How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Topic Author
mathwhiz
Posts: 897
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:58 pm

How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by mathwhiz »

With "big move" I'm not talking about moving 30 miles to the next county, but more like hundreds of miles away, or out of state or out of country, a distance which makes regular visits from family or friends difficult. Were the moves positive or did you miss family, friends, and ended up homesick or regretting the move?
User avatar
nedsaid
Posts: 19275
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:33 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by nedsaid »

My first job out of college, I moved about 8 hours driving distance away. It was an adventure and my family wasn't in my hair all the time. But it was a bit too far. Doable but the long drives after holidays got to be old.

My next couple jobs, I was within 2 hours and then 4 hours of family. I am now living in the same metropolitan area as my family.
A fool and his money are good for business.
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14467
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Toons »

Moved from Virginia later in life to NY where I lived for 18 years ,then moved to Tennessee 2 years ago(to retire).Immediate family lives in Virginia.Never spent a lot of time thinking about "missing" family or friends,but focused more on where I was living at the time and enjoyed the growth that comes with relocating to a new area and meeting the challenges that come with it.Where you know Nothing or Nobody. :happy
If I need to visit family I only need to travel a few hundred miles,close but not too close :wink:
If I had to do it over again I would probably have chosen to move out of state earlier in life.
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
User avatar
Meaty
Posts: 854
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:35 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Meaty »

3 so far by age 29. There's lots of benefits but I do sometimes wish I was closer to family since I have a young family. It'd be nice to see grandpa and grandma more.
"Discipline equals Freedom" - Jocko Willink
The Wizard
Posts: 13356
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
Location: Reading, MA

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by The Wizard »

One, basically, at age 18 when I came to the Boston area for college from central Kansas.
Hung around ever since.
Two offspring disappeared, however, one to CA, one to FL...
Last edited by The Wizard on Sun Sep 01, 2013 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Attempted new signature...
User avatar
auntie
Posts: 347
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:49 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by auntie »

Except for college and a couple years in early childhood that I don't remember, I've always lived within 30 or 40 miles of where I was born 68 years ago. My parents and sibling stayed close, too.
High risk does not equal high reward. It equals high risk of no reward.
jebmke
Posts: 25475
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 pm
Location: Delmarva Peninsula

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by jebmke »

15 total lifetime (if I am counting correctly); 8 as an adult.

After the first few, it isn't a big deal.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
User avatar
sans souliers
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:38 pm
Location: By the Quinnipiac

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by sans souliers »

This is to Meaty --
Send your grandparents a link to this page. Tell them you're Meaty. What you said will make their day.
Sometimes pessimism leaves me pretty well prepared for when things don't go my way, and pleasantly surprised when they do.
User avatar
Sheepdog
Posts: 5783
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Indiana, retired 1998 at age 65

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Sheepdog »

Prior to graduating from college, my only move as a child was my family going from Atlanta to Jacksonville. Then it was moving around the world with the Marines. However, I have had no moves in the last 40 years. That is because I had decided that I didn't like moving around with a family. Moves after college with my new wife were.
1. Florida to Newark, NJ for employment. 1960
2. Newark to Pittsburgh, PA, company transfer 1961
3. Pittsburgh to Delaware, OH, company transfer 1964
4. Delaware to Atlanta, GA, company transfer 1970
Then there was a rumor about another move possibly coming up soon. My wife and I decided that I would look for new employment to a company in which moving would be unlikely. So, in 1972, I found that company in Indiana. The company is gone now, but we are still happily here.
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
User avatar
Sally
Posts: 320
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:02 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Sally »

Grew up in same home until 18; then 8 locations/moves out of state. Am now back in general area where I grew up, but am planning another--my final move prior to burial back here-- which is roughly 1000 miles.

No regrets--had a great time at each locale, made new friends with whom I still stay in touch at each location, and family (and friends) visited (especially when in HI, CA, & DC areas). Plus we visited family back here and in other vacation locales as well.

Sally
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52211
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by nisiprius »

1) To college, 300 miles. Hoo boy, the amount of psychic energy college students expend trying to deny to themselves that they are homesick. To say nothing of the hard work of keeping up the act of adulthood and the constant fear that someone is going to see through you. I remember drinking my first beer and trying to pretend I wasn't shocked by the awful taste.

2) To grad school, 1200 miles. Mostly positive, as by then I starting to be a real adult, not a pro-forma-pretend adult. Stayed about nine years.

