10 Tips to Consider Before Retiring Abroad

October 26, 2009 – (Editor’s Note: There are several articles in this “Affordable Places to Retire” series. See “Further Reading” at end for links to the rest in the series)

In our recent article, “Whackiest Best Places to Retire List“, we poked a little fun at some of the “Best Places to Retire” lists our big named publishing brethren keeping come up with. In so doing we promised to come up with our own “Best Affordable List”, and here it is.

St. Petersburg Harbor

The exercise of identifying our “Affordable” List proved to be very interesting, and challenging, on many levels (see end of article for further explanation). The major challenge was exactly what criteria would we apply? Would (more…)

Readers love best places to retire (or live) lists. Publishers are crazy about them because… (read first sentence again). But good grief, is there is no end to zany lists?

Consider three such lists put out recently. First one from U.S. News, another in a long string of “best places to live” from this magazine. (more…)

October 15, 2009. It’s official, there will be no social security COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) increase in 2010, the first time this has happened since 1975. The reason is simple, this year there was no increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009, hence no need for a payment. (more…)

Note: This is the 3rd in a 3 article series about baby boomers and their retirement real estate plans. Part 1 featured the differences (and similarities) of boomers’ retirement housing preferences and the homes builders are building. Part 2 explored the conflict between baby boomer desire to retire in suburbia vs. reality. (more…)

It’s been a rough couple of days in the retirement real estate market. Fortunately, not all the news was bad, depending on your perspective. Here are few news stories crossing our desk:

– Prices are falling in many active adult communities, which is stimulating sales to at least some degree. According to a report in the Press-Enterprise, Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, a real estate research firm, prices in Del Webb’s Solera Diamond Valley recently ranged from $170,000 to $291,000. Back in January 2008, similar houses were priced from $246,000 to well over $300,000. (more…)

Remember the great fear of a few years ago: baby boomers will be retiring in droves, creating a severe shortage of skilled workers and driving up costs for employers. Whew – there’s one less thing to worry about. A recent survey on the impact on retirement of the recession by the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM) found that more than two-thirds of human resource professionals surveyed report that the number of employees planning to delay retirement has increased.

Topretirements is frequently asked this question and the SHRM survey confirms our theories on the matter. Millions of working Americans are nervous about their retirements because of a combination of ingredients: their investment portfolios are way down and they are fearful about their jobs.
According to The State, The unfortunate reality is that more and more people 55+ are out of work who would rather be working. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says more people in this age group are or out of work since they began keeping records. Experience Works, a nonprofit employment training organization for older Americans, figures that the expected retirement age for Americans is now 72.

What do you think?
Have you delayed your retirement for one reason or another? Please respond in the Comments section below.

The Sunshine State just had its first population loss since 1946, according to research from the University of Florida. The State lost 58,000 residents in the year ending March, 2009, the first such loss since military personnel left the State when WWII ended.

This decline is sobering to Florida, a state used to nothing but unending growth. The experts are quick to provide a multitude of reasons for this change, leading the casual observer to think Florida might have lost its (retirement) mojo. The current recession and attendant housing crisis is the most important reason for the decline. Construction is hugely important in this state, yet (more…)