Which Premier, Wireless Resorter Lifestyles Appeal to You?

In their bucolic communities noted for their recently built homes on sprawling properties, the families of executives live in six-figure comfort.

 

Google Maps: Mammoth Lakes, CA
These upscale, empty-nesting couples enjoy the trappings of success, belonging to country clubs, maintaining large investment portfolios and spending freely on computer technology.

 

With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:

But to zero in on the best place for you you’ll have to visit and schedule time to explore potential new homes in a region.

Oh, darn!

Lifestyles Segments: Urban to Rustic Density

The final installment in a 16-Part Series.

Wealthy Influentials

Permanent Temporaries

High Country Eagles

Wireless Resorters

Country Communities

Photo: Visual Hunt

Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM  estimated that country communities represented 39.6% of United States population in 2011.

Town and Rural areas (T) have population density scores under 40.

This category includes exurbs, towns, farming communities, and a wide range of other rural areas.”

Should you include these Birds-of-a Feather (BOF) lifestyles on your Bucket List?

Let’s turn to four Wireless Resorters household lifestyles:

Wireless Resorters, Premier Resorts (WRPR) – 30-44 year olds Midlife Success Couples35-54 year old Families45+ year old Families, and 45+ year old Empty Nest Couples.

We use Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM lifestyle segmentation profiles to evaluate best places for relocation to more authentic, quality-of-life communities.

And, if your community already includes the following profiles, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on in your neighbors’ lives.

2011 Statistics:

  • US Households: 9,812,689
  • Median Household Income : $82,323

“Widely scattered throughout the nation, Landed Gentry social group consist of wealthy Americans who migrated to the smaller boomtowns beyond the nation’s beltways. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

Many of the households contain Boomer families and couples with college degrees, professional jobs—they’re twice as likely as average Americans to telecommute—and expansive homes

With their upscale incomes, they can afford to spend heavily on consumer electronics, wireless and computer technology, luxury cars, powerboats, books and magazines, children’s toys and exercise equipment.”

Where will you find those three lifestyles?

Google Maps: Mammoth Lakes, CA

You’ll find neighbors in New Hampshire and three in California:

  • Cornish, NH
  • Lake Arrowhead, CA
  • Mammoth Lakes, CA
  • Westwood, CA

 

Which of the following lifestyles best describes you?

25Y1T1, Country Casuals, 30-44, Couples, Midlife Success, Landed Gentry, WRPR Premier Resorts, Wireless Resorters (Westwood, CA)

2011 Statistics:

  • US Households: 1,741,070 (1.49%)
  • Median Household Income: $71,235

Premier Resorts (WRPR):  “There’s a laid-back atmosphere in Country Casuals, a collection of middle-aged, upper middle-class households that have started to empty-nest. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

Workers here-and most households boast two earners-have well-paying blue- or white-collar jobs, or own small businesses. 

Today these Baby-Boom couples have the disposable income to enjoy traveling, owning timeshares and going out to eat.

Lifestyle & Media Traits:

  • Shopped at priceline.com
  • Did woodworking
  • Read Everyday With Rachel Ray
  • Watched Great American Country Channel
  • Drove Ford F-Series Diesels”

20F2T1, Fast-Track Families, 35-54, Families, Young Accumulators, Landed Gentry, WRPR Premier Resorts, Wireless Resorters (Cornish, NH)

2011 Statistics:

  • US Households: 1,861,697 (1.59%)
  • Median Household Income: $74,201

Premier Resorts (WRPR):  “With their upper-middle-class incomes, numerous children and spacious homes, Fast-Track Families are in their prime acquisition years. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

These middle-aged parents have the disposable income and educated sensibility to want the best for their children. 

They buy the latest technology with impunity: new computers, DVD players, home theater systems and video games. 

They take advantage of their rustic locales by camping, boating and fishing. 