3) Within grad school, spent a solid year outside the U.S. doing field work. I think that counts as a move, even though my wife and I just paid the rent on our mobile home... turned off the electricity and heat... so that we could return rather than move again, as it were.

4) To current home, another 1000 or so miles. Not too bad for me because it was familiar territory, but a terrible wrench for my wife, because instead of living a three-hour drive from her folks, she was now living a plane trip from her folks.

There are plusses and minuses. I grew up essentially in one house in one town and I have always prized that and felt sorry for people who had to move during childhood, and we felt it was important to us to give our kids that same degree of stability. It's not like moving during childhood is such a great big terrible thing, but I think it's nice not to have to do it.
Last edited by nisiprius on Sun Sep 01, 2013 12:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
User avatar
momar
Posts: 1359
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 11:51 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by momar »

I've lived in 5 geographically and culturally distinct places in the US. Moving somewhere new to live is more fun than just traveling to new places, in my opinion. As I have gotten older, I find that I do wish I lived closer to my family (and I'm not old by any definition).
"Index funds have a place in your portfolio, but you'll never beat the index with them." - Words of wisdom from a Fidelity rep
User avatar
rob
Posts: 5247
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:49 pm
Location: Here

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by rob »

Lived and worked in 3 countries at opposite ends of the earth (my first job was 1000m away from home when I moved out, so it's been a constant for me)..... It's a double edged sword in a lot of ways and is far harder when you have kids. It's a lot easier with the internet and cheap communications that now exist (anyone else remember paying a fortune for international phone calls :-( ). It takes an effort to keep in touch with family, but I suppose that's true if you lived down the road as well.
| Rob | Its a dangerous business going out your front door. - J.R.R.Tolkien
HongKonger
Posts: 1079
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:35 am
Location: Deep in the Balkans

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by HongKonger »

Readying for my 5th different country - 5000 miles from where I am now.
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52211
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by nisiprius »

rob wrote:(anyone else remember paying a fortune for international phone calls :-( ).
I proposed to my wife via an international phone call. I had to book the time slot weeks in advance. I think it cost $25, equivalent to about $150 today, for three minutes. The connection was really bad. (What was it? Certainly not satellite. Certainly not a cable. Could commercial transoceanic telephone service actually have relied on short-wave radio bouncing off the Heaviside layer???? Well, it was the "cablegram office" maybe it was a cable, but maybe the technology needed to squeeze voice onto it wasn't very good?)

"I LOVE YOU."

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, I LOVE YOU."

"OH. I LOVE YOU, TOO."

"WHAT?"

"I LOVE YOU, TOO."

"WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

"WHAT?"

etc. etc.

The decline in communications costs is hard to comprehend if you didn't live through it. Anyone remember the days when any attempt to post to all of USENET prompted a warning that if you proceeded it would cost the net "hundreds, of not thousands of dollars?" In the mid 1990s, when I got Mosaic installed and was exploring this "World Wide Web," I remember my jaw-dropping astonishment when I realized I'd clicked on a link in a U.S. site and realized I was now looking at a site in Europe, and that time, space, and long-distance phone bills had been obliterated. I think in those days everyone had the same thought: "who's paying the phone bill?"
Last edited by nisiprius on Sun Sep 01, 2013 12:48 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
User avatar
market timer
Posts: 6535
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:42 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by market timer »

As a child, I moved about every couple years to different states, so spent quite a bit of time as "the new kid" in school. People in Vermont were particularly enthralled by my Texas accent as a 7-year-old. As an adult, I've moved three times, approximately every five years: to go to college, to go to grad school, and to take a job.
User avatar
speedbump101
Posts: 999
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Alberta Canada

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by speedbump101 »

Ten, one in childhood, and nine as an adult.

SB...
"Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal" -Robert A. Heinlein
User avatar
Meaty
Posts: 854
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:35 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Meaty »

sans souliers wrote:This is to Meaty --
Send your grandparents a link to this page. Tell them you're Meaty. What you said will make their day.
Done :happy
"Discipline equals Freedom" - Jocko Willink
User avatar
22twain
Posts: 4030
Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 5:42 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by 22twain »

I've moved three times:

1. When I started graduate school. I went to college about an hour from home. Although I lived on campus, I went home a couple of weekends a month, and spent most of the summer at home. But grad school was about 250 miles away, far enough that I went home only for Christmas and spring breaks, and for a couple of weeks during the summer when I could take time off from research.

