There are so many reasons...
 

why older people are working. Some have been forced out of the workplace. I am 59 and still working. I love what I do and will continue to work for hopefully years. I am also getting my Masters and will continue to be relevant in the workplace. My fiance is retired and is glad he is not working. We are moving to Fenny (I know there is a prison and no GC access right now).
My fiance was a millionaire and then 2008 happened. His neighbor across the street lost 20 million dollars and not more than a week before the crash his Bentley was delivered. They sold it, bought an RV and never looked back. I lost a lot as well. We will never be that status again, but still have investments and savings. By the way, I shop Goodwill and so does he. Nothing wrong with that and I have some beautiful things. We are frugal, but still like to cruise. There isn't a flat anymore in London, or trips to France. That is ok, I did not love him for the money when I met him.
During that time in history, I was talking to numerous people that were getting "the boot" at their companies. The story was the same, they worked there for years and the fired at 64 which meant their retirement did not go with them-they trusted the company to take care of them and did not diversify their money.
My fiance has beginning dementia and I am a nurse that specializes in that. I hope to keep him out of a nursing home for a long time. There is a nest egg, but I know it will go to healthcare eventually. We are not wealthy by any means and I would put us in the modest category. But I have seen what unforseen health issue will do to a bank account with some of my former patients. Beautiful homes to as close to homeless as you can get.
But back to the initial question, we are moving to TV before we are priced out. I feel we can have a support system and being from Texas(Houston) everything is closer to us at TV. It also gives Charles a chance to exercise, and get out of the house. I cannot wait to get there.

Welcome to you both. Things are probably going to work out. What was was and what is, is. You are into reality I hope you find it as great here as we did. Modest is perfect. I'm grateful for Modest.

I not a rich man nor did I have a highly
paid job. Lost my multinational defined benefit job 24 years ago and never looked back. Worked my way back up and squirreled away every acorn I could. Dumped the high maintenance wife, kicked the kids out after they finished college and I was able to retire at 62. Not bad for a working class guy. My kids are all successful and appreciate me for kicking their a$&es.
Re-married, made good real estate choices and have settled into TV quite nicely. Regardless what life tosses at you, make a plan for success and stick to it.


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See if your plans provide for a spouse who needs to be in a assisted living memory care facility. Then consider our representatives who are hard at work on tax reform and want to do away with entitlements like the ability to claim part of the cost as a medical deduction. Talk to folks who are dealing with 24/7 care for someone with advanced stage Alzheimer's/dementia/Parkinson's Disease. Think how long your retirement nest egg will last if it affects you or a spouse.

Ingenuity, best of luck to you and your fiance in your upcoming move to Fenney. I was able to stop and see Fenney when I visited The Villages in early September --- very nice!

We have found Florida the least expensive place to live in retirement. The Villages is higher than other locations in Florida, but still cheaper than any place we have lived throughout our life.

Everything is relative. I lived in Northern Virginia for the 23 years before the Villages. Housing, golf, happy hour drinks and property taxes are cheaper here, but everything else is the same or more expensive. The biggest increase here is groceries. Significantly more expensive here. Even stuff grown here. The weekly grocery bill is at a minimum 25% higher here. And the quality and product availability is not as good. Cost to register a car plus insurance is much higher. Cost to buy most everyday living consumables is higher here. Even the discount places like Sam's and Costco prices are higher here. Sale items are the same, but everything else is higher here. The only reasons I can think why this is, is competition or transportation. Utilities, gas, electric and water are much higher here. Doctors and dentists are cheaper here but the quality of care is not as good. Overall it's pretty much a wash and Northern Virginia is considered a high cost of living area.

As the saying goes "Two can live as cheap as one" If one looses as spouse, income could change substantially.

A single pays the same amenity fee as a couple, don't know if that is fair.

Absolutely. I have to draw significantly more from my IRA to make up for loss of my wife's income. I have only found a few ways to shave costs for being alone.

For the past 30 years we put 10-15% of our pay checks in 401K and 403B plans. We also taught our daughter to do the same thing. The other lesson we taught our Daughter was to only use your charge card to purchase what you can pay for in full at the end of the month. If all of us and our children follow these simple rules your lives will be much less stressful. You may not always have everything you want as fast as you want it but in the long run you will be much better off. As we downsize our current household items to get ready for our move to TV, we also have realized just how many things we could have really done without (;-). However these items make our garage sales very interesting and fun.

Coming from Long Island Except for the Water Bill expenses are a lot less here. We do agree on the Groceries though. AS far as Sam's and COSTCO prices their prices are the same at every location nationwide. Even when we went to COSTCO in Mexico and Hawaii. According to Costco it is too difficult and expensive to change pricing per geographic areas. I would like to see more grocery stores like Kroger's etc. in the area we just basically have Winn Dixie and Publix so there is not enough competition to challenge their pricing structures.

They will still be able to move here but in a patio villa or manufactured home on the ancient side. Those homes are still affordable to most and all who live here share all the facilities so it doesn't really matter what type of home you live in. Downsize will be their watchword.

OhioBuckeye
 

I agree with everything you're saying but when I moved here 6 yrs. ago I thought just like every other new resident, man is it cheap to live here. After a couple of yrs. you'll see how things will get more expensive & see things outside of TV is less money. Here lately I been hearing more people that's moving out of our villages that they're moving because it's either getting way to big or it's not as cheap as I thought it was to live here. Just like you said, Schaumburgger, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir on this one too.

What things?
Where are you getting your information of more people moving out of TV? More than what?

Affordability depends on how much money you saved and where you moved from. We moved from NJ and our property taxes went from $12,000 to $2200. Utilities, car and home
insurance and restaurants are less expensive. I know people who have moved from the Midwest and it was less expensive living there. We are here 5 years and feel TV is a good value. Additionally, the price of golf is much cheaper than belonging to golf clubs up North.