Retirement Location: Aiken, South Carolina

by Tina P
(S.C.)

My husband and I retired in Aiken, South Carolina.

Years ago we used to visit Arizona quite often and love it there so that is where we planned to retire. A few years later one of my brothers moved there and has been there ever since.

Well, my husband got transferred in his job to work at the Nuclear Power Plant in South Carolina. The plant is about 25 minutes from the Georgia border so we looked for a new home in both the Georgia and South Carolina surrounding areas. We found the perfect home in our search in Aiken.

Gradually we fell in love with the area and the people. We both grew up in Pittsburgh and love the small town living we have here. Aiken is a beautiful little town with much history and culture behind it. The people are friendly and welcoming and we have been retired for 10 years now. We have lived in Aiken for 22 years.

We don't have the hustle and bustle of the large cities like Pittsburgh and there is that famous Southern hospitality!

You will find quite a few people who have moved here from the North or even from Florida.

Everywhere we have to go is close by and we don't have all that awful traffic to contend with. Our doctors, hospital and shopping are all within a 10 minute drive for us. We may sometimes go in to Augusta, Georgia (a larger city) for things but that really doesn't happen too often.

We have several great restaurants here and theater life. We were lucky enough to get a Reverse Mortgage for our home so we don't have that financial worry of a mortgage payment. That helps so much because now we are living on my pension and social security.

We don't go out as much as we used to or spend as much since we are now on a fixed income. But, we survive. We haven't had to make any physical adjustments in our home because my husband and I are still capable of getting around.

All in all, retirement has been good for us. I do little jobs online to make extra money here and there. We have tried other things that have not worked out so well. However, my husband is working on a home eco-business now that looks pretty promising.

We both do volunteer work with three different organizations so we keep busy. And I have often said even if we win the lottery I wouldn't want to move from our home or Aiken. We would just do some adding on and repairs.

Loving Aiken!

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