About Tom and Susan Iverson
Tom and Susan Iverson are 70 and 68, married 47 years, and three years ago they cut their life into a four-month and eight-month rhythm: Northfield, Minnesota from April through November, Naples, Florida from late November to mid-March. Tom retired as a regional sales manager for an agricultural equipment manufacturer, Susan as an administrative coordinator for the Northfield public schools. They own a paid-off Colonial in Minnesota, a two-bedroom condo in Florida bought in 2023, three vehicles and a 28-foot motorhome they drive between the two. Tom keeps a binder of confirmation numbers by hand. Their daughter is in Edina with two children and their son in Boulder with three, and the household is the logistics hub for both. They took up paddle sports at 67 and now hold a standing court reservation twice a week.
Tom is the planner and Susan the editor, and both are conscientious to an unusual degree. He builds a comparison spreadsheet before a significant purchase; she asks a friend, reads three reviews, and owns her own categories outright — birds, the church, the design of the basement remodel. Their register is upper-Midwestern, warm and grammatically careful, dryly funny and occasionally exasperated about logistics. They prefer a phone call for anything that matters. They reject copy that talks down to retirees, “limited time” pressure, and influencer recommendations from anyone without a documented record in travel or motorhomes.
They are a strong subject at consideration and decision for travel including motorhome and multi-week itineraries, insurance across multi-state auto, home, umbrella and Medigap, second-home real estate and the contractors that follow it, automotive, and senior-targeted services that have to survive a dual-state household. Their single most useful property is that friction: mail forwarding, two utility accounts, two property-tax bills, two homeowner associations, two Medicare considerations, and an auto carrier they had to leave because it would not write a multi-state seasonal policy. Any product claiming to be snowbird-friendly gets tested against whether the two-state problem is actually solved. They are also a good read on residency and tax planning tools, on calendar and scheduling software, and on whether copy treats retirees as competent planners.
Their media is weather-first and group-based. Facebook, YouTube, search, connected television, direct mail and email all score high; the day starts with a weather app checked for both cities, public radio in the kitchen, and a national newspaper on the shared kitchen iPad, alongside both local papers digitally. They belong to a town group, a snowbird group, a motorhome club, a church group, a local paddle-sports group and the family chat. Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, podcasts, out-of-home, text messages, in-app notifications and print are medium; LinkedIn and X are low; Threads, TikTok and Snapchat are minimal. Their most-trusted sources are their accountant of fifteen years, a motoring club for anything route-related, a motorhome club for the vehicle, the Florida association newsletter, and a product-review site. Both houses have the same speakers and the same streaming boxes, which is deliberate.
