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A partnership for thoughtful LGBTQ+ retirement planning
Where Do Gays Retire? + StateMatcher
Mark Goldstein helps LGBTQ+ people discover welcoming places and hear the real stories behind them. StateMatcher helps you investigate which U.S. states and communities fit your own life, priorities, and plans.
Mark's audience receives 10% off eligible paid reports on both StateMatcher and FlagSeek with code WDGR10.
From inspiration to investigation
The podcast opens possibilities. StateMatcher helps you test them.
A city or state can sound wonderful in an interview, article, or travel video and still raise important questions for your finances, healthcare, housing, relationships, safety, or long-term security. StateMatcher is designed to connect those questions to the facts of your own life before momentum takes over.
For LGBTQ+ users, the analysis can incorporate concerns such as legal recognition, discrimination risk, social acceptance, visible community, privacy, family and parentage issues, and other priorities you identify in the questionnaire.
What StateMatcher can examine
- LGBTQ+ legal protections, social climate, and everyday safety
- Healthcare access, continuity of care, and long-term needs
- Housing costs, property taxes, insurance, and retirement budget
- Climate, natural hazards, and the realities of daily life
- Community, belonging, relationships, and social fit
- State and local differences that broad rankings can miss
Two paths especially relevant to Mark's audience
Start with the part of the decision that matters most to you.
For many Where Do Gays Retire? listeners, the biggest questions are both deeply personal and practical: where LGBTQ+ life feels secure and welcoming, and where retirement can work for the life you actually want.
LGBTQ+ relocation planning
Look beyond statewide rankings to everyday life.
Explore how legal protections, healthcare, family recognition, community, safety, privacy, and local differences can shape what it feels like to live somewhere as an LGBTQ+ person.
Retirement planning
Compare staying put with making a move.
Retirement does not automatically mean relocating. Explore how your current location and other U.S. options compare on healthcare, housing, taxes, cost of living, climate, community, and the priorities that matter most to your retirement.
Choose the decision in front of you
Start free, then go deeper only when you need to.
StateMatcher is a connected report family rather than a generic list of the “best” states. Your questionnaire answers can be saved and reused, so you can move from broad exploration to a specific decision without starting over.
Free first step
StateMatcher Big Picture
Before comparing states, see the shape of the life you want to build. Your free Big Picture identifies the priorities, constraints, and tradeoffs that should guide the rest of your search.
- Your most important priorities and concerns
- Needs that reinforce one another
- Tradeoffs worth examining more closely
- Questions a future State Match can investigate
Start here
U.S. State Match Report
The U.S. State Match Report begins with you—not a generic ranking. It uses your household, budget, work, healthcare, housing, climate, safety, accessibility, family, language, and community priorities to identify promising states, show what each could offer, and explain the tradeoffs that matter.
- A personalized shortlist of U.S. states worth investigating
- An explanation of why each state may fit your priorities
- A clear view of the strengths, tradeoffs, and questions that could affect the fit
- A structured starting point for deeper state and local research
Explore one state
U.S. State Deep Dive
Your report is built from your questionnaire answers. It examines one state through the lens of your household, needs, wants, priorities, concerns, care requirements, budget realities, and lifestyle preferences—then shows how different regions and communities may or may not fit.
- A personalized analysis shaped by your questionnaire answers
- A regional and local orientation rather than a statewide-only summary
- Promising place types and areas to investigate
- Strengths, tradeoffs, and a practical research agenda
Compare two choices
U.S. State Compare
The U.S. State Compare goes beyond generic scorecards. It examines two selected states against the same household needs and preferences so you can see where each state shines, where the tradeoffs differ, and which differences genuinely matter to your decision.
- A personalized side-by-side comparison of two states
- Category-by-category strengths, differences, and tradeoffs
- A clear explanation of which state fits which priorities
- A focused list of unresolved questions and verification steps
Plan the move
U.S. State Action Plan
The U.S. State Action Plan is the deepest StateMatcher report. It connects destination intelligence with a personalized sequence for exploring places, confirming the details that matter, preparing your household, and moving toward your next chapter with confidence.
- A personalized destination and implementation report
- A ranked set of places to explore, with the final choice always yours
- Mini-guidebook treatment of recommended areas, their strengths, and their tradeoffs
- A phased action plan with research, verification, and moving steps
Your introduction to StateMatcher
Mark Goldstein
Mark is the host of the Where Do Gays Retire? podcast and founder of a growing community helping LGBTQ+ people explore welcoming retirement destinations with greater confidence.
A practical next step
Explore widely. Decide carefully. Move with your eyes open.
StateMatcher does not tell you where you must live. It helps you understand which options deserve deeper investigation, where meaningful risks or tradeoffs may exist, and what to verify before you commit.
Use code WDGR10 for 10% off eligible paid reports.