Finding the right place to fit the needs of your life is always a key component of any move. This is especially true when choosing the right place for your retirement years. You’ve worked hard and made it to end of your career so make sure that you move to a place that has the components necessary to make your retirement years your best years yet! Thankfully, you don’t have to go into this choice alone. Take a look at our top 5 things to look for when picking your perfect retirement location.
- Type of House: Before deciding on the where, it’s a good idea to figure out what your needs are and think about how they could evolve as you get further into your retirement. Is having a yard and space more important or would you rather have less maintenance to do on your property? Will you be in your neighborhood a lot or do you intend to travel? These types of questions are essential in determining what type of property you should move into for your retirement. Once you’ve determined whether a house or a condo is ideal for you, that will help direct you towards cities that fit your needs best.
- Climate: Whether you’re trying to move locally or move across the country, one of the most important factors in choosing a retirement destination that you will get the most out of is the climate of your new town. Think about the type of activities that you like to do regularly and prioritize those over occasional fun that you could travel to do. Even if you enjoy winter activities, it might be better to live somewhere where you can do things outdoors year-round and plan trips around your favorite winter activities. Besides just thinking about what you want climate-wise, also make sure to research what natural disasters are most prevalent in the areas you’re looking in so that you’re prepared for the bad as well as the good.
- Community: As exciting as it is that your kids are grown and your working life is almost behind you, it can also be more of a challenge to create situations to make new friends. When choosing a retirement location, make sure you factor the type of community that you want to live in and the people that you’ll be around. Do some exploration and make sure that you have access to the people your own age and place in life and the types of community organizations that are important to you. Although having more free time can be exciting and fun, it can also be incredibly lonely if you don’t choose to retire in an area that has people for you to connect with.
- Family: We all have different relationships with our families, but no matter what yours is like, picking a retirement location with the proximity of your family in mind is always a good thing to think about. With your increase in free time and aging, making sure that you are the right distance from your loved ones becomes even more important. Having the support and access to family can make all the difference in how much you enjoy your retirement. However, you also want to think about how much time you want to spend. It is easy to get sucked into being a babysitter and losing track of what you want to accomplish with your retirement years, so make sure that you are the right distance to for your needs and goals.
- Ease Of Access: Another very important thing to take into account when picking a retirement destination is the ease of access to your area that you choose. One of the great joys of reaching retirement age is having the freedom and resources to go explore places that you have never been to or enjoy visiting. Even if you don’t want to live in a big city, consider your proximity to major airports and the amount of vacationers that regularly frequent your area. If you live close to a popular airport, you can save lots of money on flights to maximize the destinations that you can visit.