Where would you plan to retire ?

[floridapete]

Interesting discussion going on in one of the other Expats Forums on the subject of where LPR's and USC would plan to retire:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409192

I have posted this topic on this board (rather than the temporary visas board) as the non-immigrant visas don't give you the option of a proper retirement (as in stopping business and retiring without working) in the USA.

I just thoyght that this might be a good topic to also discuss on here. What are your plans or aspirations for retirement ?

(Note: this link WILL work - it is an open forum)

[chris]

Peter,
Given the crap dished out to us this week, York has a definite appeal!

[floridapete]

Peter,
Given the crap dished out to us this week, York has a definite appeal!

Chris, you will always be welcome in York !

I am retired (as you may know) after a life of hard-work and enterprise ;)
and fully enjoy my retirement life based on York, England with excursions to the sun to break up the winter.

But this morning was a wonderful golden late Autumn day with magnificent colours in the falling leaves and trees.

I hear that Central Florida is expecting snow today !

Oh well I guess you can't have everything huh ? :)

[chris]

Yes in N.Orlando they did indeed have a slushy sleet. It was on the TV news. It's definately brass monkey weather today.
As someone born in Yorkshirs, I have always liked York. It has history most places can only dream of. Wendy and I have been mulling over a return to the UK for a while, simply because of the kids future. York is on the list. We also have a liking for Dorset too. I come from Barnsley, the wife Lpool, neither of us wants to return to our home places.

[STEVE T]

retire, i dont know how they live so long in florida dealing with crap we go through each day

[STEVE T]

i just booked my car a new car in for its first service , cut off twice dropped while he screams at someone else in the back ground yes i really want you to service my vehicle NOT

[Kriz1]

I don't think we could afford to retire...day to day costs are so high in the USA...there is no money left for the future...we were shocked to find out that at a company like my husbands most people in their late 40s have little money put away and none own much of their home and a lot still rent...
I've asked my mum not to have the house in Wales sold in her will...so we may go there...and keep a small condo in FL for the winter....

[Emmalee25]

I always fancied Greece,
I love Greece, but i dont know if its a good contender for retirement, if i end up living in the US it would be the west coast, maybe San Diego! we made sure we have good savings for our future (hubby is 42!!! so my sugar daddy :) ) and with a great UK government pension which can follow us anywhere, we have a house in France (loire valley) so thats always an option although it is quite remote so it depends on mobility i suppose!
My fave idea would be to travel, 6 month cruise around the world, time in Oz, time in Europe (especially Italy) and time in the USA...not much time in the UK im afraid as im not a fan....lol ;)
Em x

[chris]

Less of the sugar daddy, I'm 14 years older than my wife young lady! Being a little rude here, someone once told me that you are only as old as the woman you feel?! Hmm.
Anyway away from the english rudeness, we had thought about France too. There are a couple of sites that give great information on housing, education, doing business, etc. The educxation system is good, but unless you put your kids in private schooling or enrol them in an international/english school, the curriculum in french public schools is taught only in French. Some schools have some help, but not much. If your kid is say less than 10 or 11, they will usually make the transition to another language seamlessly, a little older and it takes more time and effort. For us oldies, well it would be hard if not interesting developing French beyond what I learned at grammar school (showing my age there). My wife always fancied a vineyard? We also looked at Holland, which has an excellent SoL, language is english second and nearly everyone speaks it. Denmark is also a good recommendation for SoL, education, etc, but it's a bit cold up there. Europe has much to recommend it. Most have good education, good SoL's. Some like Greec are still struggling economies, so may be better to vacation there than live I suspect. Most surprising is Ireland which has an absolutely booming economy, good SoL, good education and the population is quite young. They are experiencing a real renaissance after years of seeing people leave. Being a catholic helps.
I think once you start throwing out the net, there are many more options than Florida, and mostly with a lot less hassles. We may complain about the East Europeans trekking to the UK, but Europe is our oyster too and we can trekk if we want to.

