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Try It NOWCategory: Eldercare
Here’s a club so exclusive that even Brooke Astor couldn’t help you get in. It’s the Super Memory Club, restricted by luck and good habits to about 1 in 200 people. And did we mention you have to be 90 years old to be eligible? Our sister site, BestAssistedLiving.com, has…
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Sunday, May 17. Just about everybody loves Asheville - it's the #1 Best Place to Retire at Topretirements. It also occupies that position on many other "Best Places" lists. But after watching today's TV segment on CBS News, even more people might be heading down to western North Carolina.
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Category: Home and Garden
Have you thought about building an addition to your home for one or more of your parents? With them conveniently at hand you could keep an eye on their condition and help with their care. Meanwhile you and possibly your children would get to enjoy more of their company.
While their are many advantages to these apartments, they come with some challenges. For one; they take time,money, and effort to design and build. For another, they tend to be tightly regulated by local zoning officials. Mike Kephart, founder of Sidekick Homes, has a better idea for these buildings, a new solution that can help you get the benefits without the hassles.
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Category: Active adult communities
Note: This 2009 article has been updated with a new edition from 2012. See "Why Not Live in an Award Winning Community".
Philadelphia - For builders, winning an award at the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) Best of 50+ Housing conference is really good PR. For baby boomers, looking at the winners provides insight into what the housing industry thinks are the trendsetting ideas in home building. If you are looking to purchase in an active adult community, you should check out this list of communities winning awards to make sure you make the best decision. The awards were given out at the April 2009 Building for Boomers and Beyond Symposium to honor excellence and innovation in the design, development and marketing of housing for older consumers.
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Update: October 15, 2010 - It's official - no social security increase in 2010 - $250 payment pushed.
It will be the first time in 3 decades, but there will be no cost-of-living increase for social security recipients in 2010. Following a formula set by law to counter the effects of inflation, beneficiaries can usually count on getting a "raise" every year. Thanks to the economic slowdown, inflation is not a problem at the moment, hence the formula indicates no increase next year.
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According to the AARP, beneficiaries have received automatic cost-of-living every year since 1975. The increase in 2009 was 5.8%. Controlling inflation should be a good thing for retirees because it means the prices they pay for goods and services are not increasing.
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Category: Active adult communities
The urban retirement lifestyle represents a perfect fit with what many baby boomers are looking for in a retirement lifestyle. Baby boomers want to be close to employment possibilities, they would like to reduce their dependence on the automobile, and they are very interested in participating in a rich and diverse community. Builders of 55+ communities have been listening, and many new choices are attracting buyers.
Granted, the urban lifestyle doesn't appeal to everyone. Most people, 85% of them, will not move anywhere in retirement. But about 15% of retirees will relocate; either
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Category: Active adult communities
April 29 - Your editor just spent a few days in the City of Brotherly Love attending the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) 50+ Builders Show: Building for Beyond. While you might expect that any convention of home builders in this economic climate would be a downer, this conference was anything but. Builders, at least the obviously successful ones who gathered here in Philadelphia, are a resilient and resourceful bunch. It was obvious from their questions and comments why these builders have been so successful: they want to build the homes and communities that satisfy the changing
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Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
April 28 - A much larger percentage of baby boomers now cite ''being close to family and friends'' as their primary motivation for selecting an age-qualified active adult community. The sharp increase, from 19.7% in 2001 to 39.9% in 2007, represents one of the most striking conclusions from a study released today at the NAHB`s Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium in Philadelphia. The study was produced by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMI). The data is significant because by 2010 the Boomers will represent one quarter of the U.S. population.
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
Buying your retirement home might be a lot easier than any house you ever purchased before, thanks to an ever-expanding list of internet tools. Not only do new websites keep cropping up in familiar areas, but they are arriving with new services as well. This article will provide a quick roundup of the online services that can make purchasing your active adult or 55+ community a lot easier.
Mortgages
Type in "mortgages" into your search bar and you will find companies eager to offer you a mortgage. Given the recent publicity about mortgage predators, you should tread carefully. Get more than one opinion, shop locally, and get the opinion of your legal adviser before you act.
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
It's April so it must be Home Inspection month. If you are thinking about buying a new home for retirement this is a good time to get acquainted with the basic items to look for when buying a home. This is particularly true in this era of short sales and foreclosures, where preventative maintenance probably wasn't kept up with. Editor's note: We have to confess we felt a little superior when we saw this topic in a headline. But guess what - most of these concerns hadn't even occurred to us.
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