Where could you live comfortably on 80k a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I do want to clarify that the 80k is pre-tax. It's a pension.

For context, this is a couple in their late 50s looking at early retirement. They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings. They are ready to leave the rat race but they are still young and they'd like to try living in the pension income only until their early 60s. One of them is a writer and wants to pursue that more seriously, the other is unsure but would like to do something similar. They may dip into their reserves for travel, but otherwise they'd like to live somewhat simply, somewhere with a low cost of living, while they pursue their passions. They are willing to try out multiple places. They don't want to live in the DC area (BTDT, plus they feel they will be pressured into a higher cost lifestyle here because of their peers in the area).

I am helping them make a list of possibilities. Schools are a non-issue, but they want a safe, lively neighborhood and be close enough to a decent sized airport to easily travel and be visited. Second bedroom for friends and family. They don't want to pinch pennies too much but are fine living on a budget as they don't have luxury tastes.

Some good options so far! I'd love to know if there are any European cities that seem feasible because, selfishly, I want to visit them there. Someone asked about the health insurance issue -- they've told me they think it would be feasible to get coverage abroad but need to investigate more. They have access to an employer sponsored plan via BCBS and there are apparently options that would work abroad, but I don't know the details.

This is silly to retire early without a lot of savings and just a pension.

"They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings."

[Anonymous]

Hahaha with inflation rising everywhere in the US I’d leave

[Anonymous]

Providence, RI if you don’t mind winters. Also my in-laws moved to rural Pennsylvania to avoid tax on their pensions if that’s of interest.

[Anonymous]

Chicago
Cleveland

[Anonymous]

You can get a nice home in the Lehigh Valley in West Allentown or historic Bethlehem for that budget.

Lancaster would be an option as well. I’d prefer both of these places to Pittsburgh because they’re close to big cities like New York and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is isolated.

An example of what you can get in West Allentown. Obviously you can go lower than $400,000 and pick up something nice, but smaller and not as updated.

https://www.redfin.com/PA/Allentown/2729-W-Allen-St-18104/home/196135126

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get a nice home in the Lehigh Valley in West Allentown or historic Bethlehem for that budget.

Lancaster would be an option as well. I’d prefer both of these places to Pittsburgh because they’re close to big cities like New York and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is isolated.

An example of what you can get in West Allentown. Obviously you can go lower than $400,000 and pick up something nice, but smaller and not as updated.

https://www.redfin.com/PA/Allentown/2729-W-Allen-St-18104/home/196135126

They are an hour to an 1 1/2 hours to those cities. Pittsburgh is a million times better then slightly depressed towns like Allentown, Bethlehem (the best of the three) or Lancaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hahaha with inflation rising everywhere in the US I’d leave

And go where? You need citizenship path to relocate somewhere, and nicer countries aren't really dying to have those limited to 80K a year budget to move there and doling out golden visas for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I do want to clarify that the 80k is pre-tax. It's a pension.

For context, this is a couple in their late 50s looking at early retirement. They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings. They are ready to leave the rat race but they are still young and they'd like to try living in the pension income only until their early 60s. One of them is a writer and wants to pursue that more seriously, the other is unsure but would like to do something similar. They may dip into their reserves for travel, but otherwise they'd like to live somewhat simply, somewhere with a low cost of living, while they pursue their passions. They are willing to try out multiple places. They don't want to live in the DC area (BTDT, plus they feel they will be pressured into a higher cost lifestyle here because of their peers in the area).

I am helping them make a list of possibilities. Schools are a non-issue, but they want a safe, lively neighborhood and be close enough to a decent sized airport to easily travel and be visited. Second bedroom for friends and family. They don't want to pinch pennies too much but are fine living on a budget as they don't have luxury tastes.

Some good options so far! I'd love to know if there are any European cities that seem feasible because, selfishly, I want to visit them there. Someone asked about the health insurance issue -- they've told me they think it would be feasible to get coverage abroad but need to investigate more. They have access to an employer sponsored plan via BCBS and there are apparently options that would work abroad, but I don't know the details.

This is silly to retire early without a lot of savings and just a pension.

"They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings."

It sounds to me they want to live it up in Europe and have this experience . Why bother with the dinky 3rd and 4th tier US cities then? Do they have ability to stay there for all these years? If they have EU passport, then what's the problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I do want to clarify that the 80k is pre-tax. It's a pension.

For context, this is a couple in their late 50s looking at early retirement. They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings. They are ready to leave the rat race but they are still young and they'd like to try living in the pension income only until their early 60s. One of them is a writer and wants to pursue that more seriously, the other is unsure but would like to do something similar. They may dip into their reserves for travel, but otherwise they'd like to live somewhat simply, somewhere with a low cost of living, while they pursue their passions. They are willing to try out multiple places. They don't want to live in the DC area (BTDT, plus they feel they will be pressured into a higher cost lifestyle here because of their peers in the area).

I am helping them make a list of possibilities. Schools are a non-issue, but they want a safe, lively neighborhood and be close enough to a decent sized airport to easily travel and be visited. Second bedroom for friends and family. They don't want to pinch pennies too much but are fine living on a budget as they don't have luxury tastes.

Some good options so far! I'd love to know if there are any European cities that seem feasible because, selfishly, I want to visit them there. Someone asked about the health insurance issue -- they've told me they think it would be feasible to get coverage abroad but need to investigate more. They have access to an employer sponsored plan via BCBS and there are apparently options that would work abroad, but I don't know the details.

