Assuming California prices remain significantly higher than in other suitable states/areas, staying in CA means having too much cash tied up in a house. In HI, at least we get a premium location for the $ that we hope to enjoy for many years to come, but the premium we pay in CA (we live in Los Gatos-Saratoga area south of SF) is mostly for our kids (e.g., schools), and that premium will no longer be useful to us in retirement.
I would rather own a $500K house someplace outside of California and get to spend that extra $1M over the course of retirement, than stay in a $1.5M house in California that my kids inherit, or that gets sold to pay medical bills when one or both of us hits the end of life medical care phase.
