A lot of retirees, including yours truly, relocate after they retire. For their part, Laura Lee and her husband Mike retired to a beautiful, rural area in southern Colorado. But now they have begun to wonder if other retirees will follow them and risk ruining their patch of heaven.
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| Colorado |
You might say that about many areas of the country, for there are multitudes of Baby Boomers retiring these days -- reportedly 10,000 a day -- and many of them are relocating to places far and near.
B and I were at the Jersey Shore this past weekend, around Asbury Park and Manasquan. Nobody would call the Jersey Shore a "beautiful, rural area" (although those beaches are the best I've seen anywhere north of the Outer Banks).
Until a few years ago, Asbury Park was a depressed, rundown city. Now it's making a comeback as a hipster heaven. And as for Manasquan? We visited some people at an over-55 community, and they reported that retirees are flocking to the Jersey Shore from all around the Northeast, and over-55 communities are sprouting like pumpkins in the fall.
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| New Jersey |
Most retirees are also focused on their finances, since we don't have anyone sending us a paycheck anymore. Rita Robison of The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide offers us all a warning about our money: Wells Fargo to Pay $185 Million for Secretly Opening Accounts Consumers Never Wanted. Apparently Wells Fargo employees, spurred by aggressive sales goals, opened some 2 million accounts for customers without their permission, transferring funds from authorized accounts and racking up extra charges for consumers.
So be careful when you approach the counter at your friendly neighborhood financial institution. Bank robbery may be taking on a new meaning these days.
Robison issues another warning prompted by a phone call she received. Her granddaughter was on the line, and she said she'd been in a car accident. She sounded a little different -- but then, she'd been living overseas for several years. Then suddenly Robison realized what was going on. Ring up Grandparent Scammers Continue to Call to see how she concluded the conversation.
Kathy Gottberg has another issue to consider. "Shortly after my husband and I met in 1977 we opened our first business," she writes on Ten Benefits to Being an Entrepreneur at Any Age, "We named the beach nightclub we owned on the coast of North Carolina, Night Moves. Since then, except for a few painful months as employees, we founded several other businesses and fully embraced the entrepreneur lifestyle. Yet, I recently realized that the entrepreneurial approach isn’t mentioned much these days. What happened? Where did it go? And why aren’t more people embracing the many advantages that come from being self-employed?"
My answer is that a lot of us retirees have become entrepreneurs. We rent out rooms on airbnb (like our host rented to us on the Jersey Shore), or we sell our wares on Etsy, or (as in my case, and especially if we retire young) we continue to freelance or consult part-time in our old (or a new) profession. And we do reap many of the benefits she identifies, whether we appreciate it or not.
Another thing we all have in common is a warm feeling for nostalgia. This week Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting recalls that on a September day decades ago (Sept. 10, 1953 to be exact), a new food product was introduced. It revolutionized food preparation -- as well as what we ate and how we ate it. See if you remember this gastronomic gem in Recalling an Iconic Food Product. Hint: the product cost 98 cents at the time.
And just in case you have any violent reaction to the food product in question, fast forward to Heart-Mind-Soul to catch Carol Cassara's motto of the week, a feeling we can all use and share: "Don't worry, be happy." So see if Your Smile lights up a room. Then check to remind yourself how you really do want to be The Kind of Person you would like to meet.
10 comments:
I enjoyed reading about these diverse retirees and what they are doing. I relocated when I retired and have been having a wonderful time ever since. :-)
I never relocated when I retired. Life is good.
Great post, and great links to other worthwhile blogs. Thanks for sharing this. I believe that retirees do have many things in common.
Donna
www.retirementreflections.com
On Saturday morning I opened my bedroom curtain to see that a hearse had pulled up in the parking lot of the condo unit where I live. I saw that the guerney being pulled out had a body bag on top and I realized that this kind man must have passed on approximately 6 months after his wife. This morning as I was getting into my car to leave for work, I noticed a truck van had pulled up and was opening it's doors and unloading boxes, etc. The signage on the side gave a phone number and called itself "Easy Move" and went on to declare that they were in the business of relocating seniors and their possessions. It struck me that I had never seen that specialization in any of the moving vans I had seen come and go over the 20 years I've lived in my unit. I copied down the phone number and name in case I needed it for myself or any one else in need of relocating in my age bracket. I found it interesting that they had enough of us baby boomers to specialize in relocating us exclusively.
This is a nice roundup post which reminds me how diverse we retirees are. My husband and I are staying in our house for many reasons, especially because our adult children live near by and we enjoy seeing them often. Plus the weather here is ideal for us, plus maybe we are too lazy to move, LOL.
For me, a study of the place and era in which I grew-up is important. Also, I couldn't care less about much that relates to modern culture and entertainment, preferring that which was popular when I was young. I have also lost all interest in travel, something which seems to be a common interest of a lot of retirees.
My wife will be retiring next year, and while we'd love to retire in a warmer climate we have my mother to care for.
We've had the urgent email for money frpm Nigerian scams. We have moved and used declutter services. At the moment we travel regularly while we can. One thing some of us may also share is a spouse who is gradually having memory lapses and behaviour changes. I tend to blame some of that on the many drugs offered to seniors for many ailments that might be fixed by simple lifestyle changes. I imagine we also find this new tech world more of a challenge than our more youthful friends.
Unfortunately, I am one those who retired from something, not to something. I was a high level state government administrator and my work was my identity and passion. I retired almost three years ago. Not being a hobby or volunteer guy, I ended up taking a new job after one year. I am now a minion and work 40 hours per week hating my job. But if I quit, I know what the year without working was like. I am lost, unhappy, and looking for suggestions. I just don’t want the cookie cutter ideas of get a hooby, learn to play an instrument, learn a new language, volunteer. My finances are good, my health, except for my frame of mind, is good, but I regret the day I retired and there is no do over and I hate my current job–not challenging, engaging, etc. Is there a retirement to enjoy just relaxing? Suggestions please!!!
“Is there a retirement to enjoy just relaxing? Suggestions please!!!”
What a great comment! I have been married for 44 years, and for most of those years, my wife has been the wage earner, and I have stayed home remodeling the houses we’ve lived in, and doing ALL of the other work for both of us other than, of course, her job. When she retired two years ago, she took on more of what had been my work, and I still feel lost. I also live with chronic pain and simply can’t do much of the work that I would like to do. So, like you, I feel lost and even hopeless. I tell myself that I should get out more and develop interests and make friends, but I never seem to do so. I have no idea what the answer is for you or for me, but I see in you a kindred soul.
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