Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sept 10, 2015 -- We did a new and different survey on this topic last week. Here is a link to the Summary of Results from that article: "Maintaining Pre-Retirement Lifestyle a Challenge for Many".
September 15, 2014 -- Thanks to the over 800 members who took the time to contribute their valuable insights to last week's "Retirement Confidence" poll. We appreciate that so many of you are community minded enough to share your opinions and attitudes! As promised, here is a detailed report on the findings. At the end of this article you will also find a link to a document with more than 225 individual responses to question 12, "Do you have anything else you would like to tell us about your retirement confidence, or the other questions on this survey"? See a list of our previous survey reports at the end of the article.
Highlights
It is always interesting to find out exactly how our members feel
more...
Published on September 15, 2014
Comments 6
Category: General Retirement Issues
September 12, 2014 -- Our recent article about downsizing and hitting the road sparked a side discussion on pets and pet friendly communities. Since several members have asked us to provide more on that topic, we have created this post for everyone to wag their tails on the subject. Please remember to be civil - people have strong opinions on the subject, so let's keep it friendly! Also, if you are looking for a pet-friendly active adult or 55+ community, you can select that as an Amenity in our Advanced Search feature.
We have re-posted the comments from the "Downsizing" article here
more...
Published on September 12, 2014
Comments 79
Category: Retirement Planning
Note: This survey is closed. To see the most interesting results, go to: “Topretirements Members Very Confident About Retirement” September 9, 2014 — Please share a couple of minutes to tell us about your confidence in maintaining your standard of living, importance of proximity to good medical care,…
more...
Published on September 9, 2014
Comments 1
Category: Work and Volunteering
September 7, 2014 -- We are happy to read that more and more baby boomers are taking a pro-active role in downsizing. They are doing it intentionally, tackling clutter room by room and not adding on new stuff either. But how about the ultimate - getting rid of just about everything - including your house - and hitting the road? More than a few boomers are choosing this path.
In 2013 there were over 360,000 Americans who receive their Social Security at non-U.S. addresses, which was a 48% increase over 10 years before. Of course that doesn't include hundreds of thousands more who travel either for long periods - abroad or in the U.S. - but still retain
more...
Published on September 7, 2014
Comments 55
Category: Active adult communities
Update: September 2015: See our brand new "2015 List of the Most Popular Active Adult Communities."
September 3, 2014 -- When it comes to the states that have the most popular active adult and 55+ communities at Topretirements it is a 7 state race - with Florida far out ahead. Four states had 60 of the 100 most popular communities: Florida (25), Tennessee (12), Delaware (11), and North Carolina (12). Colorado and Massachusetts had their strongest showings ever (10 and 7 respectively) while South Carolina launched 5 communities into the top 100.
With more than 300 active/55+/retirement developments in our database, Florida has more communities than any other state. That is at least one obvious reason for its dominance, along with its warm winter weather and lack of income tax. Delaware continues to have the best representation of any cold winter weather state with 11 communities on the list.
Parsing these results:
more...
Published on September 3, 2014
Comments 121
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 25, 2014 -- More and more active baby boomers have discovered the joys of biking - whether it just getting around the neighborhood on 2 wheels, the occasional rail2trail expedition, or longer trips through the countryside or even across the country. Cyclists save gas, get healthy exercise, have time to experience the sights, and are kind to the planet at the same time. In fact battery-assisted bikes, which use batteries to help you get up hills or assist on longer trips, are one of the fastest growing products in many places. So it stands to reason that when it comes to retirement, you might want to
more...
Published on August 24, 2014
Comments 12
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
August 23, 2014. How much of your pre-retirement income do you think you can count on once you are retired? A recent survey from T Rowe Price. "Retirees Live on Less", found that most of the retirees in their survey are getting along on about 2/3 of their working days income.
The survey was conducted by the big mutual fund company among people who had money in at least 1 401(k) account. Their median household assets – investments and home equity minus debts – were $473,000. That would put the sample much better off than the average retiree, since only half of Americans over 45 have managed to save
more...
Published on August 23, 2014
Comments 33
Category: Checklists
August 19, 2014 -- Whether you have decided to stay where you live now or maybe move out of state, you need to make a wise choice about where you retire. Part of that decision hinges on you being realistic, and demanding, about the requirements you need to make all the years of your retirement fulfilling - not just the first 10 years or so.
As we baby boomers age we are definitely moving the average
more...
Published on August 19, 2014
Comments 14
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated January 20, 2021 - Originally published August, 2014
Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study of U.S. Unhappy Cities. The study also listed the cities that have the happiest people. While it is relatively easy to guess the unhappiest places, the cities with the happiest folks tend to be surprising. The study was not specifically about retirement, but we certainly think it is relevant.
But first - happy places...
Clyde, a long time Member and frequent contributor, brought this article back to our attention in connection with a fascinating piece he read in The New Yorker: "Find the Place You Love... Then Move There". In it Arthur. C. Brooks talks about the notion that most people have a place they think of as home, no matter how many times they might move in their life. He says that although moving is a horrible and painful process, sometimes it is worth it if it brings you happiness. We couldn't agree more when it comes to retirement. If where you are living doesn't make you happy, find someplace that does and move there!
Happy PlacesThese are the top 6 metros with the happiest people according to the study. Kudos to the State of Louisiana, which has 2 out of the 6. Note that although 5 out of the 6 metros are in or close to the Sunbelt - what is going on in Rochester, Minn. to make folks so happy? (If the name appears in blue that link will take you to our city review).- Charlottesville, Virginia- Rochester, Minnesota
more...
Published on August 18, 2014
Comments 9
Category: Uncategorized
August 13, 2014. Some of our members might have noticed that we are experimenting with a new format for our Blog articles. The purpose is to make our pages more readable and user-friendly on ipads and smart phones (but not impact regular computers), which more of our members are using…
more...
Published on August 12, 2014
Comments 26
