Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
June 2, 2020 -- Back in 2014 we wrote a piece (updated this March) that tries to make the point that people's stereotypes might keep them from finding their best place to retire. Will Stereotypes Keep You From Finding Your Best Place to Retire? was quite popular and generated 65 interesting Comments. Those drove home the message even better, because they were the experiences of real people as they went through the process of finding a place to retire. This article features a selection of some of the more interesting, wide ranging Member Comments from 2014 - we think you will find them still useful! (PS - we took snippets from the Comments, you can read them all in the article).
Paula on Las Vegas
There’s nothing like seeing a place in person to help either confirm or dispel stereotypes. My DH and I recently spent a week in Las Vegas, somewhere we’d never been (and had never desired to see), staying with friends who in the housing crash bought a small second home there (their first home is in Ithaca, NY, where we also live). We were very pleasantly surprised at the incredibly reasonable cost of living there — if our friends were to move there for year-round residence, they would easily save $10-15K on property taxes (less than 20% of what they are here), income taxes (none), cheaper gas and groceries, incredible senior centers and Ys and discounts for Nevada residents at museums, Vegas shows, etc.
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Published on June 2, 2020
Comments 16
Category: Active adult communities
June 10, 2020 -- For over 100 years, Florida's warm winters, soft sandy beaches, and every imaginable kind of place to live has made it a retirement magnet. Some retirees come here as snowbirds for the winter months only, while others jump all the way in, moving to the Sunshine State to become full time residents. However they arrive, Florida is by far the most popular place in the U.S. for retirement. This article highlights the 14 most popular active adult and 55+ communities in Florida, as measured by visitor interest at Topretirements.com. You can see how the list changed by comparing the 2017 version of this article.
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Published on June 10, 2020
Comments 3
Category: Active adult communities
June 17, 2020 -- Following up on the theme of a few weeks ago, how stereotypes affect where you might retire, we thought it would be interesting to highlight the amazing range of active adult, 55+, and baby boomer appropriate communities that exist. While to many people all active communities seem alike (clubhouse, golf course, tennis courts, and walking trails), there is, in fact, quite a range. The samples we have selected here are just a few of the many communities added to the Topretirements database since March (we generally add about 6 per week). We tried in these selections for a range of styles and locations across the country.
Our point: Not all retirement communities fit in the same bucket. We encourage you to do a little exploring to make sure you don't miss one that might be exactly what you might are looking for.
Some interesting choices
The selections on this list cover a wide range of types. There are several traditional active adult communities (golf courses, etc.), intergenerational, independent living communities, independent living within a CCRC, Traditional Neighborhood Developments, urban rental loft apartments, Eco-Friendly, mixed use (commercial and residential combined), a cooperative development, and another with different ownership options including fractional ownership.
Carolina Park - Mt. Pleasant, SC. A master-planned community just a few miles from Charleston, this development offers several neighborhoods in a park-like setting. The community is connected through a network of pedestrian walkways, with The Residents Club as the central gathering place.
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Published on June 16, 2020
Comments 11
Category: Estate Planning
June 23, 2020 -- Note: This article starts with the premise that it is crucial for every person of retirement age (and younger) to have a will and/or an estate plan, no matter how small the assets you own. If you don't have a legal document, you are going to leave a huge mess for your heirs to clean up, you will waste money on probate expenses, and perhaps end up with a result you wouldn't like.
Every family is different in so many ways. Couples might have children that are equally successful and get along well. But for family like that there are those with a child who has had a hard time, a disability, or other issue. Families with stepchildren face additional challenges. Many people worry about a child they feel is not responsible, and who might squander any bequest on drugs, gambling, etc. There might be a family business where one or more siblings, but not all, are actively working. It can get very complicated. And, your children probably know if have already substantially helped one child financially more than the others.
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Published on June 23, 2020
Comments 16
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
June 24, 2020 – One thing we can all agree on, Covid is getting old, even if it isn’t going away. Most people have been very good about trying to stay safe, keeping their social distance, wearing masks in public, and avoiding high risk behaviors like large indoor social gatherings.
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Published on June 23, 2020
Comments 63
Category: Work and Volunteering
June 30, 2020 -- Over a third of baby boomers say they would like to delay retirement, perhaps into their late 60's or even later. The problem is, however, more actually retire much earlier. According to the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy, just over half of the workers who retired between 2014 and 2016 did so involuntarily, for a variety of reasons. The onset of the coronavirus pandemic is exaggerating this phenomenon, forcing even more people off the job before they want to.
Millions of Americans have been laid off or furloughed from their jobs due to the shutdowns and economic chaos caused by the virus. Many of those will eventually find their way back on the job, or perhaps already have. Others might not want to return to work, either for fear of getting infected or because their attitude toward work has changed. Whatever their decision, the problem of getting back on the job for older workers is difficult for a host of reasons.
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Published on June 29, 2020
Comments 7
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 1, 2020 – Bummed out that for once in your life you were early, and took out your 2020 Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) earlier this year? Well, relief is in site. The IRS announced On June 23 that all investors who already took RMDs in 2020 have an extension…
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Published on June 30, 2020
Comments 0
