Chris DeMuth Jr. recent published an article in
Seeking Alpha titled “
RetireWhere?” in which he suggested three fairly typical locations for retirement:
Wyoming, Puerto Rico, and Dominica. He justified those choices largely in
economic terms. Unfortunately he completely ignores the vast array of "soft" quality of life factors as well as a number of very real issues that older persons, retired or not, must must deal with.
East Passyunk,
Philadelphia, PA
What? Inner city Philadelphia? You bet. We’re fairly
young (about to be) retirees. East
Passyunk and the Passyunk Square area are the closest things this side of Paris
to pure bliss for us. Why? Let me enumerate the ways:
Walkability
Living in a city comes with absolutely free walkability.
There’s no need to own a car, pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, and so
forth. This alone is an enormous financial advantage. If a place is too far to
walk, Philadelphia has a very good public transit system. In the rare instance
we happen to need larger or more flexible transport we can use ZipCar or a
similar service.
Dining
We’re both avid “foodies” and East Passyunk is a nationally
recognized hotbed of high quality eats. Some of our favorites in the area
include Le Virtu and Brigantessa, Laurel, P’unk Burger, and Stargazy a recently
opened authentic English pie shop (complete with eels). Bing Bin Dim Sum is a
high concept “dim sum” joint serving innovative dishes you’ll never see in an
actual Chinese restaurant. You can read more about the area restaurants in this
recent article:
http://www.philly.com/philly/neighborhoods/east-passyunk?&betaPreview=redesign
If we’re willing to walk a little further we come to
Philadelphia’s Italian Market and the really wonderful Monzu cooking up great
Sicilian style food. A few blocks away is Pho 75, a great Vietnamese joint. A
short bus ride brings us east to City Tavern, Zahav, the original Han Dynasty
location, Morimoto’s first restaurant, and many more.
We can take the Broad Street Line a couple stops north for
Vetri, Jose Garces’ Volver and many more. Two more stops north and we’re in
Chinatown. Another stop brings us to Spring Garden and the excellent
restaurants in that area including
Osteria, Alla Spina, and many more.
And heck, let’s not forget Pat’s and Geno’s, the great
Cheese Steak emporiums facing each other across E. Passyunk Ave. I’m pretty sure you can’t get a real cheese
steak in Puerto Rico.
The Arts
At this point it should come as no surprise that we also
happen to enjoy the arts. Nearly everyone has heard of the Philadelphia Museum
of Art (if only from Rocky). Then there’s the Rodin Museum, The Barnes
Foundation, The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology are the most well known. On Bloomsday (or any other day) we can
wander over to the Rosenbach Museum and Library to O.D. on everything Joyce.
All are a short bus or subway ride from East Passyunk.
What’s that? You’re interested in music? Well, there’s the
Kimmel Center, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Curtis Institute, The
Wilma Theater. and The Academy of Music all within about 3 blocks on Broad
Street. Over on Chestnut there’s the Prince Music Theater and on Walnut Forrest
Theater and Walnut Street Theater, the oldest playhouse in America. For those
interested in something louder, The Trocadero and the Electric Factory present
wildly varied acts. And those are just
the big names!
Movies? Yes, we have movie theaters here in Philadelphia. We
like to go to the Cinemark theaters near the Penn campus because there are also
a bunch of good restaurants in the area including another Han Dynasty.
Travel
Philadelphia is located in the middle of Amtrak’s Northeast
Corridor so we have frequent and reasonably fast train access to Washington DC,
Baltimore, New York, Providence and Boston. We can take a SEPTA train to PHL
for direct flights to places we like to visit like Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
If you live in Wyoming and want to visit Paris, well, first
you have to drive to CPR, then fly to DEN, then to a real airport like ORD,
EWR, or IAD and finally to CDG – 16+ grueling hours. Me? I can hop the train
to PHL for the 7h 25m flight to CDG.
Shopping
For groceries we’ve got Chinatown, Reading Terminal Market,
Italian Market, several chain grocery stores, and a number of seasonal farmer’s
markets within walking distance or a short transit ride. Then there are the
specialty shops like Czerw’s for all kinds of Polish sausages, several
traditional bakers, local cheese makers and so forth. Craft Beer?
We got it all over the place.
And we also happen to have Philadelphia Distilling, makers of Bluecoat Gin,
arguably the best made in the US. (Plus you get a $3 credit when you bring back
your empty bottle.)
Of course we’re living in a major city, so we’ve got
department stores like Macy’s and all the national chains. Wherever we happen
to shop we’ll be a few steps from great dining.
Health Care
Philadelphia is a regional hub for health care. We’ve got
the University of Pennsylvania medical complex, Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, Temple University Hospital… all minutes away. In Dominica you’ll have to
make your way to Princess Margaret Hospital in Goodwill,
Roseau at the south west side of the island.
OK.
So what’s It Cost?
The houses we’re looking at are in the area of 1,100-1,300
sq. feet with prices for a fully renovated home in the $250,000 to $300,000
range. Many have roof decks with great views of the city skyline. We’ll have
about $100,000 in equity from our current house (in the first ring suburb made
famous by Kobe Bryant) so we’ll be financing a relatively small amount. We
expect to have monthly PITI payments in the $1300-$1500 range. This number
isn’t random; if we have no other income than our two social security checks
and small annuity Mrs. C. is vested in, we’ll still be able to live comfortably
(though international travel will require considerable planning).
As for utilities mid-block row houses are extremely
inexpensive to operate with combined gas and electric bills in the $125/month
range (less than half what we’re paying now) and water/sewer about $40.
Maintenance consists principally of keeping an eye on your
roof every 20 years and occasionally shoveling a little snow off your 15 feet
of sidewalk. East Passyunk has several very active civic associations that
sponsor recycling clean outs, home tours, community gardens, zoning hearings and
so forth.
Where does Pennsylvania actually end up on the retiree tax chart? Quite high. According to this infographic from Kiplinger's Pennsylvania is number 11 on the list of "
15 Most Tax Friendly States For Retirees":
My Conclusion
There’s simply no way we could even consider living
someplace like Wyoming. Puerto Rico and Dominica are probably great places to
visit, but live there? Not a chance. We want to have all the cultural offerings
of a major city steps from our front door, friendly neighbors who are active in
the community, and easy access to the rest of the world. If (when) we become
ill, we want to get to the hospital quickly and get world-class care once we
arrive.
