Category: Family and Retirement
August 13, 2015 -- One of the unpleasant aspects of being a baby boomer at this stage of our lives is realizing that our own mortality is inevitable, after all. Loved ones and dear friends are starting to pass on in growing numbers... some day we are pretty certain we will too. Dealing with that loss has many difficult aspects, so this article launches a series of how-tos on the subject.
Nextavenue.org, one of our favorite websites, had some great articles on the topic recently. We will add our thoughts to two of those here, and provide you with
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Published on August 12, 2015
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 6, 2015 -- We are always pleased to see a "Best" list that is actually based on more than just someone's personal opinion. 100 Most Livable Small Towns from Livability.com, which is based on overall livability, is a great example. To come up with their list they claim to have examined more than 40 data points for 12,000 towns with populations between 1,000 and 20,000. One caution is that their "livability" list is meant for people of all ages, not just retirees. Fortunately, most of their criteria apply to everyone, with the possible exception of the quality of the schools. The four major criteria used were in the broad categories of Schools, Businesses, Health Care, and Real Estate options.
Some people might be disappointed that these towns are not necessarily the most inexpensive places to live. That wasn't a criterion, but on the other
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Published on August 6, 2015
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 28, 2015 -- If you were hoping for great news in the annual report from the Social Security Trustees, you will be disappointed - the program's trust funds will still be exhausted in less than 20 years. However if you were looking for a doomsday report, you won't find that either. Even when the Social Security trust funds are exhausted at the current projection date of 2034, current revenues will still be able to fund about 75% of promised benefits. But to avoid significant cuts to benefits, the program needs to be reformed sooner rather than later.
Here are some other facts from the Trustees Full Report:
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Published on July 28, 2015
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
July 28, 2015 -- There is at least one good thing about getting to the ripe old age of 65 - you are eligible for Medicare! It pretty much removes the worry of finding health and drug insurance coverage, and you get this benefit at a very low cost. But if you make some of these common mistakes, you might not be eligible for it when you want it, or it might cost you more money than it should.
We think this article will be useful for people who have not yet signed up for Medicare as well as those who are already in the program. It is part of our series on Medicare and health care insurance. See the bottom of this page for links to the rest of the series.
But before we launch into the worst Medicare mistakes, here is a tiny background about Medicare:
What is Medicare, and who is eligible?
Medicare is health insurance for people 65 years or older, under age 65 with certain disabilities, and any age with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or Lou Gehrig's disease. Medicare has four parts -- Part A, which is hospital insurance, Part B, which is medical insurance, Part C, which is Medicare Advantage Plans, and Part D, which
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Published on July 27, 2015
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 21, 2015 — We just updated one of our earlier articles, “10 More Affordable (and Nice) Places to Retire“. While we knew we have written on this topic several times, we were surprised to find out that we have published at least 5 different “affordable” lists. So we…
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Published on July 21, 2015
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
July 13, 2015 -- Some people dream of retiring in an expansive home with plenty of room for hobbies, friends and grandchildren. And others can't wait to downsize, get rid of 40 years of accumulated "stuff", and live in a manageable-sized home. This article is dedicated to those interested in the latter, especially to the folks who want to take it to a small extreme. The end of this feature had many resources to find out more about the tiny homes movement along with examples of - from TV shows to a Netflix documentary.
The average new single family home has grown and grown. In 1978, according to Wikipedia, it was 1,780 square feet (165 m2), but, despite a decrease in the size of the average family, the average home had bloated to 2,662 square feet by 2013.
Small... and then there is Tiny!
The small house movement generally refers to houses of less than 1,000 square feet. Tiny houses take that further, and are less than 400 sq. ft., with some
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Published on July 13, 2015
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Category: Adventurous retirement
July 7, 2015 -- We never tire of promoting the idea that retirement is a chance of a do-over on life. Not that you get to reset back to square one, but you can at least start over from this point. To that end we thought you might enjoy a group of fascinating articles about following your dream. One is a post about Lucy Burdette, the cozy mystery writing wife of your editor, while 3 others are from Nextavenue.com.
Lucy's 14th mystery, "Fatal Reservations", comes out this week from Penguin Putnam. Although she has been at this a long time now,
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Published on July 7, 2015
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Category: Active adult communities
July 4, 2015 -- It's out there somewhere, the perfect place for you to retire. A community with the right combination of activities, ambience, neighbors, type of homes, etc. that matches exactly to what you are looking for. The reality is there might be dozens, even hundreds of places that where you can retire happy, if you can identify and analyze them. This quiz will take you through the major issues that will help you understand and rate the communities that are a good match for you.
About this checklist/rating sheet
For each question there might be several answers that describe you and your preferences, so choose as many as fit. Once you complete this form you will have a better idea about your overall preferences. Then, by rating different
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Published on July 4, 2015
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Category: Family and Retirement
June 27, 2015 — Most people are in relationships. Making decisions that involve a couple is complicated, starting with the obvious - there are two people’s needs and wants involved. Reconciling the dreams and goals of two different people is a challenge, but one that can bring much happiness and joy if done successfully. The goal of this article is to help couples find effective strategies to achieve success in their retirement planning.
Two years ago we surveyed our Topretirements Members on Spousal Compatibility, and over 600 folks responded with insightful data, opinions, and advice. Many couples highlighted the importance of maintaining individual interests and hobbies during retirement. For example, some respondents shared that occasionally enjoying individual hobbies, like gardening, traveling, or even playing games online — such as opting to relax alone by choosing to play ohne Anmeldung or ohne Registrierung im Casino spielen — could enhance personal space and overall marital harmony. You'll find detailed survey results linked at the bottom of this article. We invite you to read these real-life experiences, and we look forward to your additional comments at the end of the article.
A Suggestion
One way to use the information in this article is for both
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Published on June 27, 2015
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
-- This article continues our Dueling Retirement States series with another regional comparison. See Further Reading at end for links to other comparisons in the series --
June 22, 2015 -- Are you tempted by the lure of mountains for your dream retirement lifestyle? The Mountain States of the U.S. - Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming - continue to experience amazing population growth, including from people of retirement age. Colorado's population, for example, grew by over 1 million people between 2000 and 2014, much of which was net in-migration. Many of these mountain states' new residents are 20 and 30 somethings who have come for jobs in these growing economies. But another demographic segment flocking to the region for its beauty, outdoor recreation, and in many cases, to be near their adult children, is the huge baby boomer group. The attraction for many of these folks is the opportunity to enjoy magnificent mountain ranges like the Beartooths in Montana, the Sawtooths in Idaho, and the many sub-mountain ranges of the Rockies in Colorado. In this article we will compare and contrast these 6 mountain states: Colorado and Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming (links go to our mini-retirement guides to each state). Population and income data is from American Fact Finder-U.S. Census Bureau.
A Few Facts
Colorado is by far the more populous of the 5 states. The 2014 population there increased to just over 5.35 million from 5 million in 2010, which is a 6.5% increase in just 4 years. There were 2.8 million people in the second most populous state, Nevada, up from 2.7 million in 2010 (+5.1%). Wyoming had the smallest population of the six, which stood at 584,000 in 2014, a 3.6% gain from 2010. Utah enjoyed a significant population increase from 2010 to 2014, 6.5%, double the overall U.S. growth rate. Its population estimate was 2,942,000 in 2014. Idaho had 1,634,000 people in 2014, up 4.3% from 2010. The Montana population was 1.024 million in 2014, up from 989,000 in 2010 (+3.5%).
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Published on June 22, 2015
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