00:00 Speaker A

Let’s dig into this story. Uh, New York City, Kerry is the best place to retire. I have to tell you, Kerry, I read it. This sounds uh completely upside down to me. So please walk me through it. Explain this to me, Kerry.

00:26 Speaker B

Okay, so Josh, the new, this is I I wrote about this new index that just came out and it’s called the geography and prosperity Index and it looks at 250 urban metro areas, US metro areas and ranks them on a variety of things. So it wasn’t specifically set for retirement. But what it was looking for is cities that are prepared for what’s coming in the future. And so it’s cities that are nimble, that are thinking about things that are happening that are going to shift everything 25, you know, in the next 25 years. For for a retiry, if you’re thinking about relocating right now, you’re looking to live somewhere for probably two decades, right? And so what’s curious about this list is all these cities that a lot of people flock to because they’re warm and they have low taxes and the cost of living is low, they all rank near the bottom of this list. I mean, it’s places like Palm Springs and lots of Florida cities, uh Myrtle Beach, um those sorts of things that are simply not prepared for the future. And New York City, on the other hand, and a lot of the ones that really rank up at the top that could be fantastic for retirees are cities like New York, like Washington DC, Seattle, um Boston, uh and one of my favorites, Durham, North Carolina. Um but here’s the thing that they’re looking at. They’re looking at a whole bunch of factors that sometimes a retiry who’s thinking about golfing might not be considering. But look at that Palm Springs where they mentioned as one of the towards the bottom of their list. People love Palm Springs. I mean it’s a dream place to go. but the population there is getting older and older. What that means is you don’t have younger people coming into a community and this is true of all the ones towards the bottom, that provide a tax base. They’re earning money, they’re paying taxes, they pay for all kinds of services from roads to garbage pickup to people employed that can help you as you need more assistance as you grow older. So if you don’t have a vibrant young population coming in, you’re at risk. They this list also looks at climate things. Again, back to Palm Springs, I’m not trying to hit on them too hard, but they just announced that by 2040, uh residents need to reduce water consumption by 40%. Well, hello golf courses. I mean what’s going to happen here. So this is something that you have to be prepared for the climate changes in these warm areas like Florida and Arizona and so forth. I mean it’s even harder anywhere where climate change is going to become an issue over the years, you can have a hard time getting insurance even. but it’s simply how comfortable is it going to be to live there. And you want a community when I talked to one of that rankings talking about the young the population growth and the vibrancy. It also is about sociability. and if you can, this the researchers on this index really focused on, can you walk around the city? I mean, is there that human connection? even if it’s a weak tie, you actually see people on the streets, you’re engaging in some way and it really helps a lot with isolation and loneliness, which often comes into being during the retirement years. So New York City, I actually love New York City and I wouldn’t mind retiring there. But here’s the thing is they do note in the survey, since it’s not specifically retirement cities. This is just one index to consult about things that might matter to you because in fact, they are expensive. So, um you need to just use this as one of your pieces of information where you’re looking to maybe relocate and retirement.

04:36 Speaker A

Yeah, Carrie, I got to tell you when I’m, when Josh Lipton is ready to retire, I I am looking for warm weather and I want low taxes, I want a city that is not a fiscal mess. Here’s my my question, Carrie, though. This is theory, right? In other words, or no, do we have data that says, hey, folks who are retired now in New York City, we have good data and research saying they’re they’re happier and more financially comfortable and secure than other places. Or no, this is really, this is about what’s coming in the future, potentially.

05:18 Speaker B

Yeah, Josh, that’s a good question. They they focused on what’s happening today, but really cast an eye out to the governance and what people are doing in government in the in the areas that can really be looking down the road and saying, how do we need to be adjusting in order to prepare for changes in the job market and all of these various things, these factors we just discussed. New York is pretty sharp on all of these things and it’s really, you know, but it’s going to be personal, there’s lots of things we’re going to look for where we might want to retire, you know, I like the Virginia countryside too, you know, so you just don’t know, but it’s important to realize you want to be in a community that’s going to have services that you need, to have great hospital centers, near a college town is usually, even on this list, you’ll see a lot of great college towns that you’ll have, you know, sort of that intellectual engagement, people coming in, constant turning over of people in these communities, but young people coming in and so I think there’s lots of factors to look for, but um, yes, so but this this particular index, I’m very impressed with the deep data research they have done looking at these various factors.