2. When I got my first job after graduate school. That was about a 600-mile move.

3. When I got my second job a couple of years later, with the employer that I've now been with for nearly thirty years. That was about a 1000-mile move.

Always east of the Mississippi, by the way.
Meet my pet, Peeve, who loves to convert non-acronyms into acronyms: FED, ROTH, CASH, IVY, ...
User avatar
Ged
Posts: 3945
Joined: Mon May 13, 2013 1:48 pm
Location: Roke

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Ged »

I had a couple of moves to attend grad school. However how big is that when your worldly possessions easily fit in a U-haul trailer?

Now as an adult with wife and two children and a full household that fills a tractor trailer?

One.
User avatar
cflannagan
Posts: 1208
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:44 am
Location: Working Remotely

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by cflannagan »

3 times:

1) Around the time I started studying for B.S. and graduate degrees, in Rochester, NY. Lived there for 15 years, while family lives in South Carolina.
2) This begins my career - living in Roseville, California for 4 years as a software engineer.
3) Continuing my career here, moving from California to Palm Harbor, Florida.

I miss California, but for financial reasons love living in Florida - houses are a lot cheaper, and we pay no state income taxes!

Yes, I have always regretted living far away from my family, but given the circumstances, there was not much I can do - my situation calls for working for pretty specific companies in pretty specific locations. At least I can take pride in saying our family is very well supported right now.
User avatar
FrugalInvestor
Posts: 6214
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:20 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by FrugalInvestor »

mathwhiz wrote:With "big move" I'm not talking about moving 30 miles to the next county, but more like hundreds of miles away, or out of state or out of country, a distance which makes regular visits from family or friends difficult. Were the moves positive or did you miss family, friends, and ended up homesick or regretting the move?

Ten. Eight as an adult.

All (adult moves) were positive in that they were building blocks toward a very enjoyable early retirement. I never regretted the moves but made the best of the situation wherever I was. Separation from friends and family was a price I paid during my working years but vacations were typically spent with family and friends and not visiting the tropics (our honeymoon was an exception). I never second-guessed a move and am glad I didn't because it would not likely have been good for my psyche or my family or productive for my career.
Last edited by FrugalInvestor on Sun Sep 01, 2013 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Have a plan, stay the course and simplify. Then ignore the noise!
User avatar
mapleosb
Posts: 268
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:48 pm
Location: Connecticut

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by mapleosb »

Military vet. major moves 8.

Civilian life major moves 3.

Retired now, living in the same place 20 years and the next move will require six of my best friends to get me there :wink:
“A mile of highway will take you a mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere!”
obgraham
Posts: 1618
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:30 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by obgraham »

mapleosb wrote:the next move will require six of my best friends to get me there :wink:
Naah. A little kid will be able to carry my little dustpot.
island
Posts: 1971
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by island »

Originally from the east coast.
Moved across state for college
Moved half way across the country for grad school
Moved to the west coast for a job that I thought I'd stay at for a few years before moving back east. Met my DH here who is originally from another part of the country, we both have good stable jobs we enjoy and almost 30 years later we're still here!

We're far from family and good old friends we keep in touch with and we've missed a lot of weddings and other milestones. Originally didn't have much money to travel or had to choose to use vacation for vacation or to visit family. Always seems family expects the far flung ones to come "home" rather than to spend their vacation visiting us which gets annoying.

I also have a job where my coworkers and I have to take turns getting the holidays off and plan vacation time months and month in advance and that's become more restrictive over the years. DH's is much more flexible so he manages to get in more short visits.

We've also seen many good friends "transplants" like us, leave the area to move back to far flung places to be closer to family one they started having children so we've seen our close (operative word close) circle of friends get smaller.
I'm much more nostalgic and a worrier than my DH and distance from close friends and family is something I think more than he does, especially as I've gotten older.

I anticipate we'll both end our careers with our current employers, but not sure if this will remain home base or home base year round. Hard to imagine living anywhere else after all these years, and exchange year round sunshine for snowy climates in our senior years, but also can't imagine being retired and free to go anywhere I want whenever I want!

