Category: Singles and Retirement
April 20, 2019 -- In many active adult and 55+ communities much of the social life centers around couples. For people who happen to be single, that environment makes it difficult to have a full social life and results in feeling left out. We hope this article can help single people find places to retire where they are happy and feel included.
It would be a mistake to cast all retired single people in the same mold, assuming that all of their retirement needs and goals are identical. Many singles are very happy to go through retirement without a partner. Others are content to be single, but would like to find a place to retire where they feel included and a part of the community. Another group would prefer not to be single, or at least to have more friendships and social interactions than they have now. Regardless of what type of single person you might be, we hope you find this article interesting.
First we'll talk about specific kinds of places that singles might find attractive as places to retire, and then we'll include a few Member comments that seem especially useful to this discussion.
more...
Published on April 19, 2019
Comments 27
Category: Active adult communities
April 17, 2019 -- Our Online Retirement 101 Course continues today on a topic relevant to any retiree interested in an active adult community: what are the best ways to visit and appraise the developments you are interested in. The topic is far bigger than it initially appears because it includes how to find and select the communities you want to visit, how to get the most out of your on-site visit, and finally, how to compare the properties on your list of possibilities. In this article we will start with a general outline of how to get started. Then we will go on to some representative comments from the hundreds and hundreds of Member Comments we have received over the years on evaluating 55+ communities. See list on "Further Reading" at end for a list of articles on this topic.
The Process: How to Get the Most Out of Your Active Community Visit Following a disciplined path to visiting and evaluating 55+ communities will get you the information and feedback to help you make the best decisions. Finding the right community for you is a process - one site visit normally won't give you an instant answer, but it will help build your knowledge base. After visiting several communities you will be in a position to knowledgeably evaluate all the properties you are interested in. Here is a basic approach to follow:
more...
Published on April 16, 2019
Comments 6
Category: Retirement Real Estate
April 15, 2019 – The controversial bills advocated by online short term rental companies have apparently faded away in the Florida legislature. If passed, HB 987 and SB 824 would have taken away local control of transient rentals from local governments in the Sunshine State and given it to the…
more...
Published on April 15, 2019
Comments 7
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 12, 2019 — It is always interesting to compare how we handle things vs. our peers and neighbors. So while it is not considered polite to discuss your finances and how you handle them, it is an important subject, and one that should not be ignored. Please fill out…
more...
Published on April 12, 2019
Comments 0
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 9, 2019 -- The Carolinas are extremely popular retirement states, with good reason. Their winters are warmer than in the midwest and northeast, taxes and the cost of living are agreeable, and there are many great retirement towns. Here are some of our favorite retirement towns in Carolina, based on how attractive they are. The competition for prettiest retirement town in the Carolinas is pretty stiff, in fact you probably have some of your own favorites. Please share your suggestions in the Comments section at the end.
Beaufort
Beaufort, SC. The Old South lives on in the quaint seaside charm of this town, pronounced b'yoofurt. Known as the “Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands”, the Spanish came here in 1514 and it was chartered by the British in 1711. It lies in the Sea Islands or “Low Country” area of South Carolina near Hilton Head.
more...
Published on April 8, 2019
Comments 8
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 8, 2019 -- Your Social Security benefit is one of the pillars of your retirement. To make the most of it you need to make smart choices on how and when you take it. Make a wrong move based on misinformation or lack of knowledge, and it could cost you and your spouse tens of thousands of dollars in the years ahead. This article will go over a few of the areas that seem to trip up the most people. To help answer these questions we used information from the very helpful SSA.gov website. Use these examples to help inform your own decisions, along with your own careful research.
Choices...and Decisions
It is up to you to apply for Social Security retirement benefits. If you don't apply, you won't get them. You have your first option to start receiving retirement benefits when you turn 62. Taking them then gives you the smallest monthly payment, but it is money in your bank account now. You can apply at any time from age 62 on, but your monthly benefit will go up for every month you wait to claim (benefits are capped at age 70).
more...
Published on April 7, 2019
Comments 2
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 3, 2019 — So many times we are asked, what are the best states for retirement? There are many ways to answer that question, and in fact over the years we have tried several. You could consider it from a tax viewpoint, as in which states retirees will experience the lowest taxes. Or you could compare on other economic factors like cost of living. Alternatives are best climate, natural hazards like hurricanes, geographic features like beaches and mountains, political climate, financial health of the state, medical care, etc.
