Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 18, 2015 -- When you think Florida, is your image one of a north-south string of strip malls, punctuated by boring developments full of old people? If so, you would not be alone. But we are about to show you that Florida has more than its fair share of interesting, offbeat, even funky towns - places that completely defy the stereotypes. While they might not be for everyone, they might be just the place for some boomers looking for a retirement location that matches their personality. This is Part 1 of a series; you can find even more funky FL towns in Part 2.
First of all let's define what we mean by funky (and we realize you might have a different
more...
Published on May 26, 2015
Comments 10
Category: Family and Retirement
May 23, 2015 -- Americans are crazy about their pets. There were 164 million pets in the U.S. in 2012, according to the Humane Society of the U.S., with about 62% of households having a pet. Pet ownership for retirees, however, is a little different than it is for younger Americans. The Retirement section of the New York Times recently did a feature, "Pets of the Golden Years", which profiled some of those differences. This article will highlight some of the issues that affect retirees and their pets (see end of article for our previous articles on this topic).
Some differences
For starters, a smaller percentage of retirees own pets than
more...
Published on May 23, 2015
Comments 57
Category: Retirement Real Estate
May 15, 2015 -- Looking for a place to retire where your housing dollar gives you the biggest bang? If so the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, which ranks U.S. metros by housing affordability, might just have your answer. All of the top 10 most affordable markets are in the Midwest or Northeast, not such great news for retirees looking to retire in warm weather. The price of homes in these Metros ranges from a low of $75,000 (Springfield, OH) to a high of $105,000 in Sandusky, OH. Another problem with these "most affordable" Metros - none of them has inspired us enough to write them up as interesting
more...
Published on May 15, 2015
Comments 26
Category: Singles and Retirement
April 28, 2015 -- Last month we asked our single Members to share their thoughts, experiences, and dreams about where they would like to retire. This article summarizes and categorizes what you told us in over 80 very thoughtful Comments (which included a lot of back and forth between commenters). But please don't stop here, read all the Comments in the original article. You will also find many interesting links for singles looking for solutions to where and how to live in retirement at the end of this article.
Conclusions/Observations
There is a diversity of opinions expressed by our members about various aspects of retirement for singles, yet remarkable agreement on a number of other issues. Here are some
more...
Published on April 28, 2015
Comments 47
Category: Retirement Planning
By Jan Cullinane and John Brady
Note: This is Part 2 of a 3 part series. See bottom of article for links to the other two.
April 16, 2015 -- In Part 1 we published detailed answers to the first two questions we asked our panel of six retirement experts - where they chose to live, and why. In this continuation of the series at Topretirements you can read how they responded to questions about aging and long term care, how well they followed their own advice, and their tips on finding a place to retire and a successful retirement. There is a lot of wisdom and food for thought in their responses; we hope you will enjoy them and
more...
Published on April 18, 2015
Comments 4
Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Updated October, 2016 -- So you have saved all the money you need for a comfortable retirement, scoured the world and found the best to place to retire - great. Unfortunately, all that great planning means nothing unless you have the good health to enjoy your retirement. To keep yourself healthy enough to enjoy your retirement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all adults age 18-64 get at least 140 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week. That seems like a lot of time, certainly more than the average person is willing to put in. Fortunately there are a lot of great ways to get that exercise without having to become a gym rat.
Some of the ideas in the book by psychologist Elizabeth Lombardo, "A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness" are pretty interesting and relatively painless. They make it easy because they incorporate a little bit of exercise into ordinary daily activities. Such as: Brushing your teeth - why not do some squats. Talking on the phone,
more...
Published on April 14, 2015
Comments 3
Category: Retirement Planning
By Jan Cullinane and John Brady
Note: This is Part 1 of a 3 part series. See bottom of article for links to the other two.
April 4, 2015 -- Most of us know by now that one size cannot fit all when it comes to choosing our best place to retire. Just look at the tons of books, magazine articles and websites that try to answer that very question. So at the suggestion of our frequent contributor, Jan Cullinane, we decided to take a different approach, and go right to the source by asking a half dozen retirement gurus, including the authors of this piece, Jan Cullinane and John Brady, where they chose to “retire.” The word “retire” is in quotes since most of these experts are still working (some more than others), although their work is free from the constraints of being tied
more...
Published on April 4, 2015
Comments 20
Category: Retirement Planning
April 2, 2015 --
By Jan Cullinane and John Brady
Retirement advice is not hard to come by – it seems like every website and newspaper will tell you how to do it. So we were intrigued when our frequent contributor, Jan Cullinane, suggested a different approach. Her idea was to ask a half dozen retirement gurus to describe their personal retirement plans and rate how well they followed their own advice. We think you will enjoy learning how they went about finding a great place to retire...where they decided to live... the areas where they think they planned well....and even where some felt they didn’t merit an A - in their own class! Note that due to the length of the various responses we have divided this into three articles. This is the Summary.
more...
Published on April 2, 2015
Comments 6
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
April 1, 2015 -- We were surprised recently by a group of commenters who took umbrage at the notion that you can work and also be retired. Their more traditional view was that if you are retired, you don’t work, period. A few even quoted dictionary definitions to support their case. But an increasing body of evidence points to an overwhelming trend in the opposite direction – that retirement is often going to be anything but traditional or predictable. Some retirees even find themselves exploring modern hobbies or part-time income opportunities, including non GamStop casinos, as they embrace flexible schedules. It is more likely to be a transition than it is stopping work. Instead of just cashing pension and Social Security checks and having morning coffee or golf with the guys, it might mean a change of career or a part-time or volunteer job. The trend is toward more of a highly personal, very customizable
more...
Published on March 31, 2015
Comments 32
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 27, 2015 -- So you are pretty sure you are financially literate and no one could scam you - better watch out! A recent study by researchers at DePaul University and the Rush University Medical Center came up with this scary result: Seniors who got financially related answers wrong, but were the most confident they got them right, were more often victimized by fraud. Fraud victims scored 5.39 on the overconfidence scale, vs. 4.21 for non-fraud victims. The authors of the study believe that this overconfidence, combined with declining cognitive skills, is a underlying reason for an alarming
more...
Published on March 26, 2015
Comments 13
