Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 25, 2014 -- More and more active baby boomers have discovered the joys of biking - whether it just getting around the neighborhood on 2 wheels, the occasional rail2trail expedition, or longer trips through the countryside or even across the country. Cyclists save gas, get healthy exercise, have time to experience the sights, and are kind to the planet at the same time. In fact battery-assisted bikes, which use batteries to help you get up hills or assist on longer trips, are one of the fastest growing products in many places. So it stands to reason that when it comes to retirement, you might want to
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Published on August 24, 2014
Comments 12
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated January 20, 2021 - Originally published August, 2014
Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study of U.S. Unhappy Cities. The study also listed the cities that have the happiest people. While it is relatively easy to guess the unhappiest places, the cities with the happiest folks tend to be surprising. The study was not specifically about retirement, but we certainly think it is relevant.
But first - happy places...
Clyde, a long time Member and frequent contributor, brought this article back to our attention in connection with a fascinating piece he read in The New Yorker: "Find the Place You Love... Then Move There". In it Arthur. C. Brooks talks about the notion that most people have a place they think of as home, no matter how many times they might move in their life. He says that although moving is a horrible and painful process, sometimes it is worth it if it brings you happiness. We couldn't agree more when it comes to retirement. If where you are living doesn't make you happy, find someplace that does and move there!
Happy PlacesThese are the top 6 metros with the happiest people according to the study. Kudos to the State of Louisiana, which has 2 out of the 6. Note that although 5 out of the 6 metros are in or close to the Sunbelt - what is going on in Rochester, Minn. to make folks so happy? (If the name appears in blue that link will take you to our city review).- Charlottesville, Virginia- Rochester, Minnesota
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Published on August 18, 2014
Comments 9
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 13, 2014 -- (Note: This is Part 3 in a series of under-appreciated places to retire. Find the links to Parts 1 and 2 at the end).
We get a little tired of seeing the same towns and cities get picked for "Best" this or that for retirement. Seems like everyone doing the selecting is drinking at the same water trough. So when our friend Bob Powell at MarketWatch asked for input on some under-appreciated places to retire, he got our attention (his article, "Five Lesser Known Places to Retire", was published last Sunday in USA Today).
Our goal in coming up with 5 less discovered towns
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Published on August 12, 2014
Comments 20
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 22, 2014. Note: This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1 on retiring at the lake was published in 2011. This installment lists more great lake towns for retirement. We hope you will add your ideas for the best lake retirement spots in the Comments section.
In our recent survey on "where to live" preferences, living on the beach was the third most popular choice. Although we wished we had also provided a "lake" option, we guess that being near the beach and living on a lake are close to being interchangeable, although not exactly the same. If we had listed the lake
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Published on July 22, 2014
Comments 5
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 21, 2014 -- If you are an outdoor oriented person the chances are you have dreamed about retiring to a town in the mountains.You might love to ski, hike, camp, fish, mountain bike, or just plain admire the beautiful scenery mountains have in such ample supply. This article is a companion to our other articles about great retirements near the water, in cities, college towns, and small towns (see Further Reading at end of article for more about them).
When some people think of mountain towns they might be thinking of a small community pushed up against the edge of towering peaks. Colorado and much of the American west have plenty of those. Yet for others the mountains might just mean having some nearby foothills. With that in mind we have tried to present a range of communities in this article. There are so many great mountain towns to choose from that we promise a Part 2 in these series.
Advantages
For those who aspire to a mountain retirement, here are some of the advantages that come with them:
- Cooler summers. Altitude means an escape from hot
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Published on May 21, 2014
Comments 46
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 2, 2014 -- In Florida's golden days in the early 20th century a group of inspired visionaries created many graceful towns. They produced magical communities that attracted hundreds of thousands of retirees from the north. Other towns somehow became classics just because of where they were situated or their economic success in their past. Moving forward to this century, most of these towns still have the great bones that made them attractive back in the day. This article will review some of our favorite "Old Florida" towns that make great places to retire right now.
Planning pays off
Many, but not all, of the classic Florida towns we know about were carefully planned. As a result they have symmetry and
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Published on May 3, 2014
Comments 23
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 29, 2014 -- For folks interested in an active retirement community for the mind there are few choices better than a college town. With so many advantages, and a minimum of reasons why not to try it, it is not surprising that so many baby boomers are exploring a college town retirement. This article, Part 2 in our series (see Part 1: "Should You Be Retiring to a College Town"), will explore many of the reasons why a college town retirement is so desirable, as well as list some of the more appealing campus towns in our database. We are indebted to frequent contributor Jan Cullinane, author of The Single Woman's Guide to Retirement (AARP/Wiley) and many other books and articles, for her insights into the advantages and drawbacks of college town life (see below).
College Towns. Here we mean a place where the college is the dominant influence on the flavor and
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Published on April 29, 2014
Comments 21
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 22, 2014 -- This request came in from one of our members, and it seems like a good one: "Could you please do an article on 55+ retirement developments that are under $200,000. There are so many great places to look at but most aren't affordable to us."
The happy answer to this question is that there are all kinds of 55+ and active adult communities with homes available for less than $200,000 - sometimes far below. In this article we will first explore different strategies for finding an affordable community, then list
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Published on April 21, 2014
Comments 106
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated October 11, 2017 -- This article was originally published in April, 2014. Prices have gone up since then in most of these markets, but they are still less expensive than many other coastal towns.
Retiring near the coast is many people's dream. Visions of beautiful sunrises or sunsets over the water, boating, swimming, fishing, walks on the beach - it sounds great. But one practical thing that often gets in the way is the price of real estate. Those great views and proximity to the water usually come with a price tag that reflects marketplace demand. Fortunately, not every town on the water is out of reach. In this, Part 2 of our Affordable Places to Retire on the Water series, we've reviewed 10 coastal towns that are affordable. Some of these places to retire might not be as chichi as Naples, FL, but they are surprisingly nice and reasonable priced. Part 1, "Affordable Places to Retire on the Waterfront", came out in 2010 (it included some towns where the waterfront was on a lake, this one does not).
Prices have gone up
The first thing we noticed when compiling this article is that home prices
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Published on April 15, 2014
Comments 98
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Update May 16, 2017 - We have updated this article with a 2 part installment. Here is the link to Part 1: These Crazy Best States to Retire Lists.
April 8, 2014 -- Back by popular demand, here is our 2014 list of the best states for retirement (see links at bottom to our lists from previous years). This year we have taken a different approach - we've assembled "best of" lists by category. At the conclusion of the article we've listed those states that made more than one list, which you can use as an indication that they must be pretty good places for retirement!
See the counterpoint to this article: "Worst States for Retirement - 2014".
The categories we've chosen are basically the opposite of those we used to choose our "2014 List of the Worst States for Retirement", although we decided to also give weight to
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Published on April 8, 2014
Comments 131
