North Carolina’s 10 Most Popular Active Adult and 55+ Communities

April 17, 2018 — The allure of North Carolina for retirement seems to be gaining momentum every day. It is considered fairly tax-friendly for retirees and offers a milder winter climate than states in the Midwest and Northeast (see our Retirement Guide to North Carolina). A big draw is attractive real estate prices and cost of living. When it comes to finding a place to live, it offers an amazing array of towns, cities, and active adult and 55+ communities. North Carolina has also gained attention for attracting “halfbacks”, the so-called retirees who moved from the north to Florida, only to become disillusioned and move “halfway back” home to the Carolinas. This article highlights the 10 most popular active adult and 55+ communities in North Carolina, as measured by visitor interest at Topretirements.com. In the next few weeks we will produce the list of the 10 most popular active communities in South Carolina.
(more…)

By Craig Blouin
April 13, 2018 — The warm, inviting glow of retirement on the horizon motivated me as I moved toward it during my last years in the workaday world. I’d put a good many miles on the roadway of life up to this point and now there was a sweeping curve up ahead. I sure wanted to have a look at what was around the other side.

Those last few miles seemed to take an inordinately long time to get through. But then I was there, the promised land: Retirement! After a rousing send-off by my work colleagues — either sad or delighted to see me go — finally it’s the first day of the rest of my life. Great! … So now what?

I’m not usually a goal-oriented sort of person, even though many years ago I’d attended a Covey Institute intensive workshop at the Sundance (more…)

Does Your Retirement Town Deserve You?
April 11, 2018 — When it comes to finding the right retirement town, remember this – you are the customer! After all, even a moderate income couple brings a lot to the party. If you move to a new location to retire you strengthen the local economy by buying or renting a home. Even if you decide not to move and stay where you live now, you add stability to the local real estate market. Wherever you live you (or your landlord) pay sizable property taxes. In many locales you might have to pay local income taxes, which boost the local economy. And, your Social Security, pension, and 401(k) distributions will pump money into local stores and businesses (the so-called mailbox economy) every month.

Rating towns for retirement
Various outfits try to rate towns on the basis of retirement-friendliness. For example, states including Texas (about 50 towns) and Louisiana (8 towns) have “Certified Retirement Community” programs. To qualify as certified, the towns have to pass muster on a variety of criteria. For example (more…)

April 7, 2018 — The majority of people say they would like to do some traveling once they retire. There are plenty of destinations that immediately come to mind. Paris, the Grand Canyon, London, New York City – these are on many people’s lists. Beyond that, evaluating and planning exciting places to visit can be a really fun part of the process. To help stimulate your thinking this article will give you some creative and offbeat ideas that will, hopefully, get your travel juices really going.

Out of the box travel ideas
Not that it is a competition, but who ever said you had to go to the same places that everybody else has. So consider these travel themes, which in many cases involve exploring all (or many) of the locations in certain categories.

Detail from The Temple of Bulguksa (built in 774) South Korea. World Heritage site

1. UNESCO – World Heritage sites – Worldwide there are 1,073 World Heritage sites, so it is improbable anyone could visit more than a few hundred or so. According to Wikipedia, “To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be an (more…)

Some people really want to retire – but there are reasons why they can’t.
Other folks want to keep on working – but there are pressures on them to retire.

April 4, 2018 — Assuming you are lucky enough not to have found yourself unexpectedly retired, as so many baby boomers have, you might be wondering if this is the right time to retire. Unfortunately, there are so many different and unique situations that it is hard to assign a one-size-fits-all answer. In this article we will lay out some common situations where there is either pressure to retire or pressure against, and then some possible solutions. At the end what we are really hoping for is Member input for ideas on the best way to handle these situations. And, if you are looking for more articles on this topic, including case studies about actual people’s retirement experiences, check out the Retirement Planning section of our Blog (67 articles).

Not just a number
Retirement shouldn’t be just about a number – such as “I’m 65 so I better retire”. Obviously the best time to retire is when you want to, and when you think you can afford to. Many people dream of retiring as soon as they can – even in their 30s. But others hope never to stop working. But sometimes there are other factors that force the issue. That is what we will talk about here.

Some different situations:

A basic consideration about when to retire is if you love your job or not. Another big one is, can you afford to retire? Not being in a financial position to call it quits adds extra pressure. Sometimes there might be multiple factors that affect your decision to retire or not.

Let’s assume first (more…)

March 31, 2018 — Coming of age movies like The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Easy Rider, 2001: Space Odyssey, etc. became cultural icons for us baby boomers, back in the day. Producers of these blockbusters found huge audiences among our generation. Hollywood is still making movies for us today. Many aspects of the plots and characters are the same (love and loneliness, finding yourself), everybody is just a lot older! Special thanks to our traveling companion Deb (a tremendous fan of movies) for helping spark this idea.

Here are our top 10 movies (including 1 TV series) for baby boomers that touch on the topic of retirement. We hope that you will add your favorites too. We start our list with more recent movies, then go on to some oldies but goodies. Most are classics, definitely worth watching again.

The Leisure Seeker. (2018) Academy Award winner Helen Mirren (more…)

March 27, 2018 — When we decided to visit India, one of the places on both of our bucket lists, my wife and I got one of two very opposite reactions. The first was incredulous, as in “why would you want to visit a place like that?” The second was either, “I have always wanted to go there”, or “I can’t wait to go back”.

One reason we wanted to visit India came from what we heard from fellow travelers. They spoke of the strange and awesome sights, the friendly people so different from us, and the wonderful food. For my wife, an avid reader captivated by the many (more…)

March 23, 2018 — Are you one of the many people who have been carefully amassing, polishing, and preserving all kinds of collections for posterity? Here is some really bad news – nobody wants it but you! As one furniture dealer, speaking about early 20th century goods, commented, “It’s never coming back.”

Recent articles in the New York Times and the NextAvenue.org blog highlighted this sad issue, which then generated an avalanche of emotional comments. It is very hard for people to part with objects that represent emotional or sentimental ties with the past. Many people develop feelings of guilt about losing objects tied to their ancestors, while others go into denial.

Here are some of the top 10 treasures that you might love, but nobody (more…)

March 21, 2018 — Note: This is an updated version of Part 1 of a 2 part series on international places to retire. Part 2 is “The Pros, Cons, and Considerations of an International Retirement“.

A few years ago our friend Dennis asked us where we thought the best place to retire was – internationally. The question took us by surprise, partly because it came from a man who has traveled the world extensively, and who also has a home in Costa Rica – wouldn’t Dennis have a better grip here than us? The question got us thinking.

(more…)

By Flo Williamson
Note: This is the 3rd in Flo’s series about retirement in the Lake Tahoe area. In this installment she concentrates on some surprising Nevada towns that make great places to retire, and are a less expensive alternative.
March 18, 2018 — In this article, we’ve got some good news – there are several Nevada towns close to Lake Tahoe where you can benefit from the Tahoe lifestyle without spending a small fortune.

One of the best, and less expensive alternatives is Reno, Nevada, “The Biggest Little City in the World”. I have to admit, that while I’ve flown in and out of Reno, dozens of times over numerous years, my main objective was getting to Lake Tahoe ASAP. I’ve spent little time in the town, but my research on the benefits for retirees in Reno proved to be a most pleasant surprise. Reno is VERY retiree friendly.

Reno is located about 30 miles from Lake Tahoe, over the Sierra Mountains by way of the Mt. Rose highway which starts in Incline Village. The Reno, Nevada climate is similar to a high desert. The winters are cold, with some snow, but it’s usually not nearly as cold or snowy as at (more…)