Lifestyle & Media Traits:

  • Ordered from buy.com
  • Traveled for business by airplane
  • Read American Hunter
  • Watched Country Music Television
  • Drove a Chevrolet Suburban Flex Fuel”

05F1T1, Country Squires, 45+, Family, Accumulated Wealth, Landed Gentry, WRPR Premier Resorts, Wireless Resorters (Lake Arrowhead, CA)

2011 Statistics:

  • US Households: 2,011,809 (1.72%)
  • Median Household Income: $101,507

Premier Resorts (WRPR): The wealthiest residents in exurban America live in Country Squires, an oasis for affluent Baby Boomers who’ve fled the city for the charms of small-town living.

Country Squires enjoy country club sports like golf, tennis and swimming as well as skiing, boating and biking.

Photo: Visual Hunt

In their bucolic communities noted for their recently built homes on sprawling properties, the families of executives live in six-figure comfort. 

Lifestyle & Media Traits:

  • Ordered from amazon.com
  • Went snorkeling
  • Read Family Fun
  • Watched pay-per-view movies
  • Drove a GMC Yukon Denali”

09M1T1, Big Fish Small Pond, 45+, Couples, Affluent Empty Nests, Accumulated Wealth, Landed Gentry WRPR Premier Resorts, Wireless Resorters (Mammoth Lakes, CA)

2011 Statistics:

  • US Households: 2,498,189 (2.14%)
  • Median Household Income: $82,470

Premier Resorts (WRPR) “Older, upper-class, college-educated professionals, the members of Big Fish, Small Pond are often among the leading citizens of their small-town communities.

Photo: Visual Hunt

These upscale, empty-nesting couples enjoy the trappings of success, belonging to country clubs, maintaining large investment portfolios and spending freely on computer technology.

Lifestyle & Media Traits:

  • Ordered from L.L. Bean
  • Contributed to PBS
  • Read Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
  • Watched The Triple Crown
  • Drove a Cadillac DTS”

Will you find a 100% fit?

No.

These lifestyle descriptions are intended to paint a picture of a new neighborhood you’d enjoy, because you share some of the same traits with current residents.

If you plan to relocate, start visiting communities on your short bucket list.

Don’t have a short list yet?

Steps:

8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write-up your bucket list of places.

20) Pivot. Maybe the lists of best places don’t appeal to you. Where can you go to make a fresh, new start? Don’t limit your imagination. Think anywhere — across the globe. Where do you really, really want to live, work and play?  Why not live where it’s a vacation all year round?

21)  Spend the time to find the best place to live and invest. It will be worth your while. The great thing about living where others spend their vacation is the year round quality-of-life.

26) If you know the zip code you can discover the lifestyles living in the community. You can compare your profile with theirs to estimate your degree of fit.

27) Estimate how well suited you are for the resorts. Refer to “Profiles-at-a-Glance” comparing 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 for changes in Life Stages – Singles, Couples, Families, Midlife, Empty Nests, Baby Boomers and Seniors; Ages – 20-29, 25-54, 30-44, 45+ 45-65, 55+ and 65+; and mix of Lifestyles in neighborhoods. Does the resort still offer the age, life stage and lifestyle profiles you prefer?

Which of These 65+ Year Old Lifestyle Profiles Fits You Best?

Strewn among remote farm communities across the nation, Back Country Folks are a long way away from economic paradise.

 

Photo: Visual Hunt
It is during this time through retrospection that we look back to contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.

 

With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:

But to zero in on the best place for you you’ll have to visit and schedule time to explore potential new homes in a region.

Oh, darn!

Lifestyle Segments by Ages

The final installment in a 10-Part Series.

Part One:  Which of These 20-29 Year Old Lifestyles Fits You?

Part Two: Which 20-44 Year Old Family Lifestyles Fits You?

Part Three: Which of These 7 Single 25-54 Year Old Lifestyles Fits You Best?

Part Four: Which 25-54 Year Old Family Lifestyle Describes You Best?

Part Five: Which 30-44 Year Old Couple Lifestyle Fits You Best?

Part Six: Which 35-54 Year Old Family Lifestyle Describes You Best?

Part Seven: Which 45+ Year Old Lifestyle Describes You Best?

