Dreaming of splitting your year between two beautiful states and chasing year-round sun? In this week’s episode of Next Act Ninjas, Rachael Van Pelt pressure-tests the “sunbird” lifestyle of enjoying Colorado’s alpine summers and Arizona’s sunny winters. You’ll learn how 183-day residency rules, 2025 tax changes, and dual-state healthcare planning can make or break your budget; why altitude adaptation and heat acclimation matter for healthspan; and how one client used strategic renting and short-term stays to cut living costs by 30 percent. Rachael also unpacks the psychology of place attachment, family dynamics, and purpose, then hands you her five-point green-light checklist and a free Longevity Lifestyle Assessment tool so you can crunch the numbers, protect your health, and decide if two zip codes are really worth the hype. Hit play, subscribe, and share with anyone working to create their best Next Act.
Dreaming of splitting your year between two beautiful states and chasing year-round sun? In this week’s episode of Next Act Ninjas, Rachael Van Pelt pressure-tests the “sunbird” lifestyle of enjoying Colorado’s alpine summers and Arizona’s sunny winters. You’ll learn how 183-day residency rules, 2025 tax changes, and dual-state healthcare planning can make or break your budget; why altitude adaptation and heat acclimation matter for healthspan; and how one client used strategic renting and short-term stays to cut living costs by 30 percent. Rachael also unpacks the psychology of place attachment, family dynamics, and purpose, then hands you her five-point green-light checklist and a free Longevity Lifestyle Assessment tool so you can crunch the numbers, protect your health, and decide if two zip codes are really worth the hype. Hit play, subscribe, and share with anyone working to create their best Next Act.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Sunbird Lifestyle
03:13 Which State Will You Make Your Primary Residence?
05:00 How Well Will Your Body Handle the Physical Stress?
07:04 Will Your Healthcare Plan Support a Sunbird Lifestyle?
08:22 Will Your Retirement Plan Support a Sunbird Lifestyle?
10:42 Emotional and Social Aspects of Sunbird Living
11:40 Family Dynamics and Sunbird Lifestyle
13:46 Test-run a Sunbird Lifestyle Before You Commit
Hey, hey, welcome back to Next Act Ninjas, the go-to podcast for mastering your health and wealth longevity. I'm your host, Rachael Van Pelt, coming to you from my usual perch on Colorado's Front Range, where believe it or not, in early June, it is a comfortable 70 degrees, and we can still see snow-capped peaks along the Continental Divide. But I'm not going to lie, my heart is still back in the Red Rock Wonderland that we just visited. Two weeks ago, my husband and I packed up our kids in a pile of mountain bikes, we pointed our SUV south, we cranked up the road trip playlist, and landed in Sedona, Arizona. Every day was single track heaven and trail running bliss, from sunrise to sunset. And in those hot hours in between, let's just say margaritas taste a little bit better in the hot desert.
Somewhere between scrambling up Cathedral Rock and flowing down Highline, my husband turned to me and said, "remind me again why we don't do winters down here". I laughed. I thought about all of our neighbors that already do exactly that. They sunbird November through April in the Sonoran Desert, and then May through October, they're back here in the Rockies. By the time that we were loading up our bikes for the drive home, my mind was ticking through all the usual questions. How would a second home impact our healthspan? How would two mortgages impact our wealthspan? And seriously, could my body and mind handle the major transitions between mountain and desert twice a year?
Now as a realtor, I help out-of-state clients buy mountain properties all the time. And believe me, these are exactly the kinds of questions that we sort through together. So today I'm going to put on both of my hats, my longevity scientist hat and my real estate coaching hat. We're going to unpack every glorious possibility, every sneaky landmine of the Colorado to Arizona sunbird lifestyle. Make yourself comfortable because by the end of this episode, you're going to know whether you're a future two-state adventurer or whether the fantasy should just stay on Instagram.
But I'm going to start with why people fall in love with this idea. I mean, picture it. July in the Rockies at 75 degrees and the wildflowers are exploding under the giant cobalt sky. Fast forward to January when the mercury drops to single digits. Picture yourself teeing off now in Scottsdale at dawn, still wearing shorts. What's not to love about that? Year round outdoor play, micro seasonal living, two sets of friends and farmers markets. From a purely hedonic standpoint, it's unbeatable.
But here's the truth, sunbirding is not just a vacation that never ends. It's a lifestyle commitment, financially, physiologically, and psychologically. You don't want to treat it like buying a ski pass. You want to treat it like any other major longevity intervention. So grab your favorite beverage and let's dive into the five biggest questions that every aspiring sunbird needs to answer, whether you're thinking Colorado-Arizona, or some other two-state adventure.
The first question you want to tackle is, where will you call your home? Where will you plant your legal flag? When we were thinking about Sedona, my husband asked, wouldn't making Arizona be great for tax purposes? And it seems like a good idea because Arizona's flat personal income tax is currently only 2.5%, whereas Colorado's sits at about 4.4%. On the other hand, Colorado does give older residents a juicy $24,000 retirement income deduction and a Senior Homestead exemption on property taxes. But here's the rub, you can't call both states your home. You have to identify one as your primary residence. That means wherever you spend more than 183 days a year, where you register to vote, where you have your driver's license, that's your primary. Any secondary state, you're going to be filing only as a part-year resident.
