Category: Retirement Real Estate
December 12, 2019 – Two different companies, The National Association of Realtors® (NAR), and Realtor.com, have each identified markets expected to outperform in the coming years. The lists are quite different, with Realtor.com's concentrating more on smaller markets.
Both sources believe that affordability and strong local economies are key to markets with strong prospects for the future. Note that very few of these cities are on the coasts, although the overwhelming majority are in warm weather climes.
In alphabetical order, here are the top 10 the NAR expects to outperform over the next three to five years.:
Charleston, South CarolinaCharlotte, North CarolinaColorado Springs, ColoradoColumbus, OhioDallas-Fort Worth, TexasFort Collins, ColoradoLas Vegas, NevadaOgden, UtahRaleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North CarolinaTampa-St. Petersburg, Florida
However, don't stop with just the NAR report. Realtor.com jumped into the topic with its own list. Here are the "hottest" real estate markets they predict for 2020, along with median home prices. Note: many of these are smaller markets. The only overlap we see in the top 10 are Charleston and Colorado Springs.
1Boise, Idaho$295,0002McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas$152,0003Tucson, Ariz.$230,0004Chattanooga, Tenn.$189,0005Columbia, S.C.$178,0006Rochester, N.Y.$149,0007Colorado Springs, Colo.$312,0008Winston-Salem, N.C.$169,0009Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.$270,00010Memphis, Tenn.$188,000
The NAR offered additional explanation on its choices for hottest markets:
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Published on December 12, 2019
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Category: Social Security
December 11, 2019 -- You can always expect a lively debate on this subject: should you wait to claim Social Security, or take it as early as age 62? No matter your opinion, it is indisputable that claiming later than your Full Retirement Age (66 or later) provides an attractive 8% increase per year yield (plus COLA). Now a new study suggests that the 8% per year reward for waiting is too high, and the penalty for claiming early is too severe. Note: Shoutout to Maimi for bringing this study to our attention!
The study, "Are Social Security's Actuarial Adjustments Still Correct", comes from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. When Social Security started to allow beneficiaries to claim early or delay to age 70 it used actuarial adjustments designed to keep lifetime benefits constant for an individual with average life expectancy. In other words, no matter when you take your Social Security benefits, the odds are that you will receive the same amount of money.
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Published on December 10, 2019
Comments 11
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
December 7, 2019 -- We don't know about your experience, but in ours we are starting to see signs that many of our retired friends and relatives are getting more and more frugal. Some have to cut back from necessity, but even many of our very well off friends seem to be pinching pennies, at least in some corners of their life. Folks that might fly business class to Australia on a luxury vacation, but hoard plastic bags from the supermarket to line their kitchen trash bin. Many like to save money for the sport of it. After all, who likes spending money on unimportant stuff. Snagging an inexpensive vacation, landing a great deal on a rental car, or getting a better internet deal is a lot more fun and exciting than paying top dollar!
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"). There's even a show on TLC, "Extreme Cheapskates". Not to mention all of the articles Topretirements has written on the subject over the years (see Further Reading at bottom). This article will roll up advice from all over into some of our top tips on how to live like a cheapskate, and have fun while doing it!
First of all, a little etymology - if you are going to be a cheapskate you might as well understand where the term came from. Although there is some uncertainty about the origin of the word, the main dictionary sites think that "skate" was a late 19th century slangy term for a worn-out horse, to which cheap was added to imply mean or miserly. One Wiki source claims it refers to inexpensive strap-on roller skates; while we acknowledge those were horrible to skate on back in the day, we doubt that is the term's origin.
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Published on December 6, 2019
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Category: Active adult communities
December 3, 2019 -- For baby boomers who love to play golf, living on a golf course seems like a dream. Drive over in your golf cart and play any time you want, no waiting. Later on in the afternoons, sit back and enjoy the beauty of a golf hole in the setting sun from your lanai. Unfortunately, golf is not as popular as it once was. That decline is interrupting the dream of golf course living.
Our friends over at www.retirehoppy.com just wrote about unpleasant experiences at their community, Trilogy at Vistancia in Peoria, Arizona. Seems like the developer has changed its mind, and now would like to sell the golf course to the Home Owners Association. Nobody there knows what is the best decision. Buy it (HOA has first right of refusal), or let the developer try to sell or develop it? Either way is fraught with problems.