Part Eight: Which Classic 55+ Year Old Lifestyle Describes You Best?

Part Nine: Which of These 7 Mature 55+ Year Old Lifestyles Describes You?

60-Somethings

You’re coming to grips with what life means when you’ve reached the last chapter of your life.

When retirement is approaching or has already taken place.

Fulfillment  or Despair, Depression and Hopelessness

The last and eighth developmental stage is called Maturity.

Photo: Wikipedia

As we grow older and become senior citizens, according to Erikson’s theory, we tend to slow down our productivity and explore life as a retired person.

It is during this time through retrospection that we look back to contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.

If so we develop feelings of contentment and integrity if we believe we have led a happy, productive life.

Should you include these Birds-of-a Feather (BOF) lifestyles on your Bucket List?

You’ll find them in more rustic Wireless Resort and High Country Eagle neighborhoods and in less affluent Permanent Temporary communities.

  • Wireless Resorters – Distant Exurbans (WRDE)
  • High Country Eagles – Small Town Borders (HCESTB) and two Rustic Eagles (HCERE)
  • Permanent Temporaries – The Cutters (PTTC) and  two Urban Trapped (PTUT)

We use Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM lifestyle segmentation profiles to evaluate best places for relocation to more authentic, quality-of-life communities.

And, if your community already includes the following profiles, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on in your neighbors’ lives.

We know the number of households and income levels for comparison purposes based upon Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM 2011 Statistics:

  • US Households: 12,101,672
  • Median Household Income : $29,346

Sustaining Seniors are filled with older, economically challenged Americans.

Racially mixed and dispersed throughout the country, they all score high for having residents who are over 65 years old and household incomes under $25,000.

Photo: Visual Hunt

Many are single or widowed, have modest educational achievement and live in older apartments or small homes.

On their fixed incomes, they lead low-key, home-centered lifestyles.

They’re big on watching TV, gardening, sewing and woodworking.

Their social life often revolves around activities at veterans clubs and fraternal organizations.

Where in the West will you find those seven lifestyles?

Southwest United States – Wikitravel

We’ve identified four in California and one community each in Arizona, New Mexico and Montana:

  • Long Beach, CA
  • Palm Desert, CA
  • Seal Beach, CA
  • Eureka, CA
  • Elgin, AZ
  • Taos, NM
  • Whitefish, MT

Which of the following lifestyles best describes you?

55M4T4, Golden Ponds, 65+Sustaining Seniors, Couples, Rustic Living, WRDE Distant Exurbans, Wireless Resorters ( Elgin, AZ)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 1,985,453 (1.70%)
  • Median HH Income: $31,657

Distant Exurbans (WRDE): Golden Ponds is mostly a retirement lifestyle, dominated by downscale singles and couples over 65 years old. 

Found in small bucolic towns around the country, these high school-educated seniors live in small apartments on less than $25,000 a year; one in five resides in a nursing home.

Photo: Visual Hunt

For these elderly residents, daily life is often a succession of sedentary activities such as reading, watching TV, playing bingo and doing craft projects.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Purchased in-home vitamins 
  • Ordered garden supplies by phone
  • Read American Legion Magazine
  • Watched The Price is Right
  • Drove a Mercury Sable”

57M4T4, Old Milltown, 65+, Sustaining Seniors, Rustic Living, HCERE Rustic Eagles, High Country Eagles ( Taos, NM)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 1,845,943 (1.58%)
  • Median Household Income: $30,608

Rustic Eagles (HCERE):  “America’s once-thriving mining and manufacturing towns have aged-as have the residents in Old Milltowns communities

Today, the majority of residents are retired singles and couples, living on downscale incomes in pre-1960 homes and apartments.

Photo: Visual Hunt

For leisure, they enjoy gardening, sewing, socializing at veterans clubs or eating out at casual restaurants.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Ordered from Home Shopping Network
  • Did needlepoint
  • Read Good Housekeeping
  • Watched As the World Turns
  • Drove a GMC Canyon”

58M4T4, Back Country Folks, 65+Sustaining Seniors, Rustic Living, HCERE Rustic Eagles, High Country Eagles (Whitefish, MT)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 2,658,532 (2.27%)
  • Median Household Income: $32,207

Rustic Eagles (HCERE):  “Strewn among remote farm communities across the nation, Back Country Folks are a long way away from economic paradise.

