Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 22, 2012 -- OK Topretirements members and readers, it's your turn to help. We have been trying our best to give you practical advice about the best places to retire along with general retirement advice - now we need your (brief) input on a specific question. That is, tell your fellow members "Where are you going to retire, and why others should consider it". Incorporating insights on modern leisure activities such as crypto casinos can provide a comprehensive view of what retirees seek in their new homes. For our part, we promise to analyze and categorize the responses in a future article. The project depends on getting many people to contribute, which will give us valuable survey data that everyone will appreciate. A similar survey that your editor worked on for NARFE, So Many Great Towns, So Hard to Choose, a few years ago generated hundreds of responses - we have every confidence our 22,000 subscribers can do the same. After all, this site is free, think of this assignment as your small payback.
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Published on February 21, 2012
Comments 749
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 21, 2012 – Editor's Note: See the 2014 edition of "The 100 Best Places to Retire"
Once again this year the Sunbelt is the preferred region for baby boomer retirements. Topretirements.com has just published its 6th annual list of the 100 most popular places to retire on its site, and the Sunbelt's retirement popularity continues -- 75 of the 100 top positions are held by towns in the Sunbelt. Florida dominates the list of best places to retire, taking 26 of the spots (the same as in 2011), followed by North Carolina (11) and South Carolina and Arizona (7 each). The highest ranking non-Sun Belt city on our list was Bend (OR) at #37. Note: To make sure you don’t miss new lists like this, sign up for our free weekly “Best Places to Retire” newsletter. See also "The Worst States for Retirement - 2014".
The Top 10
As has been the case since Topretirements published its first list in 2007, Asheville, NC is the #1 town, receiving more than 25 times as many page visits as Princeton (NJ), which squeezed onto the list in the #100 position. Asheville's reputation as a great place to retire, its mountains, gentle 4 seasons climate, and recreational/cultural opportunities all make it the standard that all other retirement towns can aspire to. Sarasota (FL) once again occupies the #2 spot, while Austin (TX) and Venice (FL) climbed
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Published on February 21, 2012
Comments 20
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
This article was originally posted as a comment from Artie on our "Dueling Carolinas Comparison" article (where you also find many other helpful comments). He provides so much detail we thought it would make a great blog article on his own, so with his permission we have done that. We also added some other relevant comments to add even more detail. Thanks Artie!
Originally I thought I was moving to Florida (Jupiter), but here I am in Cary, NC. I can’t speak specifically to the advantages of disadvantages of having chosen NC over SC. But I’m sure my wife and I could have been happy in any number of places in either state.
One Year Later
This past August has been our one year anniversary since
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Published on February 11, 2012
Comments 34
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 2, 2012 — We have just updated our 2010 article that compared retirement in South Carolina vs. North Carolina. Since you might have trouble finding it that far back in our Blog, we are publishing the link here: //www.topretirements.com/blog/great-towns/dueling-carolinas-north-carolina-vs-south-carolina-as-the-best-retirement-state.html/?awt_l=5x8Ih&awt_m=Iwrh29qzmRaAA4 The article compares cost of living, taxes of…
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Published on February 2, 2012
Comments 33
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 3, 2012 -- Key West, a great place to live as well as retirement spot, is the scene of a new murder mystery series launching today. What's more the author of "An Appetite for Murder" is the wife of your Topretirements editor, writing under the pen name Lucy Burdette.
Roberta Isleib (aka Lucy) set the scene for her third mystery series in Key West, that bohemian, food-focused resort town. An Appetite for Murder, published by NAL/Penguin on January 3, features her new character, Hayley Snow, as an aspiring food critic and amateur
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Published on January 3, 2012
Comments 0
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 19, 2011 -- While not every Topretirements member is interested in moving to a new place once they retire, most are at least open to the idea. That is why we have devoted so many resources to this question, particularly on factors like where to live and what should be considered in such a move. But, tempted as we might be by the lure of low taxes or sunnier skies, probably three-quarters of us won't move more than a few miles away from our current home in retirement. This article will explore the case for sticking close
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Published on December 20, 2011
Comments 34
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 8, 2011 -- If you thought that North Carolina was the current "hot" state for retirement, you would be wrong. On the other hand, if you guessed retirees look forward to retiring on the coast or next to a lake, go ahead and grab the brass ring.
To get a handle on what people who are nearing retirement consider to be the best places to retire we recently analyzed the (anonymous) statistics from our Retirement Ranger. The Ranger is our free interactive tool that helps people identify their best places to retire, based on the criteria they select for location, weather, cost of living, etc. So far the test has been taken over 11,000 times. The analysis of these preferences reveal
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Published on November 7, 2011
Comments 15
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 4, 2011 — If you are like most people, affordability is a key consideration for your best place to retire. We know because so many of our members ask for suggestions for affordable places to live. But we also know that you are not going to choose your retirement location just because it is cheap. That's why we created this list of places to retire that are affordable, AND have enough going for them that you might actually enjoy living there. This is part II - for towns starting M-Z. Part I (towns A - M) has 10 more
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Published on October 3, 2011
Comments 25
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 27, 2011 -- A few years ago one of our members suggested that we expand our lists of "best places" for more lifestyles. We thought that was a great suggestion and our members seemed to agree. This article updates and expands those lists. We are always looking for new things to profile, so if you have suggestions, please let us know in the Comments section below:
Best Places to Retire by Lifestyle:
Top 10 Golf Towns
15 Great Biking Towns
(and don't overlook the exciting stuff Portland, OR is doing to be bike friendly)
Great Towns for Bookstores
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Published on September 27, 2011
Comments 13
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 20, 2011 -- Doing a great job of finding your best place to retire is a process. This article will focus on one of the last steps in a successful best places to retire quest - exploring different communities and forming perceptions based on what it is actually like to live somewhere.
But first, here is a quick review of the steps to help you successfully find your best place to retire (see helpful resources for each at end of article):
1. Identify your location priorities. If you have a significant other, find out and discuss how those match.
2. Work on a budget, which will help narrow your search to the best places that fit you.
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Published on September 20, 2011
Comments 14