Some people think when you retire you have to move all the way to the Carolinas or even Florida to get the tax benefits. Not anymore. Just ask my parents who made the move from Maryland to Delaware, ranked the #1 state to retire. They love it and haven’t looked back.
My parents wanted to leave Maryland because of the high taxes. Not just the property taxes, but the sales tax as well as other taxes that just don’t make retiring easy. Both of my parents have pensions and decided that they needed to start looking for a place that truly catered to retirees.
Like many of their friends, the first thing they thought of was, “we need to go south.” They looked in the Carolinas and found a place that they thought looked nice. They wanted my opinion, as well as my brothers, so we all took a family trip down there and what a long trip it was. As we were driving down, I remember thinking, “is this how long its going to take every time we want to come visit?” I admit that my brothers and I really didn’t want them to move so far away, but they worked hard all their lives and deserved to relax, and retire to a place that would protect their hard earned savings.
We walked homesites together and I will never forget my Dad and Mom asking us, “Are you sure you will come and visit as much as you can”? My heart sank. I couldn’t lie to my parents. My brothers and I looked at each other and said, “of course, but obviously you are not around the corner anymore. It is not an easy weekend trip. The chances of us all coming down at the same time would be difficult, but we want you to do what is best for you.”
My parents looked at us, their three sons, and their grandkids, and decided they just couldn’t do it. Why were they moving so far from home? They didn’t want to be those grandparents who didn’t get to see their grandkids grow up. They wanted to be a part of their lives and making memories!
After they returned home, they decided it was time to start thinking about Delaware and were so surprised they hadn’t considered it before now. After doing some research, they found out that the average property taxes were around $1,000 to $2,000 a year. Yep, a year – not a month! But that wasn’t all. Individuals 60 and over can exempt $12,500 of investment and pension income from state taxes. There is no personal or sales tax, and no taxes on your social security or inheritance. All of this hit home with my parents, including the fact that they would only be about 2 hours away from family.
They did it! They made the move to Delaware and they haven’t looked back since! It makes me so happy to see how happy they are now, and it’s fun to see everyone in the family come visit them almost every weekend!
You always hear location, location, location. Well, that’s only part of the story. Not only did my parents find a state with amazing benefits for retirees, but a state that is close enough to their family.
I am so proud to be their son and so very happy that they are living close enough to us all, and living out their dream!