Curious, why do you ask? Are you contemplating a move?
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by gkaplan »

I figure I have made about ten big moves in my lifetime, if you figure in military transfers. These moves mostly have been positive, even the military ones, because they were moves I wanted to make for the most part. I am retiring at the end of the leave year (01/11/2014) and plan to move up to Portland, Oregon, shortly thereafter. I shall miss where I am living now, because I love the whole beach town atmosphere and vibe, but I am looking forward to living in a "city" and where my brother and his family have lived since June 1991.
Gordon
User avatar
Taylor Larimore
Posts: 32842
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:09 pm
Location: Miami FL

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Taylor Larimore »

Mathwiz:
How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?
I grew up in Miami, Florida. Made four major moves:

1) To Europe during World War II. :(
2) To Manhattan, NY, where my new wife was a model. :D
3) To South Bend, Indiana, where I was manager of a commercial laundry.
4) Back to Miami and began working for the federal government.

Today I live next door to where I grew up.

Best wishes.
Taylor
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
User avatar
mickeyd
Posts: 4898
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:19 pm
Location: Deep in the Heart of South Texas

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by mickeyd »

I count eight moves since college, not counting a back and forth move to Vietnam @ government expense in the 60s. All of our moves have been at government expense or company expense. Not sure I would have moved so much if I had to fork over the cash myself.
Part-Owner of Texas | | “The CMH-the Cost Matters Hypothesis -is all that is needed to explain why indexing must and will work… Yes, it is that simple.” John C. Bogle
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52211
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by nisiprius »

Taylor Larimore wrote:Mathwiz:
How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?
I grew up in Miami, Florida. Made four major moves:

1) To Europe during World War II. :(
2) To Manhattan, NY, where my new wife was a model. :D
3) To South Bend, Indiana, where I was manager of a commercial laundry.
4) Back to Miami and began working for the federal government.

Today I live next door to where I grew up.

Best wishes.
Taylor
What about Larimore's Diner in Foxboro, MA?
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
User avatar
Tortoise
Posts: 367
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:24 am
Location: San Jose

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Tortoise »

Started in San Jose. Joined the US Air Force. Went where they sent me, from one coast to the other, with a couple stops in Texas thrown in for fun. Got out and lived in Santa Barbara for 4 years. Finished degree and moved back to San Jose.
"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest." --Mark Twain
playtothebeat
Posts: 497
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:39 am
Location: southern california

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by playtothebeat »

Moved from Russia to Oregon when I was 12. Spoke some English but not much. That was quite an adjustment.
Then went to college in CA after never having stepped foot in CA. Another cultural adjustment, to say the least..
User avatar
Taylor Larimore
Posts: 32842
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:09 pm
Location: Miami FL

A memory lapse

Post by Taylor Larimore »

nisiprius wrote:
Taylor Larimore wrote:Mathwiz:
How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?
I grew up in Miami, Florida. Made four major moves:

1) To Europe during World War II. :(
2) To Manhattan, NY, where my new wife was a model. :D
3) To South Bend, Indiana, where I was manager of a commercial laundry.
4) Back to Miami and began working for the federal government.

Today I live next door to where I grew up.

Best wishes.
Taylor
What about Larimore's Diner in Foxboro, MA?
Nisiprius:

You're right. I forgot about that.

My family moved to Miami in 1930 when I was six. It was the middle of the depression. My dad's business failed and my grandparents invited us to move into their empty vacation home in Miami.

Thanks for the reminder--and, of course, best wishes.
Taylor
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
User avatar
asset_chaos
Posts: 2629
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:13 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by asset_chaos »

3 times, no regrets.
Regards, | | Guy
User avatar
6miths
Posts: 811
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:55 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by 6miths »

Several times as a child. Those were relatively lucky initially as I got to live in a small town until I was 11 and then move to the big city with all it's resources and activities which seemed like fortunate timing. Then when I was in high school my dad was transferred to a city where the education standards were relatively low and I decided that it wasn't for me and spent 3 years in the original city finishing high school. This was a very good experience and probably kept me on the more or less straight and narrow as it was kind of put up or shut up. Then moved to university, then west coast for a year, east coast for a year then back to the original university city. All very good moves. Was then lucky enough to see some of the world for periods varying from 1 week to 4 months before a 3 year stay in the middle-east which was a stressful move but ultimately very positive. We took 4 young children and both worked and came away with a wonderful experience. It was hard to take young children away from their grandparents but still we think a net positive. Can never know for sure. Now back and in the same job or 10 years with hopes of retirement soon. Definitely planning more moves once retired. The location of the children will likely have some impact on the timing and duration of these.
'It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so!' Mark Twain
User avatar
OAG
Posts: 1202
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:54 am
Location: Currently Central Ohio, USA

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by OAG »

Mil Retiree.
17 Relocations in 21+ years on AD. (includes Turkey, Alaska, Hawaii, SE Asia and Far East).
2 relocations from IL to TX then back for parents work prior to mil service.
Since retirement 2 more from VA to FL and from FL to OH.

