Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 4, 2012 -- Weather and climate are important considerations for most people when they think about where they might retire. For some folks, as we have learned, humidity is a four letter word. Winter cold is a scourge for many, while others feel the same way about dust and allergens. Other weather considerations are rain, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, lightning, ice storms, snow, number of days of sunshine. Not exactly weather related, but earthquakes are an issue to worry about too. This short article will provide you with some resources to research the weather wherever you might be considering retiring, so you can make the best
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Published on September 4, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 14, 2012 -- We're as guilty as any other website - we just loving creating "Best of" lists about various aspects of retirement. And occasionally we like to poke fun at some of the "best" lists other groups come up with. But this past week saw a new list on the "Best Cities for Successful Aging" that is so fact based that it is hard to criticize. The Milken Institute, a West Coast think tank, has provided by far the most carefully researched and multi-dimensional study we have seen.
The Milken Institute came up with 2 different lists for its Best Cities for Successful Aging Index - Best Large Metros and Best Small Metros. There are 100 "best" metros on each. To develop the lists Milken sorted the Metros on 8 major
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Published on August 14, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 24, 2012 -- Who wouldn't be interested in finding a terrific place to retire where there is plenty to do, the climate is better than average, and most importantly - the cost of living is well below average. The list below highlights 20 interesting places to retire with a range of lifestyles - from living in the city... to small towns... to resort type locations on large lakes. The most interesting feature is that for all 20, the median price of a home was $125,000 or less in early 2012, significantly below the U.S. median. Note that prices have gone up since this article was written, sometimes a lot, but these towns still remain relative bargains.
How we developed the list
Affordability was the most important criterion on this list. So we picked places where home prices were at least 20% below the U.S. median of $158,100 (1st Quarter of 2012, National Association of Realtors). Secondarily, we limited
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Published on July 24, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 17, 2012 -- To the many for whom Florida is one big stereotype, the prettiest town in Florida might seem like an oxymoron. Perhaps more than any other state, Florida has its fair share of people with a low opinion of it. To its detractors, it is a place full of big bugs, dangerous snakes, high humidity, old people, flat terrain, and suburban sprawl. Not to say that all of those can't be found in great abundance in the Sunshine State. But as this article about Mount Dora hopes to point out, it isn't all the same.
Rolling into town
It didn't hurt that we rolled into Mount Dora, Florida last winter very early on a Sunday morning. The sun was shining as we hit the central square and charming shopping district. Bicyclists in their multi-colored outfits were streaming by in small packs. Pet owners were taking their pooches
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Published on July 17, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
June 26, 2012 - This is the latest in our Retirement 101 series, which joins earlier reports about retirement in the Southwest, Florida, and the Carolinas (see bottom of article for links). At the end of this article we will provide lists of the 10 most popular California retirement towns and the 10 most popular California Active Adult Communities.
If California is anything it is big and diverse. It has fans and legions of detractors. In our experience California has not had that much success in attracting retirees as new residents. Those who retire here from elsewhere either have family in the state, or they move to a town or area they know about. For those who have spent their working lives in the Golden State, most will continue to live in the state, but perhaps will move to a smaller home or a less expensive or congested area. There are many who say they want to leave as soon as they retire, hoping to escape California's high taxes, cost of living, and crazy traffic. But for people who have
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Published on June 26, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Note: This list was updated in April, 2014. Here is the link to our "Best States for Retirement - 2014".
June 5, 2012 -- When it comes to the best states for retirement the southern states dominate our new 2012 list. Every one of the top 10 states was from the southern part of the U.S., from Tennessee at number 1 (the northernmost state to make the list) to Nevada, the westernmost state. This year we've tried to make our selection process more objective. This list of the 10 best states for retirement uses a numerical scale with up to 1 point awarded on each of 7 factors related to economic issues, climate, and health care costs.
As always, we want to caution
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Published on June 5, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
-- This article was updated in February, 2020 --
May 22, 2012 -- This article will provide a retirement guide and review of 4 southwestern states that are very popular for retirement: Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. At the end we list all of the various region and state comparisons we have developed in the past.
A Few Facts
In contrast to states in the Northeast and Midwest, all of these states are growing fast. Arizona is by far the most popular of these states for retirement. It is also the most populous with an estimated 2018 population of 7,171,646. Utah was
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Published on May 22, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
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
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Published on May 1, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 17, 2012 -- There are people that "hate" Florida, and there are those that "love" it. Surprisingly, the people who don't have a strong opinion seem to be a smaller group. In Part 2 of this article we'll get into which region might appeal to different folks better than others, but here in Part 1 we would like to provide a "Florida Retirement 101" crash course. Our objective is to help you understand this very large and popular state, which is diverse in more ways than you might think. You still might not like the idea of Florida, but at least you will know more about it.
First, a few facts
The 2010 household population was 18,800,000, the 4th most
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Published on April 17, 2012
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 27, 2012 -- Last month we asked our members to briefly share with us where they are thinking about retiring, and why. The results are in, and they are fascinating - the diversity and common sense approaches to decision making are guaranteed to get you thinking. We are grateful to the more than 220 people who took the time to tell us about their retirement destination plans. One side benefit was finding about several active adult communities not on our radar. We especially enjoyed hearing from the folks who haven't yet decided on a place, but nevertheless let us in on their their often conflicted thought process. And to those of you who didn't respond - you owe your fellow members a big favor! The thoughtful input they so graciously provided is going to be very useful to you (see below). You can see the actual responses in the Comments section of "Tell Us Where You Are Going to Retire - and Why".
Where you are retiring - your best places to retire
There was a pretty clear pattern to where our members have decided, or are leaning towards, retiring. A handful of states got most of the votes, although
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Published on March 27, 2012
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