Category: Retirement Planning
September 3, 2013 -- So many people would rather stay in their homes than spend their old age in an independent living or assisted living facility. Just ask your baby boomer friends who can't convince their aging parents to move into one of these places - even when they are beyond caring for themselves. PBS had a nice segment recently on the Retirement Village concept, where by pooling resources older folks can get the support they need to safely and comfortably stay in their homes longer. Here is where you can watch the segment, "There is No Place Like Home".
The Village to Village Network also has a list of village neighborhoods across the country, plus more
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Published on September 3, 2013
Comments 5
Category: Active adult communities
Note: Our 2014 list was published in September of 2014. See "Florida Dominates 2014 List of Most Popular Communities"
September 2, 2013 -- There are some very big surprises in this year's results for the 100 most popular active adult communities. First off, 4 states completely dominated our visitors' favorite active adult communities: Florida (25), Tennessee (16), Delaware (16), and North Carolina (12) amassed 69 of the 100 most popular communities. Within that result, Tennessee's 16 communities in the top 100 demonstrates that it is a state to be taken very seriously when it comes to baby boomer retirement. Of the remaining 46 states, only Pennsylvania (6), Texas (4) and South Carolina (4) put more than a few communities into the top 100.
Florida topped the 2013 list with 25 communities (it had 35 in 2012). Delaware's 16 communities on the list is by far the best representation of any non-Sun Belt state (we are counting Tennessee as a Sunbelt state, although that could be argued).
We take several conclusions away from these results:
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Published on September 2, 2013
Comments 62
Category: Adventurous retirement
August 25, 2013 -- Visiting the National Parks is high on most baby boomer bucket lists - at least that's what we've learned from our previous surveys (see Further Reading at end). So when your editor rolled into Yellowstone National Park two weeks ago, he not only ticked off a bucket list item, but he also experienced another great thing about getting old enough to retire. As we arrived at the gate in we noticed a sign that said Interagency Senior Pass. Asking about it, we were astonished to find that for a mere $10 anyone who is at least 62 years can enter any National Park or Natural Wildlife Refuge (more than 2,000 sites in all) for the rest of your life. And that's just not you the pass owner who is covered, it's everybody in the car, regardless of age. Discounts on amenities like camping fees are also usually available. (See end of article for how to get one, along with many other resources to help plan your trip).
Now that you are retired you finally have the time to visit the parks. You also have an unbelievably cheap
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Published on August 26, 2013
Comments 12
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
August 21, 2013 -- Now that you are retired you probably have a little more free time to pursue the interests you always wanted to. You probably also have a desire to re-connect with old friends and family. The Internet and its so called "social media" sites like Facebook are a great way to fulfill both of those desires. Their easy to use tools can instantly and effortlessly put you in contact with family, friends, acquaintances, old school mates, army buddies, long lost lovers, etc. They can also help you pursue hobbies and interests with like-minded folks in a most enjoyable way. Unfortunately, they have downsides too. Used without some common sense precautions, social media can be destructive to relationships, dangerous to you and your property, or just plain annoying. This article will first discuss the concept of social media and then outline our list of the worst mistakes retirees can make in social media.
Growth and Use
Social media is one of the fastest and most pervasive developments of all time. Facebook, the first and by far the biggest social networking site, was only available to students at Harvard University when it began in 2004. That handful of users has exploded to over a billion today; the New York Times recently reported one out of 7 people in the world use Facebook now! The Pew Internet Project reports that 72% of the U.S. online population uses
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Published on August 21, 2013
Comments 4
Category: Retirement Planning
Update August, 2017 - We ran a new version of this survey this year. Here is a link to the results, which are similar but show even more interest in moving.
August 5, 2013 -- Members at Topretirements are not fuzzy about their retirement plans. Instead, they are busy getting the old homestead ready for sale and packing the wagons for the move to an exciting new (and possibly very different) home. Both the response to the survey (with 1300 responses) and the quality of your insights into our questions on selling your home, what you are looking for in the next, downsizing, and moving were amazing. In this article we will summarize the results for each question. Just as important, since so many people shared their opinions on these important questions, we have provided you with summary document where you can read all of the responses to Question 11, where 830 folks were kind enough to share their concerns and thoughts about selling, finding a new home, moving and downsizing. We urge you to read them - these real world experiences have some wonderful insights and great pieces of wisdom!
Survey results show Topretirements members are much more mobile than typical retirees
In the survey we ran last week 48% of respondents "definitely" plan on moving to a different home for retirement. Asked about their intentions about selling the home they live in now, 68% have either already sold it or are definitely putting in the market. There was strong interest in moving
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Published on August 5, 2013
Comments 65
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 30, 2013 -- We were shocked to read recently that 86% of Americans couldn't ace a simple financial IQ test. Fortunately, we are pretty sure that Topretirements members are like the children in Lake Woebegone - you are all certainly above average! This article provides link to that quiz so you can see how well you do on it. We will also provide a recap of 10 commonly held pieces of financial wisdom, along with links to more resources to help get you educated.
Here is where you can take the finra financial literacy quiz. The quiz ask simple questions about how much interest you would earn at different rates, safety of stocks vs mutual bonds, and what happens
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Published on July 30, 2013
Comments 4
Category: Retirement Planning
July 29,2014 – One of the top requests in our recent member survey was for more information about member experiences and expectations with selling their home, downsizing, and moving. Lots of folks are looking to learn from what you think. So please, take just a couple of minutes to fill…
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Published on July 29, 2013
Comments 68
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated July 21, 2015 (original article was July, 2013. This is part of a series on "Affordable Places to Retire", see Further Reading at end for more.)
-- Finding an affordable place to live in retirement has become a real necessity for today’s retirees. That’s because about half of them say they are worried they won’t have enough money for a comfortable retirement. There are plenty of "best places to retire" sites that offer to help. But would you actually want to live somewhere just because it's cheap? Here is a list of 10 affordable place to retire - communities so nice you might actually want to retire there!
For the record, the NAR reports of the national median to be $205,200 in 1st Q 2015, while Zillow reported $179,000 in mid 2015. Since information on affordable places to retire was a top request in one of our member surveys - Downsizing, Renting, Affordability Dominate..., here we go - "10 Affordable Places to Retire Where You Might Actually Want to Live".
Criteria
In developing this list we decided to adopt some fairly strict
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Published on July 23, 2013
Comments 270
Category: Retirement Planning
July 16, 2013 -- Note: This is a 3 part series. Part 1 on the "Top 10 Retirement Mistakes" generated a lot (34) of comments. Part 3: Avoid These 6 Retirement-Wrecking Mistakes" was published in 2014.
Since it is so important that you seize the opportunity retirement represents - in essence it's a partial do-over on life - we thought it would be worth revisiting the topic from a fresh perspective. In today's article we first present a revised "10 worst" list, followed by a summary of our member's comments to the original article. We are particularly interested in your new comments - please add them at the end of this article.
10 Retirement Mistakes You Don't Want to Make
1. Start planning your retirement the day after you retire. That's too late. A smart
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Published on July 16, 2013
Comments 106
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 9, 2013 -- We had a question from a colleague recently which, while mostly pertinent to the Carolinas, is broadly relevant to many retirees looking for answers to which states are the most tax friendly. Here is the question and our response.
Q: I have a relative who is thinking about retiring to either South or North Carolina. He'll have a pension from Mass. as his largest source of income. Thoughts about which state might be better from a tax perspective?
A: In 2013 South Carolina situation appears slightly more favorable to your relative, if taxation is
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Published on July 9, 2013
Comments 99
