Category: Health and Wellness Issues
November 4, 2019 -- Last year about three million older people sought emergency room treatment for injuries sustained in falls. About 1 out of 3 people over 65 had a serious fall. We've all heard tales of older people (that is getting to be us!) whose lives were changed, irrevocably, for the worst after a big fall. A broken hip or pelvis can mean the end of an active life.
So what are you doing to stay agile, flexible, and strong so you don't suffer a fall, or not seriously hurt if you do? If you say you are doing nothing, that is a problem, because you might be headed for a .... fall.
How well are you aging tests
Doctors and therapists have a number of tests that measure how people are aging. One of them claims to be an excellent predictor of your chances of dying within 6 years. See Today Show Video
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Published on November 4, 2019
Comments 3
Category: Retirement Real Estate
November 6, 2019 -- Millennials and GenY and Xers can get a little tired of us baby boomers. Now some experts are seeing yet another problem we seemed to have created. By staying in our homes longer than expected, we are disrupting the housing market. According to research by the real-estate brokerage Redfin, homeowners are staying in their homes 5 years longer than they did in 2010. The typical stay has now lengthened to 13 years. That has led to a tight real estate market with record low inventories of homes for sale.
Many folks expected that by now baby boomers would have downsized, moved to warmer climes, or headed to a 55+ community. That should have led to a big supply of larger homes on the market, to be purchased by younger families wanting to move up. While many of us have moved, more are staying put than predicted. The result is a market disruption. Families that need bigger homes for their growing broods are finding a tight housing market, with fewer homes for sale than expected. The inventory of homes on the market is the lowest in 37 years, according to CoreLogic Inc. Smaller inventories keep prices high. Boomers are affecting the market for smaller homes and condos too. Because inventories are tight in all kinds of markets, there is pressure on both older and younger buyers. Although home equity-rich boomers are more likely to come out on top in any bidding war, they are reluctant to pay high prices for a smaller home.
Adjusted for population, t
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Published on November 5, 2019
Comments 42
Category: Retirement Real Estate
November 9, 2019 -- With so many baby boomers facing retirement with smaller than expected savings, the question of where they can afford to live is a serious question. Recently one of our long-standing Members, Peder, raised the issue of manufactured homes, and in particular, their pitfalls. Somewhat to our amazement we cannot find that we have written about this important topic before, so now seems like a great time to do it.
Some definitions
There can be a lot of confusion around terms like manufactured homes. Code of Federal Regulations, 24 CFR 3280, states that: "Manufactured homes are built as dwelling units of at least 320 square feet in size with a permanent chassis to assure the initial and continued transportability of the home." They are typically built in a factory and moved as one or more sections to where the homeowner wants it. Their wheel chassis is the key differentiation from other types of homes. They are often referred to less elegantly as "mobile homes" and "trailers". In the 1950's ten foot wide models were introduced. Because of this greater width (previous models were 8' wide), it became harder to transport them and this helped distinguish them from travel trailers and RVs.
They are different than modular homes, also prefabricated and built in factories. Some experts have long predicted that modular construction will eventually replace so called "stick-built" homes because of the efficiencies involved in building homes in a factory setting. It is often difficult to distinguish between a modular home and one built in-situ. Some other variations of modular homes are "pre-cut" or "panelized" homes.
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Published on November 9, 2019
Comments 10
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 11, 2019 – As a place to retire the American West offers perhaps the biggest range of geography and the lifestyles that go with that. This huge area comprises 9 states with every kind of geography. Most impressive is its huge coastline that runs from coastal California to the state of Washington. There is the Pacific Northwest with its rain forests and deserts. Then there are towns in the real wild west from Idaho to Montana, along with deserts, mountains, and national parks in Nevada and Utah. There are college towns, some big and small cities, and many towns in tourist areas, so it's likely there is a great place to retire for just about everybody. Here in our the third installment of our "Best Places to Retire 2019" are the top 20 most popular retirement towns in the U.S. West. Here are links to the other two: "The Top 20 Places to Retire in the Southwest" and "Best Places to Retire in the Southeast".
What States are in the West?The National Geographic Society includes nine states in the American West, a huge territory made up of Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. With the exception of the coastal Northwest, most of this region is dry with hot summers. Most of the region has low humidity. For more information about what it is like to retire in the West see our "Dueling Retirement States" series: Dueling Retirement States: The Pacific Northwest, andDueling Retirement States: The Western Mountain States.
A Surprising # 1The 20 most popular towns in the West contain some surprises, including a few not familiar to many. The surprising #1 most popular place to retire on our list, Sequim (WA), edged out many more well known towns and cities. Its review was read by over 3,300 visitors in the first ten months of 2019 by Topretirements.com visitors, beating out Grand Junction (CO). Last year's winner, St. George, UT, slipped to third place this year. This year there were four newcomers to the top 20 list: Cheyenne (WY), Eureka (CA), Brookings (OR) and Port Townsend (WA). Dropping off from the 2018 were Coeur D'Alene (ID), Medford (OR), Spokane (WA), and Las Vegas (NV).
