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V O L . X X I X N O. I V F E B R UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 2 3 14 W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T / R E T I R E M E N T mulling a move, she says, "It's never too early to start planning for another stage of life." In Topsham, 81-year-old retired field engineer Bob White can attest to that, five years after finding a new home in the Highlands retirement community with his wife, Sara, from Sunnyvale, Calif. Sara, 79, is a retired executive secretary whose experience includes a year abroad in Paris, helping "Gone with the Wind" actress Olivia de Havilland answer fan mail. Bob jokes about living on a "wrinkle ranch," and has this advice to anyone about changing their residency for retirement: "Start a good investing program no later than about 1975." By luck, he says he took an online course in personal financial devel- opment that gave him a good start but he's now stymied by rising expenses this winter. "Between gas and electricity and general prices, we're having to do some reconfiguring on how we're going to get more money," he admits. "I've got enough investments to be very helpful, but I'm probably going to have to figure out a way to get $2,000 more a month." Sara finds that while there are some things they miss about California, it's best to steer clear of making comparisons "because we just drive ourselves crazy." How Maine stacks up In the latest WalletHub survey of the best states to retire, Maine ranks No. 29 out of 50, with strong scores for quality of life and health care eclipsed by poor marks for affordability. Another analysis, by GOBankingRates.com, looks at how long a $1 million nest egg will last in each state. In Maine, the timeframe is 18 years, two months and 31 days. at compares to only 10 years plus change in Hawaii, the most expensive state for retirees, and less than 14 years in New York, the second costliest. Within New England, Rhode Island is the only state where the savings would last longer than Maine — by a little more than five months. e AARP Livability Index, which scores states, cities and even zip codes, puts Maine in the top half of desirable places to live, with above average scores for housing, transportation and the environment. "Before you pick up the index, what I ask every- body to do is think about the long term and how your life might change," says Rodney Harrell, AARP's vice president for home, family and community, who created the index in 2015. "e biggest pitfall is to avoid looking for the perfect place." Describing every hous- ing choice as a compro- mise, Harrell cites AARP research showing that most adults want to stay put in their homes and communities as they age but admits that the pandemic's long-term impact on moving patterns remains to be seen. Boomers on the move In 2022, more than 234,000 Americans moved to retire, up 4% from 2021, says a report by California moving company Hire A Helper. It found that 12% of retirees moved for cheaper housing, the highest since 2014, and listed the Sunshine State as the top go-to place. While Maine was not among the top 10, a report by United Van Lines released in January shows a far higher percentage of people coming to Maine for retirement (35.4%) in 2022 than those who left (22.4%). e 35.4% inbound rate is up from 27.3% in 2021 and the highest in five years, according to Eily Cummings, a spokeswoman for UniGroup, United Van Lines' Fenton, Mo.-based parent company. "e levels we are seeing for retirement in Maine are back to pre-pandemic numbers," she says. "is is likely due to the lower cost of living — 3% below national average and significantly lower than some of the more traditional retirement states — environ- ment, and slower pace." Looking ahead, "we would expect the number to continue at pre-pandemic percentages, which are around 30%." e same report found that a higher percentage of people moved into Maine than out of Maine for retirement, and that the 65-and-older group accounted for the largest proportion of inbound moves to the Pine Tree State. Higher mobility rates for older adults may be explained in part by Baby Boomers' higher spending power, education and access to health care than their forebears. (Boomers are often defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, or ages 59 to 77 this year.) "My generation, the Baby Boom generation, is the healthiest and wealthiest generation ever to walk on the face of the Earth," William Beach, commissioner of the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, told journalists at a National Press Foundation fellowship in Washington, D.C., last September. "And medical care is more acces- sible than it ever has been before." At the same time, Beach noted that the assets of the current generation — who received $25 trillion P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F A A R P P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F S A R A A N D BO B W H I T E Sara and Bob White relocated to Topsham after living in Sunnyvale, Calif. S O U R C E : United Van Lines 2022 National Movers Study INBOUND MOVES TO MAINE FOR RETIREMENT, 2018–2022 FIVE-YEAR TRENDS IN TOP REASONS FOR MOVING: NATIONWIDE 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 32.53% 20.39% 20.39% 17.24% 17.24% 8.15% 8.15% 26.74% 30.69% 27.33% 35.37% F O C U S » C ONTI NU ED FROM PR EVI OU S PAGE New job New job or company or company transfer transfer Closer Closer to family to family Retirement Retirement Lifestyle Lifestyle change change Improved Improved cost of living cost of living 10% 0% 30% 20% 40% 50% 33.29% 33.29% 32.40% 32.40% Rodney Harrell, AARP More than 234,000 Americans moved to retire in 2022, up from 4% in 2022, according to a study by Hire A Helper.

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