As far as taxes go, the decision tree looks something like this. Do you have higher portfolio withdrawals? If yes, then Colorado's pension deduction can offset the higher rate. If not, if most of your income is coming from Social Security and a little bit from IRA income, then Arizona might win out. And if you own a business entity that you're going to run remotely, you're probably going to want to call your CPA before you plant your flag. And remember, even if you pick Arizona as your primary, you're still going to owe property taxes in Colorado on that "vacation" cabin. Taxes don't vanish, they just shape shift.
The second question to tackle is how well will your body adapt to those different environments? Depending on where you live in Colorado, you're probably anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. I live around 7,000. My go-to trails are around 8,000 to 9,000. Sedona, on the other hand, it's a cozy 4,000 feet. Scottsdale, just 2,000 feet. That's low enough for your blood cells to sigh with relief. But altitude ping-pong, it's not trivial. Those rapid swings can trigger everything from poor sleep to atrial fibrillation in a susceptible heart. So you want to think about that. Meanwhile, summer highs in Phoenix, they can dance above 110 degrees for weeks. It was already in the high 90s when we were in Sedona just a couple weeks ago in May. Altitude and temperature swings can really stress your physiologic systems. So you want to think about that.
You know, I could nerd out all day on this, but I'm going to keep it quick. When you live at elevation, your body adapts to the lower oxygen in the environment by boosting oxygen delivery to the cells, everything from adapting your lungs right down to your mitochondria. As soon as you drop to sea level or somewhere in between, those adaptations disappear very fast, within weeks. You pile on adaptations to something like temperature, whether that's heat or cold, your body is going to be under a fair amount of stress. Bouncing back and forth means that your body's going to be in a perpetual transitional state. That can be a great micro-stressor and promote healthspan for some people, but for others, it could be miserable. If you're not in good health, that kind of physiologic stress is not a good thing.
I tell clients to simulate the transition, the shuttle back and forth twice at least before committing. For example, do one two week spring stint in Arizona desert, one two week fall stint back in Colorado altitude. Track sleep quality, blood pressure, resting heart rate, even subjective mood because data always beats daydreams. You really want to collect that data and know what's going on.
But you're also going to want to tackle the question of how will your healthcare be impacted. If you have hypertension, cardiopulmonary disease, kidney trouble, anything like that, or simply slow to acclimate, you're going to want to map out medical support before you ever sign a mortgage. Medicare Advantage, HMOs in Colorado, they might not even cover an urgent care visit in Arizona, so you want to check that out. Conversely, my Snowbird clients often keep a high deductible Medi-gap plan that's very portable. If you have a trusted specialist in one place, you're going to want to find out whether telehealth follow-ups are going to suffice for keeping up when you're living somewhere else. If not, you're going to want to decide whether you can find a specialist you trust in both locations and whether they're going to be able to work together seamlessly.
Here's a longevity lifestyle hack that I love. You want to build what I call a "two-state medical spine". That means at least one primary care or urgent care facility in each state that can ideally share electronic records seamlessly. Then add one telehealth-friendly specialist who stays with you year-round.
Now another question to tackle is, what's the true cost of two roofs? Remember that Margarita Bliss I talked about? It might be enough to make you forget about roof repairs and HOA assessments and insurance premiums, but it's not going to negate the fact that buying a second home is going to double those line items, or at least 1.5x them if you downsize from a larger home, you have two smaller footprints. Even if you can afford two homes short term, you're going to want to take into account your long-term wealthspan.
I recently helped clients from Chicago buy a condo in Breckenridge. They were then also going to downsize their Chicago home to a townhouse in Scottsdale. Their combined carrying costs after mortgages, HOA dues, property taxes, insurance, utilities, extra travel, all that was going to come to about $7,500 per month. Not too bad, right? And their financial advisor told them that their 4% withdrawal rate was going to support $9,000 per month. But that calculation assumed they were living in one paid off primary residence. So when we re-ran the plan with two roofs and higher travel budget, we realized that they were going to be overdrawn by the age of 83. While 82 might be their current life expectancy, they didn't feel comfortable with that scenario knowing that they could easily live well into their 90s, so they pivoted.
They made that Breckenridge condo their primary residence, and they opted to instead rent a fully furnished home in Scottsdale, February through May. Now the best part is that they got to enjoy skiing in Breckenridge in December and January, and then they rented out their condo for top dollar during the peak ski months of February and March. So that extra income alone pays for their Scottsdale rental every year. In other words, they get to enjoy the same sunshine, a 30% lower burn rate, and have a little bit of rental cash flow. Plus, they have the option to rent wherever they feel like hanging their hats if they don't feel like Scottsdale every single winter. So that kind of economic and geographic flexibility is a superpower. I love that approach.
