Posted on 02/13/2015 8:22:22 PM PST by TurboZamboni
Everyone in Prescott is encouraging everyone to move to Payson. They say it’s the new Prescott.
You should visit Branson, Missouri. Lots of retirees, always something to keep you occupied, centrally located and truly God’s country. It just takes a few minutes to get out of the tourist traffic to a peaceful setting and housing is inexpensive compared to other areas of the Country. Missouri’s democrat governor is term limited in 2016 and the legislature is heavily republican. Southern Missouri is very conservative, Christian and pro 2nd amendment.
Having just moved to Albuquerque last year, I am impressed with it as a great place for retirees. The Southwest (Arizona and NM) in general is ideal for people from the Midwest, and tends to draw many people from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. So you see more people from where you are, settling here than in the southeast.
a. Mountains, blue skies and bike and walking trails. The Sandia Mountains tower above the city at over 11,000 feet. Beautiful view from anywhere in the city. Skies are sunny and dark blue any time of year.
b. Traffic. Easy to get around - all the roads have 3 lanes plus turn lanes, and traffic is almost non-existent despite nearly 800,000 people in this community.
c. Climate. I was concerned that the heat might be an issue, but with elevation 5500 - 6000 and dry air, summers are not as warm as late spring in Atlanta where I came from. It gets up to 95 for one or two months, but with humidity around 20%, it feels like 85 in Minnesota. And even on the warmest day, overnight lows are in the 60s.
And we do get winter here, but not like the Midwest. Typical winter day would be in low 50s during the day, and 20 overnight. We get a little snow, 1 - 3 inches on occasion, but not enough to affect your travel through town.
d. Cost of living. Lower than most states. Gasoline got down to $1.55; income taxes are lower than I had in Georgia.
e. People and service. You generally find people who migrate to a place to be happier, because they are there by choice. But some of the services were a surprise. At the local DMV, called Motor Vehicle Department, we got our new drivers licenses and license plates in 45 minutes. They even asked me if I liked the license photo, or they could take another picture!
We arrived on Good Friday, and the cable company came over on Easter Sunday to hook up our cable service.
It is not such a great place to build a career unless you work for a national or multinational firm, like me. But I can’t think of a more healthy stress-free place for retirees.
I just moved back to rural W TN after having been living around the country for 30+ years.
Moderate climate = NO LIBERALS
That's moderate enough for me.
Where is that?
Very funny.
There is nothing in Payson and nobody wants to live there. Prescott rocks! People should go to Prescott and avoid Payson.
Yes, Tennessee is nice (just stay away from Memphis).
lol..
Heaven.
Daughter-in-law is Nica, son and she live there 6 mos./yr. We go there. She and our granddaughter have dual citizenship.
Nicaragua is the safest of all Central American countries; drug culture not dominant, cultural ethics prohibit home invasions if anyone is home (all bets off if house is unoccupied, or your cook is there alone but is in bed with the bad guys); Nica’s love Americans, are warm and affectionate, and even the Sandinista’s have come to hate Ortega since he’s exposed himself as only being out for himself and power.
Big push of American’s to go there & develop places until Ortega was re-elected and now is probably dictator-for-life. But seems to be picking up again.
Not a bad place at all, especially the Pacific side. Very poor, 2nd only to Haiti. Learn where to NOT go. It will break your heart - unless you don’t have one.
We’re thinking of a family farm there......
You and Fed are telling CONSERVATIVE, pro-gun owning, responsible FREEPERS to NOT move to Texas, when that state is being flooded by ILLEGAL ALIENS, because......?
That just doesn’t make any sense.
Every bit of what you say is true. I remember visiting my Uncle and family in Ft. worth in the 60s. Uncle Ted and Dad would sit in lawn chairs in the driveway in their t-shirts drinking beer all day. Then the crickets came and covered the hotel parking lot an inch thick. It was like sliding on ice trying to drive through that mess. In those pre-AC days, the prickly heat was pure torture and there was no way to escape it.
I did keep the horny toad I caught alive in a terrarium in upstate NY, but my room got down to the low 40s at night and he finally gave up the ghost. Guess he didn’t care for the mealy worms I fed him, either.
Every word of that is true, too. You’ll never catch me in Texas again.
If I had to pick right now, the Hill Country outside of Austin, around the Horseshoe Bay area.
Albuquerque? Doesn’t that town have a serious drug problem?
It’s not all “Breaking Bad”. There is some influence of Mexican drug dealers, but its location in the north part of the state, it is not as great as cities near the border. And it is in a very small area of the City. You wouldn’t know it in most of the area, and crime is low in most of Albuquerque.
I had heard the same about the crime rate in Atlanta when we moved there, but again the crime is in a small area of that city.
+1. I really like the Hill Country. It is the best move I ever made.
Bump
You ask a very good question, TurboZamboni, and one that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time.
Each place has its positives and negatives, which may be different based on the individual. For example, what does “moderate climate” mean? You mentioned Costa Rica and Belize, both of which many people would consider quite hot.
In any event, its best to stay away from the “retire here” articles, as you describe them. Instead, try this: http://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/questions-and-answers It has questoins and asnwers about Belize (which you mentinoed), Panama, and Nicaragua. The difference between this and the “retire here” sites is that this one has answers from LOTS of people already living overseas.
It has questions about gun laws, climate, government, safety, even a question on is each place a good one for preppers. Just use the search in the site, and it will give you the opinions of people on the ground.
One of the things that I found most interesting in my own research is that a place like Panama (and even Nicaragua, which is nominally socialist) actually provides more day-to-day freedom than the US. Why? Because their governments are so weak that they don’t have the ability to get into every aspect of your business.
In Nicaragua, for example, you can live like a king for $2,000 a month. Panama is a bit more expensive, and in Belize, it depends where you live. However, Belize is English-speaking. Panama is a pretty good choice, all around. Their economy is doing great, their government is stable and democratic, and you can choose your climate. They have mountainous areas like Boquete (famous expat location) where the temperate is in the mid-70s all year around. And, if you want to go to the beach, the Pacific is about an hour away, and you can even get to the Caribbean in about 3 hours.
Generally speaking, the advantages of Costa Rica are in the past. Its too expensive now and a bit unsafe.
If you have an open mind and the courage to look, there’s lots of places that can meet your criteria.
By the way, another interest of mine is to have one of these places get really smart and declare a “freedom zone”, which would operate on free market principles, rule of law, etc. Imagine how many people would move there? People vote with their feet. I would move there in an instant. Imagine the pressure it would put on other places, as the best of each country leaves to go there? Believe it or not, one of these countries is planning just that. I’m sorry, but I forgot which one. Also, there are plenty of reasons why it would fail. We can hope, though, can’t we?
Good luck with your search, TurboZamboni!
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