The Baby Boomer Renaissance: The Boomer Chronicles

Friday, April 30, 2010

The Boomer Chronicles

Dan the Early Retired Man: No More Winters

Posted: 29 Apr 2010 05:52 AM PDT

My cousin Dan, who retired early from the U.S. Postal Service last year at age 53, decides to ditch the bitter North for warmer climes:

Like many "boomers" we have been empty nesters for some time. With the exception of Thanksgiving, when all of the family returns home, four of our five bedrooms are empty. We should have sold the house five years ago when our youngest went off to college and the housing market was white hot.

Five years ago I was planning to retire at 55. My commute to work was less that 3 miles round trip and my wife's work was also short, about 4 miles. We liked the city, and our neighbors, so it didn't make any sense to move to a smaller place with a longer commute. So I continued to cut the grass, something I have been doing since I was 10, and shoveling the snow, something I absolutely hate, especially when it's 10 below. Then an offer of an early retirement and the long Minnesota winter convinced me that it was time.

When we left New Jersey for Minnesota 16 years ago, selling the house was easy. I had to report to my new job in Minnesota months before the house would sell, leaving the task of selling the house to my wife. We also had a company-paid relocation firm that would buy the house if we didn't sell it, relieving all of the selling anxiety. The relocation firm would also hire the movers, pack up the house and pay the closing costs. Now 16 years later, it would all be up to us (well, it would mostly fall to my wife again).

Secretly, I wanted to sell the house right after I retired, but my daughter's wedding needed to take priority. With the wedding behind us and a trip to Hawaii to recover, we took a weekend away in Arizona. A previous trip to the Grand Canyon state convinced me it was the place to live, but would my wife like it?

While walking around one of the many retirement communities west of Phoenix, we met a man from Minnesota. He was 70 but looked like he was in his 50s. He had been in Arizona for 10 years and told us he would never go back. He drove his golf cart to the community's "fishin’ hole" a few times a week to get his fishing fix. Nothing more needed to be said. My wife was in.

Now we just have to sell the house.