Good morning all...
I took my retirement at 62. I will be 64 in November, 2025. My wife and I decided to move to Puerto Rico for our retirement years. I was born and raised in NYC, so I was apprehensive, as all I had heard was how unstable the infrastructure had become. Yes, the power grid (called LUMA) is not very dependable. However, we purchased a 14,000 KW Generac generator from Home Depot immediately. Six months later, we purchased a Tesla solar system. As of today, we pay $228/month for the solar system, and only an average of less than $10/month to LUMA. The solar production has been more than enough to power our home, and we do not have to depend on LUMA for the most part. There is no property tax here...a huge difference from the $8,750/year we paid in NY. Mandatory car insurance is only $180/year...yes, per year. Again, a huge difference from the $2,675/year in NY. We bought our home in cash, we have 2 paid off vehicles, and we live within our means, but quite comfortably. I realize retiring at 62 is not something with which everyone agrees, but I refused to work into nearly 70, as you never know how much time you have left. I give credit to sites such as MyFico, and all its members, as it has been instrumental in keeping my wife and I informed and debt free. Thank you all.
@indiolatino61 wrote:Good morning all...
I took my retirement at 62. I will be 64 in November, 2025. My wife and I decided to move to Puerto Rico for our retirement years. I was born and raised in NYC, so I was apprehensive, as all I had heard was how unstable the infrastructure had become. Yes, the power grid (called LUMA) is not very dependable. However, we purchased a 14,000 KW Generac generator from Home Depot immediately. Six months later, we purchased a Tesla solar system. As of today, we pay $228/month for the solar system, and only an average of less than $10/month to LUMA. The solar production has been more than enough to power our home, and we do not have to depend on LUMA for the most part. There is no property tax here...a huge difference from the $8,750/year we paid in NY. Mandatory car insurance is only $180/year...yes, per year. Again, a huge difference from the $2,675/year in NY. We bought our home in cash, we have 2 paid off vehicles, and we live within our means, but quite comfortably. I realize retiring at 62 is not something with which everyone agrees, but I refused to work into nearly 70, as you never know how much time you have left. I give credit to sites such as MyFico, and all its members, as it has been instrumental in keeping my wife and I informed and debt free. Thank you all.
Thanks. Very informative.
'I glad to see its working out for you. I'm originally from NYC too, with PR roots as well, but I left the city to work my career shortly after finishing school.
Now that I'm halfway until retirement, and I have been thinking about where is my final place to settle down. I know for a fact its not back in NYC. My employer moved me out to SoCal from the east coast , and while its one of the nicest places I lived so far, the high cost of living, high taxes, and all local government rules it is hard for me to image staying here if forever.
Preferred I would like to live in a place with income no taxes or super low tax rate: TX, FL and, PR come to mind, however one major con for all 3 are hurricanes and the lack of homeowners insurance options, the Super hot summers, and the bugs (ie those flying roaches).
I been to the island once back in teenage years, but with the Jones Act still in efforts what are the cost differences between normal everyday things (ie food, household supplies) compared to the uppe 48 states?
Thank you for your well wishes. You have quite a while to go until retirement, but it is never too early to start planning. In my case, moving to Puerto Rico was mostly my wife's preference. As my immediate family had all passed away, I had nothing holding me to any particular location.
I agree, the hurricane threat is my main concern, but there are weather concerns in many areas of the U.S. as well. As far as I can tell, the cost of living is not much different than in the contiguous states. Right now, gasoline is at 74 cents per liter (about $2.80 per gallon). The gas I use here (Puma) is also 0% ethanol, which is great.
Everything "American" such as fast food, etc., is on par as well. That being said, only retiring here with no mortgage or debt is ideal. The poverty rate here, supposedly, is hovering at 40% which is quite alarming. Retiring here is doable, but I don't believe making a living here is all that simple. By the way, I have a phobia to all kinds of insects, so fortunately I have not run across any flying roaches...lol. Fingers crossed. The best of luck to you wherever you decide to spend your golden years.
