Category: Active adult communities
November 13, 2014 -- Many residents of the giant active adult community, The Villages, are mourning the loss of the legendary developer of their community, Gary Morse. Morse died on October 29 at the age of 77.
He moved to Central Florida in 1983 and starting selling real estate in the modest mobile home park owned by his father. Originally the homes here were mobile homes in a development called Orange Blossom Gardens. Over time the homes became a mixture of
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Published on November 13, 2014
Comments 35
Category: Active adult communities
Note: This is the 4th in a series on college town retirements. See Further Reading below for links to the other installments.
November 11, 2014 -- College towns are very often great places to retire. You are virtually guaranteed an interesting cultural life with plenty of opportunities to stimulate your mind. In most cases you might be able to take or audit college classes, or perhaps there is a Lifelong Learning program set up with the college. There are sporting events to attend, as well as world class facilities you might be able to use such as gyms or pools. College towns usually have more interesting shops and restaurants than in comparable towns. Lastly, most people find the presence of young people to be invigorating.
What Are College Affiliated Communities
Several colleges and universities have set up or have relationships with active communities or Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC)
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Published on November 11, 2014
Comments 6
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
November 8, 2014 -- We retirees have a strong desire to leave something for the kids once we go on to baby boomer heaven. A recent study by the Population Research Center at the University of Texas found that 86% of people aged 59-96 expect to leave an inheritance to their kids and grandkids. In reporting that study the New York Times article, "The Children Will Be Fine: Spend Their Inheritance", called this perhaps "the height of foolishness". Let's take a look why.
About half of baby boomers are concerned they won't be able to maintain their standard of living in retirement. Yet the 86% figure from the University of Texas study shows that even people stressed by their retirement finances still hope to pass something on to the next generation. The irony
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Published on November 8, 2014
Comments 40
Category: International Retirement
November 4, 2014 -- Have you ever dreamed about retiring on an island? A relaxing place with warm breezes, the gentle sound of lapping waves, endless sunshine, and friendly locals? You certainly wouldn't be the only person to share that dream. This article will review the pros and cons of island living, plus share 2 list of islands that might be good retirement spots - a domestic list we created and another, the 10 best tropical island retirements from NextAvenue.org.
There are islands - and there are islands
Some people's idea of an island for retirement might be domestic, such as an island on a big lake in Michigan, one of the many off of the Maine coast, Catalina Island near
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Published on November 4, 2014
Comments 16
Category: Retirement Real Estate
October 30, 2014 -- Our member Louise recently started an interesting conversation about time shares on another of our posts. Then Caps suggested that we begin a Blog post on that topic. Seems like a fine idea, since we know that many retirees rely on time shares, aka Interval Ownership units, as a way to make their retirement life more enjoyable.
Time Shares - Different Strokes
Many folks have 1 or 2 time shares that they look forward to using every year. Some have additional weeks in different locales and time periods. Others we know have consecutive weeks in the same locale/complex, which allows them to stay in a favorite place for a long period of time. And then we know others who not only have consecutive weeks, but have multiple units at the same time so their children/grandchilden can visit.
How time shares get used also varies. Some folks stay
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Published on October 30, 2014
Comments 34
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 28, 2014 -- (Note: See our 2016 version with even more beautiful places to retire) Your editor was at a family wedding a few weeks ago when one of our smart young nephews surprised us with a question. Daeson, who was curious about Topretirements.com, queried: "What is the prettiest town you know about?" The unexpected question stunned me, maybe because there are so many choices. I didn't have a good answer.
Eventually I managed to stutter out Naples, Florida (to which the good wife said, Naples?), and Lucca, Italy. In the days afterwards I came up with many more, better possibilities. The exercise made me realize that it might be a really good idea to go further afield and ask you, our esteemed Topretirements members, what you think are the prettiest towns. In the interest of keeping on
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Published on October 28, 2014
Comments 35
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
October 23,2014 -- Monthly Social Security retirement benefits will increase 1.7 percent in 2015. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) begins in January 2015 and affects benefits received by more than 58 million Social Security beneficiaries. The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. To read more, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.
More Changes
The amount that beneficiaries under age 66 can receive before having
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Published on October 23, 2014
Comments 4
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 21, 2014 -- Recently one of our members asked a very helpful question: "Why don't you get people who have actually retired someplace to tell us where and why". The request makes a good addition to other articles we have written about where people are thinking about retiring. Sorry we can't find who it was who made this suggestion, but whoever you are - thanks for the great idea to get feedback from people who have actually retired somewhere.
In preparing for this article we found that we already have received some
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Published on October 21, 2014
Comments 89
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
October 13, 2014 -- Their are plenty of theories for the perfect amount to take from your retirement assets like 401(k)s and IRAs. They all try to solve the problem that if you take out too much too soon you will run out of money late in retirement, but if you are too cautious you miss out on a richer life, leaving too much of your assets to someone else, possibly the government. In contrast to some of the more complex theories, some experts suggest using a simpler measure and one that is widely in use. Their idea is to use the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) that the federal government requires retirees to take from their retirement assets beginning in the year
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Published on October 12, 2014
Comments 14
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
October 6, 2014 -- According to the EBRI only 55% of retirees are very or somewhat confident about their ability to live comfortably in retirement. That leaves a lot of people worried, most of whom have very little savings and no pension to fall back on.
There is good news though
Fortunately, even if you have minimal retirement savings and no pension other than Social Security, all is not lost. You probably have a retirement piggy bank that you never even thought about - your home! Indeed for most people, the value of their homes is greater than all their other assets combined.
My home is a plus, you scoff?
After all, housing expenses consume more than half of the household income of 1 in 3 Americans over 50, according to a study by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies and the AARP. The average person over 65 spends 30% of their income on housing. While the fact that
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Published on October 6, 2014
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