Category: Social Security
April 21, 2019 -- Deciding when to take Social Security retirement benefits is always a complex question. Now the devastating impact of Coronavirus is making it even harder. Here are some thoughts that might help on a question that always has many possible answers.
The New York Times reports in "Taking Social Security During the Pandemic" that workers in the past decade have shown a steady trend of postponing when they take Social Security, as a way to increase their potential lifetime retirement benefits. Whereas most workers still take Social Security the first chance they get at age 62, to get higher benefits more and more have been waiting to their Full Retirement Age (66-67), or even to age 70. With the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic experts are wondering if that trend will stop, or even reverse itself.
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Published on April 20, 2020
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Category: Active adult communities
April 19, 2020 -- We were curious - which towns and cities offer the greatest variety of 55+ and active adult communities? To answer that question, we have prepared this report, which we hope will be useful in helping refine your search for the perfect active community. The numbers used here come from the Topretirements.com database of 4,123 active adult, 55+, and independent living communities. What is most amazing about this report is the astonishing variety of community types available - anyone who thinks that retirement living options are all the same is sadly mistaken. It also says a lot about where people and the real estate market agree about where to retire.
Sunbelt prevails - and a surprising winner.
As might be expected, states and towns in the Sunbelt tend to have the most active communities. Florida is jam-packed with them - in our FL Directory, which has reviews of almost 1,000 active adult or 55+ communities, 270 of those are clustered in just 11 towns and cities. Arizona, California, Nevada, the Carolinas, and Texas have thousands of communities among them. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Colorado represent non-Sunbelt states with huge numbers of retirement living choices. The biggest surprise was the city that came in 4th place for the most communities - the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.
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Published on April 18, 2020
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
April 14, 2020 -- Let's face it, COVID and coronavirus is about the only conversation topic there is these days. So, we might as well have something interesting within that to discuss. Here are a few topics we hope we can generate some good Member comments on.
Is there coronavirus in your community? A member asked this question:
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Published on April 13, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Note: This is the first in a 2 Part article: See Part 2, "10 More Surprising Places to Retire". April 11, 2020 -- Every week you probably see a barrage of "10 Best Places to Retire" lists from various media outfits. While many of the towns are great places to retire, they tend to be the same ones from list to list, the "darlings" of the retirement world. So if you are looking for a retirement town that is not a cliche, overcrowded, and a great place to retire, here are 10 interesting places to retire that you (probably) never heard of.
A funny thing happened when we started preparing this list... we quickly realized we could have named 100 towns, stopping at 10 didn't seem fair. To remedy that we promise to come out with "10 More Great Places to Retire That You Never Heard of" in the near future.
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Published on April 11, 2020
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 7, 2020 - The FIRE Movement, Financial Independence Retire Early, got a huge boost from the roaring stock market from 2019 through Feb. 2020. People who had been cutting way back on their expenses and investing that extra money saw their portfolios go way up. For that matter, anybody with a 401(k) or retirement portfolio was feeling pretty good. Many young people in their 40s and 30s even "hit their number", quit their jobs and planned to live on their savings and non-traditional income sources, such as side gigs or rental income. Then the coronavirus hit, throwing a bucket of cold water on FIRE flames.
In just a few weeks during March stocks were down as much 40%. While that would not be fatal for a person with 20 or more working years or who did not have a big equity position, it would be devastating for someone who based their retirement on a booming stock market. Not only would they have less money to take out of their portfolio to live on each year, but they also wouldn't have the steady income of a job to help them rebuild those savings. What's more, studies show that the longer someone is out of the job market, the harder it is for someone with to yesterday's skills to re-enter it. Folks who built their dream on renting out an Airbnb or rental property are probably seeing their revenues go to zero in 2020, while expenses continue.
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Published on April 6, 2020
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
April 46, 2020. — The spectre of coronavirus and COVID-19 has us hunkered down in our homes. Senior centers are closed, the nets are down on pickleball and tennis courts, clubhouses are locked. Shopping trips are a pastime of …. time past. So what can you do – play golf!…
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Published on April 5, 2020
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Category: Travel
Editor's note: Our thanks to Frank for sending over a detailed dispatch on what he and Caroline just went through. As Connecticut residents who visit their grandchildren in California for a few winter months each year, they had a lot of important decisions to make when their CA rental expired.
April 4, 2020 ---Just a few thoughts from our perspective, having recently gone through the “when to leave” conundrum when we were still in California. The debate as "to go or stay" was driving us nuts - this was in the early days of the virus hitting California. Unfortunately that also coincided with a diagnosis of bronchitis and an emergency room visit for me (more about that later). Of course the decision input included words of wisdom ( and I might add some panic) from our kids! After days and days of all consuming debate we finally said “today's the day “ and made a decision to fly home.
That decision was based on the following “best guesses":
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Published on April 4, 2020
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Category: Travel
Update May 21, 2020 - Your editor just returned to CT from FL after agonizing about when and if to return. Part of the journey was by car (to Tallahassee) and the second part by air, which included a stopover in Charlotte). Car traffic in much of Florida is lighter than usual but with far more cars on the road than in April. In parts of FL along the Gulf Coast very few people wear masks, even in the supermarkets. In Miami the drivers are just as crazy and aggressive as ever, there are just fewer of them. The Tallahassee Airport was empty at 5:30 AM, and the Charlotte Airport jammed at 9:00 AM (see photos below). The planes were both full except for middle seats. We are glad to be up north again, our opinion is the situation is Florida is going to get crazy with everyone thinking the pandemic is over.
Charlotte Airport 9:00 AM
Tallahasee Airport 5:30 AM May 21, 2020
March 30, 2020 -- The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc in just about every corner of our lives. Now it is presenting snowbirds with another dilemma - when and how to return from their warm winter escapes. Those with a lease ending on March 31 or April 30 have an even more difficult situation.
But the problem of when to return is just one decision to make. There is also the issue of how - drive, fly, or train. They might have existing reservations for both themselves and their vehicles - if those haven't been cancelled yet. Let's explore the issues via a few examples.
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Published on March 30, 2020
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 27, 2020 — The good news for people who get Social Security retirement or disability (SSI) benefits is that most of them are about to get a nice check as part of the stimulus package signed today. Social Security recipients are included in the bill to get $1200 (payable…
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Published on March 27, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 24, 2020 -- Thanks to the just under 100 community-minded Members and visitors who have contributed to our call to tell us where they are thinking about retiring. We really appreciate you selflessly taking a minute to share your hopes, dreams, and experiences for the benefit of this community. We wish more people had responded, but there is still time (which a lot of us seem to have right now!) You can see the original request and all of the Comments in their entirety here. Reading them is most interesting!
In all, 23 states and 2 countries were mentioned as potential retirement destinations. Many people mentioned regions rather than states. Multiple states and towns, some very different from one another, were often in the mix. Not all of the choices were predictable. We hope you find these real-world suggestions as useful as we did.
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Published on March 24, 2020
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