Family and friends are pretty well dispersed so no real interpersonal problems caused by moves. Still plan at least one more US move probably occur but unsure where right now.
OAG=Old Army Guy. Retired CW4 USA (US Army) in 1979 21 years of service @ 38.
User avatar
tylerdurden
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:26 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by tylerdurden »

I've made 9 moves total; 5 during my childhood and 4 as an adult. I lived in 3 countries by the time I was 9, with the U.S. being the final destination for my family (although perhaps not for my wife and I). All the moves were positive, although our most recent one was only 5 months ago, so we are still adjusting to it. Plus, this last move was the first big move for my wife, so it has been a much different experience and a very new one from her perspective.

My wife and I have structured our lives a bit differently now with the desire to stay mobile if we need to be (owning less stuff, mainly). As much as I would love to work for the same company for my entire career, I would like to keep my options open and mobility definitely presents more options. And, I am hoping there will be at least one more big move in the future to a warmer climate. :)
"The things you own end up owning you." -TD
livesoft
Posts: 86075
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:00 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by livesoft »

I'm up to 17 big moves so far including overseas and back. I imagine I still have a few big moves in me.

I've never regretted a move. And don't forget that when you leave a place and go some place new, you get to start over and be a new person if you want to. :)
Wiki This signature message sponsored by sscritic: Learn to fish.
madbrain
Posts: 6805
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:06 pm
Location: San Jose, California

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by madbrain »

5.

- at age 3 weeks, from Berkeley to France. About 5600 miles.
- at age 3 years, from France to Germany. Not sure exactly how many miles.
- at age 4 years, from Germany back to France. Again, not sure how many miles.
- at age 19, from France to Florida. About 3000 miles.
- at age 20, from Florida to the SF bay area, California . About 3000 miles also. And this is where I have been ever since.
Professor Emeritus
Posts: 2628
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:43 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Professor Emeritus »

Lived in same family home from five years old to 17
Went to college Twelve miles away
Lived at family home for Law school
Had apartment for two years as law clerk 4 miles away
Bought family home from my parents- lived there three years
Moved 12 miles away to house closer to jobs for 7 years. Kept the family home.
Moved back, rebuilt family home and have lived here 25 more years.

So I guess my answer is None
User avatar
pennstater2005
Posts: 2509
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:50 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by pennstater2005 »

Moved a few hours away from home after second year in college to work moving furniture for Ethan Allen. Not too smart, I know. Moved back home and then only a mile away to an apartment for 9 years. Bought a house 2 years ago still only a mile away from family home. I don't regret it. My mom and dad and family are very important to me and I know they won't be around forever. My wife and I talk about being snowbirds, but only when the time is right. Of course grandkids could come along and throw a wrench in that idea too :happy
Last edited by pennstater2005 on Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” – Earl Wilson
Traveler
Posts: 848
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:07 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Traveler »

During college I did a semester abroad - I'll count that as the first one. In my working life, I've moved an additional three times either for work or graduate school (all out of state). I'm about as far from my family as I can get and still be in the US. It's tough at times but I visit several times a year. I hope to get an international work assignment sometime - I've wanted to live abroad since I studied abroad in college.
wacobay
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:53 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by wacobay »

My only move from birth to high school was about 50 miles from Corsicana Texas to Waco Texas. After high school I received a free expense payed trip to Munich Germany: well actually paid for by the US Army. :happy
After 3 years with the 24TH Infantry in Germany I returned to Waco Tx. and attended college and graduate school. After that I moved to Houston where I spent the next 40 years. After retiring in 2006 I have divided my time between Houston and the Philippines, about 8,000 miles apart. Thanks for this topic as I'm really enjoying reading about the travels of others.
Fallible
Posts: 8798
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Fallible »

I've lived and gone to school in the North, South, East, and West and abroad for about 13 major moves, but a few other family members have more. Since we were quite young, we loved to be in new and different places, meeting new people, trying new things, and we still do.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
letsgobobby
Posts: 12073
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:10 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by letsgobobby »

Are we counting moves made as a child?

