A Real-Life Story

Last Updated: December 27, 2025

Lynn and her husband are semi-retired, and chose to move to Florida from Los Angeles about a year ago. After testing the waters, they plan to fully retire in the Sunshine state. Here’s what they have to say about their experience in this retirement hot-spot (no pun intended). 

“At 67 and 80, my husband and I are both on our second marriage. After living in expensive Los Angeles for most of our lives - and all of our married life - we knew we were facing retirement, so we thought, why not find somewhere less expensive to live? We considered a few different places, but both my daughter’s family and my best friend live in Sarasota, so we figured it was the most obvious place to go. 

We’re so happy we did - ,we love Florida. The things we love the most about the state are  lower taxes, lower cost of living, free parking and large parking spots. We owned a home in LA and were able to sell it for enough to pay cash for a new home in Sarasota and still have money left over to add to our retirement nest egg. 

Everything is more expensive in LA - even parking downtown for a doctor’s office can cost as much as $12 per hour! It’s little things like that that really add up when you’re retired. We’ve calculated that we’ve lowered our cost of living by as much as 50% by moving to Florida, and we’ve improved our quality of life as well. We’re both able to be much more active than we were in LA, thanks to Florida’s expansive walking and biking trails. ”

We love the weather. It’s only humid for about two months and if you are retired you stay inside and go out in the evening. Fun facts: there is lots of wildlife. We had a 7-foot alligator crawl onto our lawn! Everyone walks or bikes for exercise and everyone is very friendly.” - Lynn P

Let’s apply Lynn’s location in our Cost of Living calculator using our previous base couple assumptions. By moving from Los Angeles, California to Sarasota, Florida, Lynn’s Retirement Score increases by 22 years. Here’s a breakdown using a standard couple profile:

Find out if your Retirement Score changes by moving to Sarasota, Florida using our Cost of Living calculator. To learn more about moving in retirement, read our class “Retirement Cost of Living 101.”