Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 14, 2012 -- We're as guilty as any other website - we just loving creating "Best of" lists about various aspects of retirement. And occasionally we like to poke fun at some of the "best" lists other groups come up with. But this past week saw a new list on the "Best Cities for Successful Aging" that is so fact based that it is hard to criticize. The Milken Institute, a West Coast think tank, has provided by far the most carefully researched and multi-dimensional study we have seen.
The Milken Institute came up with 2 different lists for its Best Cities for Successful Aging Index - Best Large Metros and Best Small Metros. There are 100 "best" metros on each. To develop the lists Milken sorted the Metros on 8 major
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Published on August 14, 2012
Comments 58
Category: Retirement Planning
August 13, 2012 – As part of our ongoing research into our members’ concerns about retirement, we have just developed a new survey on your retirement plans. Please take this very quick poll and give us your input. Your anonymous inputs will help us develop a future article about retirement…
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Published on August 13, 2012
Comments 5
Category: Active adult communities
Note: This article provides our 2012 list. Here is where you can go to see the "2014 List of the 100 Best Active Adult Communities"
August 8, 2012 -- The results are in, and Topretirements members and visitors are most interested in exploring active adult communities in Florida, North Carolina, and Delaware. Those 3 states accounted for 60 of the 100 most popular communities. Left in the dust were the 3 next most favorite states - Arizona (8 communities), Texas (7), and Tennessee (5). As was the case with our 2011 List of the Best Active Adult Communities, Sun Belt states achieved near total domination over their colder brethren. (See also: 100 Most Popular Towns for Retirement - 2014).
Florida, the runaway favorite, topped the 2012 list with an amazing 35 communities (it had 40 in 2012). North Carolina improved its showing from 10 to 13 on the 2012 list. Delaware was close on NC's heels with 12 communities on the list - by far the best representation of any non-Sun Belt state.
We take several conclusions away from these results:
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Published on August 8, 2012
Comments 17
Category: General Retirement Issues
July 31, 2012 - There have been so many interesting articles about retirement lately that we just had to put together in one place for your education and pleasure. Here you go:
Luxury golf communities struggle -some owners selling out for $1
22 Strategies and suggestions to help women get a better retirement
Top 10 places to retire in England
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Published on July 30, 2012
Comments 0
Category: Active adult communities
July 30, 2012 -- We are pleased to announce a helpful new feature at Topretirements - active and 55+ community listings will now have a photo in addition to the description, basic facts, type of community, website/phone number, and list of amenities. We added the photo to try to make these mini-reviews more helpful and interesting. Obviously not many communities have the photos yet, but we will add them over time and as new communities are added. If you have any photos to share, please forward them to us. You can see some of the communities with photos on our Florida Directory of Active Communities (look for the smaller photos below our Showcase and Top Listings).
Recently a member lamented that we do not have
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Published on July 30, 2012
Comments 1
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 24, 2012 -- Recent studies from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Boston College Center for Retirement Research paint a pessimistic picture of retirement. Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, cites much of their data in describing the American approach to retirement as ridiculous. She goes on in a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece, "Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement", to posit that new retirement accounts should be mandated, on top of Social Security, in order to prevent
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Published on July 24, 2012
Comments 26
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 24, 2012 -- Who wouldn't be interested in finding a terrific place to retire where there is plenty to do, the climate is better than average, and most importantly - the cost of living is well below average. The list below highlights 20 interesting places to retire with a range of lifestyles - from living in the city... to small towns... to resort type locations on large lakes. The most interesting feature is that for all 20, the median price of a home was $125,000 or less in early 2012, significantly below the U.S. median. Note that prices have gone up since this article was written, sometimes a lot, but these towns still remain relative bargains.
How we developed the list
Affordability was the most important criterion on this list. So we picked places where home prices were at least 20% below the U.S. median of $158,100 (1st Quarter of 2012, National Association of Realtors). Secondarily, we limited
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Published on July 24, 2012
Comments 144
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 17, 2012 -- To the many for whom Florida is one big stereotype, the prettiest town in Florida might seem like an oxymoron. Perhaps more than any other state, Florida has its fair share of people with a low opinion of it. To its detractors, it is a place full of big bugs, dangerous snakes, high humidity, old people, flat terrain, and suburban sprawl. Not to say that all of those can't be found in great abundance in the Sunshine State. But as this article about Mount Dora hopes to point out, it isn't all the same.
Rolling into town
It didn't hurt that we rolled into Mount Dora, Florida last winter very early on a Sunday morning. The sun was shining as we hit the central square and charming shopping district. Bicyclists in their multi-colored outfits were streaming by in small packs. Pet owners were taking their pooches
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Published on July 17, 2012
Comments 24
Category: General Retirement Issues
July 14, 2012 -- The results are in from this week's survey of Topretirements visitors and members, and they are surprising in many respects. As you will see from some of the comments made to this post, it appears that Topretirements members and readers are not your typical person when it comes to retirement. The consensus seems to be that you are better prepared, more of a planner, and more willing to pick up stakes and move. In an interesting coincidence, Pulte, a major developer of active adult communities (as well as Topretirements advertiser) released the latest of its ongoing survey of 55+ baby boomers who are still working last week. We will provide their results for contrast where applicable.
Q 1. What age will you retire?
A: Early! Just over 2/3 or our 467 respondents said they either
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Published on July 14, 2012
Comments 28
Category: General Retirement Issues
July 9, 2012 — We are dying of curiosity to find out more about what you, our members, are planning for your retirement. And we think you are interested in comparing notes with others too. So we’ve created a very short, 5 question survey with multiple choice answers. If we…
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Published on July 9, 2012
Comments 5