Ultimately, identifying the best state for retirement is a very personal question. In the end it boils down to what is the best state for YOUR retirement. It is very possible that your best state is where you live now, if it meets your desires, since 80% or more retirees do not cross state lines after they retire.
In this year's best states for retirement roundup we are going to attack the question in a very practical way. First we'll look at where the most people are actually moving in retirement. Then we'll add some states that folks seem to be very interested in retiring to, based on the ones they spend the most time reading about on this site.
Where people actually moveFirst, let's look at where people actually move for retirement, because that is the acid test of retiree preference. SmartAsset.com has done a great job extracting U.S. Census data to track the net migration of people ages 60 and over - that is, where more people that age move into a state than move out.
more...
Published on April 2, 2019
Comments 26
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 26, 2019 -- Not everyone is looking for an active adult or 55+ community. Many prefer to stay where they live now, but there is another interesting group too - people looking to move to the city.
The attractions are many, particularly for people who are tired of the suburbs or small town living. The idea of walking to restaurants, coffee shops, the library, and cultural events can be very appealing. So is being able to take public transportation, and do without a car most of the time. For others the attraction is being around interesting people of all ages. Cities can be great places to retire - and they come in all sizes - from the huge (New York, Chicago, Miami) to midsize like Sarasota or Columbus (OH).
NPR did a very interesting radio program that you can listen to, see "Listen" in this NPR link. It describes several different baby boomers and why they decided to move to various cities, including Hartford, CT.
more...
Published on March 25, 2019
Comments 4
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
March 23, 2019 -- This is the 5th module in our "Retirement Preparation 101" online course. The social aspects of retirement was one of most frequently requested topics for the series. Here is where you can see all of the Modules and all the Member suggestions for the course.
Here is a sample suggestion which led to this Module:
Katie: Loneliness in retirement. Whether single, divorced or widowed, loneliness is something that many of us will face as we retire from our work lives. Many of us spent our lives with people at work and any free time with spouses, children or other family. Friendships may have been with neighbors, our kids’ friends’ families, spouse’s work friends, etc. With retirement and a loss of the people around us, retirees can find themselves alone. Surely there are other good ideas and stories from people who have gone through this.
Overview - one step at a time
One short article cannot possibly address all the strategies or be a magic bullet to solving the problem of feeling alone. We encourage you to to view these tips as something to experiment with. A lifetime of habits cannot not be overcome in a day or a week or a month, but if you gradually apply some of these ideas in your daily life you just might be able to make a difference. Here we go:
Singles vs. married couples. A later module in this series will specifically address loneliness for singles. But we firmly believe that the strategies presented here are useful no matter what your state - single or married.
more...
Published on March 22, 2019
Comments 15
Category: Active adult communities
March 19, 2019 -- If you have been on the campus of an active adult community or near a city park lately, you might have heard a repetitive loud sound - that of a composite racquet hitting a softball sized whiffle ball. What you are hearing, along with many cries of joy and frustration, is the game of pickleball, and it is expanding everywhere. Unless you have mobility or other serious health issues, we recommend you get it a "whack".
Pickleball got started in 1965 on a modified badminton court. Kids in gym class sometimes play it because it can be played indoors in a fairly limited space with minimum equipment. Since then it has expanded around the globe, but has really taken off as an activity in 55+ and active adult communities.
What is it the game and how is it playedPickleball is played on a court that is roughly half the size of a tennis court. There is a net and there are different lines marked to indicate the playing area. Watch the Youtube video above to see a championship match in action!The game can be played as singles (2 opponents) or more commonly doubles (4 players). It starts by a player serving a plastic ball with holes in it from the baseline across the net and to the diagonally opposite opponent. It must land in the box on the receiver’s side and bounce once before being hit back across the net. The small honeycombed racquet is several times the size of a ping pong paddle. When the racquet hits the perforated plastic ball there is a distinctive “whack”. To counter complaints about noise, newer, quieter racquets are coming in to play.
more...
Published on March 19, 2019
Comments 2
