Category: Retirement Planning
January 17, 2012 -- First, congratulations. You have worked hard and deserve a great retirement. We encourage you to follow the advice in this article to help you do just that. Links to additional resources are provided as well.
1. Figure out how much you are spending. Most financial advisors would agree that their clients tend to underestimate their spending and overestimate their incomes. The only way to be safe is to start recording your spending. Only then can you get a clear picture of what you are spending and where it is going. If out of line with your income, you have a chance to do something about it.
2. Analyze when to start taking Social Security. Even though you can
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Published on January 17, 2012
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Category: Active adult communities
Note: This is the latest in our series of adventurous retiree profiles Our goal is to portray a variety of active baby boomer retirement lifestyles for our members. If you know a boomer retirement we should know about tell us via the Contact Us link.
Len and Ann are the kind of people that don’t like to stand still. And that's a trait which perfectly qualifies them to be residents of The Villages, that giant, non-stop fun active community of 100,000 people near Ocala, Florida. Here is their story - we hope you find it useful to learn more about how they came about deciding to living here, and what it is really like to live in The Villages.
What They Did Before Retirement
Len had a long career as an IT guy at SNET, the former
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Published on January 17, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 3, 2012 -- Key West, a great place to live as well as retirement spot, is the scene of a new murder mystery series launching today. What's more the author of "An Appetite for Murder" is the wife of your Topretirements editor, writing under the pen name Lucy Burdette.
Roberta Isleib (aka Lucy) set the scene for her third mystery series in Key West, that bohemian, food-focused resort town. An Appetite for Murder, published by NAL/Penguin on January 3, features her new character, Hayley Snow, as an aspiring food critic and amateur
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Published on January 3, 2012
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
January 3, 2012 -- For baby boomers who decide to retire on one of the coasts, the cost of home owners insurance can turn out to be a most unpleasant surprise. Worse, these costs can escalate from year to year and provide a threat to your happy retirement. In this article we will review some of the top things you can do to both reduce your premiums and prevent them from escalating out of control in the future. You are not powerless to accept premium increases, if you are pro-active.
1. Talk with your agent. Your agent, if she is a good one, should be able to
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Published on January 3, 2012
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Editor's Note: We are indebted, as we so often, to our senior member OldNassau for suggesting this topic. Thanks!
January 2, 2012 -- Resale value, Neighborhood, Home Owners Association fees, Amenities, Taxes, Climate - check, check, check, check, check, and check! Most people looking at a place to retire usually carefully consider these and many other factors before they make an offer on a home. Unfortunately, they often miss what can turn out to be an extremely important factor - the cost of home owners insurance premiums for that new home. While the cost of home insurance might not be terribly important in many areas of the country, it is critical in regions that are subject to natural disasters like
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Published on January 2, 2012
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
By Billy and Akaisha Kaderli
The ever-present question
It is such a fatiguing topic and one that is filled with emotion and fear. As a nation we can hardly get past it and present solutions are sometimes as hard to handle as the problem itself.
I’m talking about the price of the administration of health care.
High cost and obstacles
We know a couple who pays $1,200 a month for a catastrophic, high deductible plan in the States and they have never had a claim. Another couple pays $2,000 a month just for the husband’s ability to be insured with his pre-existing heart condition. Some people are not able to be covered at all with US insurance companies due to a completely cleared up medical condition that
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Published on December 30, 2011
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Category: General Retirement Issues
December 26, 2011 -- It's that time of the year when we review what featured stories were read the most during the outgoing year. Not surprisingly, most had to do with the "best" and the "worst" lists of various kinds. One article from late 2010 explored "Dueling Retirement States - North vs. South Carolina". A personal favorite that made the top 10 is "What Sandy Learned from 8 Years of Looking at and Visiting Active Communities".
A limitation of this survey is that articles published
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Published on December 26, 2011
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 19, 2011 -- While not every Topretirements member is interested in moving to a new place once they retire, most are at least open to the idea. That is why we have devoted so many resources to this question, particularly on factors like where to live and what should be considered in such a move. But, tempted as we might be by the lure of low taxes or sunnier skies, probably three-quarters of us won't move more than a few miles away from our current home in retirement. This article will explore the case for sticking close
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Published on December 20, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
By Jay Mills
A few years ago retirement used to be about--well, retiring. Perhaps you moved to somewhere warm, bought a condo, and enjoyed the slow, relaxing pace of retirement.
Today, baby boomers are living more active, goal-oriented retirements. They're starting new businesses, traveling the world, and pursuing new hobbies. A common thread among many boomers is a desire to continue their passion for "lifelong learning." In fact, according to U.S. News and World Report, the number of baby boomers enrolled in some type of post-secondary education has increased by 20% in the last decade(1). And many are opening 529 Savings Plans and naming themselves as the beneficiaries in order to prepare
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Published on December 12, 2011
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Category: Active adult communities
Note: Don't miss the related articles in this series: "When Good Communities Go Bad", and "When Bad Things Happen to Good Communities - Fairfield Harbor"
December 9, 2011 -- Perhaps the biggest concern of someone making a retirement decision is, what happens if my new community goes bankrupt? Just last week that became a real-life concern for residents of The Village of Penn State, a well known Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) community located in State College, PA. The Village is one of a growing number of university-affiliated communities; in fact it is frequently consulted by other universities who are considering their own retirement communities. According to published reports, the Village has apparently been struggling with its debt load for
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Published on December 9, 2011
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