Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 16, 2013 -- A while back we wrote an article about retirement in the great American Southwest - "Retirement 101: A Guide to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah". Recently the comments to this article were rejuvenated when member Mike T volunteered to add comments from his experiences looking for his best place to retire in the region. Ultimately he and his wife settled in Green Valley (AZ), where they have lived for the past 14 years. Mike is a former writer; he not only has a great eye for details but he succeeds in that most difficult of tasks, providing a balanced view. Here we provide a roundup of his recent posts to the original article (we made some minor edits to make it flow into a single article), along with some of the member questions to him from the Comments section of that post. Thanks so much Mike for taking the time to share your thoughts - your insights are incredible!
Mike T: We looked all over Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico in a four year search in most
more...
Published on December 16, 2013
Comments 11
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
December 10, 2013 – If you are a woman we would like to know more about your experiences with financial planners. Do you have one now? How did you find him or her? What would you like them to accomplish for you? What prevents you from going to one? Have…
more...
Published on December 10, 2013
Comments 20
Category: Retirement Real Estate
Updated August 25, 2015 (originally published December 10, 2013) -- The horrible Arctic weather the northern half of the USA experienced in the last 2 winters had at least one major effect - it made a lot more people interested in finding a snowbird rental for the winter! This article will give you suggestions on how to narrow your choices on where to live, give some tips on how to go about finding a winter rental, and provide a list of reader-suggested snowbird destinations from earlier this year. Note that the reader Comments made to both this article and the related ones in the "Further Reading" section are at least as helpful as those in the article itself!
Keys to Success
The keys to success in finding a good snowbird rental are quite simple: get started early, and explore plenty of avenues. Hoping to luck into something is not very likely.
Many Advantages
We think there are many advantages to
more...
Published on December 10, 2013
Comments 122
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 3, 2013 -- We received this question from a member recently and thought it was worth publishing, along with our answer.
Q: Have decided that I want to soon retire to FL but unsure about finding a place to live near one of the coasts or in the interior, such as the Orlando and Ocala areas. Am hearing lots of scary stories about the costs of homeowners and flood insurance if living near the coast, but part
more...
Published on December 3, 2013
Comments 67
Category: Retirement Planning
December 2, 2013 -- There's an interesting new book out that has parallels to the transition from the working life to retirement. It's "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth", written by Colonel Chris Hadfield, one of the world's most experienced astronauts. The book made us think about how much retirement is like entering a new world. Many of the survival skills you learned in the world of work will be useful. But to succeed in your new environment it might be necessary to master new ones. We are hoping that this guide will be a group effort - that those of you who have already passed through the airlock
more...
Published on December 2, 2013
Comments 72
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
November 25, 2013 -- Over the past week we saw numerous reports reminding us of yet another way that our hard-earned retirements can run onto financial shoals. This time the culprit is one that most of us don't think that much about - medical expenses. We will explain more about the problem here, along with some ideas on how to prepare your retirement against bankrupting medical expenses.
Fidelity, the mutual fund company, estimates that a couple in average health will spend over $220,000 during their retirement for medical
more...
Published on November 25, 2013
Comments 15
Category: International Retirement
November 19, 2013 -- Note: Since this article was written we have added more country guides to the original 10, and will continue to add them here.
There is an intrepid group of people out there whose dream for retirement involves moving far away to an exotic location in a foreign country. For citizens of the US and Canada, that often means retiring to Mexico, Costa Rica, Central America, or a country in South America. Retirees in Europe and the UK tend to favor southern Europe or even Southeast Asia. Such retirements bring with them a number of challenges, along with advantages. Today we are pleased to announce new mini-guides to international retirement in 10 countries. We plan to add more
more...
Published on November 19, 2013
Comments 23
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Nov. 18, 2013 -- Everybody nearing retirement should have their own criteria for choosing a place to retire. For many, it's warm weather. Plenty of others want to be close to family, culture, or a favorite kind of recreation. Taxes on retirement income and distributions are often a key consideration. But for the millions of baby boomers whose meager savings are paired with tiny 401(k)s and social security benefits, finding an affordable place to live is consideration #1. This article provides a list of the most affordable places to retire in the USA, sliced
more...
Published on November 18, 2013
Comments 18
Category: Retirement Planning
November 12, 2013. -- Let's assume you have been doing all the things the experts suggest as you go through the process of finding your best place to retire. You have listed your priorities, discussed them with spouse and/or family, and paid visits to the more likely suspects. But before you make that down payment on your retirement home, here are 7 more questions we think you would be well advised to answer. Hopefully this list will make you think of a few more, all the better to help you realize the wonderful retirement you have worked so hard to get.
7 Questions to Ask
These questions are meant more as a stimulus for conversation than a yes or no. By discussing them with someone else, you might gain
more...
Published on November 12, 2013
Comments 21
Category: Retirement Real Estate
November 10, 2013 — Several members have requested a new thread be started on the subject of low income retirement. So we will start it for you with the original request (below): Note to group – if you want to start a new discussion thread the best way to do…
more...
Published on November 10, 2013
Comments 183
