Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 3, 2018 — Many people are intrigued with the idea of retirement to one of America’s oldest communities - Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are attracted by the beautiful mountains, the dry air, the charming old architecture, and the abundance of art. In this article we will discuss our recent retirement scouting trip to Santa Fe - what we learned about retiring there along with its pluses and minuses. We also hope that our Members who are familiar with the area can give their opinions and advice too.
Spanish explorers came to this mountainous area in northwest New Mexico and were followed by mssionaries in search of souls - the native Americans, the Pueblo people. These native Americans visited the area in search of game for thousands of years, then a few hundred years before Columbus discovered America settled here to farm and live in cliff dwellings and pueblos. Spanish settlers arrived about 1600 and in 1610 Santa Fe became the capital of the territory, the oldest State Capitol in the U.S. They built its charming downtown with a central plaza in the Spanish style. There you can find the Palace of the Governors, St. Francis Cathedral, several very old churches, and an
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Published on January 2, 2018
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Category: General Retirement Issues
January 3, 2018 -- It is always a good exercise to review our most read articles of the year. It tells us what our Members are looking for, and it has the side benefit of alerting new readers to articles that struck home for others. So here goes:
Site recap
Thanks so much to our many members and visitors. We enjoy your feedback, and most of all the 1000s of incredible Comments we get to our articles each year. Your input is valued by us and your fellow members. In 2017 Topretirements.com had over 2 million site visitors and 5 million page views. It is gratifying to know that we are being useful in some fashion to people interested in retirement.
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Published on January 3, 2018
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Part 2: Is the West Shore the Best Shore? (See Link to Part 1, the East, at end of article)
By Flo Williamson
January 8, 2017 -- There are many folks that claim the West Shore of Lake Tahoe and areas north offer the best living on the lake. The hardest part in visiting the West Shore is actually getting there, especially heading north along the lake from South Lake Tahoe.
West shore Lake Tahoe
While the areas just north of South Lake Tahoe have some of the best beaches and great state parks, it is also the route for some of Lake Tahoe’s greatest tourist attractions. In fact, this part of the lake in particular is generally much more oriented towards tourists than it is retirees. Camp Richardson is a government run campground, RV park, marina, restaurant, and more, catering to lake visitors. With 300 camping and RV sites and more cabin accommodations, the resulting traffic along this stretch of the one road around the lake can be horrendous, especially during the summer. Then, as you continue north, the road rises hundreds of feet above the lake with hairpin curves (and no guardrails) that seem like they’re ending in the lake itself - not for the faint hearted!! This leads us to Emerald Bay, one of the most beautiful and photographed bays in the world and the starting point of numerous hikes and
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Published on January 7, 2018
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Category: Active adult communities
January 9, 2017 -- When active baby boomers start investigating places to retire, sooner or later they are going to hear about The Villages (TV) in Central Florida. The big reason is that it is the largest 55+ community in the country. As of mid 2017 over 115,000 people lived in The Villages, most of them because they enjoy its mind-boggling array of amenities and non-stop active lifestyle. The population is growing fast - it was only 51,000 in the year 2000.
Clearly the lifestyle appeals to the people who live there. For folks who like to always have something to do, make instant friends, and drive their golf cart
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Published on January 8, 2018
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Category: Work and Volunteering
January 14, 2018 — Do you have plans for working after you retire? And if you did, how did it work out? We know many people think they might work after they retire, either to keep busy or to help overcome an income shortfall. We would like to find out…
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Published on January 13, 2018
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
January 14, 2018 — We will be writing an article for Topretirements that touches on the importance of health in retirement. Would love to hear from anyone who has had a change in their health that affected their retirement plans. You can reply below as a Comment, on our…
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Published on January 14, 2018
Comments 46
Category: Checklists
Updated June, 2023 - Many important things in life rely on a three sided approach. Christianity has as the Holy Trinity the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A pyramid relies on 3 faces for stability. Less seriously, our brother likes to say that a good gumbo relies on the holy trinity of vegetables: green peppers, celery, and onions (we would add okra). We think there is a good case to be made that a good retirement relies on three key supports as well.
3 Pillars of Retirement
1. Health. Far too many people yearn for and plan for a great retirement, only to have those hopes shattered by a serious change in their health. Sometimes that happens before they retire, other times it happens not along after their working days end. Instead of enjoying golf, tennis, hiking, fishing, or whatever - you find yourself living a sedentary lifestyle, often with crushing medical expenses and painful treatments. Having a serious health change can also affect many other aspects of life too, such as where you live, and how you plan to stay busy in retirement.
The problem is that no one ever thinks bad medical news will happen to them. But too many times, one day
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Published on January 16, 2018
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Note: Coincidence or not, one of Topretirements' Best Places to Retire lists was picked up as a feature on January 26 by both TheStreet.com and MSN.com ("Best U.S. Cities to Retire in"). We are definitely honored!
January 20, 2018 -- How many "best places to retire" lists have you come across this month? We know we've seen plenty, in fact our son even forwards them to us. The big question about the never ending barrage of lists is, are they worth reading? Here we will explore the somewhat wild and crazy of best places lists, a topic we hope you will find interesting.
#1 - There is no limit to how specialized these lists can get
Thanks to a Denver Post article we learned a whole lot of new ways to tackle the "best places" list game. Consider some of these candidates
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Published on January 19, 2018
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Category: Surveys
January 24, 2018 -- The Topretirements.com survey from last week asked 11 questions about your plans or experiences concerning work after retirement. Over 400 members gave back to this community by taking the time to respond (thank you on behalf of everyone who will profit from your investment!). This article will summarize the overall results along with the data for each question. And, since so many people shared their opinions, we have provided you with summary documents where you can read all of the practical ideas, experiences,
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Published on January 24, 2018
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Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
January 26 — As a baby boomer we confess to a certain pride in belonging to the largest single age demographic group in world history. A tidal wave that crashed on the shore in 1946, we overflowed the hospitals we were born in. That continued through our childhood as new…
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Published on January 26, 2018
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