The other side of that coin is:
Is the new opportunity worth the hassle of starting over in some locale where the COL is 3 times higher, your rights are much more restricted, no big game hunting because of the population density precludes the use of even a bow and broad heads, despite the fact that you'll wreck a car a year running into said big game, and its 4 hours to someplace where drowning a worm might get you fish for dinner.
That occurred to me when a head hunter called me, offering 10% more to be the Chief Engineer at a tv station in the top 25 market. But it would have come with all of the above limitations. Even at 200%, which said tv station could well afford, it wasn't worth it to me.
Basically I had found my place back in 1984. I can walk to hunt deer or fish, COL is 1/2rd that of the big city, the house that came with the girl I married in 1989 has been paid off for 15 years, and stayed here till I retired 12 years ago. Technically, my reputation for being able to walk on water when the boat has already sank has been well established, and I still get yells for help occasionally. As a technician who can actually fix things, I am a C.E.T. & have what used to be a 1st phone license before the commission threw us under the bus, we are a dying breed, literally, and I find that I have, at nearly 80 yo, inherited some of the local radio broadcasters, because the engineer they were calling when the cash cow laid down and went dry, had died.
But the surprising detail most find hard to believe is that I am not a "papered" engineer, I have an 8th grade education, but was good enough with electronics that I quit school in the middle of my freshman year in high school, mostly due to health/allergy problems, and went to work fixing what was then these new-fangled things called televisions. Circa 1948-49. And yet the medical help locally available is pretty good. In early June, about a month ago, I woke up, just barely conscious and couldn't breath, on the bedroom floor while trying to tie my shoes to take the better half out for dinner, a pulmonary embolism that damned near punched my ticket. The better half, sitting in the car waiting, finally came back in to see what the holdup was & called 911. They got me to the local shop, started the clot-buster, and shipped me off to a larger facility. I am not 100% yet, but getting there, and TBT I feel better now than I have in years.
The guy from ultrasound looked at my heart with its blown up 2x right half as it was trying to pump into the blockage, for about an hour. I presume looking for places that ought to be bypassed or stented, couldn't find any and said once its shrunk back to normal, you ought to be good for another decade. 2-3 months to shrink again. Sort of feels like getting a warranty renewal but there is no such thing in life.
So I'll be here to pester you folks for a while yet, offering my comments on having observed life for nearly 80 years now. Some comments will come from my experience as a working joat, I am a decent mechanic and am now playing with smaller CNC machinery. I've also made some furniture & remodeled a few guns over the last 50 years.
I rather enjoy being close to the biggest frog in the pond, even if the pond is just Pedersons Puddle. It has its advantages.
Cheers, Gene
I'm only 7 years behind you and enjoying life that is great. I bought a large duplex home after my daughter took ill with MS. Wife and converted a dining room to our bedroom. Our 2nd floor tenant was to leave 18 months after our purchase and we were to move upstairs, but... my son and his wife asked to have the place. After 6 years of togetherness, we are still one big happy family. Best thing that happened to us all.
All our neighbours are crying, because their kids, on finishing university, have fled to other cities. They all complain of big empty houses and they look forward to having the children and grandchildren visit for holidays. When you have love, give love, encourage, don't criticize, and are optimistic, life is without stress. My wealth is the richness I have in family, friends, health, and who gives a damn about monetary wealth. I live in a country where anyone can go out at night at any time, and come home safely.
Now, at retirement, I enjoy developing software and do C coding with Linux. I am preparing to install Cent0s 7, released yesterday, I will setup a version 7 webserver and do all that at a pace that I enjoy. As we age, we do not become dumb, though we take the time to smell the roses. Some of the older people I knew forgot about libraries, plays, community places and waste away. I cherish my life with all it's wonderful offerings. I am lucky.