A final question you're to want to ask yourself is, how deep are your roots? This is the emotionally charged question. Research on "place attachment" shows that social networks strongly predict perceived purpose after retirement. You are quite literally attached to the friends who know your dog's name and bring you dinner when you sprain an ankle. When you sunbird, you chop that attachment in half. Now some people thrive on novelty. Others, on the other hand, feel unmoored. My neighbor raves about her two "tribes", golfing buddies in Arizona, hiking friends in Colorado, whereas her husband admits he feels a little bit like a permanent tourist, never fully invested in either place. So before you buy, audit your personal attachment style. If you make the leap, at least plan things, rituals and so forth that are going to help you maintain a little bit of continuity. Maybe Zoom dinners or something like that.
But let's widen the lens beyond friendship circles and talk about the people who share your DNA, or at least your holiday dinner table. Family dynamics can make or break your sunbird dream because attachment isn't just about your social life, it's also generational. If one of your deepest joys is spontaneous soccer games in the backyard with grandkids, ask yourself how you're going to feel if every hug requires a flight itinerary. Obviously FaceTime is great, but the neuroscience does tell us that oxytocin surges when you share real-world space, not just pixels. To help with this, some people will schedule what I call "magnet weeks", such as Fourth of July in Colorado, Thanksgiving in Arizona. That's when the entire clan knows your house is open for business. They can come visit. They don't need to plan too much. They just know you're there.
And don't forget, kids may plan to move. If you're moving, if you're creating a sunbird lifestyle to be near kids, just remember that careers change, marriages change, market forces shift. I've seen people close on a townhouse that's close to their kids only to find that their daughter's husband accepted a job in Portland six months later. So just build that into your plan.
Also, if your parents are still living, the caregiving pendulum can swing fast. Being a long flight away when your dad gets pneumonia is very different stress than being just a car ride away. One of my client couples, they solved this by picking a sunbird community that was within 20 minutes of a major airport that just had a two hour direct flight to their parents' home. They budgeted for last minute fares and that sort of thing. Another family, they rotate between three homes. winter in Florida, summer in Colorado, fall back near their aging parents in the Midwest. It means they're making a transition every four months, but they enjoy the somewhat nomadic lifestyle while maintaining quality time with their parents.
Bottom line, there's a lot to think about when it comes to creating a sunbird lifestyle. Like any big lifestyle investment, it takes a bit of research and soul searching. So here's my actionable takeaway, ninja style. Are you ready?
If you are dreaming, about a sunbird lifestyle, but you're not sure you're ready for it, I want you to start by, well, first, running the numbers. Put two roofs, two sets of utilities, travel, maintenance into a mock budget. If the withdrawal rate on your retirement is going to exceed 4%, you might want to step back and reassess. Ask whether you need to downsize to a smaller footprint or there's a rental scenario that you might be happy with.
And I want you to stress-test your biology. Plan a three-week test run to see how you handle the environment, whether that be altitude or heat or humidity. Track your vitals, your sleep, your subjective mood throughout. Can your body handle the adaptation easily, or does it cause too much physical stress?
And then pilot test the community. Introduce yourself to the neighbors. Check out local gyms, grocery stores, churches, or anywhere else you want to attend regularly. Maybe you volunteer somewhere or attend a townhall council meeting, whatever. Is this somewhere you can really plant your roots or is it just your happy vacation spot?
Check out the legal and medical infrastructure as well. Talk to your CPA, a state attorney, insurance broker, physician. Determine whether you can build that two-state infrastructure that's going to support your healthspan and wealthspan.
And don't forget to revisit purpose. Ask, does this move truly expand your sense of meaning or are you just chasing climate comfort at the cost of deeper roots? If those five checkpoints stay green for at least two seasons, then the sunbird life might truly fit your Next Act. If any of those lights are yellow, congratulations, you just saved yourself a major mistake.
And remember, you can always find my Longevity Lifestyle Assessment Tool in the show notes. It's a great place to start if you're still in that "I'm not sure what I want yet" phase. It's a totally free opt-in, but if you want a personalized walkthrough, you can also book a strategy session with me on my calendar. I can help you decide whether sunbirding is or isn't the right fit for your Next Act.
I'm going to leave you with one parting image. Last week in Golden, I laced up for my trail was still little bit of frost on the rocks against the big Colorado sky. Just 10 days earlier, I was in Sedona with the dawn light turning the sandstone neon, a little bit of that mesquite scent on warm air. Both mornings, the same heart pounded inside the same rib cage and I had the same craving to stay vibrant, to keep it exploring. Whether our Next Act means one zip code or two, it's up to each of us, isn't it? Just promise me you'll keep that in mind. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses, but do investigate your dream with curiosity, courage, and don't forget a good spreadsheet.
That's all I have for you today. If you enjoyed today's episode of Next Act Ninjas, be sure to share it with a friend who's already browsing Zillow in two states. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss a science-fueled, contrarian-flavored conversation about living well, loving more, and aging less. Until next time, stay curious, stay active, and keep plotting your best Next Act, whether it's under red rocks or snowy peaks.