Best Retirement Stories of the Year

Just like in every other sphere of life, the articles we post at Topretirements have their share of winners – and the not so successful. This year’s big, big winner was “Sunbelt Shines on the 100 Most Popular Retirement Towns”; it was read 267,000 times. It was pretty easy to predict that topic would be a success, but sometimes there are surprises going the other way. “Dueling States: Arizona vs. Florida for Retirement” is a good example of a feature that was not nearly (more…)

2011 Retirement Trends You Should Be Thinking About

Every year we dust off our crystal ball and try to think about what’s ahead for retirees in the year ahead. But before we do that, here are a few observations about 2010, the year that is just about to end:

- Housing prices stabilized in most markets in 2010, and even started to increase slightly in many cities and towns. The free fall in prices that came in 2008 and 2009 has mostly stopped. Although median home prices slipped in the first quarter according to the National Association of Realtors, they increased from (more…)

What’s on Your Retirement Bucket List

Editor’s Note: In August 2012 we asked our visitors and members to tell us what is on their bucket lists. See the fascinating result in this article: “Wow – Your Bucket Lists Are Amazing!“

December 20, 2010 — Maybe you’ve seen the movie “The Bucket List”. It stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, both of whom have less than a year to live in the movie. The plot unfolds from there, as this odd duo goes on a road trip together trying to accomplish as much as possible in the days remaining before they “kick the bucket”. We confess we haven’t seen the movie, but it sounds kind of fun. The premise is so applicable to those of us who are starting out in retirement. Although we are luckier than Nicholson and Morgan in that we have more than 1 year to accomplish our list, that also carries the danger that we have so much time left that we feel like we don’t have to (more…)

How Would You Describe Your Retirement Lifestyle

December 13, 2010 — Remember when you took that college psychology class and you (or maybe your buddies) noticed how nicely you fit into some of the more interesting disorder diagnoses? Along those same lines, Allianz Financial has come up with a way to classify retirees. They have found 5 types: read on to see which one fits you.

Worse than Death
Their study, “Reclaiming the Future“, also had two other very interesting observations:
- Most people in the study fear running out of money more than they fear death
- They also appreciate that the financial meltdown has created a retirement “crisis”.

It is a little hard to imagine in advance how an insurance company might (more…)

Best Places for Retired Military

December 7 — Harrisburg, PA; Syracuse, NY; and Waco, TX are not used to being selected as “best places to retire”. Yet these towns were among the top 10 on a new list of best places for retired military personnel from USAA and Military.com. The USAA lists provide a perfect illustration of why choosing a place to retire based on criteria that make sense for you is better than relying on any random list.

Retired military personnel share many common retirement needs. Many of them, particularly officers or senior noncoms, will get a substantial pension. Moving to a state where that pension won’t be taxed could be worth thousands of dollars a year. Likewise, retired soldiers, sailors, airmen, and (more…)

Our Worst States to Retire List

Note: The 2012 version of this list came out Jan. 11.
December 7, 2010 — The 50 U.S. states are in a beauty contest. Whether they know it or not, they are being judged by a tough jury of 76 million or so baby boomers looking for the best place to retire. These baby boomers are hard to please, they are used to moving to new places, and are not going to settle for second or third best when it comes to enjoying their retirement years. This article provides our list of the 10 (or so) worst states for retirement, 2010 edition. Note: We are honored to report that this report was quoted extensively in Robert Powell’s “10 Worst States for Retirement” at WSJ-Marketwatch, the Huffington Post, and Consumerist.com, and AARP. To get regular updates on articles like this sign up for our free weekly “Best Places to Retire” newsletter.

Everybody’s situation is different
Every individual has to consider his or her own criteria for selecting a list of the worst or best states to retire. The list of the best places for military to retire that came out this week from USAA.com and Military.com is a perfect example of a list that makes sense for a specific set of retiree needs. Their lists were carefully tailored… (more…)

What Makes for Great Active Adult Communities

December 3, 2010 — The sentiment expressed in…”I could have had a V-8!” is relevant to your selection of an active adult community or retirement town: Why settle for an average retirement community when you could live in a really good one? So with that goal in mind we have assembled a list of what we think makes for a great active adult community. We welcome comments and additional criteria, as well as all reader suggested nominations.

Active Community Best Practices
1. Great communication.In our opinion the #1 thing any organization can do is communicate – effectively and openly. Whether it is the HOA or the developer, have some good ways to communicate. Websites, newsletters, agendas, meetings are all great. Agendas for meetings should be published (more…)