[Emmalee25]

LOL chris,
thats my husbands philosophy, he's only 29 coz he's with me! although he acts like a teenage boy most of the time....:p
Em x

[STEVE T]

Hello all, are you a yorkshire lass Emmalee?

[STEVE T]

hello anniemm

[Emmalee25]

Hello Steve,
I most certainly am, Leeds born and bred!!!!
Dont have a whippet though!!!!

Em x

[InnVic]

No sugar daddy for me - I have a toyboy :-) (Jons 8 years younger!)
When we retire we hope to buy a motorhome and become delinquent "old age" travellers! Probably with some base in the UK though just so we can get pensions, and our Viagra and hip operations on the NHS!

[Kriz1]

The moterhome life is something I would like...but I think my old bones would not stand up too it....the point in moving to the USA is to travel for us anyway...and I've seen less of the country in the last 7 years than I did coming over from the UK a few times a year...

[chris]

Kriz,
Your last comment - how true - same here. Motto should be never go live where you vacation - ruins the whole thing!

[Kriz1]

It would be interesting to find out where people have been on holiday since moving to the US...

We go mostly to FL now...having a second home can tie you down...
We keep saying we'll go somewhere else and we travel through many States by car to get to FL once a year...I just need the push to stop and take a look around...

[Emmalee25]

I love the USA, such a varied landscape!
I always think the best way to see a place is to drive and keep stopping off at the places of interest, would love to do the Winnie bago thing across the Us and down Route 66!!!
thats defo in my future vacation line up!!! oh! along with a disney cruise of course ;)
Em x

[STEVE T]

sorry i had to leave emmalee, i am a castleford lad, but lived in wakefield 10 years before moving out here, i will try to chat later ,leaving againbye

[InnVic]

Kriz - your the same age as me so less of the "old bones"! :-)
Anyway a decent Motorhome these days is a very comfortable way to travel. Ours had King size bed (proper sprung matress none of this sleeping on cushions lark) full heating/airconditioning, proper bathroom, kitchen etc.. its the one thing we really miss - but having a B&B ties you so we don't get that much time off to go explore. We did do a road trip to Florida earlier this year, the drive was the best part. We got to see lots of the US and it improved our geography no end! We're thinking of touring Utah next year - I've heard its very beautiful.

[mark]

Kriz - your the same age as me so less of the "old bones"! :-)
Anyway a decent Motorhome these days is a very comfortable way to travel. Ours had King size bed (proper sprung matress none of this sleeping on cushions lark) full heating/airconditioning, proper bathroom, kitchen etc.. its the one thing we really miss - but having a B&B ties you so we don't get that much time off to go explore. We did do a road trip to Florida earlier this year, the drive was the best part. We got to see lots of the US and it improved our geography no end! We're thinking of touring Utah next year - I've heard its very beautiful.


Hi Innvic

Please do not remind me of motor homes. Took one for a test drive last year , what a beauty and a mere $500,000

Fantasic to drive, camera's at the back, side and front. The only problem was I took a wrong turn and what was to be a 30 minute drive turned into a 3 hour one. Got lost could not find where to do a three point turn that was big enough

Boy was the salesman pi--ed off ! so was I, tired , hungry and fed up. He is the only salesperson not to make follow up calls to see if I was still interested

[floridapete]

I posted this thread, with a link to the discussion on this subject on another Forum, because I thought that it might bring up some interesting comments and aspirations. Maybe the membership of this Forum is rather 'younger' (in expat experience terms) than the other one which maybe has more 'mature' expats who may feel closer to their retirement prospects.

However, I was amused to see some comments on the 'other' forum thread from people who thought that they would end up staying in the USA and 'visiting the UK frequently'. "Some hope !" I thought.

How do they know that they will, eventually, have enough money to be able to afford to live in retirement in the USA - never mind being able to afford the 'frequent flights home' each year, even considering that in their later years they will feel physically and medically up to all of that travel ?

