As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
New: Community Explorer. Discover Your Perfect Community Quickly Based on Lifestyle, Amenities, and Unit Type.
Try It NOWCategory: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 21, 2015 — We just updated one of our earlier articles, “10 More Affordable (and Nice) Places to Retire“. While we knew we have written on this topic several times, we were surprised to find out that we have published at least 5 different “affordable” lists. So we…
more...
Category: Retirement Real Estate
July 13, 2015 -- Some people dream of retiring in an expansive home with plenty of room for hobbies, friends and grandchildren. And others can't wait to downsize, get rid of 40 years of accumulated "stuff", and live in a manageable-sized home. This article is dedicated to those interested in the latter, especially to the folks who want to take it to a small extreme. The end of this feature had many resources to find out more about the tiny homes movement along with examples of - from TV shows to a Netflix documentary.
The average new single family home has grown and grown. In 1978, according to Wikipedia, it was 1,780 square feet (165 m2), but, despite a decrease in the size of the average family, the average home had bloated to 2,662 square feet by 2013.
Small... and then there is Tiny!
The small house movement generally refers to houses of less than 1,000 square feet. Tiny houses take that further, and are less than 400 sq. ft., with some
more...
Category: Adventurous retirement
July 7, 2015 -- We never tire of promoting the idea that retirement is a chance of a do-over on life. Not that you get to reset back to square one, but you can at least start over from this point. To that end we thought you might enjoy a group of fascinating articles about following your dream. One is a post about Lucy Burdette, the cozy mystery writing wife of your editor, while 3 others are from Nextavenue.com.
Lucy's 14th mystery, "Fatal Reservations", comes out this week from Penguin Putnam. Although she has been at this a long time now,
more...
Category: Active adult communities
July 4, 2015 -- It's out there somewhere, the perfect place for you to retire. A community with the right combination of activities, ambience, neighbors, type of homes, etc. that matches exactly to what you are looking for. The reality is there might be dozens, even hundreds of places that where you can retire happy, if you can identify and analyze them. This quiz will take you through the major issues that will help you understand and rate the communities that are a good match for you.
About this checklist/rating sheet
For each question there might be several answers that describe you and your preferences, so choose as many as fit. Once you complete this form you will have a better idea about your overall preferences. Then, by rating different
more...
Category: Family and Retirement
June 27, 2015 — Most people are in relationships. Making decisions that involve a couple is complicated, starting with the obvious - there are two people’s needs and wants involved. Reconciling the dreams and goals of two different people is a challenge, but one that can bring much happiness and joy if done successfully. The goal of this article is to help couples find effective strategies to achieve success in their retirement planning.
Two years ago we surveyed our Topretirements Members on Spousal Compatibility, and over 600 folks responded with insightful data, opinions, and advice. Many couples highlighted the importance of maintaining individual interests and hobbies during retirement. For example, some respondents shared that occasionally enjoying individual hobbies, like gardening, traveling, or even playing games online — such as opting to relax alone by choosing to play ohne Anmeldung or ohne Registrierung im Casino spielen — could enhance personal space and overall marital harmony. You'll find detailed survey results linked at the bottom of this article. We invite you to read these real-life experiences, and we look forward to your additional comments at the end of the article.
A Suggestion
One way to use the information in this article is for both
more...
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
-- This article continues our Dueling Retirement States series with another regional comparison. See Further Reading at end for links to other comparisons in the series --
June 22, 2015 -- Are you tempted by the lure of mountains for your dream retirement lifestyle? The Mountain States of the U.S. - Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming - continue to experience amazing population growth, including from people of retirement age. Colorado's population, for example, grew by over 1 million people between 2000 and 2014, much of which was net in-migration. Many of these mountain states' new residents are 20 and 30 somethings who have come for jobs in these growing economies. But another demographic segment flocking to the region for its beauty, outdoor recreation, and in many cases, to be near their adult children, is the huge baby boomer group. The attraction for many of these folks is the opportunity to enjoy magnificent mountain ranges like the Beartooths in Montana, the Sawtooths in Idaho, and the many sub-mountain ranges of the Rockies in Colorado. In this article we will compare and contrast these 6 mountain states: Colorado and Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming (links go to our mini-retirement guides to each state). Population and income data is from American Fact Finder-U.S. Census Bureau.
A Few Facts
Colorado is by far the more populous of the 5 states. The 2014 population there increased to just over 5.35 million from 5 million in 2010, which is a 6.5% increase in just 4 years. There were 2.8 million people in the second most populous state, Nevada, up from 2.7 million in 2010 (+5.1%). Wyoming had the smallest population of the six, which stood at 584,000 in 2014, a 3.6% gain from 2010. Utah enjoyed a significant population increase from 2010 to 2014, 6.5%, double the overall U.S. growth rate. Its population estimate was 2,942,000 in 2014. Idaho had 1,634,000 people in 2014, up 4.3% from 2010. The Montana population was 1.024 million in 2014, up from 989,000 in 2010 (+3.5%).
more...
Category: Green Retirement Communities
June 16, 2015 -- It is the rare person who doesn't at least give some nod toward being green in various aspects of life. It might only be grudging recycling efforts or turning off some lights, but the spirit is usually there, somewhere. But would you make your environmental concerns a requirement for finding a suitable place to retire?
If there are many people like that out there they are probably having a hard time finding such a place. Using the Advanced Search Feature at Topretirements we found we have 23 communities (out of about 3000) that are self-described as "Sustainable", another way of saying
more...
Category: Retirement Planning
June 12, 2015 -- Oh, the things we say we are going to do in retirement. And if only we did them! We were inspired by a recent MarketWatch story, "Five Lies We Tell Ourselves in Retirement", which focused on lies people tell themselves on financially related aspects of retirement. We liked the idea enough we decided to create our own list of lies, but with a different focus - (mostly) non-financial fibs. This is our list - we encourage you to add
more...
Category: Retirement Real Estate
June 9, 2015 -- We were very flattered recently to see a story from Builderonline.com, "The Top 15 Builders in 2015’s Retirement Magnets", which used Topretirements' "100 Most Popular Retirement Towns" as the starting point of its research. The online publication basically looked at our top 50 towns (chosen on the basis of visitor popularity on our site), and then determined which companies build the most homes in those markets. It was an intriguing idea with at least one very big surprise.
Quantity Built
Let's start with a big surprise: the #10 builder is.... Habitat for Humanity. So at least we know from the beginning that there all kinds of builders in our 50 most popular retirement markets - not just those catering to the retirement set. The builder with the most
more...
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
June 6, 2015 -- This is part 2 of our series on the "Funky Towns of Florida". Part 1 explored unusual towns of this stripe in the Northern, Central, and Western reaches of the Sunshine State. In this edition we concentrate on the Eastern and Southern regions, plus one additional town from Florida Central. As always we want to know your suggestions for more "funky Florida" towns, which we define as communities that are interesting, have potential but are perhaps a bit down at the heels, and cater to a slightly more bohemian crowd.
East Coast
Fernandina Beach is the biggest town on Amelia island at the northeastern tip of Florida. It has about 11,000 people with an average age of about 46. There is a charming downtown with an artsy feel, a bustling waterfront with shrimp boats, a working lighthouse, and many quiet neighborhoods featuring Victorian homes. There are cute shops and many interesting restaurants and bars. There is a 50 block area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
New Smyrna Beach New Smyrna Beach is a peaceful beach community of
more...
