Many retirees think that Florida and Texas are great places to move to (No State income taxes), but it really pays to do your homework as the house situation can quickly overcome you with unanticipated large re-occuring fees.
What $500k USD buys in Beverly Hills, FL
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
Or, it's just a low population (low pop density) state (46th) with GDP that is third from the bottom. Simply put it doesn't offer the same level of economic opportunity so people don't want to move there.
On top of that SD is a state of which federal grants account for 33% state/local govt revenue. It's one of the highest states in the nation shared with LA, MISS, WV, KY, WY, VT, NM, MT, AK.
Last edited:
They are building like crazy all over the state. May be reaching a saturation point.
Oil money! Shared by everyone.
Texas can be a good place to retire but you need to really take a close look at the property taxes. Especially the MUD stuff. I live in an area with top flight public schools so I accept it, but my property taxes are around $12000 a year.
I think smaller towns in this state are probably better for retirees, if you're close enough to the health facilities that you will need. Lower property values and lower taxes. The Austin/Dallas/Houston/San Antonio's have all gotten a lot more expensive in the last 10-15 years. Definitely avoid the MUD like I am in now. It's literally $375 a month extra, that could be material to someone on a fixed income.
Are the shale plays not working out as good for the government these days in the Dakotas? I know the exploration isn't what it was.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
South Dakota has a massive play that has not received much attention- finance. South Dakota has bank secrecy laws that make places like the Cayman Islands blush. I suspect vast majority of US residents that are billionaires have substantial deposits/trusts in South Dakota. That MIGHT be why the GDP number comes in as a mismatch for such a well run state. Not sure how financial services impact GDP.
And for the record, single family homes in South Dakota are very pricey when compared to their peer neighbor states.
"Super-rich people choose between jurisdictions in the same way that middle-class people choose between ISAs: they want the best security, the best income and the lowest costs. That is why so many super-rich people are choosing South Dakota, which has created the most potent force-field money can buy – a South Dakotan trust. If an ordinary person puts money in the bank, the government taxes what little interest it earns. Even if that money is protected from taxes by an ISA, you can still lose it through divorce or legal proceedings. A South Dakotan trust changes all that: it protects assets from claims from ex-spouses, disgruntled business partners, creditors, litigious clients and pretty much anyone else. It won’t protect you from criminal prosecution, but it does prevent information on your assets from leaking out in a way that might spark interest from the police. And it shields your wealth from the government, since South Dakota has no income tax, no inheritance tax and no capital gains tax."
The great American tax haven: why the super-rich love South Dakota
The long read: South Dakota is known for being the home of Mount Rushmore – and not much else. But thanks to its relish for deregulation, the state is fast becoming the most profitable place for the mega-wealthy to park their billions
www.theguardian.com
I find that the freedom loving Texans also love their HOAs. The HOA fees can be substantial too. Talk about an oxymoron.
Utah has been ranked number one in economy and fiscal responsibility.
But GON doesn't like Utah.....so....
Utah sucks.
Now get off my lawn...
Yea-thats why we are so fiscally sound. And the most charitable. Really sucks here.....
Utah ranked as the top state for charitable giving - The Daily Universe
WalletHub recently ranked Utah the top state in the country for charitable giving.
universe.byu.edu
Yea-thats why we are so fiscally sound. And the most charitable. Really sucks here.....
Utah ranked as the top state for charitable giving - The Daily Universe
WalletHub recently ranked Utah the top state in the country for charitable giving.
Keep hyping it, and it won't be long before the things that made it what it is are gone. As the influx of people who have ruined the places they moved from, will do the same to Utah...
I live in a very old fashioned small town (which hasn't changed very much in the last 70 years). It honestly feels like a 1950's era Twilight zone episode. We have a general store, some bars, and that's about it.
They only have property taxes+school taxes which are $7,000 total. No other fees (No HOA, No MUD, Nothing else at all). My neighbor and his wife are both 85 years old. They have been living there for the last 40 years. I asked them if there has every been crime in the last 40 years, and they said no. I went to city-data.com, and my town is in the bottom 1% for crime when compared with all places in the US.
I was contemplating a move to Florida for a retirement in a high rise building condo near the beach.
Initially I thought it was as simple as: Find the biggest most beautiful condo in some luxury high rise building as close to the ocean as you can afford. Then just have a $600 a month maintenance fee, and life is great.
But in reality, the escalating house insurance, property taxes, monthly maintenance fees, condo building rainy day fund creation fees, HOA fees, fraud everywhere, condo buildings being declared unsafe and condemned on a moments notice with the condo owners losing everything, etc, makes this too risky from a financial point of view.
I'm back to thinking that I am better off staying at home forever in my 1950's Twilight Zone zero crime neighborhood with it's general store. We can still drive to Florida on vacations staying in nice hotels at only $100 a night, and enjoy Florida during the winter when temperatures are in the 70's on the cheap, but avoid all the financial risk of losing everything by living there. I think hotels are a much better deal than AirBnb's. 2 weeks in a nice condo airbnb by the beach is now about $5,000 when you factor in all the AirBnb fees like cleaning fees, maintenance fees, etc. I prefer to stay in a nice hotel for $100 a night for those 2 weeks.
Last edited:
What general area are you in? Or is it top secrete?
Wrong Dakota.
