Pretend you're in your late 20s with a chunk of money saved up and are getting out of the military, where would you go to start your new life?

That would be a great situation to be in. There are so many places you could go . It would depend
on many factors: do you like four distinct seasons? Do you like mountains or the ocean? Are you afraid of earthquakes more or hurricanes? Do you like quaint , quiet little towns or the offerings of a large, exciting city? I guess I can’t help; there are just too many choices for your hypothetical, lucky young person. Maybe I can answer if I read other answers first ! LOL

I’d stay in the military and get a military retirement at 38 and then look for another job that offered a retirement. I like warm weather so I would look in the southern states and preferable a state like Florida or Texas with no state income tax.

I thought of the no tax states like Nevada and Texas or Florida, but then I came up with a wild card, Alaska. It’s got tons of wilderness to explore, amazing fishing, and it’s not as bad weather wise as people say. I just don’t know how their colleges are. If you want to go to a place for the college I’d say Cornell in Ithaca NY or Hobart in Geneva NY. That part of NYS is amazing.

I’d go to the San Francisco Bay Area. Good colleges, excellent public transportation system, so I wouldn’t really need a car except maybe for day trips on weekends. The weather is great—lots of things to do. It’s near the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite and lots of other great parks.

How many times in your life have you talked to someone who was turned down for a job because they attended a “bad” college?

I’ve heard of med students getting turned down for better residencies because they went to Grenada for med school, but it seems once you finish your residency it doesn’t seem to matter as much.

Well, yeah, Grenada.

I would travel the world and experience as much as I could before having to settle down somewhere.

It would depend on how close I wanted to be to family and friends. Having a support system is important.

Then it would depend on what type of climate I like (how much sunshine; do I like seasons).

I’d move to Vancouver. Get out of the country before you have a spouse and kids to worry about.

GA @Seek_Kolinahr ! Fantastic city, friendly with incredible scenery and seafood. And it’s out of the US.

Save some,spend some,invest some.
Travel around to find a place that you would love to live in.
Like what @uberbatman said.
I know of a friend who lived in vastly different places until he
reached 40 yrs of age, when he realised that he had no
Pension saved up.
He worked always only 5 to 6 months at a time and would
return to his hometown inbetween to work and save up for
his next adventure.
He had loads of stories to relate.
Ex: he worked in Florida on ships as a crewman,he worked
in Puru in kitchens,he worked in Europe housekeeping,
New Zealand shiplines and so on.
He finally came back after all his travels met a younger girl,
married, started his own janitorial business and is still doing well.
He has numerous sport related adventures too.
Handgliding,rafting,biking,hiking,etc
A well rounded individual.
Soon he will write his catalogued adventures into a book.

I think I’ll go and live in Victoria. On the Bellarine or Mornington Peninsula. I will wake up to a view like this.

@Bellatrix I’m crawling through your doggy door and never leaving. Or getting stuck. One or the other. That’s beautiful.

And you would be very welcome. Now we do need to work out where we’ll find the money to buy the house I want down there… I’m sure we can figure it out. We’ll drink tea on the verandah and watch the sun come up. :D

That sounds amazing. I’ll put some organs on e-bay, sell some blood, whatever.

:-| Excessive… I like my organs… could we sell just some of our books? :D