Category: Health and Wellness Issues
October 4, 2020 -- Thanks to the more than 500 generous people who cared enough to spend a few minutes filling our Coronavirus Activity Survey. As we hoped, the results were extremely interesting. Most were predictable, but it is reassuring to see most Topretirements Members are taking the pandemic seriously. The hundreds of personal comments written in to several of the questions make one thing very clear - the coronavirus pandemic has been one of the most momentous events in all of our lifelines, changing daily life now, and in some ways for the rest of our lives.
Some main points:
Topretirements Members are more likely to take a vaccine than the general population (71% vs. 50%).
The CDC has taken a big reputational hit, with far more trusting Dr. Fauci.
Mask compliance is high.
About half of respondents will go to a barbershop or salon.
Car travel is viewed as far safer than flying
People are split about eating in restaurants and visiting friends.
Almost all of the survey responses were given before the President and some in his inner circle tested positive. Our hope is that people will take precautions even more seriously after seeing how communicable the virus is. Note that Topretirements Members and visitors are almost all aged 55+.
Here are the results of the survey:
Q1 Would you take a coronavirus vaccine if the CDC said it was safe and effective?
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
More than two thirds (71%) of those taking the survey said they would take the vaccine. This contrasts with a recent CNN poll, which showed that 51% of Americans would try to get the vaccine. In the CNN poll 60% of those over 65 said they would take it.
[jcolumns]YesNo
[jcol/]71%29%[jcol/][/jcolumns]
197 Comments: More than two thirds of respondents said they will take a vaccine, but cautiously. There is a great deal of distrust of CDC as being politicized. Many would like to give a vaccine time to prove itself. Below are links to all 197 Comments on this question (Mac and Xcl versions).
covid-q-10-2020-csv-1Mac Download
q1-covid-survey-take-vaccineXcl Download
Typical comment: "Maybe. I wanna vaccine but I want to be sure that it is safe. It depends when the vaccine comes out. If it comes out before election day I will not take it because I think it would be a political vaccine. "
Q2. Who do you believe more about vaccine effectiveness and safety?
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Published on October 3, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 29, 2020 — We have updated our 2016 list for “10 Great Places to Retire in the Southwest That Won’t Break Your Budget“. The good news is that there are still some great places to retire that are affordable. The bad news is that most home prices are…
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Published on September 28, 2020
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
September 27, 2020 — We are curious about what you think is safe, and are willing to do in this coronavirus pandemic. Would you take a vaccine (and who do you trust more?). How about eating in a restaurant, visiting a hairdresser, taking a trip, having friends over? Please take…
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Published on September 26, 2020
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
September 25, 2020 — Every month The Wall Street Journal asks its readers to describe a random act of kindness that affected them. What a great idea in this time of division, economic troubles, and a corona pandemic that doesn’t want to quit. So, please use the Comments section to…
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Published on September 25, 2020
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Category: Active adult communities
September 23, 2020 -- Always wanted to live on the water? Have a boat or thinking about getting one? Turns out there are a ton of places to retire where you can not only live on the water, but enjoy your community's own private marina too. This article will show just 12 of the almost 150 communities in the Topretirements database that are on the water and include a marina as part of their amenity package. You can use "Advanced Search" to refine communities by State or other parameter. You will find many more exciting communities to choose from there.
Some of the communities who list these characteristics are fairly modest, offering a small dock or boat launch with a location on a lake or river. Here we tried to concentrate on developments where living on the water with your boat is either the main attraction or a very big deal. If we miss some that you think should be included, please let us know in the Comments section below.
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Published on September 22, 2020
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Category: Home and Garden
September 21, 2020 — The leaves are starting to turn in some locales and there is a chill in the air. Which means many snowbirds are starting to wrap up their summer and getting ready to head south for the winter. To help retirees in that situation with their preparations,…
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Published on September 20, 2020
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Category: Active adult communities
September 16, 2020 -- It is clear that consumer tastes are fickle, and that sure seems to apply to what retirees are looking for in an active adult or 55+ community. Certainly that is what we found when we analyzed our visitor logs from the first 8 months of 2020, looking for the 15 most popular communities in the Southeastern states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. This article complements a similar one for the Southwest: "15 Most Popular Active Adult Communities in the Southwest for 2019".
Changes from the 2019 list aplenty. More than half of the communities on this list are new to it this year, which is pretty exciting (see links below to last year's list). All of the top 5 are repeat winners. The review for the most popular community on this list, Amelia Island Plantation, was viewed 1,330 times during that period. As usual there are several "no-brainer" choices like The Villages and Solivita, both located in Florida. Some winners were a bit of a mystery, and that includes The Cottages at Lakeview Road in Warner, GA. Nalcrest is a speciality community that caters only to retired postal letter carriers. Florida had 9 winners with the rest coming from Georgia (4) and South Carolina (2). Note that most, but not all, of these communities are designated 55 plus. But the majority of the residents in all of these communities would probably meet that qualification.
While these are the 15 most popular active adult communities on this site for FL, GA, and SC, they might not necessarily be the "best". There are thousands of choices that might work for you, but you won't even find out about them unless you look around. If this list does anything for you we hope it expands your horizons.
The most popular 55+ communities in the Southeast for 2020
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Published on September 16, 2020
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Category: Downsizing
September 14, 2020 - Downsizing, ridding out, whatever you want to call it, paring down your stuff is an important job in retirement. This past week your Editor and his wife had the pleasure of safely disposing more than a dozen boxes of important papers that were cluttering up their home. Here are some tips on how you can do the same (with links to many of our other downsizing articles at end).
Don’t leave cleaning up to your surviving spouse or children. It’s just not fair. Give your kids a break – they have lives to live - so don't leave them with a basement or attic full of old papers or documents to dispose of. They will have no idea what was is important and what is not.
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Published on September 14, 2020
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Category: Travel
September 9, 2020 - Bermuda is one of those countries where it is really hard to live for a period longer than a brief vacation stay. But the pandemic has changed that, at least temporarily. Now, if you are still working, you can live there for one year for just a $263 application fee. The move is one to bolster the tourist based economy, which has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtesy of Mike Oropeza in public domain
According to the Work from Bermuda website, the program is for people who are currently employed and working from home or enrolled in tertiary education and studying remotely. Instead of working or studying remotely in your home country, you can work or study remotely from Bermuda.
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Published on September 9, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 9, 2020 -- Although the pandemic has been horrendous for activities like dining out or social gatherings, others are experiencing a gold rush. One of those is biking (cycling to our British brethren). Walk into a bike shop now and say you need a bike - get ready for a 3 month wait. Want a used bike... sorry. The same goes for bike parts and repairs. As people avoid mass transit and have more time on their hands, biking has never been more popular.
While it is a great activity, it is a lot more enjoyable when you live in a place where the infrastructure is set up for it. When bikers and cars are kept separate it is a lot safer and more fun. Bike lanes, special traffic signals, concrete barriers, and under/overpasses make all the difference. No one wants to bike along a narrow berm next to speeding cars, or face daunting intersections with multiple lanes to cross.
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Published on September 9, 2020
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