The residents tend to be poor, over 55 years old and living in older, modest-sized homes and manufactured housing. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

Typically, life in this segment is a throwback to an earlier era when farming dominated the American landscape.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Ordered from Publishers Clearing House
  • Belonged to church board
  • Read Hunting
  • Watched Soapnet
  • Drove a Ford Ranger”

59M4U3, Urban Elders, 65+, Sustaining Seniors, Urban Cores, Urban, PTUT Urban Trapped, Permanent Temporaries (Long Beach, CA)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 1,532,998 (1.31%)
  • Median Household Income: $24,864

Urban Trapped (PTUT): “For Urban Elders-a segment located in the downtown neighborhoods of such metros as New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami life is often an economic struggle. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

These communities have high concentrations of Hispanics and African-Americans, and tend to be downscale, with singles living in older apartment rentals.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Shopped at Rite Aid
  • Traveled Domestically on JetBlue
  • Read Essence
  • Watched Primer Impacto
  • Drove a Ford Crown Victoria”

60M4C3, Park Bench Seniors, 65+Sustaining Seniors,  Micro-City Blues – HCESTB Small Town Borders, High Country Eagles (Palm Desert, CA)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 1,345,679 (1.15%)
  • Median Household Income: $24,290

Small Town Borders (HCESTB): Park Bench Seniors typically are retired singles living in the racially mixed neighborhoods of the nation’s satellite cities. 

With modest educations and incomes, these residents maintain low-key, sedentary lifestyles. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

Theirs is one of the top-ranked segments for TV viewing, especially daytime soaps and game shows.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Purchased in-home housewares 
  • Bought gospel music
  • Read Jet
  • Watched The People’s Court
  • Drove a Suzuki Reno”

61M4U3, City Roots, 65+, Seniors, Sustaining Seniors, Urban Cores, Urban, PTUT Urban Trapped, Permanent Temporaries (Seal Beach, CA)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 1,326,369 (1.13%)
  • Median Household Income: $28,006

Urban Trapped (PTUT): Found in urban neighborhoods, City Roots is a segment of lower-income retirees, typically living in older homes and duplexes they’ve owned for years. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

In these ethnically diverse neighborhoods-more than a third are African-American and Hispanic residents are often widows and widowers living on fixed incomes and maintaining low-key lifestyles.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Ordered from drugstore.com
  • Gambled in Reno, NV
  • Read Town & Country
  • Watched NAACP Image Awards
  • Drove a Chrysler 300″

62M4C3, Hometown Retired , 65+, Seniors, Sustaining Seniors, Second Tier Cities, Micro-City Blues, PTTC The Cutters, Permanent Temporaries (Eureka, CA)

2011 Statistics

  • US Households: 1,406,698 (1.20%)
  • Median Household Income: $27,609

The Cutters (PTTC):  With three-quarters of all residents over 65 years old, Hometown Retired is one of the oldest lifestyles. 

These racially mixed seniors tend to live in aging homes-half were built before 1958-and typically get by on social security and modest pensions. 

Photo: Visual Hunt

Because most never made it beyond high school and spent their working lives at blue-collar jobs, their retirements are extremely modest.

Lifestyle & Media Traits

  • Ordered items by mail
  • Collected stamps
  • Read Womans Day
  • Watched Judge Judy
  • Drove a Mercury Grand Marquis”

Will you find a 100% fit?

No.

These lifestyle descriptions are intended to paint a picture of a new neighborhood you’d enjoy, because you share some of the same traits with current residents.

If you plan to relocate, start visiting communities on your short bucket list.

Don’t have a short list yet?

Steps:

26) If you know the zip code you can discover the lifestyles living in the community. You can compare your profile with theirs to estimate your degree of fit.

