Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 3, 2025 -- People give a lot of thought to where they are going to retire. Some of the factors they usually consider are climate (e.g.; warm winters), cost of living, tax burden, leisure activities, proximity to friends and family, crime rates, transportation, and quality and availability of health care. But as anyone following the news knows, there is a new factor that a thoughtful retiree should consider - losing your home (or your life!) from an environmental or climate disaster.
There is hardly enough room to list all of the environmental disasters we have seen in the U.S. in the past few years. There were 26 disasters in the U.S. last year that caused more than $1 billion in damages for a total of $113 biliion. Many occured in some of the most popular retirement spots in America, places where no one ever dreamed these things would happen. Those include floods in Asheville and the Texas Hill country, hurricanes in Florida, tornados in many parts of the U.S., wildfires in California, volcanoes in Hawaii, drought in the West. It seems like we are seeing one hundred year storms every few years, and the problems keep getting more severe.
So what can you do to find a safe retirement spot?
The New York Times put out a comprehensive section on this topic on July 13: "Where to Call Home". It doesn't appear to be available online, but you can find it in a library. It provides interesting guidance to help with what will be one of the most important financial decisions in your life, where to live when you retire. By doing your homework, you can do a lot to mitigate the risks of an environmental calamity ruining your finances, and causing untold disruptions to your life.
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Published on August 2, 2025
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Category: General Retirement Issues
August 5, 2025 — Topretirements will be returning to Mailchimp as the service that sends out our weekly “Best Places” newsletter. We apologize for the confusion that changing back from Substack might create. The switch back to our old newsletter style will take place with the August 7 issue. We…
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Published on August 5, 2025
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
August 6, 2025 -- Back in June I ordered a set of Philips hearing aids from Costco. In Part 1 of this series, "Hearing Aids Selection", I discussed the various types of hearing aids, why I selected the Philips brand over Jabra, and the decision to buy at Costco. This is Part 2, which will cover what my experience has been like wearing the Philips Hearlink 9040 hearing aids that I chose (a Receiver in Canal model). Hopefully this will be useful to others who are experiencing hearing loss. See bottom for more articles on baby boomer "Rite of Passage" articles including Social Security and Medicare.
So how am i doing with my new hearing aids?
Overall, it has been a good experience. Not as perfect as I would like, but they have definitely improved the quality of my life.
It has been a positive experience mainly because I don't have to lean forward and strain to listen to people when they are talking. The sound comes through and I am not missing out on the conversation, which i was starting to do before. The connection to my phone is great. I can not only adjust them from there, but I can use them to listen to music, podcasts, books, and phone calls, instead of wearing my airpods. While the fidelity of the sound from the hearing aids the sound isn't quite as good as from the Airpods, it is more convenient. The phone rings, you answer, and you hear through the hearing aids.
The installation meeting and the scheduled followup session provided by the Costco hearing aid specialist were helpful. I got a good orientation on how to wear, adjust, and clean them (important because ear wax can build up and impede performance). To me the luxury of having the personalized service and followup was worth any extra money I might have saved by buying them online.
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Published on August 5, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 12, 2025 — How often have we heard about a group of like-minded people who dream of retiring together – often! Getting over the logistics can be challenging, but for this group of women in Texas, it has sure been worth it. You will want to read the full…
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Published on August 11, 2025
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Category: Retirement Planning
August 14, 2025 -- Retirement can be such an exciting time. Maybe you have picked out a beautiful new place to live, and are set to live the good life there. Unfortunately, it can also turn out to be and experience filled out with regrets and serious financial consequences. In this article we will go over some of the common things that retirees wish they knew before they moved somewhere.
What Retirees Wish They Knew
Even with the best planning it is still possible to make a mistake about where to retire. Fortunately, the more that goes into your preparation, the better the chances of a great and happy retirement. Here are 11 of the biggest regrets Topretirements Members have told us they have had over the years.
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Published on August 13, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
10 Great Undiscovered Beach Towns for Retirement
Affordable | Peaceful | Coastal Gems
Dreaming of retiring by the beach—without the crowds or sky-high prices?Here are 10 hidden coastal towns where you can enjoy sandy toes and a slower pace of life. Click to discover why these towns should be on your radar!
Sebastian
Sebastian, Florida – On the shores of Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s Treasure Coast, just north of Vero. The harbor has a working waterfront, and the city operates a championship golf course.
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Published on August 20, 2025
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Category: Medicare
August 21, 2025. IRMAA is not a hurricane, but it could have that effect on finances for higher income Medicare recipients who are not careful. The rule determines how much your Medicare Part B premiums will be beyond the base rate, based on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) from 2 years prior.
The standard monthly Part B premium in 2026 is expected to be $206.50, an 11.6% increase and the largest in years. For married recipients with income over $216,000 the Part B premium will go up an estimated $216, increasing through different brackets until taxpayers with MAGI over $750,000 will pay $635.50 per month (the final figure could change substantially).
Kiplingers has an article, "I Missed the 2 Year IRMAA Rule, Now My Medicare Premiums Are Soaring" which explains the problem. IRMAA stands for income-related monthly adjustment amount, and it affects your Part B and Part Medicare premiums.
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Published on August 20, 2025
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
August 26, 2025 -- Thanks to big changes in the way people wanted to live, the Covid pandemic five years ago caused the Florida real estate market to explode. To escape cities and live someplace warm, home buyers came to the Sunshine State from all over the states and foreign countries. They often paid way more than the asking price, many times never even setting foot in their new home until the day they moved in. Today it is a far different story.
There are many different reasons why, but the upshot is that the Florida market is now saddled with a 10 month supply of homes. That's the highest since 2011. In 2Q 2025 the number of available listings statewide (73,225) was nearly 25% higher than a year before. That has had a corresponding effect on prices. According to the Florida Realtors Trade Association the median sale price of condos and townhouses has fallen 6% over the past year, to $310,000.
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Published on August 26, 2025
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