Before you get too excited about being retired -
just remember
After being retired - you tend to be more busy then when you worked full time!!
Everyone thinks you have plenty of time to do everything!
I would not mind moving to TN (Knoxville) I have kids and grand-kids & great-grand-kids down there.
But for the time being - The Lord has a mission for me right here in Central New York -
Congratulations, come to Western Australia, and bring all your family and 2nd Amendment conservative values with you.
If we only had a million Americans move here, it would tip the balance for the whole country.
Free healthcare, medications fully and partially subsidised, Mediterranean climate, all the seafood you can eat.
I severely damaged my family by being a company man. My mission then was to be on call 24/7 thus not spending the time needed and not being totally present for the family was a mistake. So today I take care of my wife who has stage 4 cancer, I advise my son and brother on family matters… life is good (a new baby granddaughter is coming in May). My ambitions for the present will be to put in a excellent garden with perfect vegetables, to raise more chickens, to cook more and to raise my rescue boxer. New Jersey has no need of me.
The Mediterranean climate appeals to me as well as the seafood… my Greek and Italian ancestors would like your world. But my grand children need me to be there for them. Plus I’ve heard concerning reports about your government’s stringent Covid policies. In short, I won’t run away from my parenting obligations and my wife would never bear to be separated from her grandchildren.
You know ...as it is I get to keep 69.94% of my income.
But that's just my take home pay.
I still owed almost 4k in federal income tax.
And then there's sales tax, state income tax, property tax,.....:(
I still like the snow - we get about 90"/year in the Maine foothills and there's still 18" atop my garden with a bit more coming tonight.
I was having fun in my forestry job at age 75 when I retired in July 2021, but my knees made it hard to bushwhack thru the Maine woods.
Also, I didn't have the ability to run tree growth computer models, nor expertise in geographic information systems.
Happily, my former employer (Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands) managed to poach an experienced field forester with those skills from Baxter Park.