I guess it depends on how you define "downtown" Happy. If the LBJ exit on 75 is your marker (it's where i was defining it....i rarely actually go TO Dallas for anything,, but i go THROUGH Dallas a lot), then i can get from there to Muenster in something approaching an hour. But yeah, if there's a wreck and it's rush hour.....then yeah, add 20 minutes to 4 hours.

ETA: I can be in OKLAHOMA from the LBJ exit on 75 in about an hour in normal Dallas traffic. I've done that approximately 250 times in my life.

I get that RHJ. My dad was in decent health for most of his life, but once he retired he got really sick (it was inevitable due to the work he did as a younger man) and died a couple years after retiring. I don't know what to plan for as my generation (X) as a whole is much healthier than our parents and grand parents, and will most likely out live the prior generations by a pretty decent amount. I am considering getting my teaching certificate and teaching in one of the local community colleges here. I think that would be a pretty rewarding retirement career as well as keeping some funds coming in so I'm not wholly relying on my retirement and SS.

raitch - that's totally on topic. If you picked A for some dumb reason, you'd probably want to travel a lot for 5 years, but live near family that's willing to put up with managing your care and not permanently move to some idyllic retirement spot. If you pick B, then go travel and ex-pat your heart out. Family history has to come into play to some extent and we're all risk managers, right? Run the analysis in your head before you roll the dice.

I'd be very happy to die in my sleep at 90 after going to bed healthy, happy, and mentally intact. I also know most of my family keels over from a stroke in their late 80s which helps on some level because it seems to happen when they wake up and stand up too fast (and it's 50/50 on keeping your marbles past 88). Then there's my oldest sister who has early onset dementia and was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at about 73, both of which aren't remotely normal for our family so I don't know how to factor that in. I don't even know if they're connected or she was just diagnosed simultaneously.

But - I'm 64 now and hanging it up in 90 days which is 4 days after Medicare eligibility and I'm not touching my social security until I'm 70 if I can possibly avoid it. Dobby the House Elf is going to be living on an austerity budget for a year until I'm convinced we know what we can live on vs what we want to live on - and he wants to be 66 and 2 months before taking his, so there's potentially 14 months of me being very cheap. I had a shining moment of clarity when I decided I'm happy and healthy and no longer willing to sell 71.43% of my life to my employer (and they pay me extremely well). I just want to kick back and enjoy it while I can. The worst part was that my boss wanted 6 months notice (and got a little over 5 months). Mentally, I'm done. I don't want to hang around for the exam in April and May. It's hard to focus once you give notice... I keep thinking about June 8th when I wake up and don't have to go to work, while a bunch of you guys are at the Compliance Conference in DC without me.

Enjoy your retirement Pippii. It sounds like you've richly earned it.

I owned a salmon fishing lodge on the Kenai River in Alaska for 20 years. Then for some reason I sold it and moved to Nebraska. But hey, it's not for everybody. TX, WA, AK - no income tax. I think there's one more. WA has everything you could ever need, desert, ocean, mountains, lakes, street people. I grew up there. It is a beautiful state. But I like corn fields. Every person must make their own choices.

Somebody, please pass me an Irish Coffee while I sit back and consider liking corn fields (after 44 years living in NE Kansas).

Frosty? Are you a storm chaser? That might have something to do with what I like about Kansas. Other than the Flint Hills, the only thing here that's really pretty happens in the sky.

TN has no state income tax either.

Or DE

Or Florida

Nor Nevada. And Minden, NV is a popular place for retirees, as well as Carson City.

Hmmm - there are more states with no income tax than I knew. Interesting....

You'll make up for the no state income tax thing in Texas if, you know...you live in a structure.

The whole no state income tax thing makes me chuckle, they get it one way or another.

I probably should revise that to say "if you lay your head down indoors at night". I used to get a kick out of renters in Texas who believed that the high property tax rates didn't affect them. Um, i'm pretty sure you're helping your landlord pay the property taxes with your rent.

Here in TN the sales tax is 9+%; however there isn't a state income tax and property taxes where we live aren't bad. It is much cheaper to pay the property taxes on our vehicles in TN than it was in KY.

gee, in louisiana we are 9%+ sales tax, have a state income tax, but have a ridiculously low property tax, with the first $75,000 of the value of the house having a homestead exemption and therefore not taxable. and once you turn 65, the tax rate on your property is locked, never an increase

Sounds like a good deal Happy!

@ everyone about Texas - I'm fairly open to different parts of it. I know property taxes are high, but Texas does check off a lot of other boxes for me. We will probably rent in there for a few years before making a decision. We've also look at the other no income tax states and Florida just won't work. I do like Nevada and Wyoming but Mrs. ABC isn't sold on either of them.

We are living in Gulf Shores, AL until March 1. No income tax here, but 10% sales tax on everything including food and clothing. Not sure what property taxes are like. They also use tolls to help pay for roads. Mrs. PP and I will be renting here again next winter and renting in other areas in the future to try and determine where we will eventually call our winter home. We will most likely rent in the south unless we find an incredible deal somewhere. We do not want to deal with the liability or stress of an empty or rented home when we are back up north.

Mr PP - from what I've learned from friends, they think it's worth it to hire a management company and rent it out rather than sitting empty when they aren't there, but I can't wrap my head around the hassle of that either. Mostly, I like the idea of not being locked down to one second location. I'd rather rent for a couple of months. The other thing I can't get on board with is how good the rentals would be in the off season. Anyone interested in renting in a KC suburb during the winter? Nice house! Didn't think so...

Depends - how much you paying me to stay there? On second thought, nah, you couldn't pay me enough to stay there.

Where is that RV?

In Florida, you can volunteer with the park service and live rent free in your RV from campsite to campsite. You volunteer, I think it's a minimum of 20 hours a week in exchange. I think I could do that if I no longer had a barn and houseful of 4 leggeds.

smart idea from florida...wonder how many people take advantage of that

At Pippii's place in KC. Been there, done that. Not gonna happen again.