Retirement: Location, Location, Location
In my first blog post about retirement that was posted back in September, I talked about the priority pyramid. This is one of the ways to visualize your priorities, in which you choose four main priorities (I arbitrarily chose location, school/career, family, and income as my headings; feel free to change those up) that you want to consider for goal planning, and stack them in order of which is most important to you. The thing that is most important to you is the base of the pyramid, and everything else stacks on top of it, just like the foundation of a house.
So, since we’re talking about location this time, let’s put that as the base of our pyramid.
Now that we have location at the base of the pyramid, it will be easy to see how making that the first priority of retirement planning will affect our other choices. For instance, you’ll have many more choices of employment if you choose to live in, say, Chicago than you will if you choose to live in Ames, Iowa. So if you choose Iowa, you may have to adjust your career and income expectations. On a related note, if you choose to live in Chicago, the cost of living is considerably higher. Ames is less expensive, but Chicago may be closer to your extended family. If you want to go to school at Northwestern University, then you’re back to Chicago; if you want a great state school, you could consider Iowa State.
You get the idea.
So, what are some of the considerations when choosing a place to retire?
1. Cost of Living
What it all boils down to is that some places have a higher cost of living than others. Along with general costs of things, as a newly separated or retired veteran, you’ll need to consider some costs that might not occur to you. Do some research on rent and mortgage rates for your desired location, the cost of health care, and what the income tax rate is there. Check sales tax, grocery prices, and clothing prices (remember, no more uniform means buying work-appropriate clothing).
2. Job market
It’s tough out there, and you can’t assume you’ll find a desirable position right off the bat. Check out the job market in your desired area, and determine what jobs are available in the area that mesh with your skill set.
3. Proximity to an installation
For some veterans, this is critical, and for others, it’s relatively unimportant. If shopping at the Commissary or Exchange or going to a military treatment facility for your health care is important to you, you’ll want to be fairly close to a military installation.
4. Proximity to extended family
Is it important to you that you’re near your (or your spouse’s) parents for grandparent time with your kids? Do you want to live near family after so many years spent globetrotting with the military? That’s something to consider.
If you want to have some fun, there’s a handy web app you can use called Find Your Spot. Going through it can help you narrows down some of the choices.·
There are myriad factors to consider when it comes to choosing a place to retire. Every individual has different priorities and reasons behind their decision-making process. So, start making a list, and have your spouse do the same. Figure out what’s important to you as individuals and as a family, and then you can start working toward shared goals.
