Category: Active adult communities
Nov. 18, 2016 -- Ask a group of retirees what they think about living in an active adult or 55+ community and you will get a wide range of responses (as we did in our recent Member Survey). Most people seem to think they are OK. But a common anecdote you will hear from a certain subset of folks is that they cannot/will not to live in a community that has a Community Association (also known as Home Owner Associations - HOAs). Their attitude seems to be that HOAs are a loathsome bunch, dominated by cliques on power trips. In this article we will explore attitudes towards HOAs as reported in some actual surveys, as well as why they sometimes generate negative opinions. In this we were fortunate to receive input from Joe West, CEO of the Community Associations Network, the largest free website of information for people on HOA boards.
Actually, most residents are positive about their HOAs
By large majorities, most of the people who actually
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Published on November 18, 2016
Comments 20
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Nov. 14, 2016 -- Your editor went on a golfing junket to Kiawah Island in South Carolina's Low Country recently, and here is our report on what it might be like to retire here. When added together with Judith's report on her SC visit and our recent "10 Best Places to Retire in SC" article (see bottom for links to those), we've given Topretirements Members a pretty good dose of South Carolina retirement information lately. So coming up we will move on to other areas.
This was our first visit here to this island, a stretch of coast just south of Charleston it shares with Seabrook Island. To get a picture of where it is, it's a little more than half way down SC's coast, with Myrtle Beach at the top and Beaufort and Hilton Head Island at the bottom. Rivers and wetlands occupy much of the space. Someone asked on one of our SC articles if flooding is a problem here, and the answer is definitely YES, they don't call it the Low Country for nothing. New homes must be built quite high off the ground to protect against flooding and tidal surges.{GOOGLE_AD}There are some places to retire along this stretch of South Carolina's Atlantic Ocean frontage, but not that many. Around Charleston there is Mount Pleasant and the Isle of Palms. But after you go south from Kiawah there is a fairly empty stretch of coast until you get to Beaufort and Port Royal.
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Published on November 14, 2016
Comments 4
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 12, 2016 — On a regular basis we update the thousands of pages at Topretirements. As part of that rotation we just updated the state retirement guides for every state in the union. The changes included tax changes all these states had in 2016 as well as other key…
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Published on November 12, 2016
Comments 6
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Nov. 11, 2016 -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that 2017 premiums for the Medicare inpatient hospital (Part A) and physician and outpatient hospital services (Part B) programs will increase.
Because of the low Social Security COLA, (0.3 percent for 2017) a statutory “hold harmless” provision designed to protect seniors will largely prevent Part B premiums from increasing for about 70 percent of beneficiaries. Among this group, the average
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Published on November 11, 2016
Comments 4
Category: Active adult communities
November 9, 2016 -- Many, many thanks to the 756 Topretirements Members who took the the time to fill out our most recent survey on retirement community preferences. You are good people - thanks!
Your input confirms some of our hypotheses and offers fresh perspective on others. One surprise was your favorite amenity - walking trails! You made hundreds of excellent comments to several of the questions - we just wish we had room to highlight every comment because they all offer a unique perspective. Here is one, describing the type of community someone is looking for, that is fairly representative: "Large, walkable, active community with urban area nearby for culture, restaurants etc. A Clubhouse with social clubs will make it easy to make new friends."
Highlights
Everyone has their own unique take on retirement, that much is obvious from these results. That is particularly true if you look at the 327 comments made to Question 10, "Please describe your ideal retirement community". Here are some
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Published on November 8, 2016
Comments 63
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Editor's Note: Back in September we published our "10 Best Places to Retire in South Carolina" article. Its very first Comment was from Judith. She wrote that she was about to leave on a 2 week tour, and even promised to write up a report of her travels. She lived up to her promise (Thanks Judith!), and here is her report. Note that we have added a few comments from other Topretirements members at the bottom of some of the cities to try to give even more dimension. We just love these in-person reports - nothing better!
By Judith
October 30, 2016 -- I did a two week tour of South Carolina from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6, and it’s taken me two more weeks to get on top of all my home chores after such a long absence. Laundry, email, you know. But it’s a quiet Saturday morning now, and I have time to put down my thoughts, for those who asked.
Travelers Rest: I entered the state of South Carolina on the freeway from Asheville, NC, which allowed me to pass through Travelers Rest. I was
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Published on October 30, 2016
Comments 45
Category: Uncategorized
October 29, 2016 — As most of our long term members realize, our periodic Member surveys are a treasure trove of interesting research and findings on wide-ranging aspects of retirement. So please invest 5 minutes to take our latest on “Retirement Living Preferences”. There are just 10 easy to answer…
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Published on October 28, 2016
Comments 0
Category: Adventurous retirement
By Betty Fitterman
http://adventuresinthebettybus.blogspot.com
October 23, 2016 -- Note: This is Part 4 of a 6 Part series that Betty Fitterman was kind enough to contribute way back at Topretirements’ beginning. Here is a link to Part 1, See bottom of this article for links to the rest.
There are two important subjects to consider when you take off in a mobile home and they both have to do with baggage.
The first is relatively easy: what to pack. Generally speaking, the answer is, nothing breakable. I was determined that we would live a civilized life, so I packed real china, real glasses and good silverware. What didn’t fall out of the closet when we hit our first big bump is now packed in towels and stored away. I did save three wine glasses, and find that those plastic sock dividers are perfect for keeping them safe while traveling.
Also stored away are the my dresses and pretty shoes, winter coat and good
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Published on October 23, 2016
Comments 8
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
October 18, 2016 — The Social Security Administration today announced a very modest Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2017 of 0.3%. There was no COLA in 2016, whereas the COLA in 2015 was 1.7%. The 2017 increase results in a whopping $4 a month based on the average SS…
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Published on October 18, 2016
Comments 2
Category: Adventurous retirement
By Betty Fitterman
http://adventuresinthebettybus.blogspot.com
Note: This is Part 3 of a 6 Part series that Betty Fitterman was kind enough to contribute way back at Topretirements’ beginning. Here is a link to Part 1, Parts 4-6 are at Tips & Picks Section/Adventurous Retirements (we will eventually move all of them into the Blog so people can Comment on them).
If the idea of mobile living, with its cost savings and opportunities for travel, appeals to you, my advice is take it easy. Try before you buy. Don’t rush headlong into a major investment before you sample the lifestyle. Remember that like any vehicle, an RV will lose significant value once you drive it off the lot.
Fourteen years ago, we took a vacation in a rental RV. You can rent RVs
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Published on October 14, 2016
Comments 2