Are they working? How is this an employer sponsored plan if they are collecting pensions? You need to work full time on W2 in a permanent salaried position to get discounted employer healthcare premiums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I do want to clarify that the 80k is pre-tax. It's a pension.

For context, this is a couple in their late 50s looking at early retirement. They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings. They are ready to leave the rat race but they are still young and they'd like to try living in the pension income only until their early 60s. One of them is a writer and wants to pursue that more seriously, the other is unsure but would like to do something similar. They may dip into their reserves for travel, but otherwise they'd like to live somewhat simply, somewhere with a low cost of living, while they pursue their passions. They are willing to try out multiple places. They don't want to live in the DC area (BTDT, plus they feel they will be pressured into a higher cost lifestyle here because of their peers in the area).

I am helping them make a list of possibilities. Schools are a non-issue, but they want a safe, lively neighborhood and be close enough to a decent sized airport to easily travel and be visited. Second bedroom for friends and family. They don't want to pinch pennies too much but are fine living on a budget as they don't have luxury tastes.

Some good options so far! I'd love to know if there are any European cities that seem feasible because, selfishly, I want to visit them there. Someone asked about the health insurance issue -- they've told me they think it would be feasible to get coverage abroad but need to investigate more. They have access to an employer sponsored plan via BCBS and there are apparently options that would work abroad, but I don't know the details.

This is silly to retire early without a lot of savings and just a pension.

"They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings."

It sounds to me they want to live it up in Europe and have this experience . Why bother with the dinky 3rd and 4th tier US cities then? Do they have ability to stay there for all these years? If they have EU passport, then what's the problem?

OP here. I explained all this already. And they don't have EU passports -- if they did the EU thing, they'd have to get visas, though I think there are some options available to them because one of them is working on a book.

They are open to multiple options. I don't think they'd view a city like Pittsburgh or Providence "3rd of 4th tier." If they went to Europe, they wouldn't be going to London or Paris anyway -- they'd be looking for smaller cities with a more affordable cost of living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I do want to clarify that the 80k is pre-tax. It's a pension.

For context, this is a couple in their late 50s looking at early retirement. They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings. They are ready to leave the rat race but they are still young and they'd like to try living in the pension income only until their early 60s. One of them is a writer and wants to pursue that more seriously, the other is unsure but would like to do something similar. They may dip into their reserves for travel, but otherwise they'd like to live somewhat simply, somewhere with a low cost of living, while they pursue their passions. They are willing to try out multiple places. They don't want to live in the DC area (BTDT, plus they feel they will be pressured into a higher cost lifestyle here because of their peers in the area).

I am helping them make a list of possibilities. Schools are a non-issue, but they want a safe, lively neighborhood and be close enough to a decent sized airport to easily travel and be visited. Second bedroom for friends and family. They don't want to pinch pennies too much but are fine living on a budget as they don't have luxury tastes.

Some good options so far! I'd love to know if there are any European cities that seem feasible because, selfishly, I want to visit them there. Someone asked about the health insurance issue -- they've told me they think it would be feasible to get coverage abroad but need to investigate more. They have access to an employer sponsored plan via BCBS and there are apparently options that would work abroad, but I don't know the details.

Are they working? How is this an employer sponsored plan if they are collecting pensions? You need to work full time on W2 in a permanent salaried position to get discounted employer healthcare premiums.

There are places that offer health benefits for retirees. Many state government jobs offer this kind of benefit, and I know teachers who have it too. You pay a similar premium to what you would pay while employed.

[Anonymous]

There are many, many places in the US where they could live comfortably on $80k, especially since they have health insurance. Can you provide some guidance on a particular geographic or climate preference so I can narrow down suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I do want to clarify that the 80k is pre-tax. It's a pension.

For context, this is a couple in their late 50s looking at early retirement. They recently sold a business for a nice chunk of change plus have plenty of retirement savings. They are ready to leave the rat race but they are still young and they'd like to try living in the pension income only until their early 60s. One of them is a writer and wants to pursue that more seriously, the other is unsure but would like to do something similar. They may dip into their reserves for travel, but otherwise they'd like to live somewhat simply, somewhere with a low cost of living, while they pursue their passions. They are willing to try out multiple places. They don't want to live in the DC area (BTDT, plus they feel they will be pressured into a higher cost lifestyle here because of their peers in the area).

I am helping them make a list of possibilities. Schools are a non-issue, but they want a safe, lively neighborhood and be close enough to a decent sized airport to easily travel and be visited. Second bedroom for friends and family. They don't want to pinch pennies too much but are fine living on a budget as they don't have luxury tastes.

Some good options so far! I'd love to know if there are any European cities that seem feasible because, selfishly, I want to visit them there. Someone asked about the health insurance issue -- they've told me they think it would be feasible to get coverage abroad but need to investigate more. They have access to an employer sponsored plan via BCBS and there are apparently options that would work abroad, but I don't know the details.

Portugal is affordable and also they have visas that would allow them to live there.

The thing about living abroad is you can’t just move there. They don’t just let anybody move there. You have to find a country that has visas for retired people.

[Anonymous]

Anywhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many, many places in the US where they could live comfortably on $80k, especially since they have health insurance. Can you provide some guidance on a particular geographic or climate preference so I can narrow down suggestions?

Right now there is no climate/geographic preference. They want to cast a wide net.

I do think they will be happier in a city of some kind, even if it's small. I could see them living in Boise or Mobile or Providence. I cannot imagine them living in a small town unless it was basically in the suburbs/exurbs of a larger city.