hahahaha!! i dont see how anyone can call it retirement if they are living in the tristate area. too many people, too much traffic, too expensive. but on the flipside lots of early bird specials.
Easing Into Retirement
- Thread starter BobM
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Lefisc
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First, I am not a fan of living in New York. I did move near the Northport and Huntington harbor, and do get that “country air and enjoy life around here, but when I visit my brother in jersey I hit the same rotten traffic.
In reality, I don’t like living in NY and never had. It was worse when I lived in the city. Going anywhere, fighting traffic and looking for parking was unbearable.
But my family and friends are all out here and I am used to the neighborhood. I also worked hard and fixed up my house, complete with a home theatre/audio room (which you have to come over to see!!!) and like it here.
If I had it to do over, I should have moved out of NY a few decades ago. But my work was here and so I stayed, but I am very comfortable now. Why? Because, being retired, I don’t have to fight that damn traffic every day!
In reality, I don’t like living in NY and never had. It was worse when I lived in the city. Going anywhere, fighting traffic and looking for parking was unbearable.
But my family and friends are all out here and I am used to the neighborhood. I also worked hard and fixed up my house, complete with a home theatre/audio room (which you have to come over to see!!!) and like it here.
If I had it to do over, I should have moved out of NY a few decades ago. But my work was here and so I stayed, but I am very comfortable now. Why? Because, being retired, I don’t have to fight that damn traffic every day!
Lefisc
New member
Mike,
A great, great story.
I started working when I was ten, for my dad. He passed away when I was 16 and my brother and I worked to support our family and then worked our way through college.
Unfortunately, I became a teacher when NY went virtually bankrupt…it’s not just that they froze my pitiful entry level salary for four years (no benefits and they were not giving out tenure) they didn’t pay new employees from August until March. So I actually had to get a second job to pay the rent for those months.
I then started my own educational consulting business. And did well but worked 60, even 70 hours a week.
I bring it up because when I retired so many people thought come back to do SOME work. I’d consult, or part time teach or something. No. Nope. Never.
“You can stick a fork in me,” I’d tell people, “I’m done!”
I didn’t have a minute of wanting to go back, I was too busy filling my life with nothing all that important.
“As I approach the prime of my life
I find I have the time of my life
Learning to enjoy at my leisure
All the simple pleasure
And so I happily concede
This is all I ask
This is all I need
Beautiful girls, walk a little slower when you walk by me
Lingering sunset, stay a little longer with the lonely sea
Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me
Take me to that strange enchanted land
Grownups seldom understand
Wandering rainbows, leave a bit of color for my heart to own
Stars in the sky, make my wish come true
Before the night has flown
And let the music play as long as there's a song to sing
Then I will stay younger than spring”
A great, great story.
I started working when I was ten, for my dad. He passed away when I was 16 and my brother and I worked to support our family and then worked our way through college.
Unfortunately, I became a teacher when NY went virtually bankrupt…it’s not just that they froze my pitiful entry level salary for four years (no benefits and they were not giving out tenure) they didn’t pay new employees from August until March. So I actually had to get a second job to pay the rent for those months.
I then started my own educational consulting business. And did well but worked 60, even 70 hours a week.
I bring it up because when I retired so many people thought come back to do SOME work. I’d consult, or part time teach or something. No. Nope. Never.
“You can stick a fork in me,” I’d tell people, “I’m done!”
I didn’t have a minute of wanting to go back, I was too busy filling my life with nothing all that important.
“As I approach the prime of my life
I find I have the time of my life
Learning to enjoy at my leisure
All the simple pleasure
And so I happily concede
This is all I ask
This is all I need
Beautiful girls, walk a little slower when you walk by me
Lingering sunset, stay a little longer with the lonely sea
Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me
Take me to that strange enchanted land
Grownups seldom understand
Wandering rainbows, leave a bit of color for my heart to own
Stars in the sky, make my wish come true
Before the night has flown
And let the music play as long as there's a song to sing
Then I will stay younger than spring”
VT Skier
New member
Bend is fantastic. I spent a lot of time climbing there when I was younger.
Not a low tax state, but I'd be right there with you if my wife wasn't from Vermont.
BruceLet
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Listening to some of you guys, you would think NY is the worst place in the world. Give me a break. There is no place on Earth that has as much to offer culturally….arts, music, museums, theater, food, fashion, sports, education, recreation, industry and top medical care and hospitals….you name it……and you don't have to travel far to get everything from world class beaches to beautiful mountain ranges and countryside. I guess it's just not easy to be the best.
