How to Find a Place to Live

Hello friends, and welcome to Notes from the Road! Glad you're along for the ride. Each week, you'll get news, advice, tools, and inspiration to design your “years beyond careers,” whether you're traveling around the world or blazing a trail in your own backyard. In this issue:

• How to find a place to live

• Retirement blind spots

• Weekly roundup

• Quiet time

• Wisdom from Frank Lloyd Wright

Let’s get started!

Last month, we spent two weeks in the Northeast US to explore the idea of moving there. I’m originally from that region, and feel drawn to “go home” to it. I feel it in my DNA, like a salmon swimming back upstream. (Our original plan was to do this overseas, but it didn’t work out as we anticipated).

So what did we learn?

It’s a good question.

One thing about midlife is that we’re sometimes presented with the opportunity to make an “unburdened” decision about where to live. Nothing, and nobody, is making the choice for us: no job, no school for the kids, no relatives.

Sometimes that’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It requires you to be utterly in charge of your decision. There’s no one to blame! The decision is solely yours. You are truly the CEO of your own life, perhaps for the first time.

It also requires you to get in touch with your values. It may require a reordering of your priorities. What’s most important to you now, at this moment? What was important to you when you landed in your current place? How is that the same? How is it different?

In other words, not a great time to be running on autopilot.

The key question is: What must this new place have for us to thrive? For me, the answer is based on what I’ve learned in the 85-year Harvard study of adult development: connection and physical health.

So on my personal site scouting spreadsheet, I’m asking:

Where can I place myself for this last stage of my life that brings me close to the people I love? And the people I don’t know yet that I will love? What opportunities exist for me to move every day, outside in nature and inside in a gym or a pool? What medical infrastructure is available to me in this place?

These are my core questions. There are other considerations, sure, like being able to see my bird feeders from the kitchen sink. But this is my foundation.

Based on all of this, we think we’re closer to the right place. Then we’ll need to navigate the rest, like low housing inventory, higher interest rates, selling our current place, and packing. We’ll spend the winter looking more and thinking more. And then, before we know it, change will be upon us again.

In the spring. Like the salmon.

Retirement Blind Spots

I attended the Retirement Coaches Association conference last month, where new research was shared on Retirement Perspectives and Attitudes.

The goal of the research was to compare retirement attitudes between those on the cusp of retirement with those who have already retired. This revealed potential blind spots for those approaching retirement.

The report is incredibly rich! Here are three of the biggest blind spots for pre-retirees:

• Social Interaction From Work. 62% of retirees miss it, while only 29% of pre-retirees expect it to be an issue (a 33% gap)(!)

• Mental Stimulation. 38% of retirees miss it, 21% of pre-retirees expect to miss it (a 17% gap).

• Sense of Identity. 31% of retirees miss it, 22% of pre-retirees expect to miss it (a 9% gap).

Another big gap? Generally speaking, pre-retirees are more concerned about outliving their savings and navigating the rising cost of health care. Retirees, though, are more concerned about unexpected health or family crises and economic and political turmoil.

I’ll unpack more in future newlsetters. Stay tuned!

Identify your retirement blind spots right here!

The Weekly Roundup

Worth your time to watch, read, and listen.

📰 8 “Non-Negotiables” for a Long, Happy Life. From a 95-year old retired cardiologist in Japan. There are lots of lists like these. After a while they can all look the same, so I like to find themes. This one? Priority 1 is taking care of your body. Priority 2 is expressing yourself. (4-5 min. read) 

⛏️ Blue Zones Food Guidelines. A handy tool that sums up the habits of our centenarian friends in the Blue Zones. An easy to read one-pager for meal planning. (1 min. read)

🎞️ Social Connections in Retirement: Why They’re the Number One Factor for Happiness. A nice roundtable on the 85 year Harvard study on adult development: “You can’t bring the people that you’re working with along with you in retirement.” (18 mins.)

📰 Bonus just for fun: If you’re still working, have a little bit of flexibility, and a whole lot of wanderlust, this is a helpful, informative, accurate take on how to move overseas. (And we sorta know about this)! Those people you see on social media? They almost never talk about taxes. (14 min. read)

🌟💡🌟Anything that you’d like us to share in the Weekly Roundup? Any burning topics you’d like us to write about? Let us know.

Just imagine how much fun it would be to read this every 1-2 weeks!