Which is Right for You – A 55+ or an All Ages Active Adult Community?

April 29, 2020 — The names used by retiree-oriented developments to describe their properties cause so much confusion. In the old days life was simpler – we had old folks homes, retirement homes, and nursing homes. We understood those terms meant, often describing warehouses for the elderly and infirm. Today those concepts have evolved and expanded – now we have communities that are 55+, active adult, retirement, independent living, assisted living, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. Overseas there are retirement villages. Fortunately today’s choices offer a much richer retirement than in days of old!

Since there is so much confusion and misunderstanding about the two categories most new retirees are interested in, 55+ and active adult communities, we will concentrate on those here.

Note: July 2020 – This deadline has been extended. April 24, 2020 – Are you kicking yourself because you took some or all this year’s Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your IRA or 401(k) earlier this year? Now that the Cares Act has eliminated RMDs for 2020, you have reason to be upset, especially because all of your distribution is taxable income. Fortunately, there might be some relief.

Act before July 15

The CARES Act just passed as part of the coronavirus relief package has a provision that eliminates all required minimum distributions (RMDs) for 2020. Unfortunately, if you took RMD in January of this year, you probably can’t reverse that decision without jumping through a lot of hoops. But, if you took one on or after February 1 and May 15, 2020, you can still roll it back, if you act by July 15. The rollback option isn’t available if the plan was inherited. Issued on April 9, IRS Notice 2020-23 provides limited relief by allowing an extension of the 60-day rollover period. You cannot rollback any taxes you had withheld, although you can probably get a refund or adjustment when you pay your 2020 taxes. There is only one IRA rollback every 365 days.

April 21, 2019 — Deciding when to take Social Security retirement benefits is always a complex question. Now the devastating impact of Coronavirus is making it even harder. Here are some thoughts that might help on a question that always has many possible answers.

The New York Times reports in “Taking Social Security During the Pandemic” that workers in the past decade have shown a steady trend of postponing when they take Social Security, as a way to increase their potential lifetime retirement benefits. Whereas most workers still take Social Security the first chance they get at age 62, to get higher benefits more and more have been waiting to their Full Retirement Age (66-67), or even to age 70. With the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic experts are wondering if that trend will stop, or even reverse itself.

April 19, 2020 — We were curious – which towns and cities offer the greatest variety of 55+ and active adult communities? To answer that question, we have prepared this report, which we hope will be useful in helping refine your search for the perfect active community. The numbers used here come from the Topretirements.com database of 4,123 active adult, 55+, and independent living communities. What is most amazing about this report is the astonishing variety of community types available – anyone who thinks that retirement living options are all the same is sadly mistaken. It also says a lot about where people and the real estate market agree about where to retire.

Sunbelt prevails – and a surprising winner.

As might be expected, states and towns in the Sunbelt tend to have the most active communities. Florida is jam-packed with them – in our FL Directory, which has reviews of almost 1,000 active adult or 55+ communities, 270 of those are clustered in just 11 towns and cities. Arizona, California, Nevada, the Carolinas, and Texas have thousands of communities among them. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Colorado represent non-Sunbelt states with huge numbers of retirement living choices. The biggest surprise was the city that came in 4th place for the most communities – the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.

April 14, 2020 — Let’s face it, COVID and coronavirus is about the only conversation topic there is these days. So, we might as well have something interesting within that to discuss. Here are a few topics we hope we can generate some good Member comments on.

Is there coronavirus in your community? A member asked this question:

Note: This is the first in a 2 Part article: See Part 2, “10 More Surprising Places to Retire“. April 11, 2020 — Every week you probably see a barrage of “10 Best Places to Retire” lists from various media outfits. While many of the towns are great places to retire, they tend to be the same ones from list to list, the “darlings” of the retirement world. So if you are looking for a retirement town that is not a cliche, overcrowded, and a great place to retire, here are 10 interesting places to retire that you (probably) never heard of.

A funny thing happened when we started preparing this list… we quickly realized we could have named 100 towns, stopping at 10 didn’t seem fair. To remedy that we promise to come out with “10 More Great Places to Retire That You Never Heard of” in the near future.

April 7, 2020 – The FIRE Movement, Financial Independence Retire Early, got a huge boost from the roaring stock market from 2019 through Feb. 2020. People who had been cutting way back on their expenses and investing that extra money saw their portfolios go way up. For that matter, anybody with a 401(k) or retirement portfolio was feeling pretty good. Many young people in their 40s and 30s even “hit their number”, quit their jobs and planned to live on their savings and non-traditional income sources, such as side gigs or rental income. Then the coronavirus hit, throwing a bucket of cold water on FIRE flames.

In just a few weeks during March stocks were down as much 40%. While that would not be fatal for a person with 20 or more working years or who did not have a big equity position, it would be devastating for someone who based their retirement on a booming stock market. Not only would they have less money to take out of their portfolio to live on each year, but they also wouldn’t have the steady income of a job to help them rebuild those savings. What’s more, studies show that the longer someone is out of the job market, the harder it is for someone with to yesterday’s skills to re-enter it. Folks who built their dream on renting out an Airbnb or rental property are probably seeing their revenues go to zero in 2020, while expenses continue.

April 46, 2020. — The spectre of coronavirus and COVID-19 has us hunkered down in our homes. Senior centers are closed, the nets are down on pickleball and tennis courts, clubhouses are locked. Shopping trips are a pastime of …. time past. So what can you do – play golf!

At The Villages in Central Florida, golf is about the only remaining leisure activity. Because golf is played outside in fairly wide open spaces with no contact with other people or their equipment, proponents argue that it is a safe activity. At The Villages there are some restrictions to maintain social distancing, like one person per rental golf cart, covers over the holes, and non-removable flagsticks so nothing is touched when retrieving the ball. Clubhouses, bars, and restaurants are closed. People there are out playing, happy to be able to do something other than watch coronavirus updates on TV.

Sumter County issued a stay at home advisory, which listed certain permissible recreational activities like walking, biking, hiking, fishing, and swimming. Golf wasn’t mentioned specifically, but officials clarified that golf would be OK provided that golf courses manage social distancing properly. Meanwhile most pickleball and tennis courts have been removed so people cannot play those sports.

In other parts of the country golf courses seem to be split between those that are open for play and those closed down. In Key West, the Golf Club was closed because it was not deemed an essential business. In Connecticut many private clubs are open, but have adopted strict rules and tee times to enforce social distancing.

Update on The Villages and Coronavirus. The University of Florida Health tested about 2300 residents of The Villages for coronavirus, most of whom displayed symptoms. Twenty three of them tested positive. Of the 1,400 people who did not have symptoms, two were positive. The median age there is 72, so most residents are definitely in the age group that is most vulnerable.

Comments? What is happening in your area with golf and other activities. Are they still possible? What are you doing to get your exercise and/or keep your sanity? Let us know in the Comments section below.

Editor’s note: Our thanks to Frank for sending over a detailed dispatch on what he and Caroline just went through. As Connecticut residents who visit their grandchildren in California for a few winter months each year, they had a lot of important decisions to make when their CA rental expired.

April 4, 2020 —Just a few thoughts from our perspective, having recently gone through the “when to leave” conundrum when we were still in California. 
The debate as “to go or stay” was driving us nuts – this was in the early days of the virus hitting California. Unfortunately that also coincided with a diagnosis of  bronchitis and an emergency room visit for me (more about that later). Of course the decision input included words of wisdom ( and I might add some panic) from our kids! After days and days of all consuming debate we finally said “today’s the day “ and made a decision to fly home.

That decision was based on the following “best guesses”: