A. Our ancestors were nomads. We are the descendants of our ancestors. Surveys reveal that the average person in the U.S. moves eleven times between birth and death. Sometimes that's within the same town; other times it's to a faraway place. Similar patterns of mobility often occur in other countries, as well.

There are three reasons why you might want to move:

(1)	Some family member – say, your ailing or aging mother and father – may need you, and you decide to move in order to be near them.
(2)	You like where you're living, but you just can't find any work – decent-paying work, anyway – there. It seems as though every job there is filled, numbered, and has a waiting list besides. You've decided you've got to move, if you're to find employment. Alternatively, it's too expensive to live where you are, and you want to move somewhere in the country where housing is cheaper, and a family can get by on less.
(3)	You can find work where you are, but you have reached the point where you decide that where you live is more important to you than any other consideration. Maybe you're living in some city, town, or rural area that you detest more, every day you are there. Finally you decide you can't stand it any longer. You've only one life to live, on this earth, and you want to spend the rest of it in a place you really enjoy. This realization can occur when you're twenty, forty, or sixty. If you're retiring, you may particularly want a place where it's always warm, or a place where you can always ski, or whatever. (Incidentally, nearly four in 10 'baby boomers' who turned fifty in 1996 say they plan to move when they retire, half of these to a different state in the U.S.)

So, how do you go about it? Well, it all depends on whether you know where you'd like to move to, or you don't. We'll look at the first scenario, first.