The wife and I are probably 5-7 years from retirement. We currently live in what you would call a suburb of Chicago. Winters are pretty harsh around here so we want to move further south. We are fortunate to have a lake house 90 miles from here in northern Indiana which has made very easy for me to get the wife to agree we need to retire on the water.

Ideally, I am looking for a decent size body of water. Our current lake is 550 acres - you all probably consider that more of a pond. We agree that we would want something larger than the lake we are currently on. We like the convenience of being right on the water, and having our own pier/boat house. If possible - we would like to be reasonably close to a larger city - maybe 75-100 miles.

Just wondering if anyone knows of a lake or two that fits that description? I know we probably limit ourselves wanting to be right on the lake with our own pier - but to be honest, as I think through retirement not sure I would want to constantly trailer in every time I want to fish or take the wife out for a cruise.

Thanks guys! Appreciate the help.