I meant to visit. Not going to find much inexpensive beach-town living.

 

Cheap ocean view in Galveston...

I meant to visit. Not going to find much inexpensive beach-town living.
 
Cheap ocean view in Galveston...

Yes I was seeing some slummy cheap senior condos in Bradenton but emphasis on slummy. Florida slummy is a thing in itself. Oh well.

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Speaking of Greenville, S.C.

Featured today in Washpo --

 

Quote

 

Greenville, S.C.

 

Residents of this aging Southern mill town knew it still had life in it. It took decades of hard work, but today it surprises visitors with its low-key culture and high-wattage charm.

 

I’ve never fallen in love with a place as quickly as I did with Greenville.

 

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/lifestyle/vacation-ideas/things-to-do-in-greenville/

On 1/3/2018 at 5:01 AM, Jingthing said:

I know lots of people like Myrtle Beach. My impression is that it would be considerably more expensive there. But it is a popular retirement city I think especially with golfers.
 

I love it in the summer, but boring as hell the rest of the year. I used to lifeguard there every year, but once I went a month early and it was terrible.

This might not directly relate to this topic, but I think it's still related.

Amazon is going to build a major new HQ and these are the finalist cities.

Amazon surely would only consider cities with a decent quality of life.

On the other hand, Newark? Some on the list are not super expensive by U.S. standards, such as Atlanta  and Indianapolis.

 

My wild and very likely wrong guess about their final choice is Raleigh NC.

 

 

- Atlanta, GA
- Austin, TX
- Boston, MA
- Chicago, IL
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Denver, CO
- Indianapolis, IN
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- Montgomery County, MD
- Nashville, TN
- Newark, NJ
- New York City, NY
- Northern Virginia, VA
- Philadelphia, PA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Raleigh, NC
- Toronto, ON
- Washington D.C.

http://www.sfgate.com/seattlenews/article/And-the-Amazon-HQ2-finalists-are-12507118.php

 

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

This might not directly relate to this topic, but I think it's still related.

Amazon is going to build a major new HQ and these are the finalist cities.

Amazon surely would only consider cities with a decent quality of life.

On the other hand, Newark? Some on the list are not super expensive by U.S. standards, such as Atlanta  and Indianapolis.

 

My wild and very likely wrong guess about their final choice is Raleigh NC.

 

 

- Atlanta, GA
- Austin, TX
- Boston, MA
- Chicago, IL
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Denver, CO
- Indianapolis, IN
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- Montgomery County, MD
- Nashville, TN
- Newark, NJ
- New York City, NY
- Northern Virginia, VA
- Philadelphia, PA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Raleigh, NC
- Toronto, ON
- Washington D.C.

http://www.sfgate.com/seattlenews/article/And-the-Amazon-HQ2-finalists-are-12507118.php

 

 

Amazon is almost singly responsible for destroying the quality of life in Seattle.  Those cities should be careful what they wish for.

Not sure what to make of this article because it's really wonky, but still interesting. From my POV it seems rather positive that smaller lesser known big cities are becoming more diverse --

 

Quote

The top 10 places people are moving, and how their choices differ by race

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/18/the-top-10-places-people-are-moving-and-how-their-choices-differ-by-race/

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Not sure what to make of this article because it's really wonky, but still interesting. From my POV it seems rather positive that smaller lesser known big cities are becoming more diverse --

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/18/the-top-10-places-people-are-moving-and-how-their-choices-differ-by-race/

 

With the increasing yuppyfication of major cities I've observed an interesting phenomenon. The cities are becoming far less diverse. Families of all races and Black folks in particular are being pushed out. Now it is mostly just yuppies, hipsters and homeless. Bad for the cities ultimately but from my observation good for the Black folks.  They are moving to other areas that are less ghettoized and thriving in ways they hadn't always done before in what, for them, is now a much more diverse environment. 

58 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

With the increasing yuppyfication of major cities I've observed an interesting phenomenon. The cities are becoming far less diverse. Families of all races and Black folks in particular are being pushed out. Now it is mostly just yuppies, hipsters and homeless. Bad for the cities ultimately but from my observation good for the Black folks.  They are moving to other areas that are less ghettoized and thriving in ways they hadn't always done before in what, for them, is now a much more diverse environment. 

