Category: Family and Retirement
By Jasmyne Boswell -- January 7, 2014
“Each of us is a book waiting to be written, and that book, if written, results in a person explained.” ~Thomas M. Cirignano
Your Life is Your Legacy!
Have you ever wished you had asked your parents or grandparents more details about their lives? Maybe you wondered how they met or what it was like living in their generation. Perhaps you had questions about what gave them the most joy or sadness or about experiences that altered their lives.
Growing up, we are consumed with our own lives, and many of these questions go unasked and unanswered until it’s too late. Having this realization is one of the many
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Published on January 7, 2014
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Category: Active adult communities
January 7, 2014 -- It is common wisdom that the longer an active community has been in existence, the older its population. It makes sense - new communities market to an audience which is just starting retirement, mostly folks in their late 50's to early 70's. The buyers move in and tend to stay until they either die, or are forced to move to assisted living or a nursing home. That whole cycle typically plays out over 30 or so years. And then what happens? Well that is the subject of today's article.
The Oldest Active Communities
Sun City, Arizona, was launched January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, recreation center and
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Published on January 6, 2014
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
December 30, 2013 -- (Note: A slightly different version of this article by Topretirements founder John Brady originally appeared in the Dec. 17 USA Today).
Millions of baby boomers are starting retirement with fewer financial resources than they had planned on. The various reasons for the shortfalls represent a perfect storm for boomers: defined benefit plans are largely a thing of the past, not saving enough money, poor investments, unexpected emergencies, or losing their jobs years before the expected retirements. To maintain their current lifestyles on a reduced budget, many have decided that a tax-friendly place to retire might be the way to go. But while no one wants to pay taxes, that priority could be misplaced. Here are 5 reasons to rethink
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Published on December 29, 2013
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
December 28, 2013 -- We don't think any self-respecting baby boomer is ready for this news item: People over 65 years old accounted for 17 percent of the crash fatalities in 2012 but only 13 percent of the U.S. population. In other words, as we age we become less capable drivers than the general population. Most of us have had parents or aging friends who continue to drive at great risk to themselves and others. But no boomer wants to think about the day out in the future when our car keys are the ones being confiscated.
Perhaps more irritating than this news were the headlines that came with it, like: "Keeping Grandma
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Published on December 28, 2013
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Category: General Retirement Issues
December 24, 2013 -- It's always fun to see which of our Blog articles find the most resonance with our dear Members and Visitors. Sometimes it is the unexpected ones that generate the most comments and/or readership, while usually any article that includes "Best Place to Retire" in the title usually does pretty well. Here is our annual review of the best of what we've come up with for 2013.
Most Commented Upon
We like to think we've done our job when an article sparks a lot of comments. Your comments are so valuable because they are so real, so different, each with their own kind of truth.
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Published on December 23, 2013
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Category: Adventurous retirement
December 17, 2013 -- Ah the life of the RVer, free to move about the countryside in quest of perfect weather, scenery, and ambiance. When you get bored, gas-up and get going. But another, lesser known attribute of the "Turtle Life" is the ability to find seasonal employment. Just this week an Associated Press article, "Campers help Amazon keep up with holiday rush", detailed how Amazon.com in particular relies on its "Camper Force" to bang out millions of Christmas season orders from its far-flung distribution centers. The online behemoth has warehouses in some unlikely places in Kentucky, Kansas, and Nevada - areas that lack sufficient local
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Published on December 17, 2013
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 16, 2013 -- A while back we wrote an article about retirement in the great American Southwest - "Retirement 101: A Guide to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah". Recently the comments to this article were rejuvenated when member Mike T volunteered to add comments from his experiences looking for his best place to retire in the region. Ultimately he and his wife settled in Green Valley (AZ), where they have lived for the past 14 years. Mike is a former writer; he not only has a great eye for details but he succeeds in that most difficult of tasks, providing a balanced view. Here we provide a roundup of his recent posts to the original article (we made some minor edits to make it flow into a single article), along with some of the member questions to him from the Comments section of that post. Thanks so much Mike for taking the time to share your thoughts - your insights are incredible!
Mike T: We looked all over Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico in a four year search in most
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Published on December 16, 2013
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
December 10, 2013 – If you are a woman we would like to know more about your experiences with financial planners. Do you have one now? How did you find him or her? What would you like them to accomplish for you? What prevents you from going to one? Have…
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Published on December 10, 2013
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
Updated August 25, 2015 (originally published December 10, 2013) -- The horrible Arctic weather the northern half of the USA experienced in the last 2 winters had at least one major effect - it made a lot more people interested in finding a snowbird rental for the winter! This article will give you suggestions on how to narrow your choices on where to live, give some tips on how to go about finding a winter rental, and provide a list of reader-suggested snowbird destinations from earlier this year. Note that the reader Comments made to both this article and the related ones in the "Further Reading" section are at least as helpful as those in the article itself!
Keys to Success
The keys to success in finding a good snowbird rental are quite simple: get started early, and explore plenty of avenues. Hoping to luck into something is not very likely.
Many Advantages
We think there are many advantages to
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Published on December 10, 2013
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 3, 2013 -- We received this question from a member recently and thought it was worth publishing, along with our answer.
Q: Have decided that I want to soon retire to FL but unsure about finding a place to live near one of the coasts or in the interior, such as the Orlando and Ocala areas. Am hearing lots of scary stories about the costs of homeowners and flood insurance if living near the coast, but part
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Published on December 3, 2013
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