Where would you like to retire?

Please give a location and a few reasons why.
For me the ideal place would be from the Carson Valley south of Carson City,Nevada  up to Reno, Nevada. Carson City and
Reno are about 30 miles apart.
1. Lake Tahoe skiing can be as close as 20 minutes from your home. There is plenty of choice and tons of snow.
2. The weather in the Carson Valley is 4 season moderate high desert. It only snows a couple of inches per year. It hits the dry  low 90s in the summer. It rarely rains.
3. Nevada does not have income tax.
4. Nevada does not have huge numbers of public pensions to support.
5. SF can be as close as 4 hours away. All the beauty of California without the looney of California.
6. Reno has an international airport that has only closed once in the last 40 years.

The reality for retirement most likely be related to locations near family members.

Great choice. And, don't forget, the real estate market in Reno and the area is absolutely sick right now. You can find a brand new home, or, almost new, that was selling in the $6-700,000 area before the bust going for 200000 or less. Nevada is definitely on my list, because of the low/no taxes. I'd like to find something in Incline Village, right on the lake. maybe. The downside is, ahem, the culture shock. Once somebody showed me the police blotter from Reno complete with mug shots. Very scary. Stay away from the biker bars.

I like Summit County in Colorado, because I know it well (lived there for a season), and it's close to a city (Denver) that is kinda cool and has a very temperate climate. Long season, too. Utah is also on the radar, but, I'm not sure I can live in that Mormon theocracy. It's a little creepy. But, the best snow in the world, and cheap, for a city.  

Let's see . . .

My list includes the following:

Bend, OR
Bozeman, MT
Breckenridge, CO
Taos, NM
Jackson, WY
Durango, CO
Telluride, CO
Truckee, CA
Fernie, BC
Park City, UT
Crested Butte, CO
Aspen, CO

Basically, a cool little town (or small city) that has a nice downtown, a close mountain that's awesome, and a cool community of people that love being where they are.  Obviously some of the selections are pipe dreams (I don't think I'll ever have enough money to afford Aspen, Telluride, or Jackson).  And some of the picks have other limitations (low alcohol beers in Park City, immigration issues in Fernie).  But areas have advantages that don't have anything to do with skiing (great mountain biking in Durango and Crested Butte, legalized marijuana in California - if I want a Willie Nelson-type retirement).

Really, I'd be happy anywhere I can sit on my porch, crack open a local microbrew, and stare at a sick mountain after ripping powder all day.  

I see everyone wants to retire to a nice cool little ski town..My question is , When you need that bypass or tumor treated, where are you going to go?

Haha, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

What JasonWx said!!! You guys are nuts if you plan to retire to a ski town when you retire. You are going to wait until you are pushing 70 (for us younger guys, probably 70-75 when they get done fixing Social Security) to move to your dream ski town? How much skiing do you really plan on doing when you retire? You are rolling the dice that your body will even be able to allow you to still be active and skiing when you retire. You are rolling the dice that you are even going to be alive at retirement age.

I can see myself retiring to someplace with extremely cheap property, low taxes, and close proximately to a great hospital. Active senior's community with easily accessible shopping preferably by public transit or a senior transit system if available. Someplace in which I feel like I might have a community of other friends, family, or a social network that could look after me if/when the health goes bad. I can still see myself skiing into retirement but not like I do now, not by a long shot. And not enough to base my retirement decision around skiing.

Doesn't sound like the romantic version of retirement but I am counting on not retiring until 70-75 so there is the realistic perspective.

I'm going to try to retire by 56-58 . . . That'll leave me plenty of good skiing years.

And my worst fear is being an old guy among a bunch of other old guys.  I'm convinced that you have to hang with a diverse crowd of people when you're old so that you can steal younger people's youthful essence.  The most vibrant old people I know don't live in Old Folks' communities.

Jason.

If you are going to get major surgery that really puts your life into the palm of someones hand, a 2hr drive opposed to a 30 minute drive isn't really a big deal..

It's all about quality of life.  

I have to say, without being to any real 'ski' towns besides placid that summit county really has everything one could ask for.  

In Breckenridge you're 3 minutes from breck, 15 minutes from Copper & Keystone, 20 minutes from A-basin. 30 minutes from Vail, 40 minutes from the Beav.  And within 2 hours you have Wolf, Silverton ect..  That's only taking skiing into consideration.  During the summer it's hard to choose whether to go fishing, rafting, biking, hiking, climbing, or long boarding.  In the winter you can still fly fish, raft a couple thousand feet below.  The recreation is unparalleled.

Also you don't have to drive your car to the grocery store, restaurant, bar, doctor, hospital, work or even Denver if you're desperate.  There is public transportation around the whole county (FREE!)  Good sized town, lots of young families with progressive green vibes.

Though it IS a double edged sword seeing the place fill up with new people.   The town is exploding and it's a major clash of personal philosophies when you move into the 'woods', and it doesn't matter how sustainable you are- your still part of the deforestation, pollution ect..  

Rannt sorry.  I'm really liking where I live

JasonWx wrote

I see everyone wants to retire to a nice cool little ski town..My question is , When you need that bypass or tumor treated, where are you going to go?

That's my thinking too.  There's nothing worse than having to take an hour and a half ambulance ride when you're about to kick.

JasonWx wrote

I see everyone wants to retire to a nice cool little ski town..My question is , When you need that bypass or tumor treated, where are you going to go?

Carson City - 26 miles south of Reno is about 55,000 people
Reno - Sparks - Farley Metro area is about 450,000 people
It is not Houston but with 500,000 people in the Reno/CC metro area there must be decent medical care.
Sacramento is about 130 miles from Reno or Carson City and has a metro area population of 2.1 million.