Category: General Retirement Issues
December 26, 2011 -- It's that time of the year when we review what featured stories were read the most during the outgoing year. Not surprisingly, most had to do with the "best" and the "worst" lists of various kinds. One article from late 2010 explored "Dueling Retirement States - North vs. South Carolina". A personal favorite that made the top 10 is "What Sandy Learned from 8 Years of Looking at and Visiting Active Communities".
A limitation of this survey is that articles published
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Published on December 26, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
November 22, 2011 -- One of the regular questions we get from journalists and researchers is - where are today's retirees moving for their retirements? It's a tough question on which to find information. Fortunately some new data from the IRS puts some welcome dimension to the issue. Note that these immigration figures are for people of all ages, so while directionally useful, they are still not
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Published on November 21, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
October 10, 2011 -- How is your retirement going? Is it the dream you looked forward to for so many years - with plenty of time and resources to do the things you have always wanted to? Or is it disappointing - are you scraping by financially, plagued by poor health, bored and feeling unfulfilled?
A new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found a startling contrast between the attitudes of pre-retirees and those who have already retired. Sadly, pre-retirees are much more optimistic about their overall happiness and well-being than people who have already retired. As Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health commented on
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Published on October 10, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
September 20, 2011 -- This week there were some very good features about retirement. Here is our rundown, with links:
- CNN's 25 Best Places to Retire. You can always count on CNN/Money to come up with a good list. This year's includes some good bargain towns, like Cape Coral, Florida and Boise, Idaho.
- New York Times: "The Company You Keep". A very interesting article from the Times special Retirement Section on neighbors who decided to retire near one another. You might have to log in to see these NY Times articles.
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Published on September 20, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
September 3, 2011 -- Many of us who live in along the East Coast north of South Carolina are still trying to dig out from the ravages of Hurricane Irene. For Topretirements, based on the Connecticut Shoreline, one important step arrived this afternoon, 7 days after the storm - electricity! Internet and cable TV were welcomed back at the same time. We empathize with those who lost their homes, suffered storm damage, were injured, or who still remain without power. We hope your life returns to normal soon.
Those of us in retirement face slightly different challenges in the aftermath of a natural disaster like a hurricane. We don't have
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Published on September 3, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
Updated July, 2023 - Originally published August 6, 2011 -- (Note: This is a 3 part series. See links to Parts 2 and 3 in the "Further Reading" section at end).
The most beautiful thing about retirement is that is the perfect moment to reinvent yourself. The kids are grown, your mortgage might be paid, your fight up the career ladder is behind you. It's a "do-over", now you are free to do anything you want to, an amazing opportunity! You are only limited by your imagination and your resources (and the former can help with the latter).
To help you maximize this unique chance to start life all over again, here is our list of the 10 worst retirement mistakes you can make. We hope you will keep them in mind so that your reinvention comes off without a hitch. And if you have your own mistakes or success strategies to add, please let us know in the Comments section.
Worst Retirement Mistakes
1. Start planning your retirement the day after you retire. That's too late. Smart
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Published on August 6, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
July 6, 2011 -- The purpose of this article is to generate discussion in the Comments section about the good... and the bad things about retirement. Everyone is encouraged to contribute their thoughts about what retirement means to them, both the great stuff and the not so great. If you are not retired yet, what are your concerns and hopes? The more thoughtful comments the better, we will all be able to learn from our mutual experiences.
Your editor will start it off:
Good stuff
Freedom. I just love being able to act on invitations - without the guilt
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Published on July 5, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
June 7, 2011 -- Feeling nervous about your retirement? You wouldn't be normal if you weren't. The good news is that if you take time now to start preparing, most of your anxiety will melt away as you realize your are indeed prepared for your well-deserved retirement.
This article, which was inspired by one in the Wall Street Journal, "Ready to Retire: 5 Year Countdown", assumes that you have been working for a few years and are at least in your forties. We've set up the countdown into various periods, with particular emphasis on your last 5 working years.
R Minus 20. With 20 or more years before retirement you are lucky to...
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Published on June 7, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
May 24, 2011 -- Not so long ago many institutions were bracing for a wave of baby boomer retirements that were going to leave them with a major talent shortfall. But up until 2011 the opposite has been true, we pesky boomers seem to have been delaying retirement, and in fact we have clogged up the talent path for newer job seekers.
Multiple reports in the press have detailed the "just say no to retirement" phenomenon. The reasons for it are well known - just about everyone's retirement fund took a hit a few years ago, while millions of boomers have neither...
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Published on May 24, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
by James Stevens
Our flight was climbing to cruising altitude for the long flight back to Atlanta when my wife turned to me and said, “It’s not just about the money, is it?” Being a long-married man, I knew instantly she was referring to the idea of retirement, when society said it was time to move from active working adult to unemployed older person.
“No, it isn’t,” I agreed. “Having money is important, of course, but there’s so much more to a happy retirement. I think this trip confirmed it.”
Retirement had been a major topic of discussion as...
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Published on May 3, 2011
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