27) Estimate how well suited you are for the resorts. Refer to “Profiles-at-a-Glance” comparing 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 for changes in Life Stages – Singles, Couples, Families, Midlife, Empty Nests, Baby Boomers and Seniors; Ages – 20-29, 25-54, 30-44, 45+ 45-65, 55+ and 65+; and mix of Lifestyles in neighborhoods. Does the resort still offer the age, life stage and lifestyle profiles you prefer?

65+ Years Old: Maturity, Integrity and Wisdom

“The real question is, what does it mean to live to full effect? How do you know if you are fulfilling your time, or wasting it?”

 

These days, all my sixtysomething friends seem to be taking care of aging parents. Too many — most of them male — are fighting serious health issues of their own. They are tough old boots, all of them.

 

With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:

But to zero in on the best place for you you’ll have to visit and schedule time to explore potential new homes in a region.

Oh, darn!

The final installment in a 9-part Life Stage series:

Part One:  She’s Leaving Home, Not Living Alone (Buy Buy)

Part Two:  Failing at Growing Up

Part Three:  Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage, or …

Part Four:  Crisis and Pivots for 28 -32 Year Olds

Part Five:  Making It – Ages 30 – 38

Part Six:  Authenticity Crisis for 35 – 45 Year Olds

Part Seven:  Renewal or Resignation in Your Mid-40s

Part Eight: 55 Year Olds- Millennials and Empty Nests

So there’s this generation that used to be all that.

The one born between 1946, beginning nine months after World War II ended and 1964 more or less.

Look it up, but the number stuck in my brain is about 75 or 78 million.

They used to dominate all those demographic lifestyle segments advertising executives drooled over.

They were the Millennials of their time.

A time so long ago …

Turning 60

Chris Erskine. Meanwhile, many of my friends are turning 60, and though I have a long way to go till I reach that particular benchmark (six months), witnessing so many milestones at once can really take a toll on a fella.

“You’re turning 60?” I always tell my friends.

“That’s just so great!!!”

Really?!!

Integrity or Despair

Erik Erikson’s last and eighth developmental stage is called Maturity.

Approximate Age: Maturity ( 65 – death)

Significant Relationship: Mankind, my kind

Existential Question:  Is it okay to have been me?

Examples: Reflection on life

Psychosocial Crisis: Integrity vs. Despair

Virtues: Wisdom

A lot of stuff comes with approaching the traditional retirement age.

That age when Erskine’s generation viewed their parents living their second half of life – the Golden Years – with a pension, receiving monthly social security checks and picking up divots on a par five in Sarasota, Florida as boring.

A given.

But, now not so much.

And tomorrow, probably not at all.

Entering Act III with Doctors and Adult Kids

Daditude: The Joys & Absurdities of Modern Fatherhood by Chris Erskine

Turning sixty is a weird time, Erskine says, for him and his friends.

A time when they look back to times they spent when they were younger.

A time when their kids were younger.

I sometimes wish our kids were all 10 again, how that period was a holiday season all its own; it was magical, finite and flew by too fast.

A time when the kids needed coaching and rough housing.

A time when the parents had to remind them about chores and unfinished homework.

Now things are just different.

Erskine.  “Truth is, I find this a weird time for me and my buddies.

Most of our children are now adults, working for tyrants, finding their way.

That’s just how the real world works.

Erskine’s friend puts what’s different into perspective for him – like a three act screen play.

Act I ends with college graduation.

Act II ends with the empty nest.

“Act III,” my buddy Siskin calls it.

So now, most of us are entering Act III.

Ask any writer, Act II is the toughest.

The middle of any story meanders, drifts, struggles and is often the death of art itself.”

Wisdom and Life Acceptance

Erskine’s writes about what comes with the Act III territory.

Coming to grips with what it means when you’ve reached the last chapter of your life.

When retirement is approaching or has already taken place.

Stories about “Is it okay to have been me?”

And other reflections on life.

Examples of leaving the second half of adulthood and embarking on maturity.

Erikson (at least the Wikipedia version) describes what happens.

