Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Every so often US News & World Reports goes through its database and comes up with another "Top 10" List. This time their efforts have produced one dear to all tax-fearing hearts, the 10 most tax-friendly towns in America. After all, you can't do anything about federal taxes, but you can vote with your feet and move to a low tax town or city.
The US News list is an interesting one, will almost all of the towns in the west. Most made the list because there is no
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Published on December 2, 2008
Comments 23
Category: Active adult communities
The press has been filled with reports of financial troubles in the retirement housing and real estate markets.
Faced with unsold units, vacant lots and empty condos, the reaction of some active adult communities has been to try to expand their base. The obvious way to do that is to let in younger buyers. Many active adult communities are age-restricted to at least one resident who is at least 55 years of age. Typically, unless the community has at least 80% of its population 55+, they do not meet federal regulations that allow developments to exclude children. At the many other active adult communities that have no official age restrictions, the fact is that most of their residents are 55 or better.
On the one hand letting in younger buyers might be able to fill more units, but it could have ramifications on the other side. Existing residents, for example, often chose to live with people their own age; away from noisy children and rushing commuters. Neighboring towns that lobbied to attract these active adult communities feel betrayed, since the communities were let in with the expectation that their older
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Published on December 2, 2008
Comments 1
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
It seems like an oxymoron to think that, just when you were beginning to think about down-sizing, you could actually soon outgrow your existing home. Worse yet, you could do the same for the home you are about to build or buy for retirement.
The more precise statement is that you probably won't outgrow your home, but if you are not careful, your needs will change to the point that your home no longer fits you. Anyone's health and/or mobility can change quickly - and when it does your choice is either to move, or put in expensive and inconvenient renovations.
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Published on November 24, 2008
Comments 7
Category: Active adult communities
Bulletin: 25 Best Places to Retire (follow this story to find link). If you are one of those folks who loves Martha Stewart, your new retirement community dream just got a lot more interesting That’s right, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and KB Home have teamed up to create an active community for adults 55 and over in La Quinta, California. LaQuinta is one of the fanciest neighborhoods in Palm Springs.
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Published on November 18, 2008
Comments 2
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
---By now you have probably received your November 401k statements, and maybe you even had the courage to open them. If you haven't lost 40% of your portfolio since last year, cheer up - you're a winner!
This article will explore strategies for how you can weather the depressing economic turmoil that has engulfed us in late 2008. We would love to hear what you are doing and thinking about it too. Just go to our Forum and join the thread on "Retirement and the Economic Mess".
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Published on November 11, 2008
Comments 2
Category: Retirement Real Estate
This is not to say that the bad news in housing, particularly for retirement communities, is over. But there have been some rays of good news popping up here and there. Thank goodness, we are tired of writing about the same old bad news!
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Published on October 28, 2008
Comments 0
Category: Green Retirement Communities
The #1 green priority in baby boomers’ retirement homes is solar power, according to a recent survey. Capitalizing on this interest, Shea Green Certified homes at Trilogy now offers solar powered roofs as a no-cost option in its Victoria Gardens active adult communities. The builder’s website claims savings of up…
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Published on October 27, 2008
Comments 0
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
When baby boomers prepare for the next phase of their lives - retirement - many of them start by looking for the best places to retire at Topretirements.com. Every year we keep track of the most popular retirement towns on this site - here is our list compiled based on 2008 results.
Asheville, North Carolina remains the run away favorite dream retirement town. Asheville has 50% more web visits than the next most visited town on this site (Sarasota, Florida).
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There were some new additions in 2008 within the top 10 places to retire on this list. Those include San Diego, California at #8; Austin, Texas at #9; and Phoenix, Arizona at #10.
Sunbelt states dominated with the most towns in the top 25 list. Connecticut (Old Saybrook), Canada (Halifax), and Ohio (oxford) were the only towns to make the list from north of the Mason-Dixon line. Arizona dominated with 6 "best" towns, followed by Florida (4), North Carolina (3), California (2), Texas (2), and Tennessee(2). Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, and Canada each had 1 town on the list.
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Published on October 20, 2008
Comments 15
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
If you are the kind of person who likes gambling, Biloxi Mississippi might be the town for you – for many reasons. First, it is a gambling paradise. Starting with the Hard Rock Hotel Casino and the Beau Rivage, there are at least 7 major casinos in Biloxi. It is…
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Published on October 16, 2008
Comments 0
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
We are always on the lookout for interesting retirements. So when a mutual friend told us about Betty Fitterman (http:adventuresinthebettybus.blogspot.com), we got pretty excited. Betty and her husband shucked off their expensive home and 3 of their 4 cars, and bought a 4 year old luxury RV. It’s…
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Published on October 6, 2008
Comments 20