As many of you know I am retired (have been for almost 5 years now and loving it). But I cannot think of any scenario in which I could afford to be retired in the USA and think of making frequent flights to the UK. I just could not afford to do so. Especially at the US cost of crossing the pond - which is much more than the UK charter cost of transatlantic travel.

Some years ago I joined AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). A vast organsation based in California AARP welcomes membership from anyone over 55 (or couples where one partner is over 55) and you don't have to be American ! Quite apart from the many benefits of membership (savings on US rental cars, discounts at hotels and motels, travel etc. etc.) they also publish an excellent quarterly magazine and a monthly 'newspaper' bulletin. The magazine is a glossy with all kinds of interesting articles. The bulletin is almost always the same headlines - month after month after month ! "Pensions and prescription drugs".

The greatest concern for typical American retirees (after a lifetime of labour or service) is "how can I afford to exist ?" The US pension scheme (can't remember the acronim) seems to be a very basic income which is hardly above poverty level. Many Americans never saved for their personal pension scheme (IRA - Individual Retirement Arrangement) because they just couldn't put money to one side from their weekly or monthly wages. Others have seen the value of whatever savings they may have made over the years, whether in a scheme or in personal investments, reduced year on year with ever lowering investment interest rates and stock values - hence the rush into property three years ago which now seems to have been an unwise move in many areas of the USA including Florida.

The other major concern is 'how can I afford to be sick in America?' With federal health and welfare schemes only available to the truly 'poor people' (i.e. with no money at all) the cost of hospitalisation and prescription drugs can now be prohibitive for many retired people - hence the drugs-runs into Canada which are now being outlawed by the Bush administration to save their own pharmaceutical industry paymasters. So a great majority of US retirees live with a monthly, very expensive, health insurance conflict. If they are really sick, and in any life-threatening condition, they must really be more scared by the costs involved than, maybe, their serious condition.

The USA has very little of a 'national health service' - and I am amused by the people on the other forum of this thread who inferred that they would 'pop back to the UK from time to time to use the NHS'. They clearly left Britain many years ago and have no idea whether they would still be able to access the UK NHS, now that they are (and have been for many years) ExPat ! Fact is they won't !

I had reason to go into hospital yesterday for a one-day treatment procedure. Amongst the questions I had to provide answers for and sign off were 'have you lived in Britian for the last year'. Fortunately I was very able to answer that question truthfully and sign to that effect. Because, otherwise, I would not like to think of the cost of the two procedures that I had done, the theatre time, a staff of six people including a surgeon and assistant surgeon attending me, the drugs used and the time of an anasthaetist. It would all have cost a monumental amount if I had the same treatment and attention in the USA. Fortunately, it cost me absolutely NOTHING (at the point of service) because I have paid into the NHS throughout my working life. Being a UK retiree I also receive my regular prescription drugs FREE and, of course, all visits to my doctor are also free.

So I am not at all sure that those people who have thought that they might stay retired in the US and visit the UK frequently in their later years, have really thought it through - or the true costs of even being retired in the USA without a very significant personal pension scheme behind you.

How many members on here have a UK pension scheme that they could transfer the assets of to the US ? I remember that Expats Voice member Katya's husband is in that very business.

[anniemm]

Pete

Good post, I think a lot of it is wishful thinking, once they stated to really look into it, they would realise its not that easy

I must get my hubby to join the AARP next year once he turns 55:eek:

I've been thinking of taking early retirement from the Bank, next year once i turn 50, i would get a quite a good return albeit pro-rata, but need to do some serious thinking...

[Kriz1]

Retirement will come to us in the next few years if we get a business my kids can run....or never if hubby just keeps a job....unlike a lot of Americans we are near paying off one of our homes...we could make a nice little sum renting out our other home for the season if we keep it....
Our plan right now is to buy a repo home on the Cape move the kids in while we do it up over 3 years......look for a business in FL...find hubby a new job in a different State...sell this Cape home...buy a cabin to rent out near Dollywood...find me a job in FL...talk my parents into not selling the house in Wales in their will...buy a repo home in FL for the kids after downsizing the second Cape house...hubby to simi retire and take temp jobs though an agent all over the States...this may or may not happen....but its the plan..LOL!