“Ego-integrity means the acceptance of life in its fullness: the victories and the defeats, what was accomplished and what was not accomplished.

Wisdom is the result of successfully accomplishing this final developmental task.

Wisdom is defined as “informed and detached concern for life itself in the face of death itself.””

Erskine reflects on a book review, a memoire written about turning 60.

Erskine. “Like a pro athlete just retired, he seems pretty convinced that most of life’s good times are behind him.

Likewise, there is very little chirpy, New Age navel-gazing to his writing.

His mind is keen and active, and his pages are full of fine references to poets and artists who he knows also dealt with the minefield of late middle age.

Erskine says the book takes on topics like his love life, physical changes, marriage struggles with, family relations brother and more.

He speaks of his existential crises:

“The real question is, what does it mean to live to full effect?

How do you know if you are fulfilling your time, or wasting it?

Fulfillment  or Despair, Depression and Hopelessness

As we grow older and become senior citizens, according to Erikson’s theory, we tend to slow down our productivity and explore life as a retired person.

It is during this time through retrospection that we look back to contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.

If so we develop feelings of contentment and integrity if we believe we have led a happy, productive life.

But if we see our life as unproductive, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.

Instead of contentment, we  may instead develop a pervasive sense of despair when we recall a life of disappointments and unachieved goals.

This stage can occur out of the sequence when an individual feels they are near the end of their life (such as when receiving a terminal disease diagnosis).

Stage 4 Cancer

Erskine.  “Well, the doctors had said “cancer, Stage 4,” so I suppose Posh was a little desperate.

Chris Erskine at the Los Angeles Times

I was there to help, and eager as a dumb puppy.

I didn’t feel responsible for her cancer, just every other challenge in her life: the plain little ranch house, the minivan with the “check-engine” light aglow, the dryer that kept scorching the shirts.

Most of all, a topsy-turvy marriage.

Like taking on the day in and day out responsibilities of caring for an aging parent Erskine’s normal routine dramatically  changed.

And he was the funny one.

Churning out humorous weekly syndicated essays about what it was like living in the Los Angeles suburbs with four children during his own middle age years.

Bad as all that was, she had cancer, which is worse than about anything else that can ever happen.

How could I gripe about the missing tax records — or anything — when she was enduring injections, transfusions, lab tests, fatigue, nausea and hair loss?

A good day was one where they didn’t poke her with a 4-inch needle.

Traditional retirement age used to be 65, but not so much any more.

So depending upon your situation, it may be easier to start the countdown process five years before you expect to retire.

Will it be 70 or 75 or 55?

These recommendations will still hold up.

You pick the time when you want retirement to start and work backwards to the time left.

Seriously, do this.

You know you put a lot of time and effort into planning your annual vacations.

So, put in the same time and energy into a project that protects your nest egg and well-being with piece of mind.

Erskine. “Meanwhile, my friends and I are at a more bittersweet stage, with five or so years left in our careers.

Every conversation has started to include talk of doctors.

Any car we buy might be our last.

Pre-Retirement Countdown

Time Left Before Retiring – Five Years

Finances: 

Take a stab at answering The Big Question: Will you  have saved enough to retire in five years?

Erskine.  Which one of you handles the finances?” the advisor asked.

From Posh, a sideways glance.

“Money does,” Posh said.

“Who’s Money? the advisor asked.

“We call my husband ‘Money,'” Posh explained, “but he’s sooooo not.

Lifestyle:  

How you and your spouse wish to spend time in retirement.

Take an inventory of your past and current interests, hobbies and activities.

One of the mentors in our Executive MBA program told me he wrote a book and set up his consulting practice, because so much golf and so much traveling didn’t cut it any more.

Estate Planning:

Make sure you have a will, an appointed power-of-attorney, health-care directives and an estate plan.

Otherwise, someone else will be calling the shots and siphoning off your hard-earned savings.

Time Left Before Retiring – Four Years

Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Finances:

Start thinking about Social Security. Talk to your financial advisor.  Check out all the tools and resources on the Social Security Administration’s website.