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Published on December 3, 2019
Comments 18
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
November 29, 2019 -- In case you hear this comment from a millennial, Gen X, or Yer, it is NOT a compliment. It is a dismissal, as in, "OK, baby boomer, you have a lot to say, but your day is over. Kindly step aside." Younger folks tend to use this term on social media to respond to anybody over 30 who says something condescending about young people .
Perhaps we deserve it, justice served a generation later. Certainly we baby boomers are awfully proud of how we changed things back in the day - our music, rebellions, cultural shifts. Today we seem to think we know everything and have strong opinions - millennials are lazy, the younger generation doesn't know about hard work, etc. Sound familiar: Remember how we were convinced, back in the day, that our parents knew nothing and we knew it all.
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Published on November 28, 2019
Comments 25
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 26, 2019 -- Are you in the camp of retirees who “hate” Florida, or are you among those that “love” it? Most folks thinking about the best place to retire in Florida seem to fall into one of those divisions; not so many have no opinion. In our view, Florida is filled with many great retirement towns, and it is diverse in more ways than you might think. This article will tell you a bit about this very large and populous state, plus give you a list of 12 Florida towns we think make for a great place to retire.
First, a few factsFlorida's 2018 estimated population was 21,300,000, the 4th most populous in the nation. Some 19% of the population is 65 and over, compared to 15% nationwide.
Geographically speaking, the State has a very unusual shape – it is both tall and wide. So tall and wide that it takes over a day to drive from Pensacola to Key West (832 miles). Florida is the 22nd largest state, has the longest coastline in the contiguous states, and the only state to have a coastline on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a very flat state, which is one of the things that people tend not to like about it (Mount Dora, at 185' is one of its highest towns).
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Published on November 26, 2019
Comments 16
Category: Family and Retirement
By Ed LaFreniere of Retirementhumor.net
November 23, 2019 --
Q: My husband retired three months ago. We took a two-week trip right afterwards, and then the frustrations began. He claims he’s joking when he criticizes me if I miss a spot with the vacuum or the kitchen mop, but it’s getting annoying. He complains that I’m buying the wrong peanut butter for his lunches. He turns on the TV at 7 a.m. and sits around watching cartoons and soap operas. When I go out for the day and I ask him to do the laundry, he mixes the colors with the whites and leaves them dripping wet in the washer all day, so that they smell as if they’ve just come out of the New England Patriots locker room. I have to push him to get up and do anything. He says he’s just taking some well-earned time off after 45 years of working. How do I deal with the love of my life now that he has morphed into this freeloader?
....Frustrated in Frostproof, Florida
Dear Frustrated: Ah, the age-old problem that affects tens of millions of households eventually: A husband or a wife retires and sits around the house as if he or she owns the place! You need to take this by the horns and indoctrinate your better quarter in the new reality – the updated rules of loving togetherness!
First, though, please keep in mind that both of you should be prepared for an adjustment period – and show sympathy for each other’s psychological and emotional well-being, changing identities, and new needs for self-fulfillment and self-esteem.
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Published on November 23, 2019
Comments 4
Category: Family and Retirement
By S. W. Hubbard
November 20, 2019 -- Last year, my husband Kevin was counting the days to his retirement. He had planned the financial aspects thoroughly. On January 1 he would leave behind his demanding job as an operations executive who traveled worldwide and would spend all his days at home.
With me.
Great, right?
As a novelist and part-time English professor at a community college, I worked at home three days a week and was on campus two days during the academic year. Although Kevin has plenty of interests and hobbies, I was concerned that the aspect of work he’d miss the most was managing events and people. Once he retired, he’d have no one to manage.
Except me.
Uh-oh.
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Published on November 19, 2019
Comments 20
Category: Social Security
November 18, 2019 -- Late last month it was announced that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for nearly 69 million Americans will increase 1.6 percent in 2020. This follows increases of 2.8 percent in 2019, 2% in 2018 and .3% in 2016.
The 1.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 63 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2020.
The maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $137,700, up from $132,900. Separately, Medicare.gov announced that Part B premiums in 2019 will increase by $9.10 a month to $144.60 for most recipients.
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Published on November 18, 2019
Comments 16
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Nov. 12, 2020 — The standard Part B monthly premium amount in 2020 will be $144.60, up $9.10 from 2019. Most people will pay the standard Part B premium amount. If you modified adjusted gross income as reported on your IRS tax return from 2 years ago is above a…
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Published on November 12, 2019
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