September 21, 2020 — The leaves are starting to turn in some locales and there is a chill in the air. Which means many snowbirds are starting to wrap up their summer and getting ready to head south for the winter. To help retirees in that situation with their preparations, we are happy to present our ever-popular “Snowbirds Checklist for Leaving for the Winter Checklist” article. Not only are there some great tips in the article, but even better are the many Member Comments that added even more great ideas. We guarantee you will find something useful. Check it out!
September 16, 2020 — It is clear that consumer tastes are fickle, and that sure seems to apply to what retirees are looking for in an active adult or 55+ community. Certainly that is what we found when we analyzed our visitor logs from the first 8 months of 2020, looking for the 15 most popular communities in the Southeastern states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. This article complements a similar one for the Southwest: “15 Most Popular Active Adult Communities in the Southwest for 2019“.
Changes from the 2019 list aplenty. More than half of the communities on this list are new to it this year, which is pretty exciting (see links below to last year’s list). All of the top 5 are repeat winners. The review for the most popular community on this list, Amelia Island Plantation, was viewed 1,330 times during that period. As usual there are several “no-brainer” choices like The Villages and Solivita, both located in Florida. Some winners were a bit of a mystery, and that includes The Cottages at Lakeview Road in Warner, GA. Nalcrest is a speciality community that caters only to retired postal letter carriers. Florida had 9 winners with the rest coming from Georgia (4) and South Carolina (2). Note that most, but not all, of these communities are designated 55 plus. But the majority of the residents in all of these communities would probably meet that qualification.
While these are the 15 most popular active adult communities on this site for FL, GA, and SC, they might not necessarily be the “best”. There are thousands of choices that might work for you, but you won’t even find out about them unless you look around. If this list does anything for you we hope it expands your horizons.
The most popular 55+ communities in the Southeast for 2020
September 14, 2020 – Downsizing, ridding out, whatever you want to call it, paring down your stuff is an important job in retirement. This past week your Editor and his wife had the pleasure of safely disposing more than a dozen boxes of important papers that were cluttering up their home. Here are some tips on how you can do the same (with links to many of our other downsizing articles at end).
Don’t leave cleaning up to your surviving spouse or children. It’s just not fair. Give your kids a break – they have lives to live – so don’t leave them with a basement or attic full of old papers or documents to dispose of. They will have no idea what was is important and what is not.
September 9, 2020 – Bermuda is one of those countries where it is really hard to live for a period longer than a brief vacation stay. But the pandemic has changed that, at least temporarily. Now, if you are still working, you can live there for one year for just a $263 application fee. The move is one to bolster the tourist based economy, which has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtesy of Mike Oropeza in public domain
According to the Work from Bermuda website, the program is for people who are currently employed and working from home or enrolled in tertiary education and studying remotely. Instead of working or studying remotely in your home country, you can work or study remotely from Bermuda.
September 9, 2020 — Although the pandemic has been horrendous for activities like dining out or social gatherings, others are experiencing a gold rush. One of those is biking (cycling to our British brethren). Walk into a bike shop now and say you need a bike – get ready for a 3 month wait. Want a used bike… sorry. The same goes for bike parts and repairs. As people avoid mass transit and have more time on their hands, biking has never been more popular.
While it is a great activity, it is a lot more enjoyable when you live in a place where the infrastructure is set up for it. When bikers and cars are kept separate it is a lot safer and more fun. Bike lanes, special traffic signals, concrete barriers, and under/overpasses make all the difference. No one wants to bike along a narrow berm next to speeding cars, or face daunting intersections with multiple lanes to cross.
September 2, 2020 — Spending more time walking, cooking, taking the dog out, exercising, or gardening during the pandemic? One great way to get double the pleasure out of these activities is to listen to a good book while you are doing them. All you need is your phone and a set of headphones, preferably Bluetooth connected.
Your editor has enjoyed some wonderful books lately. American Dirt, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Half Broke all have female protagonists with strong storylines that will carry you away as you take on your various chores and activities. Educated is an inspiring memoir of a young girl’s struggle to escape her crazy survivalist family in Idaho. Biographies like “Shoe Dog”, the story of how Phil Knight created Nike, is a fascinating listen. The Doll House by Ann Patchett, narrated by Tom Hanks, is great too.
September 2, 2020 — There are are tens of millions of baby boomers, and just about every one of us has a slightly different retirement dream. Some might have one requirement in common, but the two or three other things on their lists make them unique. In this new series we are will explore different retirement quests, along with examples of retirement towns that match. As other articles in the series are written, we will link to them here.
A Topretirements Member asked last week about great places to retire for foodies. Secondarily, she is also looking for good healthcare, nice weather, and middle of the road cost of living. If those preference describe what you are looking for, this article will provide a few places for you to consider.
August 26, 2020 – Do you know someone completed devoted to Walt Disney characters or Disneyland/Disneyworld? MagicalPassings can arrange for loved ones to say goodbye with the help of Disney characters and themes. According to their website, the company “specializes in customized and themed end of life experiences for you and your loved ones… (with) Disney funerals.” You can have character visits, a kiss goodbye from Mickey, listen to favorite melodies, or even have Captain Jack send them off to Davy Jones Locker.
August 26, 2020 — You are probably only going to have one retirement, so you might as well make the most of it. At least, that’s the way we think about it. So why settle for a “nice” place to retire, when you have actually have the option to go for the gold – a town that is interesting, charming, bustling – one you never tire of. Here are 10 possibilities for you to consider, chosen by region, and along with the criteria we used to select them.
August 19, 2020 — If you are like a lot of the people we know, the pandemic might have led you into thinking about adding a pet to the family. Across the country and maybe the world, animal shelters and rescue operations have slimmer pickings, and breeders are not returning phone calls. So this seems like as good a time as any to revisit “Pets and Retirement”. Topretirements has two very popular articles on this topic, “Are Pets and Retirement a Good Mix?“, and “Pets, the X Factor in Retirement“. Between the two they generated almost 100 reader comments, so we know this is a topic that resonates among retirees, who have different needs and lifestyles than working families. If you are tempted to add some type of pet to your family, these articles are a good place to help organize your thoughts and plans.
