Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I don’t live in rural America, but a good story a week or so ago in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention as it dealt with seven retirees who are making it in that part of America.

I read the story, at least in part, because my wife and I, too, are retired, though not in a rural area.

We live in a relatively small town in Oregon – Salem — which, among other things, is the State Capitol.  Which is convenient for me because I spent a lot of years as a state lobbyist in Oregon, meaning the Capitol where legislators hung out was only about five miles away from my house which eventually became my office.

Here, before I report a bit more about the Journal story, is a summary of what it is like for my wife and me to live as retirees in Salem.

• We have been in Salem since 1979, so we have managed to make a lot of friends here – friends who would do anything for us, just as we would do for them.

• We live on a golf course in Salem, so I get to play my avocation there often, sometimes even every day in a week.

• My wife and son – he and his wife live down the street from us here – have worked as real estate agents for years, though my wife is now retired.  And, we watch with pride as our son continues to ply that trade.

• Golf is good for him, too – and he always has been far better at that sport than I have been, which gives me an immense source of pride.

• About four hours north lives our daughter and her family, which means that, for us, it is a weekend trip to see her.

• We have been part of the same church in Salem for more than 30 years and the long tenure has been a God-send – yes, literally, a God-send – as we have made fast friends where we have been allowed to express our love for God.

Then, this summary from the Wall Street Journal:

“Older Americans are leaving expensive cities and suburbs to retire in the country.

“The move to remote mountain and lake areas is helping reverse a long decline in the rural population.  From April 2020 to July 2023, the rural counties retirees flocked to grew 4 per cent versus less than 1 per cent for rural America as a whole.

“Baby boomers often find that their retirement savings goes further and lasts longer in the country, though rural life comes with challenges, too.

Doctors and nurses might be in short supply.  Winters can be harsh and grocery stores a long drive away.  And shoveling driveways or stacking firewood requires either good health or good help.

“…even retirees say the trade-offs are mostly worth it.”

Here are retiree examples from rural America.

• Jim Moore’s money got him more when he left Manhattan for a far less crowded and costly island off the coast of Maine.  With a year-round population of about 1,300, Vinalhaven lacks New York’s energy and dining, but Moore, 63 years old, said he’s landed “in the right place.”  The island’s friendly culture reminds him of growing up in rural Connecticut, he said.

• A few years ago, Allen and Diane Sonntag moved to Rogersville, Missouri from Tucson, Arizona to make their retirement savings stretch further and to be closer to family.  They searched the country for the best retirement destinations with the lowest cost of living.   Cost put California, Oregon, Michigan and Illinois out of contention. 

• Jim and Sharon Erwin like to spend as much time as possible exercising outdoors and enjoying the natural beauty of Gunnison, Colorado.  They didn’t want to spend retirement: stuck in California gridlock.  They sold their Yorba Linda house for a nearly $400,000 profit about 20 years ago and moved to Parker, Colorado about a half-hour south of Denver.  Then, when Parker felt too crowded, they sold again, netting nearly $300,000 from the sale of their home in 2017.  The couple settled roughly 200 miles away in Gunnison, Colorado., where their son went to college. 

• Jim Betz and Lorraine Ziek lived and worked for years in South Kortright, New York, a town in New York’s Catskill Mountains where cows outnumber people. They never considered moving or retiring anywhere else.  “I never thought I’d be rich. But we’re not only rich in our resources, we’re also rich in our life together,” said Lorraine, adding that she and Jim “have really excelled at this retirement thing.”

Do I know any of the people in these examples?  No.

But I relay their experiences because, in a way, they mirror my own.  With critical help from my wife, I have managed to make retirement work – financially and otherwise.

I enjoyed my professional work over about 40 years, but at the end of that period, it was time to move on to retirement.

One example for me was my father who worked in education for many years, including as a high school principal, then retired at about age 62 so he had about 15 good years with his wife, my mother.  They traveled a lot in those good years.

With my Dad’s example, I made my own system work through a combination of planning and luck.

And, I am ready for more.