Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 18, 2014 -- Now that all of us have assumed responsibility for our own retirements, conducting due diligence has become part of our job description. That responsibility extends to vetting the financial advisers and providers of financial services that we might hire to help with our retirement finances. If you decide to buy an annuity, which many experts believe most retirees should have a portion of their retirement in, you need to be especially careful.
The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article last week entitled "Who's Training Your Financial Advisor". The piece brings up how financial advisers
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Published on February 18, 2014
Comments 24
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Downtown Sarasota
Updated March, 2020 (originally published February, 2014) -- All of us have our biases. And, even with the best of intentions, we probably hold our share of stereotypes too. Not just about the rest of humanity, but also food, cars, brands of soda and beer, sports teams, movie stars, and yes - places to retire too. Just as being close-minded about people gets in the way of appreciating them as individuals, dismissing places out of hand could get in the way of finding your retirement town.
Biases and Stereotypes about PlacesLet's first discuss the various types of biases that we have heard people bring up at Topretirements. For each one we will name
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Published on February 17, 2014
Comments 65
Category: Home and Garden
Feb. 11, 2014 -- While consumers still prefer transitional kitchens by a slight margin, contemporary will be the fastest growing kitchen style this year. In bathrooms, contemporary already surpassed transitional to take the top spot in design for 2013, with even more growth anticipated in 2014. These trends are according to the annual Design Trends Survey released last week at the 2014 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) by the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA).
Fading fast are Provincial, Tuscan and country/rustic styles and the distressed cabinet finishes that often accompany them, along with
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Published on February 11, 2014
Comments 2
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 10, 2014. You’ve probably seen lots of different kinds of lists of the "best places to retire" by now. Those include the likes of: the most affordable places to retire, the most tax-friendly states, and best retirement towns for the arts. Plus there are the best places to retire for.... biking, golf, culture, bookstores etc. So, get ready for yet another sub-category - the best places to retire for livability.
Livability means many things to different people. So although this is our list of 10 great places to retire for livability, your own personal list might be quite different. To help you work on your own list we have tried to identify some of the key factors that make living in a community a pleasure. You might want to add, or subtract your own
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Published on February 10, 2014
Comments 45
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 4, 2014 -- So misunderstood - that about sums up reverse mortgages as far as we are concerned. Hyped by some unscrupulous providers, this tool for older Americans to tap the equity in their homes for retirement has acquired if not a bad name, at least a lot of cautionary looks by potential customers. That's why we were very happy to find a government site with some excellent background information about HUD's Reverse Mortgage Program. The link provides a great deal of helpful
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Published on February 4, 2014
Comments 6
Category: International Retirement
February 3, 2014 -- You have probably seen the ads with the alluring promises - live in luxury on your Social Security income, kick back while a maid and gardener toil away for just a few dollars a week, enjoy great food and fresh fruit, and experience wonderful medical care complete with inexpensive house calls. While all that might be true in some instances, there is a darker side of international retirement that the ads aren't going to tell you about. This article will show you the other side of the coin, so you can make a more educated decision.
International Retirement Is Great for Some Folks
For some people an international retirement is a terrific
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Published on February 3, 2014
Comments 29
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 28, 2014 -- Here in part 2 of this series we profile the winners of 5 more categories of great places to retire year round, along with the
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Published on January 28, 2014
Comments 38
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Note: Be sure to take our new "What is Your Social Security IQ Quiz". It will give you a score and detailed explanations to make you a Social Security expert (our best advice, read this article first!).
January 27, 2014 -- We bet you have heard stories about why you shouldn't work once you start taking Social Security. Some folks say they'll just end up giving back what they make, while others go to great lengths to minimize their hours or even get paid under the table. But the facts are that you shouldn't be afraid of working once you start taking your benefit, assuming you could use more income and don't mind working. You can actually earn quite a bit without any effect on your benefit, and earn a lot with only a relatively small penalty.
The Facts M'am
Here are the rules about working and your Social Security benefits.
- Once you reach your normal retirement age (66 for most of us), you can earn as much
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Published on January 27, 2014
Comments 25
Category: Retirement Planning
January 20, 2014 -- It's the beginning of the year so it must be time to prognosticate about what's to come and how we might make things better. We have seen several thoughtful pieces along this line, including one from our colleague over at MarketWatch, Bob Powell ("New Laws, Regulations the Experts Want for 2014").
In this article we are hoping to get our loyal members and readers to reflect on the planning that went into their retirements. Who else is more qualified to talk about retirement than you folks - you are the ones living
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Published on January 20, 2014
Comments 64
Category: Retirement Real Estate
January 15, 2014 -- This really good question was posted in the Topretirements Forum by Margielyn. We thought it so interesting that we have re-posted it here so people can Comment about it more easily
"It is usually the best idea to sell a home before buying a new one. This is for financial reasons: we won't have two mortgages and we would know the price house we can afford since we will use the proceeds from the sale of our current house to buy the new one. The problem... where do we live reasonably until we find our new home? What do we do with our furniture? Move it twice, once to a storage facility and then to our new home? How will we know what furniture to
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Published on January 15, 2014
Comments 47