Lifestyle:

Start exploring your ideas.

Erskine.  “Oh, I jest because after living here for nearly 30 years, I love L.A. and its open minds … its empty minds, and every now and then, its very brilliant minds.

In L.A., you’ll run across the smartest people you’ll ever meet, and they’ll probably be driving for Uber.

Still, it is a magnificent and inspiring place — America’s shining city on a hill.

For active Millennials, Gen-Xers, Baby Boomers, and well everyone else living in California the high cost of living, taxes and congested living conditions in and around Los Angeles pushes “Golden Staters” like Erskine to actively consider moving.

But …

You’d have to move to Monaco to find mountains this close to beaches, or wild animals this close to ingénues.

In the foothills, we keep black bears as pets.”

Potential outbound movers need to draw up a bucket list of best places that offsets living near the Pacific Ocean and local mountains.

Start with the no- or low-tax states and carefully weigh the tradeoffs.

A quality-of-life resort community may be so remote that it lacks adequate healthcare locally, for instance.

Erskine’s advice for potential inbound vacationers-turned-residents?

“If you live right, most of the time you will have seawater in your hair.

Most of the year, your bare feet will have a leathery bottom, as if it is always summer.

It isn’t.

Densely Populated Urban Neighborhoods

All that “endless summer” stuff comes from the ’50s and ’60s.

The bohemian vibe from that time is slipping away, quashed by gentrification and surprisingly long work weeks.

If you’re considering relocating, research the communities you’re interested in.

In addition to Claritas and City-data.com you may want to add helpful resources  like: Relocationessentials.com, NeighborhoodScout.com and RetirementLiving.com.

Time Left Before Retiring – Three Years

Lifestyle:

If you plan to relocate, start visiting communities on your short bucket list.

Don’t have a short list yet?

Southwest United States – Wikitravel

Take a look at these western towns with seven 65+ lifestyles that might just get your started:

Arizona: Elgin

California: Palm Desert, Eureka, Long Beach, Seal Beach

MontanaWhitefish

New Mexico: Taos

Seven Lifestyle Profiles: 65+

Singles and Couples: Wireless Resorters, High Country Eagles and Permanent Temporaries.

Communities

Wireless Resorters

55M4T4, Golden Ponds – WRDE Distant Exurbans (Elgin, AZ)

Communities

High Country Eagles

60M4C3, Park Bench Seniors – HCESTB Small Town Borders (Palm Desert, CA)

57M4T4 Old Milltown – HCERE Rustic Eagles (Taos, NM)

58M4T4, Back Country Folks – HCERE Rustic Eagles (Whitefish, MT)

Communities

Permanent Temporaries

62M4C3, Hometown Retired – PTTC The Cutters (Eureka, CA)

59M4U3, Urban Elders – PTUT Urban Trapped (Long Beach, CA)

61M4U3, City Roots – PTUT Urban Trapped (Seal Beach, CA)

Finances: 

Request an estimate of any pension or retiree medical benefits you are eligible to receive from your employer.

Health Care:

Get educated about Medicare.

You won’t want to be penalized for signing up for basic coverage when you were supposed to, but didn’t.

Find out what’s covered and what isn’t.

Investigate all those supplemental plans you’ll need if you want vision or dental care.

Realize that you’ll have one plan while your spouse will have another.

Time Left Before Retiring – One Year

Wait, where did the time go, right?

Lifestyle: 

If you plan to start a business, draw up a detailed business plan.

Check out the 10 step process at the Small Business Administration (SBA) to get you started.

Consider all your ‘Preneurial options weighing the risks and rewards and the pros and cons before you commit your hard-earned nest egg to the vagaries of being in business for yourself.

If you want to work, check the listings at websites including RetiredBrains.com, RetirementJobs.com and SeniorJobBank.org

Finances:

Figure out how to convert your savings into a reliable stream of lifelong income.

Get a final estimate of benefits from your employer.

Don’t put it off too long or you might conveniently forget about it.

Forgetting Why You Entered the Room

Chris Erskine.  “This week marks 60 laps around the sun for me.