Age 0 - France to Belgium
Age 2 - Belgium to Connecticut
Age 3 - Connecticut to Oregon
Age 4 - Oregon to Michigan (2 moves in 4 years)
Age 8 - Michigan to California
Age 10 - California to Idaho
Age 11 - Idaho to Michigan
Age 17 - Michigan to California
Age 21 - California to Texas
Age 25 - Texas to California (3 moves in 4 years)
Age 29 - California to Washington (2 moves in 10 years)

So 11 'big moves' and 15 total. Despite all the moves, 30 of almost 40 years have been in only 3 states: Michigan, California, and Washington about 10 years each. I'll soon have lived in Washington longer than any other state!

Though when it comes to football, I will always be maize and blue...
User avatar
Sunny Sarkar
Posts: 2443
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:02 am
Location: Flower Mound, TX
Contact:

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Sunny Sarkar »

Calcutta, India - 26 yrs (Masters degree, career change)
Singapore (5000 miles move to developed economy) - 2 yrs
Charlotte, NC (12000 miles move to USA) - 1.5 yrs
Pittsburgh, PA (500 miles - job change for immigration purposes) - 4 yrs
Santa Barbara/Ventura, CA (2500 miles - escape from Pittsburgh cold) - 4 yrs
Dallas, TX (1500 miles - escape from CA home prices) - 6 yrs & no more plans to move

...but the biggest move of all was a career change from applied geology to software engineering.

Luckily each of these moves have been initiated by myself to achieve some personal/life goal. But moves are stressful, and yes I miss family, friends, culture, & natural beauty I left behind in each place. Hopefully no more moves for us.
Last edited by Sunny Sarkar on Mon Sep 02, 2013 11:03 am, edited 3 times in total.
"Buy-and-hold, long-term, all-market-index strategies, implemented at rock-bottom cost, are the surest of all routes to the accumulation of wealth" - John C. Bogle
lightheir
Posts: 2684
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:43 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by lightheir »

I moved 10 times in 10 years for medical training.

They don't tell you about this when you're getting ready to do the long road of training - they tell you about the loans, the grueling hours, but nobody warned me about the myriad moves you'll have to make while seeking out the best training.
winglessangel31
Posts: 211
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:53 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by winglessangel31 »

I count only moves that did not involve any family moving with me.

At 13 - going off to boarding school 200+ miles away, in a neighboring country.
At 19 - going off to college 9000+ miles away (from said boarding school).
At 23 - going off to work 2000+ miles away (from college).

At some point I got desensitized and started to think less about what I'm leaving behind. Since I started when I was pretty young, everything became more of a challenge to overcome, a game that I could master. Nowadays I see friends as seasonal people, who move in and out of my life. Sometimes a few choose to stay, and that is priceless.

Nonetheless, it's a little awkward, because people around me used to get so excited about doing their own laundry in college or being their own independent person after college, but to me everything was not such a big deal. :) That might be why I rarely feel like I belong, or that I always feel that I'm an outsider. =/
dewey
Posts: 497
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:42 am

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by dewey »

1967-----college 4 hours away
1977-----back to graduate school for a second advanced degree (with family including 2 pre-school girls)
1980-----New Jersey
1982-----Minnesota
2000-----Washington state

All these were career moves. Turns out I started in the east as a kid and am now retired on the west coast. Would make all the moves again in a heart beat.
“The only freedom that is of enduring importance is freedom of intelligence…” John Dewey
User avatar
Sunny Sarkar
Posts: 2443
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:02 am
Location: Flower Mound, TX
Contact:

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by Sunny Sarkar »

Taylor Larimore wrote:I grew up in Miami, Florida. Made four major moves:

Today I live next door to where I grew up.
Taylor, Your post reminded me of that 7th grade Physics lesson - when after the whole tiresome day I come back and lay on the same spot, then "displacement" is zero, hence "work done" is also zero :oops:
"Buy-and-hold, long-term, all-market-index strategies, implemented at rock-bottom cost, are the surest of all routes to the accumulation of wealth" - John C. Bogle
pointyhead
Posts: 177
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:38 pm

Re: How many big moves have you made in your lifetime?

Post by pointyhead »

So, I just counted 21 as a kid as an adult. Retiring from the service next year and planning on one more to where we want to live...but I frequently wonder if we will stay put.
Post Reply