[floridapete]

Retirement will come to us in the next few years if we get a business my kids can run....or never if hubby just keeps a job....unlike a lot of Americans we are near paying off one of our homes...we could make a nice little sum renting out our other home for the season if we keep it....
Our plan right now is to buy a repo home on the Cape move the kids in while we do it up over 3 years......look for a business in FL...find hubby a new job in a different State...sell this Cape home...buy a cabin to rent out near Dollywood...find me a job in FL...talk my parents into not selling the house in Wales in their will...buy a repo home in FL for the kids after downsizing the second Cape house...hubby to simi retire and take temp jobs though an agent all over the States...this may or may not happen....but its the plan..LOL!

At which point in that perhaps/maybe ideal scenario, Kriz, do you and your husband actually GET to retire (i.e. not work at all and enjoy your leisure time and each other) ? Or do you both plan/need to keep on working forever ?

[Kriz1]

I think we'll need something going on forever....part time jobs...temp ones...a company...rental homes...even if our kids run a company...we'll still have to be on their backs...and we'll still only have a small wage from that...
I don't see many 40/50 year old Americans having a real retirement...a lot of the 60/70 year old retired people living around me now have part time jobs...
Working we have lay offs in the back of our minds all the time...you can't save for the future..because as the years go by you are laid off many time...eating into all your savings....

[Emmalee25]

I suppose we are in a lucky situation in that my husband has a UK government pension, after 23 years with them it is a very good pension and can be moved anywhere, we have a home we rent out in the UK, with no mortgage so is total savings and is building up nicely in our UK bank account :) we also dont do health insurance, instead put $XXX away per month into an ISA to cover any eventuality!
I think if the average ex-pat has thought it out properly, it can be done! we dont know what our health will be like in our old age unfortuantely! im a gregarious person and so would love to carry on with a part time job until i can no longer manage it for whatever reason! we have been saving airmiles up too and have 3 fully paid return flights from UK to US or vice versa (depends where we settle i suppose) based on miles alone!!!!
I think if you plan to become and expat anywhere, you have to look at the long term from the start!

P.s as for NHS, my son has a heart defect and we were told that he is and always will be a Yorkshire heart baby (diagnose at the yorkshire heart center in Leeds) and therefore signed paperwork to the affect that he can always be treated free of charge with them for the rest of his life....How good is that?
Em x

[InnVic]

Emma be careful of the health insurance thing. We figured we're young(ish) healthy and if we needed healthcare we'd go back to the Uk.....then one of our friends had an accident skiing, he was helicoptered out of the resort to an intensive care unit, had his spleen removed, had broken three ribs and torn ACL. Total cost of the accident $145,000. ANothery guy we knew mid 50's no insurance had a heart attack - the cost was over $100,000 and although he's now stabilised and feeling better he has had to sell his house to pay for it. I don't know about in Florida - but in VT we can get high deductible HSA which covers us for "worst case scenario". Its peace of mind as any expensive accident would scupper retirement plans completley!

[Emmalee25]

Hi innvic,
I know, it was the biggest hurdle for us before we decided we may like to live in the USA, health insurance, as my son had been so ill when he was young! If...No, when we sort out our ex-pat status ;) then we will look at all angles, The H1b route would be good as i would get cover thru my employment for us all, until then we keep saving and crossing those fingers...OH! and stay away from the ski slopes :rolleyes:
Em x

[David R. Lenox]

Kriz,
Your last comment - how true - same here. Motto should be never go live where you vacation - ruins the whole thing!


Couldn't agree more with this one. My version of Hell is practicing law in Hawaii.