A not so exhaustive search lead to finding five border towns that meet the above criteria;
- Ranchester, WY which is very close to sales tax-free Montana
- Spearfish, SD close to Montana but actually an empty part of Montana
- Walla Walla, WA which is near sales tax-free Oregon
- Homer, AK there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska
- Denio, NV which is near Denio, Oregon actually neither Denio appears to have anything
The reason to circle back to this is that Yahoo had an article about US tax havens and number one on their list was Wyoming. The other tax havens merely have low taxes as opposed to choosing states with no taxes one way or another. In addition to no income tax Wyoming also has low property taxes, sales tax and gas tax. There were comments on the original post from three years ago asking why anyone would want to live in Wyoming. In some parts of the state the scenery is stunning and for outdoorsy people there is a lot to do.
Speaking of Alaska it pays out a dividend to all of its residents from oil that moves through the states. One year it was over $2000 but most of the time it has been below $1000 and in 2011 it was $1174. The fund has had issues over the years with poor performance and changing benchmarks but an extra $1000 per person for people living a modest lifestyle is enough money to be useful.
The Osbournes (not Alaskans) reportedly made $5000 each per episode in the first season but in the second season got bumped to $1 million-$5 million per episode (different sources have different numbers). While that won't happen for your reality show in Alaska maybe $15,000 per person for a 12 episode season is plausible which is very significant for the people who have saved $600,000-$800,000 or less. Apparently the Roloffs all made $75,000 per episode toward the end of their run.
Again, the above is tongue in cheek but someone has already done this or will do it although maybe not in retirement age. I've never watched an entire episode of Deadliest Catch but it has been on for years and I'm thinking at least one of the deckhands moved up there for the work, was popular one way or another and made a little bit of money from it--not life changing money but maybe good head-start money. If not Deadliest Catch than maybe one of the other long running shows about Alaska.
As crazy as the above might sound we each have something like this in us, at least I believe we do, and it can absolutely be driven by our interests. As stated many times before this requires a huge investment of time and planning. The case has been made here many times that some of the things that people have always relied on may not be as reliable as they once were but the need to get by financially in retirement or later in life has not changed. As one comment in the post from three years ago pointed, in 2006 Walla Walla made a real best places to retire list.
5 comments:
The best place to retire?
Where the wife wants to locate.
Investing in this practice saves the man of the house from constant harrassment, aggravation, and daily mocking.
If she selects a locale far away from her free-loading family, so much the better.
Makes any tax ramifications insignificant!
T
Fortnately for me, we agreed on a place, which is so nice I wonder if heaven would be an upgrade.
Fun post, Roger, thanks.
First, I have to agree with T. My wife is lobbying very hard to move to a major metro area to retire near the grand kids, while I much prefer the outdoorsy area where we're currently retired.
On the subject of taxes, though, my wife has the advantage. Our state just instituted an income tax on retiree pension income, broadly defined to include traditional pensions, IRA's, 401k's, and the like. My bottom line will take a body blow this year.
Finally, my brother-in-law wants to produce a reality show that features all the graffiti artists that are defacing our public places. The worry is that whoever gets voted off will redouble their efforts to rule the rail yards and overpasses.
that is no joke about family being a financial anchor
Fun post but no need to go rural when Vancouver, WA is right across the river from Portland, OR (I speak from experience here but I wish they'd hurry up and get the new bridge built -- traffic is getting bad).
OTOH north-western Wyoming and Montana (and northern Idaho) contain some of the most beautiful landscapes in America. Yes, it can get pretty cold in winter, but not as cold and dark as Alaska; I have kin from the latter who finally quit fighting it and became snowbirds for five months out of the year (Anchorage, AK, where most folks live gets more daylight in winter and is generally warmer than reputation but ...).
One reality show tryout I'd never advise would be a fishing/crabbing crew: Low pay, long hours, arduous conditions, strenuous labor, high injury rate and by far the highest work-related fatality rate of any and all professions in the USA.
Help me out with this one. Seward used funds from the United States of America's treasurey to outright purchase Alaska. Why would just the citizens of that state be granted payments for oil leases? Why wouldn't the citizens of the rest of the United States of America enjoy this largess? Alaskans look like just another bunch of socialists to me.
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