Moving to rural towns can be a way to retire earlier at a lower cost of living

Tim McLaughlin, a journalist for Reuters, writes how his parents retired early, moving in their 50s from suburban St. Louis to rural Mountain View, Mo. (Google map), where they enjoyed a higher quality of life at a lower cost of living. When they first moved, he said he thought they were insane, "but the passage of time and my fast approach to 50 has given me a new perspective on my parents' retirement insanity," he writes. "They downshifted into a slow-paced lifestyle while slashing their overhead costs by more than half."

Mountain View is on the Ozark Plateau, which is not really mountainous, but scenic. McLaughlin's late father enjoyed the town on US 60 because of the recreational activities, such as fishing and hunting, while his mother has served on the library board and been active in church and clubs, he writes. "In her 70s, she isn't bagging groceries for minimum wage to make ends meet. Her lifestyle is modest, but comfortable. There's no mortgage to worry about and her chief hobbies -- reading books from the library and tending to her many perennial beds -- are easy on the pocketbook."

McLaughlin, who lives in Boston, said he pays nearly $7,000 each year in real estate taxes for a modest house, while his mom pays $600 for two-bedroom home on 40 acres. One of her neighbors is asking $190,000 for a nine-acre hobby farm that comes with a three-bedroom house, separate garage and barn, a chicken coop and a pond stocked with fish, he writes.

Rural living isn't for everyone, he writes. "But if you grew up in the city and dreamed of fly fishing and watching bird dogs hunt for quail, like my dad did, then places like Mountain View make perfect sense." (Read more)