I was asked this question this weekend when I made a stereotypical joke about wanting to retire (I'm 35 and unlikely to retire any time soon).
That combined with rd95's post about moving has me thinking about what I want to do when I retire. This isn't a lottery question, it's a question of what I think I want to be doing and where I want to be doing it when I'm 65 and living off the previous forty year's of savings.
The best I can come up with is to live somewhere like Adirondack Park. Land is reasonably priced if you don't have any views, and I think I'd enjoy the solitude and company of nature. But that's 35 year old me thinking that. Would I be able to live that way in my late 60s? Medical care is accessible only with a car, and even then there are only small hospitals in the area. Major medical care probably means going to Albany two hours away.
My local alternative is probably to buy a small house in town, something with only one story and reasonable access to mass transit. That sounds like a bland retirement goal. This is bugging me now. I wish I had a good answer.
What about you, hubski? What do you want to do when you retire?
I am in my 40s and pretty much retired but will never stop working as long as someone will have me and I get to do things that are interesting.
I recently came back to the area I grew up in after 20 years of thinking I would never come back. Too red neck. Too rural. But circumstances change and my job is not location dependent so I did. I used to be a big condo fan with views like this and have recently started thinking about getting another big city place. But I doubt I will.
I absolutely love big city life and always chose to either be in the middle of everything.... or in the middle of nowhere. I love country life as well.
I live in a house in a town of about 100K and have a farm about 25 minutes away.
I had always justified spending so much money on a central location by saying "Hey I am in the middle of everything and there is so much available at my doorstep." And then realizing that I was not taking advantage of 90% of that most of the time.
I do miss not having a bookstore, record store, live music venues, grocery store, pub, etc. within a 5 minute walk. But on the other hand, I get to see duck chicks take their first steps.