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North Carolina Best Walkable Places April 6, 2023 — Earlier this year we wrote about the best walkable towns in South Carolina. Not to be outdone, here are some great towns with good walkability in its northerly neighbor, North Carolina. Downtown New Bern New Bern, NC. We really liked…
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 1, 2023 -- A few years back one we featured the Best Places to Retire in South Carolina in one of our Blogs. Not only were they attractive places to retire, but most had the added advantage of being very walkable towns. The piece prompted a lot of interesting discussion and Comments. It even inspired one of our Members, Judith, to go and visit many of them on a two week trip. Happily for Topretirements, she then reported back to the Blog on her experiences.
We have reprinted her trip report below. Even better, when we contacted Judith about this article, she reported that she had gone back to many of the same towns a few years later She provided us with her notes on that tour, which are in bold below. We added a few additional details to some of those places to retire (they are in italic). Here goes:
Judith's Trip Report to SC Best Places to Retire
I did a two week tour of South Carolina from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6 (2016). It’s a quiet Saturday morning now, and I have time to put down my thoughts, for those who asked.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 23, 2023 -- Many retirees move when they retire, although most remain in their existing state. A smaller percentage, probably between 10 and 20%, will find a different "best retirement state". The big question is - what states are they moving to? The answer to that question is - it depends on who you ask.
Topretirements looked at 4 sources to try to identify the states most likely to attract baby boomer and Generation X retirees. The results at each vary greatly. It is interesting to note that Topretirements Members are very different from most other retirees - an overwhelming preponderance (70%) say they will retire out of state, with the Southeast and Southwest being the most likely areas chosen. Warm weather is the primary driver of where, along with being close to family and friends and lower cost of housing.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 17, 2023 -- The search for a safe place to retire is challenging, as the community of Rio Verde Hills just found out. Up until recently, it received its water from neighboring Scottsdale. But due to concerns that it wouldn't have enough water for its own residents, Scottsdale cut off the water it was supplying to Rio Verde Hills on Dec. 31. Residents there are understandably upset, as they now have to pay for water to be trucked in from increasingly farther away. Not only are water bills escalating fast, but residents are concerned about their ability to keep animals, along with having to reduce all but the most essential water use.
Is any place to retire safe?
The Rio Verde story makes it even clear that almost every area of the country faces serious climate and environmental risks. While Florida residents have plenty to worry about with coastal flooding and hurricanes, water shortages and wildfires are equally dire threats in the American West. The Midwest faces extreme weather like tornadoes, the West has earthquakes, and the Midwest and Northeast have ice and snow storms, not to mention flooding. Almost everywhere is experiencing record high temperatures and weather extremes. If that wasn't enough, other areas of the country have sinkholes and volcanoes. It seems like nowhere is safe!
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Dec. 7, 2022 -- For the people who see red when they think about paying taxes, the good news is that there are plenty of tax friendly states to retire in. There are enough choices that they can pick a state for retirement based on other factors as well, such as climate, environment, proximity of family, etc. This article will cover the states that have the lowest taxes for retirees. But first, let's discuss what kind of taxes you need to consider in retirement.
Kinds of Taxes
Unfortunately, there are multiple kinds of state taxes that can affect retirees. Some will affect different people in different ways:
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 22, 2022 -- So you've done your research and found the best town and state for your retirement - great! But before you pull that trigger, here is one last checklist to go over. This last bit of research will help to make sure that even if the climate and the location and the community are just perfect, that something unexpected doesn't come in to play to spoil your decision.
A lot of people do decide to move far away once they retire. According to the website hireahelper.com, 234,000 American retirees moved last year, up slightly from the pandemic reduced 2020. Being close to family and cheaper/better housing were the top 2 reasons for moving. Florida was the number 1 state for retirees who moved out of state (12% moved there), with the mid Atlantic Coast coast region (Melbourne) area attracting the most. Other states in the top 5 were North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia. Oregon and Maryland were the top 2 states retirees moved away from.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 9, 2022 -- Even though the Sunshine State typically adds 900 new residents every day, it still has plenty of detractors. You have probably run into many of them, often at a party where people are discussing retirement locations. "I hate the bugs, the humidity, the hurricanes, the sprawl, and the traffic"; that's a pretty good summary of the usual complaints. So if you are one of those who wants to avoid a Florida retirement, where else should you consider?
One of Florida's obvious attractions is the warm winters it provides. For those who have to have that climate requirement, geography creates some limitations. Fortunately there are some possibilities, which we will discuss here, along with some of tradeoffs and comparisons with Florida.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 31, 2022 -- There is one list that no state wants to be on - the one that names the worst states for retirement. A new list came out last week from bankrate.com, and it immediately got a lot of attention. While their list isn't bad, it really misses the most important thing - lists like this don't make sense because they don't take into account that everyone's retirement criteria are unique. Any attempt to generalize means coming up with the wrong answers for a lot of people. In this article, we will list the worst 5 states on the bankrate list, as well as the top 5 from Topretirements' most recent Worst Places to Retire list. But more important than that, we will also outline what could be the worst states for retirement for people in very different situations (well off retirees vs. those on a tight budget, homeowners vs. renters, those with a focus on well-being or strong political opinions, as well as folks with climatic and recreational requirements).
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 3, 2022 -- Since the pandemic began a housing boom has churned markets across the country. Big cities have lost out, and smaller ones with better quality of life and cheaper housing prices have gained. The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index is a list of the top metro areas for a strong local economy, appealing lifestyle amenities, and an appreciating housing market in this year's second quarter. This index comes as home prices have fallen in most parts of the country for the past few months, finally succumbing to higher mortgage rates and an overheated housing market.
Although the study was mostly oriented toward young working people looking for a better lifestyle, an easier commute, and lower real estate prices, many of the markets that came out on top are quite suitable for baby boomers and people of retirement age. That is not only because these housing markets bode well for the future, but mainly because many of them, such as Billings, Montana, offer exceptional outdoor recreational opportunities. The index's top-ranked market for the quarter was Elkhart, IN with its 206,000 people. After that came Burlington, NC; Johnson City, TN; Fort Wayne, IN; and Billings, MT. Indiana had two cities in the top 10, as did North Carolina.
Here are the WSJ's top 10 Emerging Housing Markets:
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Note: Were you looking for our "5 Medicare Mistakes You Don't Want to Make" article? Use the link in the previous sentence or go the "Blog" in the navigation at top.
July 19, 2022 -- This is the time of year when life doesn't get much better than living on a lake. With the loons calling, gentle waves lapping at the dock, and the sun setting during dinner on your screened in porch, life is good. Retiring on a lake has so many lifestyle advantages including fishing, boating, and swimming. Not to mention that your kids and grandkids will only be too eager to come for a visit.
Here are 10 great lake towns for retirement. We picked them not only because they are on beautiful lakes, but because many also have an interesting town nearby. We look forward to your suggestions on other "best" lake towns for retirement.
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