Interesting discussion, my wife and I both turn 68 this year, I will do so in the next few weeks, she won't until later in the year, and I find myself wondering where it would be best to retire. I'm still working, and in spite of a recent health issue (prostate cancer), my plan is to work until I'm at least 70, if not 73, in fact, I'm in the midst of a lengthy interview process for one of the major tech companies right now with an eye to changing jobs in June. We are currently living in one of the highest price areas of the U.S., just outside of DC, so staying here could very well be a challenge financially once I'm no longer working.
Prior to seeing this thread I had not even considered Puerto Rico, now, yeah, it is definitely on my radar, thanks @indiolatino61 for starting the thread.
First of all, I hope you are victorious in your cancer fight. I know too many people with this dreaded illness. I am aware that the D.C. area is disproportionately expensive, as I have friends who live and work there and are planning on moving to somewhere less financially stressful for their retirement. I see you plan to work 2-5 more years...I admire your fortitude.
Take care, and the best of luck to you and your wife.
@indiolatino61 wrote:First of all, I hope you are victorious in your cancer fight. I know too many people with this dreaded illness. I am aware that the D.C. area is disproportionately expensive, as I have friends who live and work there and are planning on moving to somewhere less financially stressful for their retirement. I see you plan to work 2-5 more years...I admire your fortitude.
Take care, and the best of luck to you and your wife.
Thanks! The good news is less than a year after I was given less than five years to live, my body responded to the treatments so well my cancer went undetectable. At this point my oncologist thinks there is a very good chance I'll live long enough to have something else kill me, so from a bizarre perspective, that's a good thing. 
Regarding living in the DC area, one of the benefits is the quality of health care; we only moved down here from New Hampshire last summer and when I was undergoing radiation treatments last fall, I was able to ride my bike to the IMRT center. So yeah, while it is stupid expensive here, we'll probably stick it out until I retire.
And then there is working into, and beyond, typical retirement age..., the 2008 recession was not kind to us and things kept going downhill from there, we finally bottomed out in about 2014 and have been rebuilding since then, so working until my early 70s will afford us a comfortable retirement. Fortunately I'm in a technology field (Conversational AI to be precise), and I love what I do, so working isn't exactly a hardship.
Fantastic news regarding your recovery! One thing I forgot to mention is that the healthcare system in Puerto Rico can be called by many as "substandard." Healthcare is a main concern at retirement age. I have kept my doctors in Florida and go there for routine checkups so I have records there just in case.
As far as your career, we do indeed need better conversational AI. The most common gripe on YouTube videos is the "abysmal" lack of human inflection and failure to recognize common words, as so many videos are now using AI instead of reading the script themselves. Funny thing...I just watched a police chase video where the AI voice was supposed to say MPH (miles per hour), but pronounced it, "meph." So it sounded like it said, "meth per hour." The suspect was a meth addict, so it ended up being hilarious.
@indiolatino61 wrote:Fantastic news regarding your recovery! One thing I forgot to mention is that the healthcare system in Puerto Rico can be called by many as "substandard." Healthcare is a main concern at retirement age. I have kept my doctors in Florida and go there for routine checkups so I have records there just in case.
As far as your career, we do indeed need better conversational AI. The most common gripe on YouTube videos is the "abysmal" lack of human inflection and failure to recognize common words, as so many videos are now using AI instead of reading the script themselves. Funny thing...I just watched a police chase video where the AI voice was supposed to say MPH (miles per hour), but pronounced it, "meph." So it sounded like it said, "meth per hour." The suspect was a meth addict, so it ended up being hilarious.
I agree, many of the TTS (Text to Speech) algorithms are garbage, and many designers of the conversational aspect are pretty bad as well. In my case, I got "voluntold" I was moving into Conversational AI (although it wasn't called that back then) back in 2017; the initial toolset I worked with was purchased by Google and I've ended up partnering with them on over a dozen projects since I joined a consulting firm back in 2021. Funny thing, about a month ago they invited me to apply for a new position they'd created which is pretty much right up my alley consulting to their clients; apparently they'd already interviewed over 30 internal candidates and not one passed the screening interview. I passed that interview back in late March and have all but one of the technical interviews complete as well. I should know by early- to mid-May whether they are going to extend me an offer.
