Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
As we have said before, if your retirement fund isn't what you hoped it would be, it's time to get creative. One of the most interesting ways to stretch your budget was profiled in a New York Times article last week, "Retirees Trade Work for Rent at Cash-Strapped Parks". The article profiles the experiences of several retirees as they travel around the country and help keep state and national parks ticking under the serious budget constraints these institutions now face.
As Sharon Smith points out in the article, there are three simple reasons why she and her husband Bill want to work in these parks: “We’re here for three reasons,” she said. “No. 1, we like to travel. No. 2, we like people. And No. 3, we’re on a budget.” They also mentioned occasionally indulging in online casinos not on gamstop during their downtime, though they remain mindful of every expense to maintain their nomadic lifestyle. At the time of that quote, Mrs. Smith was making cinnamon rolls for the park center. Others provide bird guiding, cleaning, and maintenance. As states and the federal government have cut back on their support for parks, retirees working for free RV or tent space are now taking over more and more roles previously provided by paid employees.
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Published on February 23, 2010
Comments 1
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 24, 2010 – Editor's Note: This list has just been updated (2/24/11) for 2014: "Sunbelt Rules in 2011 List of 100 Best Places to Retire". This 2010 list is still worth reading, though. Some of its best features are the 88 comments made - it's interesting to see how many communities recommended here made the list in 2011!
The Sunbelt is still shining when it comes to best places to retire. Every year Topretirements.com publishes a list of the 100 most popular places to retire. This year 68 of the 100 top positions were occupied by towns in the Sunbelt. Florida dominated the list, taking 23 of the spots, followed by North Carolina (11) and South Carolina (8). The list is hardly static - 25 new towns made it
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Published on February 23, 2010
Comments 89
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
February 16, 2009. At first blush it's a little hard to see what medical tourism - where you travel to a foreign country for a medical procedure or operation - is all about. After all, if you have any kind of medical insurance, why would you travel to a new country to have an operation when you you could have it done in the USA?
The fact is however, with health care costs increasing at six percent per year for the next decade, and medical tourism offering savings of up to 70 percent after travel expenses, there are plenty of reasons to travel. The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions announced in its new study, “Medical Tourism: Update and Implications,” that 750,000 Americans traveled abroad for
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Published on February 15, 2010
Comments 14
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 15, 2009 - You have probably read about the problems Greece is having with its unmanageable debt these days. Well if you thought that sort of problem couldn't effect you as a retiree in the good old USA, think again. A recent article, These 7 States are Headed for Something Worse, by Gregor Macdonald at Seeking Alpha makes a good case with 4 different reasons why 7 U.S. states are NOT the best place to retire. His conclusions are quite similar to what Topretirements reported on back
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Published on February 15, 2010
Comments 64
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
With the Superbowl successfully behind us, anxious sports fans are ready for the next season to get started. For baseball fans the wait will be short, as spring training gets underway next week. Spring training is one of the great joys and advantages of a snowbird retirement. Your favorite team is once again in your home town, tickets are affordable and plentiful, and the parks are so close together that you can even travel to road games. Baseball's owners are no dummies either, they have picked some of the best places to host their spring training camps; most of these towns make the best places to retire lists for lots of other reasons too.
Spring training is thought to have started out in 1870 when the Chicago Whitestockings and the Cincinnati Redstockings ventured down to New Orleans to prepare for the season. Other historians credit the
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Published on February 8, 2010
Comments 3
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
Our good sport this time of year is to go out on a limb with predictions about the hot baby boomer retirement trends for the coming year. Surely we will be wrong on some, but hope that in general we can be useful in predicting what factors will be most…
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Published on February 1, 2010
Comments 7
Category: Active adult communities
The growing problem of delinquencies is a very serious problem that is starting to affect almost every Home Owners Association (HOA) in the country. And unfortunately, the problem gets worse every day.
At the Kensington of Royal Palm Beach condominiums on Florida's east coast, 70 percent of the owners are in arrears on their association fees. Many other associations have delinquencies in the 40-50% range. These fees typically pay for insurance, maintenance, landscaping, some taxes, staff, and energy. Clearly when not everyone pays their dues, which represent an equitable sharing of costs among all the owners, financial problems will ensue. Usually that means the remaining owners in the community association
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Published on January 25, 2010
Comments 3
Category: Active adult communities
Stay and Play Packages are a great option as you contemplate retirement. You, and perhaps your significant other, might be obsessing about how to find your best place to retire, and what you might do once you get to the state of retirement. The process is fun for many folks, but an intimidating hassle for others. Wherever you come out on this spectrum, this article, in which we will discuss Fly and Stay packages, will be a help.
Stay and Play Packages
Stay and Play packages (also called Discover and Stay, Weekend Getaway, etc.) are the fun and low risk way to check out various best places to retire. You can usually purchase them at low cost from active adult communities, or you can make up your own for the towns you might be considering. The offers are so attractive that you just shouldn't pass them up (but hurry, the high season is starting
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Published on January 18, 2010
Comments 5
Category: Retirement Real Estate
As 2010 begins most experts predict that record numbers of foreclosures will continue. That being the case, home prices will probably go nowhere until that distressed inventory is cleaned out.
Rentals are the way to go. The Wall Street Journal reports that apartment vacancies hit a 30 year high late last year, and landlords are scrambling to fill them. Reis, Inc., a research firm, said that rents fell 3% last year, led by declines in west coast cities. Conclusion - you might be better off renting than buying. Particularly in a lot of active adult communities, there are plenty of places to rent.
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Published on January 12, 2010
Comments 0
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Picking towns for "best places to retire" lists can get to be a lot like selecting prom dates - the bright lights overshadow the deserving candidates who don't get asked to the big party. All too often the result is best places to retire myopia - too many lists that share the same old towns and cities - Asheville, Athens, Austin, Beaufort, etc. Don't miss Part 2 of this series: "Beyond Asheville: More Under-rated Places to Retire", or Part 3: 5 More Under-Appreciated Places to Retire.
This week we set out to identify 20 best retirement towns that aren't on that many lists. We looked for towns that we know are terrific, but don't seem to have the press that their more famous brethren do. Some will be familiar and some will not. Our apologies to all of the other great places to retire whose lights are still hiding under the basket; please give us your nominations in the Comments section below.
Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee is an historic mining town in south central Arizona, almost at the Mexican border. If you are looking for an interesting, off-beat place to retire, Bisbee might be the place.
Flagstaff, Arizona. At an altitude of 6910 feet the climate is dry and much cooler in the summer than anywhere else in Arizona. Cecil B. DeMille tried
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Published on January 11, 2010
Comments 27
