Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 25, 2026 -- You can probably guess the states that are the most expensive to retire. Yep - Hawaii, Alaska, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York are almost always atop those lists. But to find the states where your retirement savings go the furthest - that is not always that easy.
A recent study from GOBankingRates looked at the annual cost of living and annual expenditures after Social Security to come up with how much savings you need to retire in all 50 states. Some of the states on the list where savings go the furthest were surprising.
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Published on June 24, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 17, 2025 -- Many Americans are stumped when it comes to understanding important financial and retirement issues. Asked questions related to Social Security benefits, Medicare coverage, employment-based retirement savings, most respondents in a recent study bombed. On average, they only answered two of the six questions on these issues correctly.
We're including the quiz below so you can see how you would do!
The bad news comes in a new report from the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington University School of Business. There were six questions in the 2025 survey used to gauge basic retirement fluency. Those included knowledge promoting financial well-being in retirement. Each question covered a distinct subject: Social Security benefits, Medicare coverage of healthcare expenses, employment-based retirement savings, ensuring lifetime income, likelihood of needing long-term care at older ages, and life expectancy in retirement.
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Published on June 16, 2025
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Category: Social Security
June 15, 2025 — It has always been the case that many more retirees claim their Social Security benefits at the earliest opportunity. The earliest possible age for claiming is 62, but only a small percentage delay until they are eligible for their maximum benefit at age 70. Some experts…
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Published on June 15, 2025
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Category: Uncategorized
Here's How to Make Downsizing Easier, Less Painful, and Freeing Too!
June 12, 2025 -- You probably know in your heart that many spaces in your home are a mess. They are cluttered with stuff you "might have to use someday", or "will get around to sorting it out", or "The kids might need this in the future". But the fact usually is, almost all of this clutter hasn't been touched or used for years, if not decades, and maybe since your last move. Sometimes it is so bad that it could be called hoarding, and we know that's not good.
Everybody we talk to who has downsized has felt enormous relief from the process. The prospect of cleaning out is liberating - all that anxiety gone along with a feeling of accomplishment. People rarely miss anything that was disposed of. We have written several articles on people's downsizing adventures in the past - see end of article for a list.
Downsizing Checklist
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Published on June 11, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
June 10, 2025 --Note: This article was contributed by our friend and frequent contributor, Ed LaFreniere. It is from his column, The Retirement Sage, that he wrote as part of a humor hobby before and during covid. He and his wife spent years researching retirement spots around the country, and one of their conclusions was that choosing a community is one thing -- but the surrounding has to work for your lifestyle as well. A number of great suggestions are included in this column.
Dear Retirement Sage:My Dear Bride of 40 years has been scouring the Internet forour retirement mecca and has decided that she wants to move toa small town in Louisiana. It's on a little lake and that isknown for having two attractive parks, a dozen nice restaurants,and very low taxes. It was on one of the countless best-places-to-retire lists, this one created by some website that I’ve neverheard of that probably picked the only ten places it had photosof.
We are both water rats, having grown up on lakes in theMidwest, but our lakes are not part of a state that has 2 millionalligators! Nevertheless, she’s convinced that this is our newShangri-la. I, however, am far from persuaded, and amconcerned that this could turn into a fiasco – way too abrupt adeparture after decades in the same area of Minnesota. Mythought would be to keep the moving van outside our new placefor a week in case we have to turn right around and come backto our familiar surroundings. Better yet, I have encouraged herto rent down there for a year or for a few months and see if welike the area, but she thinks that would be a waste of money. Shetells me to trust her intuition. Would you?
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Published on June 9, 2025
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Category: Adventurous retirement
June 4, 2025 -- While many of us have entertained the idea of retirement in a foreign land, the thought usually passes. It either seems too hard, too far away, or too strange. So I was delighted to meet Don and Denise on our recent trip to Paris. This interesting and affable couple has taken the very unusual (and in my mind, brave) step to retire in that beautiful city. Even better, they generously agreed to answer some questions to help others considering such a big move, or who would just like to live vicariously from their adventures.
Don and Denise Retire to Paris - Their Story
When did you retire, and where were you living then?
My wife Denise retired in 2022. I had begun to reduce my workload prior to that and chose to concentrate on selected clients and pursue another endeavor that was transportable. We lived in Rocky River, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
What made you consider retiring abroad? Had you always thought about that, or was it a recent development?
Whenever we were out of the country I usually asked myself "could I live here?" But we became truly serious about retiring abroad a few years prior to Covid. In early 2018 we spent a week in Paris. We were standing at the Place des Vosges after another great lunch and it began to snow. It was magical, very beautiful and very unlike what we were used to in Northeast Ohio. That was the exact moment we determined to relocate.
Recently restored Notre Dame
What other places did you consider, and what tipped you to Paris?
France was a natural for us for a number of reasons, although Italy has great appeal. We had first come to Paris and the Loire thirty years prior on our honeymoon. We liked it so much we continued to vacation here and I lost count how many times we returned during the interim....maybe 20, always to a different part of France.
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Published on June 4, 2025
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
May 31, 2025 — It’s one of those questions that seems so obvious. Of course you ought to be happy – $6 Million dollars! But the answer is, many of us have a hard time with it. Maybe we are afraid you will spend it too fast. The bottom will…
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Published on May 31, 2025
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Category: Bucket Lists
May 26, 2025 -- In honor of Memorial Day we would like to pay homage to the greatest generation, those brave young men and women that gave their lives for freedom in WW2. What better place than St Malo, France, where almost 81 years ago they fought to expand the European foothold they had just won in nearby Normandy. My wife’s father, Bob Isleib, was a U.S. Army Engineer who arrived here just a few weeks after the battle. It was the most exciting event in his life, one he never forgot.
WW II Memorial to U.S. Solders
German Bunker on Dinard hit by Allied Shells
St. Malo looking towards Dinard
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Published on May 26, 2025
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Category: Active adult communities
May 24, 2025 — Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of baby boomers are headed for a retirement in the Carolinas. There are plenty of good reasons why. In addition to a mild winter climate, both states are considered fairly tax-friendly for retirees. They offer attractive real estate prices and a lower cost of living than the Northeast or coastal Florida. The Carolinas have 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.
The Problem - So many retirement choices!
Let's say you've heard the Carolinas are a great place to retire. But where do you start in an area that has so many different choices? Part of the answer is to figure out what kind of region you prefer - mountains, Piedmont, or coastal. Urban, rural, or suburban? From there you can narrow the search. In this article we have provided a sampling of the kinds of active adult and 55+ communities there are to choose from in this immense area. Obviously, it is just scratching the surface.
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Published on May 24, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 14, 2025 -- Nobody understands the dozens of mistakes you can make when it comes to choosing a retirement community than our wonderful Members here at Topretirements. By the same token, they have developed many simple strategies for how to pick the right one. On this website they have made thousands of wonderful and wise comments, suggestions, and experiences on how to negotiate the journey to the perfect place to retire. This article will attempt to gather and organize a sampling of the best ones - space keeps us from publishing many other great ones.
Check Out These Wise Comments from Topretirements Members
We are so impressed with the collective wisdom of our Members over the years. Your real world experiences and insights are invaluable!
Chris: Making decisions and having a plan is the only sure fire way to end up in the right community. Otherwise there are just too many wrong forks in the road!
Nancy: Do a stay and play and dig, dig. The builders reputation usually easy to find construction issues are important but not as important as finding the right community. Also thoroughly research all utilities, taxes, etc. - it adds up.
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Published on May 13, 2025
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