Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 11, 2017 -- In this installment of our "Dueling Retirement States" we compare and analyze retirement in the states that we will call the mid-South: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama. See Further Reading at bottom for links to the other regional comparisons in our series, such as The Carolinas, Gulf States, and Florida vs. Arizona.
These states can provide many different retirement lifestyles. They have mountains, lakes, cities, and small towns. Beyond that, they offer some of the most inexpensive living situations available in the U.S. Your retirement dollar can definitely go farther here, especially with their generally tax-friendly reputations. Winters in these states are much milder than in the most of the rest of the country, with a climate that is amenable to an active retirement year round. They are also generally uncrowded and less congested than many other retirement locations.
In this article we will compare and contrast these four southern states:
Alabama,
Georgia
Kentucky,
Tennessee
(links go to our mini-retirement guides to each state). Population and income data is from American Fact Finder-U.S. Census Bureau.
A Few Facts
Georgia is the largest state by population and also the youngest and most affluent. In 2015 there were an estimated 4.9 million people in Alabama, 10.3 million in Georgia, 4.4 million in Kentucky, and 6.6 million in Tennessee.
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Published on July 11, 2017
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 17 — In this article we will highlight our experiences and impressions from a recent trip to the Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater area. We hope you find it useful.
All 3 cities on gigantic Tampa Bay are located on Florida’s West Coast, about half way down from FL's northern border. For comparison, Orlando is located inland to the northeast, while Melbourne is parallel on the East coast. There are also a number of smaller towns in the area, a few of which we will talk about here. The area has a warm Florida climate influenced by its proximity to the Gulf, although it is not quite as warm in winter as towns further south like Naples or Miami. The area is densely populated. Traffic, particularly in the winter season and summer, can be quite intense.
Boats anchored in the Vinoy yacht basin marina, St.Pete.
St. Petersburg has, in our opinion, the best opportunities for retirement in this group. There is a compact urban center that is attractive and walkable. All
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Published on July 17, 2017
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 27, 2017 – For the first time since Topretirements began running our annual list of America's 100 most popular places to retire we have a winner from the west. In fact, we have two. Green Valley, Arizona took over the top spot from last year's winner, Sarasota, Florida. Hitting #2 on our list is another town from Arizona, the former cowboy town of Prescott, north of Phoenix.
Green Valley is a sprawling area south of Tucson near the border with Mexico. It covers a vast area with all kinds of communities and developments - in fact it has 59 different home owner associations. Retirees like its relatively low cost of living, warm winter climate, the nearby Santa Rita Mountains, and the extensive non-profit Green Valley recreation complex. Mountains near Green Valley
In gaining the #1 spot on our list, Green Valley was viewed over 12,000 times
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Published on July 26, 2017
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Category: Retirement Planning
July 31, 2017 -- Just like the childless doctor that gives parenting advice, almost every "expert" has a few things to learn once they actually experience what they have been advising on. Retirement experts are no different. We recently read a great article by Paul Brown, who co-authored several books about retirement in his 30's and 40's. Now that he has actually experienced retirement for a while, he has had some realizations. In general Paul believes he gave good advice to his readers. But he knows now he should done two things differently:
1. Been more empathetic. Actual life is more complicated than theoretical.
2. Given more concrete examples.
Later on in this article we will give a quick rundown of the 3 examples he wrote about in this NY Times article, "Things I Should Have Said About Retirement Planning". But first, here are
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Published on July 30, 2017
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