With a scary hurricane season already, is Florida the right retirement haven for you?

WASHINGTON — I’ve always imagined my retirement would include a home near a beach, where the weather is warm all year and I can spend hours a day listening to crashing waves.

I love the Mid-Atlantic with its simmering summers, fall colors and warm springs, but I hate the winters — mostly because the cold aggravates my rheumatoid arthritis.

So with our golden years in mind, my husband and I have been working and reworking the numbers to see if we can afford a second home to escape the cold weather.

Until recently, Florida was the state at the top of our list. Although we did consider — briefly — buying a beach bungalow in the Virgin Islands.

Hurricane Irma has dashed our dreams of a Caribbean retreat. Those islands have been decimated, and it will be years before they are back to their glory days. But even before the storm, we calculated that the cost would be too much.

And after Irma, I’m wondering if Florida should still be our retirement destination. Would we have the resources to weather a major storm? Would the cost of housing, insurance and tax hikes in the aftermath of recent hurricane-related damage drive away others like us?

Bankrate.com found that half of working adults would consider moving to a different city or state when they retire. Are you one of them? If so, here are three key questions to consider if Florida is on your list.

—Have you factored weather-related costs into your retirement planning?

In 2004, Hurricane Charley pummeled Port Charlotte with 145 mph sustained winds. The storm hit the Gulf Coast community “like an angry drunk swinging a billy club,” The Orlando Sentinel reported in a 2009 retrospective. About half of the county’s 12,000 homes were destroyed or deemed unlivable.

“Residents who couldn’t afford to rebuild moved away, while speculators moved in and drove up prices, creating a post-storm housing shortage,” the newspaper reported.

Hurricane Irma brought fears of flooding from a storm surge. As the storm approached, more than 6 million Floridians were ordered to evacuate. By early last week, more than 6 million households had lost power.

Coastal cities are increasingly facing costly flood damage due to climate change, according to research by the World Bank. Two cities in Florida

There’s more to taxes than the personal rate. States with no personal income tax, such as Florida, often make up for the lack of this revenue by having higher sales or real estate taxes.

What would be your support system should you need assistance, especially with health-related issues? And let’s be real, having family close can save on the cost of hiring help.

If Florida is far from family and friends, will you have the money to go see them regularly? Can they afford to come to you?

There are always tradeoffs when you make a major move. Just don’t let the promise of a sunshine paradise cloud your judgment of finding a sustainable place to retire.