Lefisc
New member
What are you talking about?
Who can afford those things you mentioned? Those things you mentioned are there for the very affluent. MY $30 baseball tickets are now over $100 at both stadiums. By try driving there and telling me New York is a wonderful place. (At Citifield, parking went from $8 or 25). Please look at the prices at those best menus in those great restaurants that are not in my neighborhood.
But try grocery shopping in the big apple. Small stores, little selection, long lines and no parking. In the outer boroughs you may get a parking lot, but they don;t let you take your cart, full of groceries to your car. There are lines for everything. Try waiting for a machine in a laundromat for hours. You think the public school system here is good? There are many private schools. Kindergarten can run $41,000. I worked at the City University and most of the colleges, once great, are a joke. The standards are so bad in some they are not even listed in many of the college rating services. And you should see some of the city housing to believe it.
It may have some of the best hospitals, but it also has some of the worst. Try getting into one of those good hospitals if you don;'t have a connection. Oh and try Wyckoff Heights Medical Center. Good Luck.
Do you know what rents are like out here? Outer boroughs probably start at $1,500 and Manhattan probably starts at $2,500 for a small apartment. My property taxes are enormous, almost 3 times what my brother's is in NJ. And my heat/electric bill is $55o a month.
The roads here are terrible, the streets dirty, the parks, such as Flushing Meadows are in terrible shape. Maybe Central parks is OK.
Who can afford those things you mentioned? Those things you mentioned are there for the very affluent. MY $30 baseball tickets are now over $100 at both stadiums. By try driving there and telling me New York is a wonderful place. (At Citifield, parking went from $8 or 25). Please look at the prices at those best menus in those great restaurants that are not in my neighborhood.
But try grocery shopping in the big apple. Small stores, little selection, long lines and no parking. In the outer boroughs you may get a parking lot, but they don;t let you take your cart, full of groceries to your car. There are lines for everything. Try waiting for a machine in a laundromat for hours. You think the public school system here is good? There are many private schools. Kindergarten can run $41,000. I worked at the City University and most of the colleges, once great, are a joke. The standards are so bad in some they are not even listed in many of the college rating services. And you should see some of the city housing to believe it.
It may have some of the best hospitals, but it also has some of the worst. Try getting into one of those good hospitals if you don;'t have a connection. Oh and try Wyckoff Heights Medical Center. Good Luck.
Do you know what rents are like out here? Outer boroughs probably start at $1,500 and Manhattan probably starts at $2,500 for a small apartment. My property taxes are enormous, almost 3 times what my brother's is in NJ. And my heat/electric bill is $55o a month.
The roads here are terrible, the streets dirty, the parks, such as Flushing Meadows are in terrible shape. Maybe Central parks is OK.
BruceLet
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I'm not sure how to respond. That is quite a statement. I believe you when you say would be better off somewhere else and I understand that, but I just don't see it that way. Of course I get frustrated at times, and I say *#@&^….but I stand by what I said.
BruceLet
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I agree…and I'm sure there are millions of New Yorkers who would not want to live in Missoula Montana (for example)…..and at different points in our lives we can tolerate different things. There was a time I didn't mind waiting on long lines to see a Woody Allen film on opening night or get tickets to a hot concert. Now, I go see movies at off hours and I listen to live music in small, intimate venues and I love that I can. Certainly, when everything seems bad, it would be best to move on.
BlueFox
New member
When I retire I want peace and quiet. Little traffic, no airplanes, no neighbors blasting music outside in their postage stamp size backyard. The only noise will be my stereo blasting away inside the house. I am buying my father's house on Maryland's Eastern Shore on the Wye river, and looking forward to moving there. If I could talk my employer into letting me work from home that would be perfect. All the retirement benefits with a good income.
Interesting discussion. I'm certainly not a fan of New York. I think it represents everything that is wrong with a post industrial society/big city. Dirty. Rude rude people. Congestion. Out of control traffic. High prices everywhere. People who drive with such aggression. Every time I visit, I'm aghast at the dangerous way people drive. I gave my cabbie proper hell last time I was there. We were driving into Manhattan and there was a lady with a minivan full of kids. She was trying to get over. He purposely floored it and cut her off so she couldn't change lanes. Disgusting!
