Category: Retirement Real Estate
March 19, 2013 -- The nation's builders think they know what you want as a home buyer, or at least they are trying to understand. A new study conducted by the National Association of Home Buyer's Economics and Housing Policy Group found that buyer's preferences are changing (Note: the study was conducted among people of all ages, not just retirement age).
What do home buyers really want?
-- Energy efficiency. Buyers are interested in features like energy-star rated appliances and windows, and an energy-star rating
more...
Published on March 19, 2013
Comments 31
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 19, 2013 -- We were pleasantly surprised by the high ranking our members gave to walkability in our retirement preferences poll of a few weeks ago (See full report in "Our Members Speak"). So that in turn gave us the idea of providing a list of 10 towns where walkability is excellent -- but are also swell places to retire.
Our criteria
If you research "most walkable towns and cities" on the Internet you will find a number of results - but almost all of the lists have the same cities on them. Yes, New York (rated #1 most walkable large city by walkscore.com at 85), Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco are great cities for walking. But, because they are expensive and congested, they will only appeal
more...
Published on March 18, 2013
Comments 50
Category: General Retirement Issues
Updated August, 2023 (Originally published March, 2013) -- As you might expect, we get a lot of retirement questions from our Members and site visitors. The same applies when new friends of your editor find out about Topretirements. This article recaps the most frequent questions we receive, along with our usual answers. We hope you find it helpful.
Frequent Questions1. What is the Best Place to Retire. This is by far the most prevalent question, so much so that it completely overwhelms any others we get. Since we get the question so often we have developed a stock response, one that we hope is helpful. So when people ask, "where is the best place to retire", here is how we typically respond: "Retirement is a very personal matter. The best place for us might very well be a terrible retirement destination for you. To make the best decision for you, you need to first answer a number of questions."
more...
Published on March 13, 2013
Comments 30
Category: Active adult communities
Note: See also Survey results from 2020 on the same topic.
March 5, 2013 -- Wow, talk about feedback - 753 helpful folks provided their valuable insights on their retirement status, housing preferences, and the future of active adult communities in last week's poll. Thanks to everyone who answered these 8 questions.
Your input provides so much to think about - we just wish we had room to highlight every comment! If there was one member statement that really struck us above all others, it was this one: "We love thinking about (retirement) and exploring our options. So many ideas, so many places to go, things to do. Can't wait!" We just love that attitude, prevalent among so many Topretirements members.
Highlights
There is no single one thing that folks are looking for - everybody has a slightly different recipe for retirement perfection. But all you builders out there, please note some key trends here! We've detailed the
more...
Published on March 5, 2013
Comments 45
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 26, 2013 -- If you search on the Internet for "live like a cheapskate" you will strike a frugality bonanza. There are authors like Jeff Yeager who have written best sellers on the subject ("The Cheapskate Next Door"), plus plenty of websites offering their advice. There's even a TLC show, "Extreme Cheapskates". Our friend Robert Powell over at MarketWatch had a particularly helpful article earlier this year, "How to Retire Like a Cheapskate and Live Well". This article will roll up advice from all over into our 15 top tips for living like a cheapskate.
First of all, a little etymology - if you are going to be a cheapskate you might as well understand where the term
more...
Published on February 26, 2013
Comments 66
Category: Retirement Real Estate
February 25, 2013 — We are curious to find out and report on what our members are thinking about when it comes to retirement living preferences – what types of towns, homes, and communities you are thinking about choosing for retirement. NOTE: Thanks to the more than 750 people who…
more...
Published on February 25, 2013
Comments 28
Category: General Retirement Issues
February 23, 2013 -- By now most are familiar and tend to agree with the modern adage - "Old age isn't for sissies". Wes Craven, the creator of the now classic horror film, "A Nightmare on Elm Street", has chimed in with an addendum - "Retirement is scarier than (his horror character) Freddy Krueger". It's a pretty funny Op-Ed piece he wrote in last Sunday's New York Times about his trial retirement, which we recommend to you.
It seems that Wes at age 73 was looking forward to chilling out
more...
Published on February 23, 2013
Comments 0
Category: General Retirement Issues
February 19, 2013 -- What's going on in Hollywood - retirement is the hot theme of the moment. Witness white-hot Maggie Smith, who is starring in 2 current movies ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and "Quartet"), not to mention "Downton Abbey". We thoroughly recommend the former, and have heard great things about the latter. But have you also seen the 40 minute film documentary about life in a retirement community, "Kingspoint"? Nominated for an Oscar, the film is self-described as a "Tale of Love, Loss, and Self-Preservation". The Huffington Post said... "It’s a magnificent film. It is the wake-up call we all need to understand the mindsets of our parents and grandparents as they contemplate the final stages of their lives.” We'll provide a review of "Kings Point" here as a warm-up to next week's article - a summary of what our members think about retirement movies in general, including their favorites.
We had heard a lot about "Kings Point" since its subject is life in a retirement community. So when it came to a nearby theater as part of the Oscar "Shorts" package, we went. Initially we weren't sure how we were going to like it.
Kings Point is an active community that was built in the 1970's. At the time retirees from the Northeast swarmed in for low cost, non-stop fun in the warm Florida sun. But as the residents have aged together, so has the community. It looks dated, as do
more...
Published on February 19, 2013
Comments 7
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 18, 2013 – Note: Our 2017 list of "The 100 Most Popular Places to Retire" is now out.
With warmer winters and generally lower taxes, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that baby boomers think the Sunbelt has the best places to retire. Topretirements.com has just published its 7th annual list of the 100 most popular retirement spots, and it shows clear proof that the Sunbelt's retirement popularity continues -- 76 of the 100 top positions are held by towns in the Sunbelt. Florida dominates the list of best places to retire, taking 25 of the cities and towns (1 less than in 2012), followed by North Carolina (11), Arizona (9), and South Carolina (8). California, Tennessee had 6 cities each in the top 100. The highest ranking non-Sun Belt city on our list was Portland (OR) at #14. Note: To make sure you don’t miss new lists like this, sign up for our free weekly “Best Places to Retire” newsletter. See also "The Worst States for Retirement - 2014".
The Top 10
As has been the case since Topretirements published its first
more...
Published on February 18, 2013
Comments 623
Category: Adventurous retirement
February 12, 2013 -- The whale spout erupted in the distance, framed against bluish icebergs and towering white peaks. On the Zodiac boat our guide changed direction slightly and cut the engine to drift into the vicinity. Then, just 30' away the whale surfaced with a deep "poomph", his warm breath shooting skyward. With a distinctive hump near the spout, this was clearly a humpback whale, about 45' long and weighing many tons.
The young whale repeatedly dove, then surfaced suddenly to blow and breathe. As time went on his displays became more and more lavish. Slowly a realization began to dawn on us - we were in the presence of a social being with a brain, using its intelligence to attempt to communicate with us. As in, "Heh funny looking black thing with all the yellow jackets on top, look at me! I can roll, dive, smack my tail flukes, show my tummy, coil and uncoil, swim under you - why are you sitting there like a dumb log in the ocean? What can you do?" The fun lasted at least 45 minutes, until our camera's memory cards were full and batteries
more...
Published on February 12, 2013
Comments 7