True that & I have seen other negatives with the yuppyfication effect. in many ways a PC gone wild

BTW: yuppyfication has legs...you should do a T-Shirt or submit for song use

States that residents like and dislike mapped --

 

http://digg.com/2018/worst-state-to-live-in

Interesting chart.

I'm kind of flummoxed though. 

How can Florida be ranked the most affordable retirement state?

The best and worst states to retire

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/16/the-best-and-worst-states-to-retire.html?recirc=taboolainternal

It's a big  state with a lot of cheap housing, low taxes and a strong economy.

It's a big  state with a lot of cheap housing, low taxes and a strong economy.

Yes and no. Research I did indicated unusually high costs for insurance and basic utilities like electricity. Also you can't put a price on your house getting blown away or flooded in storms. I really it's cheaper overall than states like New York but I'm finding the cheapest hard to believe.

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This article isn't fully on thread topic but as the thread is about repatriation for less wealthy people, some of the information in it may be of interest in a decision making process about the desirability of repatriating at all for the poorer folks --

 

Why it costs so much to be poor in America

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/01/25/why-it-costs-so-much-to-be-poor-in-america/

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

This article isn't fully on thread topic but as the thread is about repatriation for less wealthy people, some of the information in it may be of interest in a decision making process about the desirability of repatriating at all for the poorer folks --

 

Why it costs so much to be poor in America

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/01/25/why-it-costs-so-much-to-be-poor-in-america/

Plenty of poor people are smart enough to pay their bills on time.

 

Plenty of rich people are not.

 

The headline should read: Why it costs so much to be irresponsible in the US.

 

It has been my experience that if you have a good history, you get a lot more leeway than if you're constantly making late payments.

Plenty of poor people are smart enough to pay their bills on time.
 
Plenty of rich people are not.
 
The headline should read: Why it costs so much to be irresponsible in the US.
 
It has been my experience that if you have a good history, you get a lot more leeway than if you're constantly making late payments.

Rich people can afford the penalties. But morality arguments about poverty are not exactly the point here.

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Rich people can afford the penalties. But morality arguments about poverty are not exactly the point here.

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Then why try to make it such?

People that can’t afford the penalty, should be more carful to pay their bills on time.

Clearly it cheaper to pay bills on time, so it’s not a matter of how much money one has, it’s a matter of how poorly the money is managed and how people set their priorities.

Just now, mogandave said:

 

 

Then why try to make it such?

People that can’t afford the penalty, should be more carful to pay their bills on time.

Clearly it cheaper to pay bills on time, so it’s not a matter of how much money one has, it’s a matter of how poorly the money is managed and how people set their priorities.
 

 

 

You can have the last word. I don't think this thread should be hijacked in this way, so not playing your game. I posted the Washpo article because the thread is focused on lower wealth people. Lower wealth people do have issues others don't, even if you lack the basic compassion to get that. 

You can have the last word. I don't think this thread should be hijacked in this way, so not playing your game. I posted the Washpo article because the thread is focused on lower wealth people. Lower wealth people do have issues others don't, even if you lack the basic compassion to get that. 

I read the article and honestly did not understand what it had to do with this thread’s subject matter. If one is that poor all the analysis in the world is not going to find him/her a suitable repatriation location.


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25 minutes ago, SpokaneAl said:

 

I read the article and honestly did not understand what it had to do with this thread’s subject matter. If one is that poor all the analysis in the world is not going to find him/her a suitable repatriation location.


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The point was that in general in the USA there are extra costs in being poor. That is not new, but arguably it has gotten worse which is what the article is about in specifics. For lower wealth people considering repatriating it might be relevant to consider that as a factor in deciding whether to repatriate at all. I acknowledge this thread is not really about deciding whether to repatriate or not. It is more specifically about destination options in the USA for those that have made the decision to repatriate (or sometimes forced repatriations due to visa problems, etc.). In that sense, I accept the fair criticism that perhaps posting the article was too off topic. I make no claims of perfection and I do accept FAIR criticism. 

