No. And not without, you know, VISITING the place a few times. 

Nope.  I'm a planner.  And a researcher.  DH, on the other hand, would totally do that if I didn't prevent it.

And question for people who are close to retirement age, or already retired, or have a retired spouse: Do you resent your spouse if he or she is able to retire and you still have to work?  Even with a 12 year age gap, it doesn't seem fair to me that one spouse retires if both can't afford to retire.  I understand that there are situations where one spouse loves his or her job and the other doesn't, and both could afford to retire, but one chooses to continue to work.  However, a situation where neither particularly loves their job, and only one spouse gets to retire, regardless of age, just seems unfair.  

Well, it sounds to me that they are generally lacking in common sense AND intelligence.  Wow...as said, I research more then that for a vacation lol.

I personally do not want to retire here in the US.  I'd like to go abroad.  I may like trying living in a few different countries or states w/in a country also.  We have looked extensively at Central/South America as well as Mexico.  As we don't like severe heat, the only areas we narrowed down were CR in the Central Valley/mountain area and Mexico in the mountain areas (Puebla or Queretaro or Oaxaca and a few more).  I have looked into rentals, stores, medical, car and visa issues, climate, ease to get around. Example Queretaro and some other known expat areas in Mexico have a LOT of cobblestone/uneven terrain for walking-a NO for me since I have hardward from broken leg that is likely to affect me for a lifetime.

I then realized as beautiful as Costa Rica is, poisonous frogs/snakes are an issue when you have active outdoor dogs.  We also like upland hunting, any hunting is prohibited in CR.  We likely will research MANY other places, including in the US-so when finally retire 10-15 years from now, I'll have done my homework LOL

And yes, we plan to make several trips before hand.

That's insane! My DH and I were thinking of buying a VACATION home (not permanent home! lol!) at a beach where we'd never been that is close to where DS18 is in college. We would never have bought something without checking out the area! We rented a VRBO home for a weekend and discovered we didn't like it for a number of reasons. We looked at places with a realtor on a second visit and decided it wasn't for us. I can't imagine up and moving somewhere you've never been, just based on pictures, or even based on what others said. That is really crazy! I'm sorry for your friend.

Penny and her husband don't seem to bright!  I wouldn't move anywhere without having been there or researched the place unless I for some crazy reason HAD to.  Which I can't even think of a reason where I would have to unless I was in the military or my DH was and we aren't....

I would not, but my Aunt did this. She married a man 15 years older than her, he wanted to retire to the great state of Arkansas where all his family resided. So they moved and lived there for a long time. Since my Aunt is considerably younger she had to get a job, any job because she had very little retirement. She hated it there because they lived in Tornado Alley. So she worked crap jobs and lived there until her husband wanted to move to Oregon to be around his kids.

So they moved there into a retirement home community and she basically works a part time crap job, her husband is completely disabled and his kids don't do anything other than deman his money...which they don't have.

No I would never do it, and no I will never move to Arizona, my DH wants to move there since all his family is there, but I refuse to trade one desert for another!

My husband loves to look at pictures of properties in dream about our retirement! So yes he definitely would. whenever he starts talking like this I circle the conversation back around 2 maybe we should visit is going to be our retirement income etc... When both members of a couple are impulsive people get into bad situations like that. At least one of the two needs to keep themselves in reality.

I think Penny wanted to make her husband happy. I have been to AZ and it is a dry heat but very very warm. As a woman gets older heat is hard to handle.I do think AZ is so beautiful but only on a vacation.I could never live there myself.  I think that her husband might call the shots and this is an eye opener for her. Where a couple retires should be a place they both like. And to answer your question...h3ll no.

I might... IF I had a super great job lined up...  Definitely wouldn't just move there without ANY research or a job!

I absolutely would not do this, based on some pictures. Moving is expensive and a lot of work, and picking up and just trekking off to wherever on a whim is only fun and romantic in the movies.

At this point in my life, no.  My first husband's job required him to move pretty much every 3ish years and that was something I knew going in.  It really appealed to me actually.  Basically it would be "there is an opening in X place at the next level up and they are interested in you....call them and set up the "interview." " I would be expected to go too and start looking for a place to live,  He could always turn down the opening but it was essentially a guarantee that his career would take a hit if he did so unless there was a major red flag when we went it was assumed that he was taking the offer.  But we were in our early-20s with no kids and looked at it as an adventure.  Those were some crazy years!  But by the time we hit mid-ish 30s he had moved into positions where the tenure was much longer and we could put down roots..  I can't imagine a bohemian "throw darts at a map" life in retirement.  I may not need as exhaustive research as many people would but at an understanding of cost of living versus expected income and the weather seems like a requirement bordering on "duh....".

That's damn stupid. Period.