Sixty is pretty sexy, of course.

Sixty is AARP discounts, cruise ships and cholesterol tests.

Sixty is forgetting why you entered the room, the number of that first baseman, the name of that girl you worshiped back in high school.

The whole thing started 15-plus years ago, after our sons and daughters aged out of youth sports.

Aging Parents and Their Own Health Issues

Chris Erskine.  “Eric dodged serious cancer and has rebounded well.

Social Ties and Deep Friendships

Paul had a relapse of his cancer and with gallows humor kids about a Viking funeral on a flaming raft in Jennifer Aniston’s pool.

Posh continues her fight, as does a family friend, LP, who used to coach with me long ago.

Not far from those thoughts are recollections of another great pal, Rhymer, who died five years ago.

At 51, he was just a baby.

“Focus on the good,” Rhymer always said, even in the times when we both had to squint to find the good.

Maybe, just maybe, all you can really do is to find your own path.

Live. Love. Work. Play. Invest. Leave a Legacy.

Authentic Boomtowns

An authentic boomtown also thrives largely on its local business base, not primarily on commuters. 

Mammoth Lifestyle
Mammoth Lake’s Paul Oster said the town and mountain business community solved many of the issues plaguing most ultra affluent resorts.

An excerpt from Book Five in “The Knowledge Path Series” dedicated to helping you find the place of your dreams in the Sierra Mountain resorts.

Part Four in a 4-Part Series.

Part One: You

Part Two: Taking Calculated Risks

Part Three: Plug In Dreams

Mammoth Lakes appeals to a healthy mix of residents.

  • The affluent lifestyles are drawn to its quality of life.
  • And, the “immigration nation community” and service workers like lift operators, ski and snowboard instructors, restaurant servers and bartenders.

Mammoth Lake’s Paul Oster said the town and mountain business community solved many of the issues plaguing most ultra affluent resorts.

As the lessons of the Great Recession made clear and evolution of Mammoth’s lifestyles and real estate market illustrate, Dent cautions.

Although smaller boomtowns will exhibit a clear tendency to attract the kinds of businesses that support a specific lifestyle, you want to look for business diversity. 

Winter in Lake Tahoe

Is there a hidden, festering problem that will potentially trigger an economic disaster?

If the area is sustained by one key business, say tourism, and the weather patterns change, as in the cases of Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe, the local economy – your business – and the value of your property will take financial hits.

Isolated small towns, like Silverton, Colorado struggled during its transition from a gold mining town to a tourist town.

Downtown Silverton, Colorado

And the legacy toxic tailings from the area’s gold mining operations and a cyclical history of “blow outs” are gifts that just keep on giving.

But, not in good way.

Just ask Durango, Colorado residents.

And Animas River businesses like “Wet and Wild” devastated by the giant orange sludge flowing through town at the peak of the summer tourist season in 2015.

Yellow Sludge Filled the Animas River Starting in Silverton

How can you prevent those kinds of losses?

Choose wisely.

  • If there are different kinds of businesses in the area, the decline of one is likely to have a more limited effect on property values. 
  • Consider both the short- and the long-term value of your real estate investment when evaluating the local businesses.

You don’t want to keep potentially attractive boomtowns on your bucket list, if like in Santa Barbara, California traffic clogs the main artery.

Santa Barbara Traffic Jams

An authentic boomtown also thrives largely on its local business base, not primarily on commuters. 

This gives the town stability in growth.

It represents the lifestyle it is catering to.

Not simply making it available to people who earn their incomes elsewhere.

It also indicates that this boomtown supports the ideal of a quality lifestyle that offers enough leisure time to enjoy your family, your friends and your new community.

Ask around.

Find out where they live and work.

Observe.

  • Look at the traffic patterns during rush hour to determine if most people are commuting to a nearby city or suburban area. 
  • If they are, think twice about investing in this boomtown!

Steps:

(8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write-up your bucket list of places.

(21) Spend the time to find the best places to live and invest. It will be worth your while. The great thing about living where others spend their vacation is the year round quality-of-life.