I did post it as a point of information that might be of interest to some people thinking about repatriation, but I had no intention to promote a wider discussion about the morality/ethics of wealth and poverty. That's way too big of a topic to be covered here!

Let's move on. 

As the Thailand vs. the USA pros and cons thing isn't the topic here, it occurred to me perhaps there might be an interest in that in a separate thread. I decided to limit it to older Americans. So here goes:

 

 

 

On 1/25/2018 at 11:57 PM, Jingthing said:

This article isn't fully on thread topic but as the thread is about repatriation for less wealthy people, some of the information in it may be of interest in a decision making process about the desirability of repatriating at all for the poorer folks --

 

Why it costs so much to be poor in America

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/01/25/why-it-costs-so-much-to-be-poor-in-america/

 

It's not horrible being poor in the US. Free medical, food stamps, utilities subsidies, taxi chits, Section 8 housing. What's horrible is being in the lower echelons of the middle class where you pay for all those things and are made to become poor. As for banking, I'm not poor or in the lower middle class and I haven't used a bank in 32 years. Credit Unions are much more user friendly as their charter is to serve members, not shareholders of some out of state corporation. Fees, if any, are a pittance.

14 hours ago, Jingthing said:

You can have the last word. I don't think this thread should be hijacked in this way, so not playing your game. I posted the Washpo article because the thread is focused on lower wealth people. Lower wealth people do have issues others don't, even if you lack the basic compassion to get that. 

In other words, you have no real response.  

3 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

It's not horrible being poor in the US. Free medical, food stamps, utilities subsidies, taxi chits, Section 8 housing. What's horrible is being in the lower echelons of the middle class where you pay for all those things and are made to become poor. As for banking, I'm not poor or in the lower middle class and I haven't used a bank in 32 years. Credit Unions are much more user friendly as their charter is to serve members, not shareholders of some out of state corporation. Fees, if any, are a pittance.

Yes, the "working poor" have it much worse than the poor in the US.

 

 

4 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

It's not horrible being poor in the US. Free medical, food stamps, utilities subsidies, taxi chits, Section 8 housing. What's horrible is being in the lower echelons of the middle class where you pay for all those things and are made to become poor. As for banking, I'm not poor or in the lower middle class and I haven't used a bank in 32 years. Credit Unions are much more user friendly as their charter is to serve members, not shareholders of some out of state corporation. Fees, if any, are a pittance.

Actually, it is horrible being poor in the US. All those things are available under certain circumstances, but are often very difficult to get. For example, Section 8 housing often takes many years to become available and it is almost impossible to find affordable rents without it. That is one reason why there is such a HUGE homeless problem. Utility subsidies and food stamps are very little use without a roof over one's head (with a kitchen) 

4 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

Actually, it is horrible being poor in the US. All those things are available under certain circumstances, but are often very difficult to get. For example, Section 8 housing often takes many years to become available and it is almost impossible to find affordable rents without it. That is one reason why there is such a HUGE homeless problem. Utility subsidies and food stamps are very little use without a roof over one's head (with a kitchen) 

 

I grew up in SoCal, You?

 

I was working poor until I was 40. You?

Please get back on topic. 

I always liked upstate New York

I made an offer on a 1918 bungalow on a 13,000 sf lot in Douglas, AZ.  City water/sewer,  natural gas, reasonable electric...2 bed 1 bath, 1050 sf.  Hardwood floors, hookups for laundry.  About 500 m to Food City, a mile to superwalmart, and a mile to the port for mexico with genuine booze at less than half price of Thailand.  Casino and cheap beer bars in mex. Zero murders in Douglas in most years, but certainly some crime.  Weed is cheaper than cigs, which are 32 per carton at duty free.  I will post a li k if anyone wants to see it.  Nice little house.  And at 4000 feet elevation, no severe heat problems like Tucson and Phoenix.  Sperlings climate index gives it an 84 on a 1-100, with the us average at 53.

I wasn't there long, but I liked Flagstaff