The hilariously mislabeled “Golden State” USED to be ranked “only” number two. But no more. The new Kiplinger study is out.
California is now ranked as the worst state to retire in. Easily the lowest percentage of people over age 65. We “beat” ’em all – NY, NJ, etc.
https://www.fidelity.com/insights/retirement/10-worst-states-to-retire-2014
Comments 8
I always laugh when I see these stupid reports.
California has its problems, but here are my facts.
When you get past the initial cost of housing, CA property tax
rates are best in the nation versus house appreciation.
My property is worth 3 times what I paid for it in ’95 and the property tax is only $1K more than the initial amount.
If you want to play golf year round, you cannot beat SD
Living in coastal SD, utilities are low, produce at the market is low, no need for winter coats and jackets.
Medical care here is accessible and excellent.
You may be able to buy a house in Numbnuts Nebraska for $85K, but one week in bone chilling winter will seem like a lifetime.
God bless Del Mar and the lifestyle is provides.
Author
John Stahl, an amazing myopic viewpoint. Del Mar is your example? We should all live on the coast with the rich folks? Oh my!
Check out South Carolina. My sister’s experience there is instructive. (Liberals complain that our California property taxes are too low, especially for seniors. Really?)
In 2013 she and her hubby bought a $290,000 new, lovely 2,400 sq ft single story home in Myrtle Beach for $290,000 — 2.2 miles from the ocean.
Property tax as a senior? $880. Yes — $880 is correct. If not senior citizens, it would be like $1,300 — still amazingly low compared to about $3,500 for a CA home in that modest price range. Her utility bills — water, gas and electricity — are lower than they were when they lived in Carlsbad in similar digs.
They play “pickle ball” tennis and golf pretty much year round. Cheaper than California. The beach water is at least 10 degrees warmer.
SC has MUCH lower income tax (especially for seniors), sales tax, gas tax, etc.
Like many states, SC has figured out that retiring seniors are a revenue gain for the economy without being much of a tax burden. Few are criminals, and even fewer breed school children. They don’t add to commuter traffic. But these retirees DO spend money in the community, generating jobs and other tax revenue.
Unfortuanetly Mr. Stahl, your facts are wrong.
Housing appreciation might be great, but that initial housing cost is a pretty big one, as over 2/3 of Californians can’t afford a single family home, and the number increases to 75% and higher in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties, and in some cases 85% in the bay area.
I don’t know what utilities you have, but California has the highest electricity prices in the west, and some of the highest in the country, thanks to our states energy policy. We won’t even discuss having some of if not the nations highest gasoline prices, in addition to the highest taxes on gasoline.
Medical care is only excellent and affordable for a select few, and that number is rapidly declining, especially for the over 1 million policy holders will not have because of Obamacare, and those that do have health insurance have some of the highest premiums because of regulations and fees imposed on insurers by the liberals in Sacramento.
I’m sure life is great for the 4,000 + who live in Del Mar, but for the millions of Californians for whom the American Dream has been killed by the Democrats who have ruined California for over 50+ years, they would rather be employed and sheltered in Nebraska, or Arizona, Texas, or North Carolina than unemployed and homeless in Califonria.
Excellent points, Marshallplan. A few extra facts:
California residential electricity costs an average of 27.6% more per kWh than the national average. CA commercial rates are 44.4% higher. For industrial use, CA electricity is 74.4% higher than the national average (October, 2013).
NOTE: SDG&E is considerably higher. Depending on usage, sometimes highest in the country! http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_06_a
A 2011 survey of home water bills for the 20 largest U.S. cities found that for 200 gallons a day usage, San Diego was the highest cost. At 400 gal/day, San Diego was third highest. And that, of course, assumes you can GET water in the future.
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/allstats590.jpg
California ranks 48th worst for credit card debt and 49th worst for percentage of home ownership.
http://riderrants.blogspot.com/2013/02/more-dismal-california-economic-rankings.html
Gents,
The article said that California was the worst place to RETIRE. So themarshallplan Obamacare does not come into play because I have Medicare and am not needing to get into that game.