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Published on November 10, 2019
Comments 16
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Nov. 12, 2020 — The standard Part B monthly premium amount in 2020 will be $144.60, up $9.10 from 2019. Most people will pay the standard Part B premium amount. If you modified adjusted gross income as reported on your IRS tax return from 2 years ago is above a…
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Published on November 12, 2019
Comments 6
Category: Social Security
November 18, 2019 -- Late last month it was announced that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for nearly 69 million Americans will increase 1.6 percent in 2020. This follows increases of 2.8 percent in 2019, 2% in 2018 and .3% in 2016.
The 1.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 63 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2020.
The maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $137,700, up from $132,900. Separately, Medicare.gov announced that Part B premiums in 2019 will increase by $9.10 a month to $144.60 for most recipients.
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Published on November 18, 2019
Comments 16
Category: Family and Retirement
By S. W. Hubbard
November 20, 2019 -- Last year, my husband Kevin was counting the days to his retirement. He had planned the financial aspects thoroughly. On January 1 he would leave behind his demanding job as an operations executive who traveled worldwide and would spend all his days at home.
With me.
Great, right?
As a novelist and part-time English professor at a community college, I worked at home three days a week and was on campus two days during the academic year. Although Kevin has plenty of interests and hobbies, I was concerned that the aspect of work he’d miss the most was managing events and people. Once he retired, he’d have no one to manage.
Except me.
Uh-oh.
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Published on November 19, 2019
Comments 20
Category: Family and Retirement
By Ed LaFreniere of Retirementhumor.net
November 23, 2019 --
Q: My husband retired three months ago. We took a two-week trip right afterwards, and then the frustrations began. He claims he’s joking when he criticizes me if I miss a spot with the vacuum or the kitchen mop, but it’s getting annoying. He complains that I’m buying the wrong peanut butter for his lunches. He turns on the TV at 7 a.m. and sits around watching cartoons and soap operas. When I go out for the day and I ask him to do the laundry, he mixes the colors with the whites and leaves them dripping wet in the washer all day, so that they smell as if they’ve just come out of the New England Patriots locker room. I have to push him to get up and do anything. He says he’s just taking some well-earned time off after 45 years of working. How do I deal with the love of my life now that he has morphed into this freeloader?
....Frustrated in Frostproof, Florida
Dear Frustrated: Ah, the age-old problem that affects tens of millions of households eventually: A husband or a wife retires and sits around the house as if he or she owns the place! You need to take this by the horns and indoctrinate your better quarter in the new reality – the updated rules of loving togetherness!
First, though, please keep in mind that both of you should be prepared for an adjustment period – and show sympathy for each other’s psychological and emotional well-being, changing identities, and new needs for self-fulfillment and self-esteem.
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Published on November 23, 2019
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 26, 2019 -- Are you in the camp of retirees who “hate” Florida, or are you among those that “love” it? Most folks thinking about the best place to retire in Florida seem to fall into one of those divisions; not so many have no opinion. In our view, Florida is filled with many great retirement towns, and it is diverse in more ways than you might think. This article will tell you a bit about this very large and populous state, plus give you a list of 12 Florida towns we think make for a great place to retire.
First, a few factsFlorida's 2018 estimated population was 21,300,000, the 4th most populous in the nation. Some 19% of the population is 65 and over, compared to 15% nationwide.
Geographically speaking, the State has a very unusual shape – it is both tall and wide. So tall and wide that it takes over a day to drive from Pensacola to Key West (832 miles). Florida is the 22nd largest state, has the longest coastline in the contiguous states, and the only state to have a coastline on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a very flat state, which is one of the things that people tend not to like about it (Mount Dora, at 185' is one of its highest towns).
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Published on November 26, 2019
Comments 16
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
November 29, 2019 -- In case you hear this comment from a millennial, Gen X, or Yer, it is NOT a compliment. It is a dismissal, as in, "OK, baby boomer, you have a lot to say, but your day is over. Kindly step aside." Younger folks tend to use this term on social media to respond to anybody over 30 who says something condescending about young people .
Perhaps we deserve it, justice served a generation later. Certainly we baby boomers are awfully proud of how we changed things back in the day - our music, rebellions, cultural shifts. Today we seem to think we know everything and have strong opinions - millennials are lazy, the younger generation doesn't know about hard work, etc. Sound familiar: Remember how we were convinced, back in the day, that our parents knew nothing and we knew it all.
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Published on November 28, 2019
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