Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Oct. 21, 2025 -- Choosing where to retire often comes down to quality of life and housing affordability and stability. Of course there are other factors like medical care that should go into choosing where to retire, but housing is usually one of the top considerations. So, if you are thinking about retiring in one of the popular retirement states of Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, or Pennsylvania, which has the best retirement real estate market?
Below is a data-driven comparison of the real-estate market a typical retiree would care about. We have provided statewide price levels (Zillow Home Value Index / ZHVI) for 4 states that tend to attract the most retirees. Within each we chose three representative retirement metro markets. At the end we close with which state looks like it has the best “deals” today, and which looks most stable.
By comparison, the most recent U.S. Zillow Home Value Index was $363,963.
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Published on October 20, 2025
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Category: Checklists
October 17, 2025 - Are you in your 40s and 50s and feeling stressed about retirement? Join the club - millions of others are feeling the same.
Many people in their 40s or 50s wake up to the realization that retirement isn’t as far away as it once seemed. With rising living costs, uncertain markets, and increasing responsibilities like kids or aging parents, it’s no wonder so many people feel retirement anxiety.
The good news? You are young enough that you have plenty of time to retire confidently - if you take action right now. Here are some of the steps you can take to reduce that anxiety.
Why So Many 40-50 Somethings Feel Retirement Anxiety
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Published on October 16, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
October 12, 2025 -- You probably know some well-off people who live well below their means .- we sure do. At the extreme end these folks won't buy anything if it's not on sale. They opt for the cheapest entree at a restaurant. And forget about business class tickets, even if it means sitting upright in the middle seat on a 16 hour flight to Australia. Although they have the retirement savings and other assets to buy anything they want without fear, have their home paid for, no debts, and children with successful careers, they just can't stop acting like they have to live on a miser's budget.
Running out of money is the biggest worry people usually have in retirement. Someone might have worked hard, but didn't earn or save enough, or ran into family or financial trouble. The anxiety that someday they will have to survive just on their Social Security is real for them. But there are a surprising number of folks who are blessed to be in the opposite situation - despite their substantial assets they live well under their means. There are many reasons why they deny themselves the pleasure that their hard earned savings could bring. This article will explore some ideas on how to get over those fears and inertia.
Ideas to Help Get Over the Hump
Most baby boomers grew up with parents who lived through the depression of the 1930's. That legacy often installed frugality as a key virtue. Don't spend what you don't have, shut off those lights, only buy what's on sale, etc. For many, even those who have the money, it can be very hard to part with that deep rooted training.
For those fortunate enough to have sufficient resources to not have to worry about running out of money, here are some ideas to get over their fear of spending enough hump. After all, what is the point of scrimping just to admire the size of a bank account.
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Published on October 11, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 29, 2025 -- Everybody's talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Governments are fretting about how to control it, employees worry it will take away their jobs, and a lot of other folks don't really care. The reality is that it is going to get even more important, and about to change our world profoundly. On the plus side, your imagination is the only limit to the many ways you can use it to help with your daily life.. Here's one very specific use - how to predict when you can retire, and how much it will take to do that comfortably.
Start by logging into a free AI service
We've been using ChatGBT (OpenAI), but there are plenty of others to choose from. Those include Google's Gemini for creative tasks and Anthropic's Claude. Microsoft's Copilot is another good one. You will probably have to create a login. They are usually free to start with, but if you use them a lot you will have to pay a relatively modest fee.
So When can I retire?
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Published on July 28, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 23, 2025 -- Almost two thirds of Americans have this understandable fear- that they will live longer than their money lasts. According to the Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies, 45% of Americans who retire at 65 have an increased risk of running out of retirement savings before they die.
The basic problem is that most people haven't saved enough for a comfortable retirement. Just over half of baby boomers have saved less than $250,000. Another problem, even for retirees who do have significant retirement savings, is that most do not have a systematic approach to withdrawing those funds. One study by IRALogix found that only 22% of retirees have some kind of plan for taking down their savings. This article will try to provide some help on that score.
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Published on July 23, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 23, 2025 – There is crazy and there is cruel, and both themes are running rampant at the U.S. Department of Labor these days. For cruelty, the Labor Department has just proposed eliminating some safety standards at factories and mines, as well as to limit the government’s ability to…
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Published on July 22, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 25, 2026 -- You can probably guess the states that are the most expensive to retire. Yep - Hawaii, Alaska, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York are almost always atop those lists. But to find the states where your retirement savings go the furthest - that is not always that easy.
A recent study from GOBankingRates looked at the annual cost of living and annual expenditures after Social Security to come up with how much savings you need to retire in all 50 states. Some of the states on the list where savings go the furthest were surprising.
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Published on June 24, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 17, 2025 -- Many Americans are stumped when it comes to understanding important financial and retirement issues. Asked questions related to Social Security benefits, Medicare coverage, employment-based retirement savings, most respondents in a recent study bombed. On average, they only answered two of the six questions on these issues correctly.
We're including the quiz below so you can see how you would do!
The bad news comes in a new report from the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington University School of Business. There were six questions in the 2025 survey used to gauge basic retirement fluency. Those included knowledge promoting financial well-being in retirement. Each question covered a distinct subject: Social Security benefits, Medicare coverage of healthcare expenses, employment-based retirement savings, ensuring lifetime income, likelihood of needing long-term care at older ages, and life expectancy in retirement.
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Published on June 16, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
May 31, 2025 — It’s one of those questions that seems so obvious. Of course you ought to be happy – $6 Million dollars! But the answer is, many of us have a hard time with it. Maybe we are afraid you will spend it too fast. The bottom will…
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Published on May 31, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 23, 2025 – More than state income taxes, those levied on your property can be one of the most problematic for retirees. That’s because they carry no direct relation to one’s ability to pay – you might have a valuable home,but little savings and income. Property taxes still have…
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Published on April 23, 2025
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