Category: Travel
Take a Hike!
By Jan Cullinane.
Editor's Note: Frequent contributor Jan Cullinane submitted this piece on her recent road trip to Utah and many of its National Parks. We thought it makes a nice "how-to" companion to our recent article: "Best Road Trips for Baby Boomers".
August 2, 2014 -- I live in a state with swaying palm trees, the second longest coastline (after Alaska), no state income tax, and a place that made the expression “hanging chads” popular. Yup, you guessed it - Florida. My husband and I love the warmth, glittering sea, and verdant greenery of the Sunshine State, but the mighty West, with its desert beauty and incredible rock formations beckoned. So, off we went in late June/early July on a ten-day trip to tour the “Big 5” national parks of Utah: Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, and Bryce Canyon. In addition, we visited Dead
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Published on August 2, 2014
Comments 4
Category: Retirement Planning
August 5, 2014 - Note, this is the 3rd article in our series on how to avoid wrecking your retirement. The first 2 articles can be found in "Further Reading" below.
Retirement is hard enough without making a self-inflicted, hard to recover from mistake. To help you avoid that trauma we have searched through comments to our previous retirement surveys and the general literature for the
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Published on August 4, 2014
Comments 69
Category: Work and Volunteering
August 12, 2014 -- OK, it's a little bit of an oxymoron to put jobs and retirement in the same sentence. But we are not talking about full-time employment, we mean part-time or flex-time jobs. We also don't mean for this article to be a one way stream of information - our hope is that our members will contribute their ideas on dream retirement jobs - both the positions themselves and the criteria that make for a great gig. We also recommend our Blog series on Adventurous Baby Boomer Retirements, where we've posted multiple profiles of fascinating, and off-beat retirements.
Criteria for dream jobs
Here are some criteria that we associate with dream jobs:
- Flexible schedule. You are retired, so who
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Published on August 11, 2014
Comments 16
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 13, 2014 -- (Note: This is Part 3 in a series of under-appreciated places to retire. Find the links to Parts 1 and 2 at the end).
We get a little tired of seeing the same towns and cities get picked for "Best" this or that for retirement. Seems like everyone doing the selecting is drinking at the same water trough. So when our friend Bob Powell at MarketWatch asked for input on some under-appreciated places to retire, he got our attention (his article, "Five Lesser Known Places to Retire", was published last Sunday in USA Today).
Our goal in coming up with 5 less discovered towns
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Published on August 12, 2014
Comments 20
Category: Uncategorized
August 13, 2014. Some of our members might have noticed that we are experimenting with a new format for our Blog articles. The purpose is to make our pages more readable and user-friendly on ipads and smart phones (but not impact regular computers), which more of our members are using…
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Published on August 12, 2014
Comments 26
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated January 20, 2021 - Originally published August, 2014
Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study of U.S. Unhappy Cities. The study also listed the cities that have the happiest people. While it is relatively easy to guess the unhappiest places, the cities with the happiest folks tend to be surprising. The study was not specifically about retirement, but we certainly think it is relevant.
But first - happy places...
Clyde, a long time Member and frequent contributor, brought this article back to our attention in connection with a fascinating piece he read in The New Yorker: "Find the Place You Love... Then Move There". In it Arthur. C. Brooks talks about the notion that most people have a place they think of as home, no matter how many times they might move in their life. He says that although moving is a horrible and painful process, sometimes it is worth it if it brings you happiness. We couldn't agree more when it comes to retirement. If where you are living doesn't make you happy, find someplace that does and move there!
Happy PlacesThese are the top 6 metros with the happiest people according to the study. Kudos to the State of Louisiana, which has 2 out of the 6. Note that although 5 out of the 6 metros are in or close to the Sunbelt - what is going on in Rochester, Minn. to make folks so happy? (If the name appears in blue that link will take you to our city review).- Charlottesville, Virginia- Rochester, Minnesota
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Published on August 18, 2014
Comments 9
Category: Checklists
August 19, 2014 -- Whether you have decided to stay where you live now or maybe move out of state, you need to make a wise choice about where you retire. Part of that decision hinges on you being realistic, and demanding, about the requirements you need to make all the years of your retirement fulfilling - not just the first 10 years or so.
As we baby boomers age we are definitely moving the average
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Published on August 19, 2014
Comments 14
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
August 23, 2014. How much of your pre-retirement income do you think you can count on once you are retired? A recent survey from T Rowe Price. "Retirees Live on Less", found that most of the retirees in their survey are getting along on about 2/3 of their working days income.
The survey was conducted by the big mutual fund company among people who had money in at least 1 401(k) account. Their median household assets – investments and home equity minus debts – were $473,000. That would put the sample much better off than the average retiree, since only half of Americans over 45 have managed to save
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Published on August 23, 2014
Comments 33
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 25, 2014 -- More and more active baby boomers have discovered the joys of biking - whether it just getting around the neighborhood on 2 wheels, the occasional rail2trail expedition, or longer trips through the countryside or even across the country. Cyclists save gas, get healthy exercise, have time to experience the sights, and are kind to the planet at the same time. In fact battery-assisted bikes, which use batteries to help you get up hills or assist on longer trips, are one of the fastest growing products in many places. So it stands to reason that when it comes to retirement, you might want to
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Published on August 24, 2014
Comments 12
