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Up and Coming Places to Retire: Are you Willing to Take a Chance?

May 14, 2013 — Here you are in a strange, not yet “rediscovered” town. You can see there are some obvious problems. But look – here’s a pleasant street lined with stately Victorian, Queen Anne, and Georgian homes. Some are proudly restored, and others are in various stages of rejuvenation. You keep walking through the old downtown, past quirky shops and nice looking restaurants. By the time you reach the waterfront with its bobbing sailboats and beautiful views, you can feel your attitudes changing.

We’re willing to bet we’re not the only folks visiting a possible retirement town who’ve been surprised to find themselves going from “no way” to “maybe” and perhaps all the way to “why not”. First we are skeptical – there’s no way we could retire here… too many negatives… empty storefronts on main street… pockets of poverty and crime. But then as the place grows on us and we see baby boomers proudly planting flowers in their beautiful front yards we start to ask – could this become a great retirement spot?

Just this week (more…)

Why Len and Ann Think The Villages is the Perfect Place to Retire

May 7, 2013 — Note: This is an updated version of an article we ran in early 2012. It is basically the same content as before, but this update allows us to start over with fresh set of Comments. Our goal is to portray a variety of active baby boomer retirement lifestyles for our members, including different places to live.

Len and Ann are the kind of people that don’t like to stand still. And that’s a trait which perfectly qualifies them to be residents of The Villages, that giant, non-stop fun active community of 75,000 people near Ocala, Florida. Here is their story – we hope you find it useful to learn more about how they came about deciding to living here, and what it is really like to live in The Villages.

What They Did Before Retirement
Len had a long career as an IT guy at SNET, the former (more…)

Time to Share: Where Do You Think is the Best Place to Retire?

May 6, 2013 — Like we did in 2012, it is time again to ask our members to share their retirement plans. But we would like to ask the question in a little different way. Specifically, where do you think is the best place to retire, based on what you know now. When we asked a similar question last time (“Where are you thinking about retiring”) the results were incredible – you provided over 700 thoughtful responses. Our new question is a little different – you can either answer where you intend to live in retirement, or where you would retire if you could. We are anxious to see what you all say!

For our part, we promise to analyze and categorize the responses in a future article. The project depends on getting as many people as possible to contribute, which will give us more valuable survey data. So please, take just a moment to give something back to the many other people on this site who have shared their stories and plans!

Your Easy Instructions
We need your brief response to this question (in 140 characters or less, or not more than 3 lines of text):
“Where is the best place for you to retire (city and/or community if known). Why do you think that might be a good place?”

Your brief message keep the comments easy to read and not so difficult to analyze. You can respond directly in the Comments section below, or you can send an email with your comments, or you can even tweet to @topretirements with #mybestretirement in the message/post. We will put everything together in the Comments section, and then summarize and analyze in a future article.

This won’t take long, and the results will be a real help to you and everyone else in this community. Thanks!

Comments: Post your 140 character answer below, or send us an email or even a Tweet @topretirements with #myretirementspot in the message

Finding a Tax Friendly State for Retirement: A Checklist

April 30, 2013 — Note: This is part 2 of our Most Tax Friendly Places for Retirement series. Part 1 was “Finding Your Tax Friendly Place for Retirement“.

Let’s assume that you are a person looking for a tax-friendly state to retire. You need to start your search by realizing these key facts: your tax situation is going to be different in retirement from what it was during your working days, and because of that some of your current tax assumptions might no longer be valid. Here in Part 2 we will discuss some of the key tax issues that affect retirees, as well as provide a checklist to help organize your thinking.

A Key Change – Different Income
In retirement your income will probably be (more…)

Retirees Beware: Pension Loans Trap the Unwary

April 29, 2013 – A front page story in yesterday’s New York Times spotlighted the newest way for retired Americans to get into serious financial trouble. The story, “Loans Borrowed Against Pensions Squeeze Retirees highlighted the growing trouble in Pension Advances. The idea behind them is that in exchange for an upfront advance (called an advance, but really a loan), you sign over your pension checks far into the future. Cash-strapped and often unwary retirees are increasingly using these loans, but paying interest rates and fees from 27% to as high as 106%.

The article used the experience of Ronald E. Govan as an example. This disabled veteran took out a $10,000 (more…)

Is It Finally the Right Time to Buy (or Sell) Your Home?

April 24 — Oh what a contrast from 4-5 years ago. In the dark days of real estate reporting in 2008 and 2009 there was a steady drumbeat of foreclosures, short sales, record home inventory backlogs, and falling prices. There were no buyers, it seemed, and although there weren’t many sellers, it wasn’t from lack of trying.

Something to (Grouse) About
Fast forward to the March sales report from National Association of Realtors (NAR) that came out this week. Sales are up 10.3% above the year ago month, and the median price of a home, $184,300, increased 11.8% over (more…)

The Pros, Cons, and Considerations of an International Retirement

April 23, 2013 — Notes: This is Part 2 in our recent series about International Retirements. Part 1 provided our list of the “10 Best International Places to Retire“. Also of note, Part 1 generated an interview request from Radio Kerry (Ireland), which was delighted in Ireland’s #1 ranking on our list. The short radio conversation (Ireland Is Best Place in the World) was fun to do, you might find it interesting to listen to.

If you happen to be on the mailing list for some companies it would be easy to think that an international retirement is your ticket to paradise. One that includes plentiful maids and gardeners, cheap but glorious real estate, doctor house calls for (more…)

Out of Work Baby Boomers Struggle to Survive

April 16, 2013 — Millions of baby boomers have been forced into earlier than intended retirement. Surviving that experience has become a brutal challenge. A study from the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank, found that it took more than nine months for half of those over 50 to find a job. Many have not been able to find a job, and have either given up the search or gotten creative about how to survive on their reduced incomes.

3 Boomers Profiled
The Squared Away Blog from the Center for Retirement Research recently profiled 3 baby boomers who are experiencing the struggle to survive. The profiles will sound familiar to many.

Kevin Milligan, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia, determined that two-thirds or more of jobless Americans between (more…)

Finding Your Most Tax-Friendly State for Retirement: Part 1

April 15, 2013 — For a significant percentage of retirees, finding a tax-friendly location to retire is very important. But, while indeed there are many states and localities that are very tax friendly, making a decision based simply on someone’s list of low tax states could lead you to a poor choice. Tax friendliness varies considerably by state and locality, and how your personal situation interacts vs. those taxes has a huge impact. This is Part 1 of a 2 part series: In this article we will explore the various kinds of taxes that might affect you as a retiree; Part 2 is “Finding a Tax Friendly State for Retirement: A Checklist“, and it features a helpful checklist for you to evaluate your tax situation vs. states you might be considering for retirement. See also this MarketWatch article on “Tax Friendliest States” for a slightly different perspective.

Major Taxes in Retirement
The major state taxes you need to be concerned about are property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, estate and inheritance taxes, and how your pensions, IRA distributions, and social security will be taxed. All of these factors (more…)

Retirement Quiz Updated

April 6, 2013 — We have just updated our April 2011 “How Ready Are You for Retirement Quiz” article. There are 20 questions and if you keep track of your Yes and No questions, we’ll give you a score at the end. Take the Quiz, it will be fun!

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