My utility bill from SDG&E last month was $52.41. We do not need heat or air conditioning here in Del Mar.
Mr Rider, I spent 3 years on St. Simons Island in GA when in the Navy. Went back last summer and could not wait to get out. Spend a week in the summer humidity in So Carolina and let me know what you think. Have either of you heard of cock roaches? We used to call them palmetto bugs to make it sound better. Too hot to do much between 10am and 4pm.
My opening line said that CA has its problems, but I will defend the fact that a healthy person, who has worked hard and accumulated a level of wealth in their life would find coastal CA, a terrible, worst place to RETIRE in.
I would not start a business here, I would not work here as a low skilled, low income person, but that was not the premise of the article.
I lived in Fla for 20 years before moving here. Great for a 20 year old who wants to lay in the sun and drink beer. When you reach 40, the heat and humidity keep you locked inside a 24hr a day air conditioned abode until the sun goes down. You pray for November to come each year for 4 months of relief. The property taxes would go up 5-8% per years and double in 10 years. They have a intangible tax that you pay on your assets.
CA is lost for most folks. It is no longer the “shining city on the hill”. Jobs are moving out of the state and state governance is a joke.
As a kid, I used to watch the Rose Bowl parade, where they were marching in shorts and I was sitting on Long Island in 18 degree weather and looking out at a foot of snow.
If you are a healthy, active person of means, coastal CA is the best place to RETIRE and I will defend that quite simply and very easily.
I will say again, God bless Del Mar and the lifestyle it provides.
For the past 40 plus years, CA has been bleeding its “Golden” status with horrible fiscal, economic, and public/social policies that rest overwhelmingly with the machinations of the Liberal-Progressive ilk…no doubt, there have been faux Republican forces that have added into the mix of late (namely the endorsement of “GOP” candidates that have the same social/public policy positions as progressive paragons such as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Barbara Boxer), but it is the infiltration of progressive-democrat forces, backed by their Ideological Stormtroopers, The Unions, that have brought CA on the precipice of true ruin. Being born and raised here, it is truly saddening and heartbreaking. The liberal-progressive forces have fleeced the once great “Golden State” and replaced it with Fool’s Gold.
Author
Well, John, I’m glad you got yours. In hindsight, investing in Del Mar was indeed smart.
But for a person retiring today, MOVING to California is pretty much out of the question (unless they are rich, of course). Conversely, Californians looking to survive retirement (lack of a paycheck) have to figure out how to stretch dollars — and one of the simplest answers is to cash out the CA real estate and move to another state.
Your opinion is fine, but more people are leaving for other states than coming here — including retirees. I think it’s fair to say that they don’t WANT to move — but HAVE to move — for better opportunities or to survive retirement. Hence people move IN SPITE of California’s climate, rather than because of it.
TO REVIEW: Consider California’s net domestic migration (migration between states). From 2000 through 2009, California lost a NET 1.5 million people. Net departures slowed in 2008 only because people couldn’t sell their homes. But more people still leave each year — in 2011 and again in 2012, we lost about 100,000 net people to domestic out-migration. Again, note that this is NET loss.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/002585-new-census-data-reaffirms-dominance-south
and
http://tinyurl.com/2011-CA-migration
These are not likely the welfare kings and queens departing. They are primarily the young, the educated, the productive, the ambitious, the wealthy (such as Tiger Woods) – and retirees seeking to make their nest-eggs provide more bang for the buck.
The premise of the article was that California was the worst place to RETIRE IN, not MOVE TO IN RETIREMENT.
If you are here, own your primary residence, like golf and outdoor activities, have assets, enjoy the best climate in the world, are healthy, coastal California is a great place to live in retirement.
The fact that you can buy a house in some hot, humid, bug infested, hurricane prone city for 33-50% of the price of moving to CA and retiring here, does not make CA the worst place to RETIRE IN.
LIfe is to enjoy, not endure. If you don’t like it here, MOVE.