Bay Area: Last Stop?

(Image from first for women)

I bought Steve Martin's album A Wild and Crazy Guy in 1978 and found this bit to be hilarious:

You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. “Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?”

First.. get a million dollars.

Now.. you say, “Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, ‘You.. have never paid taxes’?” Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: “I forgot!”

The transcript does not do justice to his delivery, which was replete with pregnant pauses, shrugged shoulders, and goofy expressions. Plus, the two-part answer to "how can I be a millionaire and pay no taxes?" that began with "first get a million dollars" struck me as funny, and if you don't agree, dear reader, well, we laugh at different things.

I thought of Steve Martin's routine when I came across an article in the Chronicle about why many of us choose to live out our final years here: How to financially prepare to spend the rest of your life in the Bay Area . Certainly the drawbacks of staying in the Bay Area--or California in general--have been well publicized:

there’s plenty of talk about the bad. You don’t have to look far on the internet to find people blasting California for its high taxes, housing costs and homelessness. California has the top marginal state individual income tax rate at 13.3%, according to the Tax Foundation.

"But that’s not the whole story."

[Estate planning, trust and probate law attorney James] Cunningham broke down the hidden benefits in a post on his firm’s website titled “Why Retiring in California May Actually Be a Smart Idea.” For instance, though marginal rates are high, you’ll pay a lot less on your presumably diminished retirement income compared to some states with flat tax rates. California is one of the states that doesn’t tax Social Security benefits, and doesn’t tax capital gains when a spouse dies. And you’ll dearly miss that Prop. 13 property tax cap if you move somewhere like Texas.

Bay Area retired acquaintances have told me that the primary factor that caused them to stay or leave was the state of their finances. Those who have a paid-up house and enough savings and retirement income to live on (daunting prerequisites, like "first get a million dollars") consider other factors, such as where their children and friends live, the quality of medical care, and, last but far from least, the temperate weather all year long.

If I had to bet, the Bay Area is our last stop, but circumstances can easily change.

Summer, winter, or fall the Foster City weather is nearly the same.