Baby Boomers Prepare for Retirement Living

The transition to retirement living brings many early actions required of the baby boomer. You buy your new retirement home and expect to relax every day in your newly selected location and enjoying the end of the day-to-day pressures of your working career. Reality sets in upon a visit to your local government center. New to the location you discover a long list of demands, some with time newly established schedules and documentation requirements. Locating local stores for food, clothing and personal services prove to be easy as they advertise and seek you out. The more difficult demands include registering to vote, obtaining a permit to use local waste disposal services and simply obtaining license plates for your autos and a local drivers license.

Recent nationwide driver license requirements in every state present you with your top challenge to be completed within 60 days of arrival in your new location. No longer can you simply find the local DMV and turn your old license in for a new one issued by your new state. No, possession of a valid driver's license from another state will not be enough. You now, following revisions made after September 11 inspired changes, must prove who you are and where you reside. The official answer for United States citizens is the presentation of a currently valid passport reflecting your new address. As a recent retiree and having just moved to the state this is very unlikely. Even if you have a passport it reflects an old address and may be in a yet unpacked box. The answer is to present an original birth certificate (which box?) and a recent electric or gas utility bill, in your name, and correctly addressed to your new residence. You did put your utilities in both your names and had them sent to your new home? Mine were sent to my, yet to be sold home, in Virginia, 500 miles away. The birth certificate was easier, my action was to search the internet of my place of birth for the requirements to obtain a new original birth certificate. I found a process which included a form I downloaded, the need for $15, (cash, checks and credit cards not accepted) and the need to supply a self addressed envelope. All this to be completed and presented at the state DMV within 60 days of arrival in the state just to be allowed to continue to drive an auto legally.

Voter registration and waste disposal access should be easy but did present more demands for documents. To register to vote I just needed to fill out a form giving the location where I was currently able to vote. Easy for me as I happen to be a sworn elections official in my former county. They, of course, would be notified, to prevent double voting and termination of my election official status. The form also required my commitment to obtaining a local driver's license within 60 days and proof of my current ownership of a valid local residence. I was able to satisfy this requirement by showing an original real estate purchase agreement detailing exactly where within the town I now lived. This also satisfied the requirements for obtaining a permit to use the local waste disposal facility, a town transfer station with a few pages of use and recycling regulations.

Luckily, the accumulation of trash, including many empty boxes, had not become unbearable despite the time elapsed in meeting the requirements. Good thing I had plenty of time available as, after all, I was now just relaxing in my retirement years. I was now able to vote, could dispose of my trash and could look forward to starting the process of obtaining a valid driver's license and might be able to register my auto. What I could have done during my retirement preparation was to obtain a valid passport (also would allow for a retirement trip or cruise) and to carefully identify the location of my critical documents such as my birth certificate and real estate documents. I also would make special effort to ensure all utilities are in both my wife and my name.