The Good, Bad and Ugly of Living the Snowbird Lifestyle

I remember about 30 years ago seeing my Grandparents living the snowbird

lifestyle. Their commute was between Michigan from June through late August and then to Florida the rest of the year. They had achieved this lifestyle through living a life of hard work and my Grandfathers pension that he earned while working for National Gypsum.

The days of pensions are pretty much gone for the majority of us. But just to set the record straight, my Grandparents would not have been able to live that lifestyle just on my Grandfathers pension. It also require the significant savings and investments that they had accrued through the years.

The reality of today is that people do not have the resources to afford the snowbird lifestyle. What is a person to do?

Another ugly truth, is that many people never retire. We all know the 401k we were all 'sold', that was ‘supposed’ to be our ‘retirement’, is nothing more than a pipe dream.

In my case, I know that beginning at the turn of the century my 401k had become a 201k and then when 9-11 happened and the twin tower collapse my 201k was turned into a 101k which is nothing more than a small contribution to Wall Street.

Let’s face it, very few of us have an ongoing income that can provide for living expenses and orovide a decent lifestyle. Many of the babyboomers have resigned themselves to working some kind of job for the rest of their lives. 

If living the snowbird lifestyle is something that you want to pursue then the first place to start, is figuring how you can manage your living expenses on less and find a means of building additional income through other means.

The snowbird lifestyle can be fairly cheap but if you decide you want to belong to exclusive clubs, your expenses can skyrocket. No matter how you slice or dice it, snowbird living is pretty hard to do on the cheap.

Your expenses may include a second home (or rental); travel insurance. taxes and other legal issues, and daily living necessities. Add to that any entertainment that you might want to partake at your summer location and expenses are just nothing but one big problem when it comes to living like a snowbird.

The ugly truth is, you may not be able to achieve this kind of living with your current circumstances. However, in the age of the internet you may be able to supplement your income through online earnings. My favorite site to learning about ways to make money online is the website, "Real Ways To Earn Money Online".

Some snowbirds live their winters in Florida and summers in Canada. If you decide that you would like an international lifestyle then you will need to keep in mind the currency value change and the tax forms which can be a headache. Even if you stay within the United States, if you decide to own property, there can still be property tax discrepancies between states.

If you have a home in each location, then you have to be willing to leaving your dwelling unattended for months. In this day and age deserted homes can be an invitation to squatters, burglars and thieves. As a homeowner, you need to find someone that you can trust to keep an eye on things while you are away. They need to especially pay attention to burst pipes, roof leaking or basement flooding along with keeping the property groomed and safe.
Another consideration is if you have an illness that requires regular medical attention, you can run into issues with insurance across state lines and finding regular medical care can prove to be difficult.

These are the bad but some of the bad can be overcome by living out of a RV during the summer months. Which can be pretty nice since every year you can choose a different location to live or travel around for the entire summer. When summer is over just take your summer home to your winter home and put it away. I know, easier said than done, right?

Another solution to this would be live in an area that is designed around summer living. I know where I grew up in Michigan there were resorts that were only open in the summer months. You rented the little resort cabin for the summer months and then returned for the winter. In some places you can become a regular guest and reserve the same place from year to year.

My sister has a summer trailer that is about 2 hours north from where they live. During the summer they go there every weekend but when winter comes they shut everything down and don’t return until summer starts again. There are people in this same park that live there all summer long and when winter comes they go back south to Texas, Florida, Arizona or where ever they spend the winter. The homes are modular and there is a year around attendant that keeps and eye on everything.

Finally, the good to snowbird living.

Snowbird living means you spend the winter in the warm, southerly climates and move back to your "regular home" or at least another home during the spring and summer.

Snowbirds stay active and the stimulating lifestyle is conducive to having a healthy mind and body. There is always an opportunity to see new thing and meet new people, keeping snowbirds engaged in life and learning.

If you are a social person, being a snowbird usually means visiting with others. Some snowbirds overwinter with relatives or friends building memories that will last a lifetime. Others stay in an area where they will meet new people. However you do it, being a snowbird can help keep you healthy socially.

I am originally from Michigan and I remember shoveling snow from the driveway just in time for the snowplow to come by. The driveway that took me 30 minutes to shovel was blocked in 2 seconds by a oncoming plow. I can also remember looking outside, knowing I have to go to the store and I could not see my car under the drifts of snow. A fifteen minute trip to the store took an hour because 15 to 20 minutes was devoted to clearing off the car and that doesn't include shoveling out the tires if they were snowed in. Obviously, it was not like that every day but I bet it was about every two weeks we would get another snow coming through that required physical removal.

As a snowbird you can put away the shovel. Snow removal is no longer a chore that a snowbird has to deal with.

That is the good the bad and the ugly of snowbird living. If you still want this lifestyle, then comeback to this blog where I will share more with you about overcoming the ugly so you just have to deal with the good and the bad.