies and activities. He’s a runner and has running buddies who hike with him several times a week along the many beautiful trails near us. He meets with other retired men often and is in 2 male only book clubs. Very active social life. Meanwhile a few of my friends have moved away to be near their kids, a few babysit grandchildren regularly and my social life is less active but I really don’t mind it.
We split our time between the Bay Area and a pieds-à-terre in Manhattan where both our children and grandchildren live. I love NYC! Both areas are among the highest cost of living in the country. I spend about 5 months in NYC divided into 3-4 trips a year. As we age, I can see spending more time in NY when we can’t fly as often.
We can save so much taxes if we moved to Fla especially now that we are withdrawing RMDs. CA taxes capital gains as ordinary income!
I can totally relate to friends and hobbies as a reason to stay. I’m more in favor of moving than my husband, but I also have more of a social life where we are. He thinks I may really miss it if we move, and I suspect he may be correct. Plus, right now we live between “my” kid and “his” kid. I want to move towards my kid, and he doesn’t want to move farther away from his. BUT, he also doesn’t want to move to or closer to his kid’s state.
As a side note: I’m curious where those of you have moved to entirely new cities or states not having any prior connections there: How did you establish your new group of friends? Church, Volunteer, Senior Center activities, etc.?
We are working on it. We have met neighbors, H connected with some college classmates and we met a really great couple at our neighborhood association meeting. I have also met people at yoga.
It’s really important to get out and make a point of talking to people.
Meetup, Newcomers Club, neighbors, other newcomers from our former city, continuing education courses at the community college, book club. It’s been pretty easy to make new acquaintances, some of which will hopefully turn into friends.
I’m sure many others are similarly situated to us. Our house in Seattle has been paid for years and we are loathe to sell it because it has been among the very best of our investments in terms of absolute returns. But as much as we love the city, we don’t see ourselves here in retirement. We are building a second place in north central Washington lake location, which for us is truly God’s country, and we’ll likely retire there. Then, what to do with the Seattle house? D1 is married and she (and our first grandchild) live in the city, so we want to have a permanent place within day’s drive. I’d love to sell our Seattle house and find a place on Puget Sound (there is a lot of waterfront on the Sound) for what would be our second home. But at least two of our kiddos (and one who is effectively a kiddo of ours) seem to be hunkering down in New England/Northeast. One is in Boston (the one mostly likely to stick), one in college in Providence and one in upstate NY. We love New England too, so we are thinking of scrapping the Puget Sound idea and buying a condo somewhere in the north shore region. Maybe try for something in Portsmouth to avoid Taxachussetts, but we’ll see. I personally like the Providence area: super underrated smaller city, close to water in all directions and relatively affordable, but the taxes are similar to MA. In any event, we would play the residency game and seek to avoid state income tax in those locales. It surprises a lot of folks to learn that Washington has no state income tax. There were some amendments to the state constitution in 1930 that make it exceedingly hard to get one passed, and outside of Seattle the state isn’t as progressive as people tend to believe.
Our state Supreme Court has always been relatively liberal yet very supportive of property owners’ rights, but that’s likely changing. I wouldn’t want to be a landlord in the city.
Washington is high on our retirement location list for this reason since we currently are in a state that also does not have state income tax. It’s hard to justify moving somewhere and paying state income tax on our retirement given our current set up and Washington is pretty much the only state from the no state income tax list that appeals to us long-term (we would consider New Hampshire, as well).
Colorado state tax is not terrible (about 4%), so that would not be a factor that prompts us to relocate. I suppose high state tax could be a deterrent if we ever researched a new place.
Here’s a link if folks want to compare state-to-state
I’m quite content with PA. I always have been with our taxes actually.
From your site:
Quick Guide to Pennsylvania Retirement Income Taxes
Pennsylvania is tax-friendly toward retirees. Social Security income is not taxed. Withdrawals from retirement accounts are not taxed. Wages are taxed at normal rates, and your marginal state tax rate is 0.0%. Public and private pension income are not taxed.
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