Simply put to start things off, your MesaZona has no idea what the word Retirement is or what it's supposed to be . . . to some people of a certain age it's Everything Under The Sun.
All the leisure time you want and need after working all your life until the age of 65 with about 20 years to finally enjoy life just before your expiration date rolls around.
What better place to find that fantasy of a good life after work than in Arizona?
However, according to what John Talton has to say it's a different story:
Retiring in Arizona
Blogger Note: Image to the left is from Del Webb's 55+ master-planned development named Sun City. It's inter-changeable with many other age-restricted retirement enclaves that dot The Valley of The Sun everywhere.
"Arizona is only the 29th "best state to retire in," according to a new survey by Bankrate. The consumer financial services company ranked cost of living, crime, culture, health-care quality, taxes, weather, and "well being." No 1? That would be South Dakota, followed by Utah, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Florida. The Grand Canyon State didn't even make the top 10 in weather.
If this is true, it's bad news for the retirement industry, which has been a lynchpin of the state's economy since Del Webb began Sun City in 1959. Social Security payments accounted for an astounding $1.4 trillion for nearly a million retirees in Arizona as of last year alone — not to mention the savings and other assets they bring from back home.
The survey is highly suspect, of course . . . But that doesn't mean Arizona is quite out of the woods on retirement desirability.
I suspect retirement is becoming a much more individualized choice than in the past. The stereotype of retiring to a single-family house on a golf course in a sunny place is no longer the default option, at least for the white middle class. . . "
Talton has two options: Seattle and Phoenix
- If he's allowed to retire before he gets underground furniture, he'd probably pick Seattle. He prefers the weather. Washington is a progressive state with a strong safety net for America.
- Retirement could also work for him in Phoenix. Although he dislike the weather for six months of the year, many of his friends are in Phoenix. In hard times, he would hate to be left to the tender mercies of the Kookocracy.
Translate that: AZ is not a progressive state with a strong safety net for America.
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Take some time to think about that: What is Arizona known for? Let's tick-off a few:
Barry Goldwater who will always be saddled with the phrase "Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice" where he lost out in a left-wing bid at the Presidency getting defeated in a landslide by Lyndon Johnson
Charles Keating and The Keating Five who gave us The Savings-and-Loan Crisis, the last big scare before The Great Recession that Arizona is barely recovering after ten years of plunges in real estate values and more big bank mortgage-financing security scandals .
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, pardoned by Trump after getting convicted of multiple counts-of-crime and abuse of elected office who's now running for election to the United States Senate.
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Talton goes on to say that "Some boomers no doubt want the suburban championship golf "lifestyle" of their parents . . .
Another challenge: Arizona's ascendency as a retirement destination coincided with the era of pensions, healthcare provided to retirees by corporations, and a tremendous era of wealth-building by the middle class. That's gone.
- Many boomers lack the savings to retire at all (and good luck finding a good job if you're older than 55), and the prospects are even bleaker for the follow-on generations.
- Pensions are mostly gone in the private sector and 401(k)s are highly inferior.
That means the size of the cohort as potential customers for Arizona's retirement industry will be smaller and poorer. Sure, the rich can add a house in north Scottsdale or Paradise Valley to their property portfolios. But the backbone of the state's retirees-bringing-money scheme was a secure middle class. That's gone. The state will face the challenge of ever-larger numbers of elderly poor Hispanics, kept from the ladders of better jobs during their prime working years.
Finally, as this week's record-breaking heat wave makes clear, climate change is going to handle Arizona roughly. In a few decades, "home" back in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana will look infinitely better than Arizona because of...weather.
[Image to the left insert from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality]
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest will be generating its plans for handling climate refugees from the Southwest. That's assuming the Union is even still intact.
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Please take the time (it's just a few minutes) to read John Talton's entire post here
As usual the comments afterwards are enjoyable with civilized points-of-view expressed as well as different experiences that are a refreshing change.
