# Where Would You Retire To? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764 "2012-08-17T11:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/61 "2012-08-20T22:04:24Z")
According to [current actuarial tables](http://www.annuityadvantage.com/lifeexpectancy.htm), I have a life expectancy of 36.36 years (which also means I passed the halfway point a few years back… _shudder_). A lump some of $300,000 will NOT last me over 35 years. So if you’re giving me that dough and forcing me to retire, even if I were on my own and leaving my wife to cover for my kids so I have just myself to consider, it’d be a very tough go of it. This [annuity calculator](http://www.money-zine.com/Calculators/Retirement-Calculators/Annuity-Payment-Calculator/) tells me that $300,000 spread out over 36 years with an average tax-free yield of 5.0% comes to $17,267/year. I don’t think I could live very well on that amount anywhere in the US, but I guess maybe abroad is a possibility. (I also think an after-tax yield of 5.0% is incredibly optimistic.) If I were to set aside $100,000 to buy property somewhere and assume a 2.5% yield, I’m down to an income of $8,283.23/year to pay for property taxes, utilities, food and everything else. Urgh. Now, if you’re allowing me access to my current life savings and 401(k) and all that as well as the flat $300,000, but not counting the equity I have in my house (which would go to supporting my abandoned wife and kids in this scenario), I’d be in a much better position - to the point where I could in fact entertain the idea of retiring somewhere with property and a small fixed annual income somewhere in the continental US. But then I’d still worry a ton about inflation. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/62 "2012-08-20T22:41:41Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > And luckily enough, that is where I live. 😃 > > I have no plans to live anywhere else but started this thread because I wondered what other people thought. New Zealand is a very pleasant and safe country to live in. > > From google searches, Penang, Malaysia comes up often as a good cheap retirement place. I want to retire there. will $300,000 be enough? can I take my dogs? are you the person to be asking this? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/63 "2012-08-22T18:49:50Z")
I’m going to retire to Ireland, a beautiful country, relaxed and slow paced, and where the people are friendly, and enjoy a good craic. Love the place, love the people, love my friends there. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/64 "2012-08-22T20:07:38Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > I want to retire there. will $300,000 be enough? can I take my dogs? are you the person to be asking this? 🙂 Retire to New Zealand? $300k - not enough. Dogs - yes. The thing about NZ is its a developed nation with first world costs. Healthcare is free but the cost of living is relatively high because most technology is imported. Its the most remote OECD country which gives good security from invasion and disease. It is possible to live cheaply in a provincial town. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/65 "2012-08-23T04:16:01Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Goa. Definitely Goa. > > I’m Konkani and my fiance fell in love with Goa when he worked there for a year and a half for his first post-college job. > > It’s pretty weird-my parents immigrated to the West from India in the early 80s for economic prosperity and better opportunities and my SO and I are thinking of going back within this decade. For me it’s definitely going to be an Immigration Event to a foreign country because I am very thoroughly American at this point and pretty attached to living here. Goa is a fantastic place. I spent two months there in the winter. Summers though are unbearably hot. You could go up to ooty for a few months. > **[Ooty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ooty)** > > Ooty (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Tamil: \[uːʈ(ː)i\] ⓘ; officially Udagamandalam (Tamil: \[uðɐhɐmɐɳɖɐlɐm\]), anglicized: Ootacamund listenⓘ, abbreviated as Udagai, Tamil: \[uðɐhɐi\]) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 86 km (53 mi) northwest of Coimbatore, and is the ... ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/66 "2012-08-23T12:24:18Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I’m going to retire to Ireland, a beautiful country, relaxed and slow paced, and where the people are friendly, and enjoy a good craic. > > Love the place, love the people, love my friends there. Much as I like Ireland, it is quite expensive. I am not sure that amount of money would take you far if you wanted to start by buying a house etc. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/67 "2012-08-23T12:54:57Z")
What’s the cost of living in rural New Mexico? I always loved northern New Mexico-if you settled in a small town in the montains, the COL probably would be pretty low. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/68 "2012-08-27T02:18:45Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What’s the cost of living in rural New Mexico? I always loved northern New Mexico-if you settled in a small town in the montains, the COL probably would be pretty low. You’d be running quite a heating bill up to 8 months of the year, but you might not need A/C at all even in August. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764/69 "2012-08-27T05:30:25Z")
I’d split my time between Alberta and Arizona, like a good Snowbird. I don’t think I’d buy property in Arizona though, in spite of how cheap it might be - too much hassle with non-resident property ownership. I’d just rent a place each winter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-you-retire-to/631764.md?page=3)