Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 12, 2024 — What is the best town to retire to? That is the most frequent question we receive at Topretirements. Of course, our standard answer is that it is a very personal question—it depends on what you are looking for. Do you want to live in the mountains, on the beach, by a lake, in a small town, or a big city? Plus, what do you want to do in your spare time? Will your chosen town be a good fit for those activities? Not to mention factors like climate, medical care, cost of living, taxes, crime, and more. Any list other than the one you create yourself is not going to do the job.
You can see where this is going: answering the question of the best place to retire is not easy. However, some places consistently come up as favorites that fit the description. Here are a few that are frequently mentioned. If they match the criteria you set out in the first paragraph, they might be worth considering. Note that most of these towns are especially suited to outdoor recreation.
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Published on December 11, 2024
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Category: Social Security
December 12, 2024 -- The results are in from last week's instant poll, and they have a practical bent. The question to be voted on was, "What do you think will happen when the Social Security Trust Fund Runs Out of Money in 2033?". We received over 150 votes, which gives us a good sample of what our Members are thinking (thanks to all who voted)!
The winning option was definitely pragmatic - 28% voted for "Payroll taxes increased and/or change to maximum earnings ceiling." This is certainly a practical solution, one that we at Topretirements definitely agree with.
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Published on December 11, 2024
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Category: Social Security
December 18, 2024 -- The subject of when to take Social Security is one of the most hotly debated retirement topics. Although the system was designed for both decisions to be equal, there are plenty of proponents for each approach.
Case Study - High Earners
Let's explore the following case. Two people aged 76 made the maximum contribution to Social Security during their 35 year working careers. One files for benefits at the first opportunity (62), the other waits to get the max benefit at age 70 We wanted to find out who comes out ahead, and when. So we asked AI to do the calculations for us. The results came back instantly, and judging from the sources they used, they look accurate. Here is what we found:
Total Benefits Received
The person who claimed at 62 started receiving benefits 14 years ago, while the other began 6 years ago:
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Published on December 17, 2024
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Category: Social Security
Dec. 21, 2024 — In what will probably be one of the last acts of the current Congress, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan measure that will provide full Social Security benefits to public sector workers. Approximately 2.8 million public pension recipients will now receive benefits at the same rate…
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Published on December 21, 2024
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Dec. 29, 2024 -- One of our most fun things to do every year is to look back and see which of our Blog articles attracted the most reader interest. Of the 86 we published, which ones were read the most, and what were the articles that generated the most Comments? The results are a pretty good indication of what our Members are interested in. Here is a list of some of the top performers, all of which were tightly clustered together. Many more were ranked just below them.
Looking at it by category, almost all of the winning Blog posts had to do with Best Places and Where to Retire (9 of the 13 listed here), with Medicare and Social Security making most of the other top ones. Note: When the article was published could make a difference: those with more recent pub dates had to do very well to rank high for the year. Number of Comments made in ( ).
Lake Chelan courtesy of Wikipedia and David Ansley CC 2.5
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Published on December 28, 2024
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Jan. 1, 2024 — Average life expectancy in the U.S. declined after the pandemic ravaged the country in 2020, dropping to 77.5. But 5 years later, it has risen slightly above that figure , although still below the pre-pandemic rate of 78.8. Men’s expectancy is almost 6 years lower than…
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Published on December 30, 2024
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