Why Retire In Pensacola?

Known for its white-sand beaches and emerald green waters, it’s no wonder Pensacola was recently named the third best place to retire by U.S. News & World Report.¹ The historic city is an attractive retirement destination due to its coastal lifestyle, friendly Southern culture, and affordability—not to mention the temperate weather.

There’s a reason people come to visit and never leave! Studies show that coastal living leads to a reduction in anxiety and depression—likely because of all the sunshine and time outdoors.² Florida is known as the sunshine state, and Pensacola gets 224 sunny days per year.³

Retiring in Pensacola is not just a good idea for your mental health, but taking advantage of the coastal lifestyle could potentially add years to your life. Bestselling author and health expert Dan Buettner identified five places around the world he calls blue zones where people live the longest, healthiest lives. He found that people in blue zone areas all share four commonalities that can lead to increased longevity: exercising regularly, eating wisely, connection with others, and positive outlook.

Here’s how you could experience all of them if you choose to retire in Pensacola:

Move Regularly

Any study on longevity will inevitably highlight exercise as essential to a long, healthy life. Buettner found that the oldest and healthiest people in the world naturally incorporate movement throughout their day with low-intensity activities.⁴

If you’re looking forward to retirement so you can spend more time in the outdoors, Pensacola’s subtropical climate makes it ideal for those wanting to pursue an active lifestyle, whether enjoying waterfront activities, playing pickleball, walking, or biking. The city also boasts of 93 parks and open spaces.⁵

Here are some ways you can enjoy Pensacola’s 224 days of sunshine a year:

• Rent bikes at Pensacola Beach to cruise along the boardwalk and the paved Pensacola Beach Trail. It’s also a quick drive over to Orange Beach, Alabama, to enjoy their paved biking trails.
• Join in a game of pickleball at courts throughout Pensacola, including Bear Levin Studer YMCA, Pensacola Athletic Center, Vickery Community Center, and Hollis T. Williams Park, to name a few.⁶
• Play golf nearly year-round. There are 10 golf courses in Pensacola—including the Marcus Pointe Golf Club, Scenic Hills Country Club, and Pensacola Country Club—and another seven within a 20-mile radius.⁷
• Join a local disc golf league—or go throw a few on your own at disc golf courses throughout the area. Whether you’re an avid disc golfer or just starting out, Pensacola is ranked as the 19th best disc golf destination in United States and 1st in Florida.⁸ There are 11 courses in Pensacola and 26 more within driving distance.

Eating Wisely

The top five pillars of the blue zones' diets are whole grains, vegetables, greens, beans, and tubers like sweet potatoes. People who live in blue zones mostly cook their own farm-to-table meals.⁹

Pensacola offers not only Gulf Coast seafood—the freshest you’ll ever eat—but also plenty of local farms to supply fresh produce. Farmer’s markets are only a quick drive away! Turnips, collards, sweet corn, peas, watermelon, kale, squash, zucchini, strawberries, peaches, plums, and okra are among the many crops grown in area farms.

Here’s how to get your fill of local fresh fruits and vegetables:

• Skip the produce section at the grocery store and head downtown every Saturday morning for the Palafox Market, featuring locally sourced foods from area farms.¹⁰ It’s also a popular spot to purchase live plants, baked goods, fine art and antiques, and more.
• Visit Bailey’s Produce and Nursery, open seven days a week, for another option for fresh local produce.
• Buy plants from or take gardening classes at East Hill Edible Gardening.
• Join a local garden club, and learn how to grow fresh produce in your own backyard. See Pensacola Federation of Garden Clubs for a complete list of area gardening communities.

Connect

One of the top factors in blue zones was finding belonging in a tight-knit community. Research shows that people with strong social bonds are more likely to live longer than those who are socially isolated.¹¹

What I love most about Pensacola is that individuals come to visit and vacation, but the family comes to retire. Many of my clients tell me they moved here to retire only for their families to follow!

Pensacola has around fifty thousand residents—and counting. With a bustling downtown and beach culture, there’s always an abundance of things to do and people to meet:

• Connect with others at local senior centers like Bayview Senior Center and find events on the AARP Pensacola page.
• Join local travel groups like Panhandle Senior Travelers, Pensacola Ski & Travel Club, and Pensacola Travel Club to take day trips or travel around the United States and even the globe.
• Look no further for local universities like Pensacola State College’s Continuing Education department to take college classes just for retirees and those looking to better themselves.
• Don’t miss the monthly Gallery Night event—featuring local artists, exhibits, and food trucks—that attracts tens of thousands of visitors downtown.¹²
• Support the military-rich culture by visiting or volunteering at the National Naval Aviation Museum. Plan to attend the Navy's flight demonstration squadron the Blue Angels. The airshow is one of the most popular events in the area, happening twice a year in July and November, and draws almost two hundred thousand observers.

