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Looking for Something? We’ve Added a New Retirement Article Index

May 24, 2012 — Ever had that feeling that you’ve seen an article… but just can’t put your finger on it?  We know we have, and that’s why we have just completed a comprehensive index of all our past featured articles. Now hundreds of our most helpful features are all in place, logically arranged in 13 categories so you can find them more easily. Some of the categories include:

- Active Adult Communities

- Baby Boomer Retirement Issues

- Best Retirement Towns and States

- Financial and Tax

- Health

- Home and Garden

- International

- etc.

You can find these indexes (there is one for 2011-2012 and another for 2009-2010) in our Tips and Picks section.  Here are the direct links:

2011  – 2012 Retirement Articles

2009 – 2010 Retirement Articles

Have other questions?

We have answered a number of questions in 2 popular Forum posts, you might want to check them out:

Questions from readers

Problems & FAQs

Retirement 101: Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah

May 22, 2012 — By popular demand we are providing a basic course in southwestern U.S. retirement, similar to what we did last month in Retirement 101:Florida (a 2 part series). We will cover 3 southwestern states with many similarities: Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Population and income data is from American Fact Finder-U.S. Census Bureau.

In our experience, most (but by no means all) retirees who immigrate to these states tend to be from west of the Mississippi and including many from California. The region is popular with people who are fleeing humidity and allergens.

A Few Facts
Arizona is by far the most popular of the three states for retirement. It is also the most populous with a 2010 population of 6,392,000. Utah was (more…)

What Retirees Need to Know This Week

May 15, 2012 — There’s been a lot of news and retirement related articles that affect you as a retiree or future retiree in the past week. Here is the rundown of what we found compelling in the past week or so – think of it as Retirement 101.

Home Price Improve
The National Association of Realtors released their single family home sales data for 2012′s first quarter this week. Compared to the last 5 years, it’s a downright cheery report! Year over year home prices increased in about half of U.S. markets, although prices overall were off from the 4th quarter ($158,100 vs. $162,600). The huge inventories of (more…)

Jay Michaels’ Pursuit of the Perfect Active Adult Community – Part 2

Note: This is Part 2 of a series. Here is the link to see Part 1, “Destination Williamsburg, Jay Michaels Retirement Tour Bus“.

Last year about this time, I reported on my travels to Williamsburg, Virginia and Chapel Hill, NC in search of a retirement destination.  My wife Jane and I have continued our search over the course of the last ten months, visiting a number of active adult communities, and wanted to share some observations from our travels.  We welcome input from people on our search.

First of all, let’s review again the things that are important to us in choosing a retirement destination.  We presently own a seasonal home in north central Pennsylvania and our children reside in Cleveland and Washington, D.C.  We want to live in one home and be able to visit our children without always being dependent on scheduling air reservations in advance.  Close proximity to an airport and good health care are also very important.  We are both recently (more…)

Don’t Miss These New Stories in Latest NY Times Retirement Section

May 10, 2012 — If you have access to the NY Times, either online or in print, you should check out the May 10 edition. There are several great articles, including a profile of 3 older folks who are continuing to work past their normal retirement age – “Working Late, by Choice or Not“. An 87 year old doctor, a 72 year old health care worker, and the former assistant to the Chief Executive of Verizon Wireless (no working at Dillards in the Polo department) make for (more…)

Social Security Part 2: Claiming Strategies for Couples and Divorced Spouses

Note: This is the 2nd in a 2 part series called “Social Security: What You Think You Know Might Hurt You”.  Part 1 provided an overview of the program, how your benefit is calculated, and strategies for optimizing your benefits. This segment will concentrate on strategies for couples to maximize their benefits,as well as the rights and benefits for divorced spouses. The final section of this article discusses some of the more common misconceptions/FAQs about Social Security.

May 8, 2012 — As we discussed in Part 1, the decision to file for Social Security benefits is a personal one that means balancing several inputs. But for married couples, these factors get even more (more…)

Here’s a Guy Who Really Likes to Drive – More than 100,000 Miles Per Year

Arthur “Skip” Budge retired from the Pymouth, MA Police Department about five years ago. He now drives cars to vacation homes for his many clients. It’s a “sweet life” says Budge.  His story is the latest in our series of interesting baby boomer profiles as told to Patricia Kennedy. If you know a boomer retirement we should know about tell us via the Contact Us link.

I retired after twenty-eight years on the Plymouth, MA police force.  Being a police officer was a great career, but I started on the force when I was twenty years old and it was all I knew.  I really wanted time to travel and take advantage of opportunities to experience how other people live.  I never realized just how much my world was going to expand and how much I would love my new freedom.

My wife and I decided that it was going to be OK to take my pension and retire.  But I learned pretty quickly that I wouldn’t be satisfied just sitting around with nothing set to do, and that we really needed the extra dollars to supplement my pension.  Before the first year was out, I agreed to drive some friends’ cars back and forth to Florida –for something to do and to earn those extra dollars. (more…)

What Is the Best Florida Region for Your Retirement

Note: This is Part 2 of a 2 part article on Florida and its many different regions for retirement. Part 1 was “Florida Retirement 101: FL is Bigger and More Diverse Than You Might Have Thought“.

May 1, 2012 — In Part 1 we laid out the basic facts about the Sunshine State as well as descriptions of 8 different regions of Florida (our definitions):
- Panhandle
- Northeast Atlantic
- Mid-Atlantic – The Space Coast (more…)

Planning a Retirement Cruise? Top Ten Tips From an Experienced Cruiser

April 30, 2012 — Wow.  There is just so much to learn about taking a cruise that it is hard to know where to start. Here is the first of a series of articles about cruising that we hope will help you sort through the many first-questions you need to address.  We start with general tips which will be followed by more detailed information in the coming weeks.  These articles are by Patricia Kennedy who has taken and thoroughly enjoyed many cruises all over the world. If you want to share your cruising experience, contact us via the Contact Us link, or post a Comment to this article.

One of the first things many folks do when they retire is plan a great vacation. Now that you have time to travel, cruising offers you world-wide options.

Finding a cruise that you will enjoy shouldn’t be difficult, since the cruise industry operates on a simple, but inspired, strategy of offering something for everyone. The harder initial decision is deciding upon the specific itinerary, the type of cruise, and size of the ship that floats your boat – so to speak.

An ocean voyage across the Atlantic? A cruise that circumnavigates New Zealand? A riverboat down the Mississippi? As long as there is (more…)

What You Think You Know about Social Security Could Hurt You – Part 1

Note:  As we wrote this the public trustees of the Social Security programs reported that its fiscal health has significantly worsened. See our companion story in our Blog, “Social Security Crisis Worsens“.

April 24, 2012 — We were vain enough to consider ourselves experts on when and how to start collecting social security. That is, until we attended a talk last week in Old Saybrook, Connecticut by Kurt Czarnowski of Czarnowski Consulting. Boy, the things we didn’t know, and the others so misunderstood! This article is Part 1 of a 2 Part Series. Here will give a brief background on Social Security and then dive into successful strategies for optimizing your return from this important safety net. Part 2 of this series will focus on issues related to claiming strategies for couples, the rights of divorced spouses, and frequent misunderstandings/questions about Social Security.

First, let’s start with a quote from Kurt Czarnowski: “The myths and misunderstandings about Social Security are staggering”. This from a man who spent 34 years within the Social Security Administration, the last of those as a Communications Director. Given all the misinformation, it is important that (more…)

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