But, if I was a young wall street type kid, I would think its the greatest place on earth.
On the flip side, I have some wonderful friends from New York.
That being said, New York would be the last place on earth I would ever live, let alone retire. But most big cities wouldn't be far behind.
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But, if I was a young wall street type kid, I would think its the greatest place on earth.
On the flip side, I have some wonderful friends from New York.
That being said, New York would be the last place on earth I would ever live, let alone retire. But most big cities wouldn't be far behind.
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BruceLet
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Mike, I know you're feelings about NY. I was thinking about it and maybe the people who hate NY have either spent too much time here or not enough. :wave:
You know, that could be true. Until you live in a place, you never really know. But just in case Bruce, I'll save you a spot in sunny Florida.
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Lefisc
New member
I think I was a bit too harsh in my last posts.
There are things about New York that people don't discuss. For example, New York State has an income tax, almost 8% for most people, higher than most states. But do you know that New York City has it's own income tax? It's 4% if you are an employee, 6% if you are self employed. So sometimes it sounds like people make more money here, but after taxes it's not. Robinson Cano when he went to Seattle mentioned how many millions he would save on taxes. My point here is that while there is a lot to offer it is so expensive here and "average" people making less than 100,000 a year have a very tough time here.
Also, the school system is a mess. That's important because I live on Long Island and the schools here are generally very good. I pay high property taxes, but do not pay NYC's income tax. I bring the schools up because throughout NY and the rest of the country there are local controls for schools, roads, etc. Not so in NYC. Albany controls the NY school system, so a representative in Buffalo often has as much say as a local politician. And I get to vote for a schools chancellor at here, not so in NY. But the entire structure is different.This year we voted out the highway manager because many streets were not cleaned after a snowstorm. You can't do that in the city.
On Long Island a ten minute wait at Motor Vehicles is a long time. A half an hour wait in NYC is making good time.
Finally, when I was young, i didn't mind all the extra effort it took to get something done in NYC. Now I do
There are things about New York that people don't discuss. For example, New York State has an income tax, almost 8% for most people, higher than most states. But do you know that New York City has it's own income tax? It's 4% if you are an employee, 6% if you are self employed. So sometimes it sounds like people make more money here, but after taxes it's not. Robinson Cano when he went to Seattle mentioned how many millions he would save on taxes. My point here is that while there is a lot to offer it is so expensive here and "average" people making less than 100,000 a year have a very tough time here.
Also, the school system is a mess. That's important because I live on Long Island and the schools here are generally very good. I pay high property taxes, but do not pay NYC's income tax. I bring the schools up because throughout NY and the rest of the country there are local controls for schools, roads, etc. Not so in NYC. Albany controls the NY school system, so a representative in Buffalo often has as much say as a local politician. And I get to vote for a schools chancellor at here, not so in NY. But the entire structure is different.This year we voted out the highway manager because many streets were not cleaned after a snowstorm. You can't do that in the city.
On Long Island a ten minute wait at Motor Vehicles is a long time. A half an hour wait in NYC is making good time.
Finally, when I was young, i didn't mind all the extra effort it took to get something done in NYC. Now I do
Not wanting to live someplace doesn't necessarily mean you "hate" it. I like being able to visit big cities and experiencing the many interesting things they offer, but for day-to-day living the negatives loom larger and larger.
BruceLet
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Thanks Mike….My Wife and I have discussed our possibilities and one requirement I have is to be near the ocean. I have spent parts of summer at the beach my whole life. About seven years ago, we inherited a house on the South Shore of Eastern Long Island. We spend about half of every summer there. Every time I cross over the Ponquogue Bridge and get my first look at the ocean, , I take a deep breath and count my blessings.
We have that part covered. Check out Sarasota. Not too big. Not too small. Best beaches anywhere. Siesta Key Beach is famous.
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BobM
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Yeah, the NY area has everything. But yes, it is expensive and it is crowded. However if I want a gourmet meal of any ethnicity it is a short drive to find it, and it is top shelf usually. The beaches are world class, the entertainment also.
So I need to find a place that has most of the comforts and distractions but less of the crowds and cost. And top end medical care. I've always said retiring in a college town would provide for some of that. Being near a southern city gives me the rest, for the most part. In any case, I hope to try it on for size and reach my own conclusions sometime in the next year.
And the continually rising stock market just continues to add to my cushion.
BlueFox
New member
Yes. Until........