Outlook On Life

It’s no secret that those with a spiritual outlook tend to live longer, more satisfying lives. Research shows that being religious could extend your lifespan for four years.¹³ One of Buttner’s blue zones is a Seventh Day Adventist community in California whose life span is seven years longer than the national average.¹⁴

Pensacola finds its home in Escambia County, which has the highest number of churches per capita than any other county in Florida.¹⁵ Many houses of worship have thriving senior communities that take day trips to surrounding cities; play pickleball; enjoy coffees, luncheons, and banquets—and even take cruises around the globe! Worship, Bible studies, and small groups provide close-knit, face-to-face gatherings.

Churches also provide opportunities for you to give back. Take advantage of volunteer opportunities in the choir, nursery and children’s ministries, and community outreach.

Here are some local denomination pages with active senior ministries or small groups to check out:

Financial Planning:

Why Having a Financial Advisor Matters

No matter where you choose to retire, don’t overlook the importance of having a financial advisor. A financial advisor can help you make critical decisions, ensure you have retirement income that both you and your spouse cannot outlive, and even take the stress out of when to take Social Security. This means you can sit back and enjoy your golden years!

Here’s why having a financial advisor matters for your success in retirement:

1. Healthcare

Money can’t buy happiness, but it might can buy you better health care. When you manage your investments wisely, you have more assets and funds to work with. A recent study found that the wealthier you are, the longer your life expectancy and the more healthy years you’ll enjoy compared to others.¹⁶ This is why having a financial advisor is important to help you maximize returns.

An advisor can also help you explore not just long-term care insurance, but also the best medical options for your individual financial situation. I’ve seen long-term care expenses blindside families in the last chapter of their life. That’s why it’s important to include long-term care planning in your financial strategy.

Wherever you choose to retire, evaluate the cost of care in that area by visiting the Genworth Cost of Care Survey website where you can find the cost of assisted living, nursing home facilities, and home health care by state. Use this information as you meet with your financial advisor to plan out your financial future.

2. Income Planning

You need consistent—not volatile—income in retirement to support your active, healthy lifestyle. Income planning is key to ensuring your hard-earned dollars exploit the power of compound interest while you also have funds readily available to live on.

This is where an experienced financial advisor can really help. At SWAN Capital, we approach your retirement income with a five-, ten-, and fifteen-year strategy to ensure you won’t outlive your money. This means we break up your retirement investments into three different buckets depending on when you’ll need access to the funds. Each bucket has a different purpose and different risk strategy to maximize growth based on when you need the income:

• Years 1-5: This bucket prioritizes protection and liquidity so you aren’t at the mercy of stock market volatility.
• Years 5-10: This bucket prioritizes protection and rate of return. Since you won’t need the income for 5 years, you can limit your liquidity and prioritize higher returning asset classes.
• Years 10+: This bucket prioritizes rate of return and liquidity in the tenth year. This bucket needs to be able to grow to play the offensive with inflation.

3. Income Diversification

As you want your investments diversified, you also need your income diversified. It’s critical that you don’t put all your retirement income into one basket.

This means having a multiplicity of income streams from your various investments. A financial advisor can help ensure you’re receiving income from pensions, self-funded pension plans, social security optimization, rental income, dividend paying stocks, preferred share dividends, oil and alternative income (if possible), interest income from guaranteed accounts like CDs and Money Market accounts, and annuity income.

The key is to have at least a three-to-ten-legged bar stool of income sources so your family has sturdy support for the rest of your retirement.

4. Tax Planning

Thankfully, Florida is tax friendly for retirees. There are no state taxes, but you will still be required to pay federal taxes that you’ll need help navigating. This is important because in retirement, when you go to pay for your fresh fruits and golf tournament fees, you’ll be using after tax money.

A financial advisor can introduce you to ways to lower your tax liability. These include:

• Transitioning your IRAs to Roth IRAs for non-taxable distributions
• Shifting from taxable accounts to tax-free accounts
• Tax loss harvesting
• Incorporating a tax efficient asset spenddown plan for retirement income
• Taking advantage of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs)—especially if you’re carefully watching your adjusted gross income (AGI)Your AGI is used for many tax calculations. If your Required Minimum Distributions from your IRAs push you into a higher tax bracket, it can affect your eligibility for certain tax credits and deductions, including Social Security and Medicare.

SWAN Capital: Here for Your Retirement Transition—And Beyond

If you’re eager to explore what retirement would look like in Pensacola or the Gulf Coast, look no further than SWAN Capital. Our financial advisors work with tens of thousands of retirees each year to help you retire with confidence, no matter where you decide to settle. We make the process of transitioning into retirement seamless, so you can fully enjoy your golden years.

Our qualified financial advisors are passionate about helping individuals plan for their ideal retirements by managing their assets and wealth efficiently. With offices in Pensacola and Daphne, Alabama, we’re only a quick phone call or drive away to help you reach your financial goals.

Visit us at swan-capital.com or give us a call today at 251.800.7499 (Daphne) or 850.380.9558 (Pensacola).