TimFountain

So the retirement thread in Trailer Park got me thinking. Assuming you are entitled to retire in the US (i.e. LPR/Citizen) by the time you come up for retirement, would you retire in the US or abroad, and if so where would you choose to retire? I'm interested in the reasons why you would choose the place you nominate....
For me it would be the South of France, due to the weather, architecture, culture, pace of life, the reasonable state of the French health system and the fact that my wife is French. If I had to live in the US, I would probably choose somewhere with mountains, like Utah of Colorado.

What about you?

- Tim

rincewind

If I manage to make it to retirement age (something I'm not counting on), I'd retire back to England. The thought of being reliant on U.S. people to look after me in my old age scares me.

TruBrit

defo the uk with a place in italy .....even my usc hubs from austin who lived for 18yrs in blighty does not want to retire in this country...sensible man my hubs but then guess that's why i'm married to him

Bob

I wouldn't want to retire here, but then again, things change, so who knows what the future might hold.

Kate2112

Retire here, visit the UK often!

Elvira

UK, definitely, plus hopefully a place in the sun somewhere.

Need to be back within reasonable distance of ROH.

Plus friends and the whole British way of life.

US healthcare for seniors (or the lack of it) is scary.

Englishmum

Agree totally - apart from the bit about the Royal Opera House!

The thought of being very elderly here in the US scares me.

From my other posts, I've written about my Mother in Law who died on Armistice Day and is to be cremated tomorrow (she would have been 81 years old this week). Thank goodness for the NHS as I honestly don't know what would have happened to her over here. For the past dozen years or so she had Meniere's Disease (where the balance is 'off' in your middle ear and tend to fall over) so she was on medication for that. She also had Type 2 diabetes. What was worse though, was that in the past 3 or 4 years she started to get Alzheimer's, which got quite bad about 18 months ago so she went into a very sheltered nursing home.

During this past year she was getting recurring kidney infections and it seemed that she was becoming immune to the antibiotics. She was most recently admitted to hospital and had been there for 10 days until she died. Apparently the care she was given at the hospital was first-rate.

I definitely want to return to live in the UK in about 5 or 6 years time; we will probably get US citizenship first as our son will most likely stay here in the US so perhaps we will keep a small flat here or come for extended visits when my husband retires (we're in our mid 40s). On the other hand our daughter never wanted to live in the US and is in London, although I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up in Oz or elsewhere eventually. Fortunately we've kept our small house so we still retain strong links to England.

I just know that I don't want to be an old lady here in the States. I'd be lucky to get more than a handful of people at my funeral LOL! I've been here for six years and all my friends are expats - I've tried very hard to make friends with Americans but at the end of the day they are all aquaintances rather than true friends.

If anything happened to my husband then I would be on the first plane out of here, to tell the truth. Just like Elvira - yes, I want to be home in England and whilst still fit, perhaps have a little place somewhere warm....but if I live long enough to become very frail then I'd like to end my days in England and want it to be my final resting place.

Maz

I have a sensible hubby too. Born and raised in the US, and doesn't want to live out his days here. We have tickets booked to go to New Zealand in April next year for a recce trip. There's a fair amount of work there in my profession, and we'd be nearly mortgage free.

jen_andreson

I imagine we'll go back to the UK to retire or at some point, although probably not back to London. A lot depends on where our children choose to live, as it would be difficult to leave here and not watch the grandchildren grow up, or so everyone tells me. We're mid 30s now and the children are young, so it's hard to say.

It would also depend on pensions, economic factors, etc. One reason we're here is that we're saving more money and topping up the private pension funds, which we couldn't do as easily in the UK. That could very easily change in the next few years. We had very high medical bills in the UK due to paying for my husband to have surgery privately, and that was all very frightening and expensive. However, I also know it is 'postcode/Trust' specific and not representative. Most of the OAPs I know here have received excellent care, but again I know that's not representative--just my experience.

It's hard to say how it will be in 40 years, but I like the idea of retiring in a smallish cottage in the peaceful countryside. I look forwarding to wearing wellies and sunhats and growing veggies!

Mallory

Just trying to envision what it will be like in 30 years. The population will have aged so much that the majority will be old timers. The NHS will be buckling under the weight of it all. Taxes needed to support the system will be double what they are now. Same in Japan and Italy, scary.

Elvira

Why just in the UK, Japan and Italy?

It'll be worse in the US because there are so many under- and uninsured people without access to preventative treatment, aswell as those who cannot afford the many meds needed to keep chronic conditions (diabetes, cardiovascular etc) under control. These people will develop serious complications that require huge amounts of $$$ to fix.

TruBrit

makes life easier when the hubs are sensible eh.....good luck on your recce

jumping doris

I don't want to retire here and I doubt we could afford it but my children will probably stay here. They are teenagers now and by the time we retire they will have adult lives here. I hate to think of not living near them or at least on the same continent and I think it is that more than anything which makes me regret coming here.
Somehow it might not bother me as much if they chose to move to another country but it would be different if economic circumstances forced us to live away from them.
When my mum was an old lady she used to potter up and down our local high street, all the churches had pop in coffee mornings and lunches that she could easily walk to and we had good public transport, which was free for OAPs. It doesn't seem like that here, there is no real community where we live and shopping is at the local mall

jumping doris

OH and I forgot the good old NHS. I don't know how old people cope here.

Dan725

Indeed, scary thread this. Civilization is going down the pan fast due to corporate and individual greed worldwide, at an unsustainable rate. Something is going to have to give, and I hope it won't be the launch button on nuclear missiles.

That said, assuming there is world left to retire in, maybe retire here and visit the UK often.