Articles

The Truth About Medicare (Dis)Advantage Plans

I turned 65 in early 2022, and I’ve been enjoying the benefits of traditional Medicare ever since. It’s one of retirement’s greatest benefits. It has lowered my healthcare costs and made obtaining care easier. It’s the system I wish I had throughout my working career. In the year preceding my 65th birthday, I received a…
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Interview: Finding Your Retirement Utopia – Does It Exist?

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Mark Goldstein, who runs the popular Facebook group, website, and podcast, Where Do Gays Retire. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about all the things you should consider when searching for your perfect place to retire. Click here to enjoy the podcast!

Why Pay More? Stretch Your Dollars with Senior Discounts!

There are many advantages to being retired. One of the biggest perks, and certainly one that will keep more money in your pocket, is… Senior Discounts! You probably already know that some restaurants offer them, and you know that if you belong to AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons), that card can bring you…
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Is Your Retirement Fulfilling … or Just Busy?

If you ask many retired people what their life is like, they will probably tell you that they are as busy as ever. Every day is full of errands, shopping, household chores, yard work, TV and movies, club meetings, and all sorts of other things. Their calendars are filled with events, appointments, and get-togethers. After…
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Is Downsizing the Right Choice for You?

As you contemplate your options for where you’ll live after you retire, you may be considering moving to a smaller dwelling. Downsizing might make sense for both financial and logistical reasons, but it might not be an advantageous choice in every situation. There are many factors you should consider in order to decide whether downsizing…
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The New Normal: Time for a Retirement Reset

As of April 19, about 40% of the people in the United States have received at least one vaccine shot and many of us in the older age brackets have received both. The pandemic isn’t over by any means, and it will continue to be a factor in our lives for many months to come,…
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The Best of Both Worlds: How to Plan For and Enjoy the Snowbird Lifestyle

Each year, over a million people migrate from colder regions of the United States and Canada to sunny locations in Florida, Arizona, and other Sunbelt states. To these snowbirds, seasonal migration offers the best of both worlds – an opportunity to maintain ties to family, friends, and familiar places, while also enjoying a change of…
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To Achieve Your Ideal Retirement, Are You Willing to Change?

It’s easy to imagine an ideal retirement lifestyle, filled with stress-free days in which you are engaging in all those self-fulfilling pursuits you’ve always dreamed of but never had time for. You probably have a nice list of things you would like to do and places you want to go after you retire. Maybe you…
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Can You Really Save Money By Retiring Overseas? Should You?

If you have traveled internationally, you have probably visited charming, exciting places and fantasized about what it would be like to retire there. There are many reasons why retiring to a different country seems tempting. Maybe you want to enjoy your leisure years in a locale with a warmer climate and breathtaking natural beauty. Perhaps…
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Why You Still Need Time Management after You Retire

After you retire, you may believe that you no longer need to manage your time. Perhaps you regard time management as something you get to leave behind when you end your working career. After all, you have been a slave to your work schedule for decades. If you are not retired yet, you may envision…
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10 Ways to Stay Young-at-Heart after You Retire

While you have some control over the physical aging process with a healthy diet and moderate exercise, the fact that your body ages as you get older is inevitable. However, you have much greater control over your attitude towards aging. Here are ten steps you can take to cultivate a positive, youthful attitude at any…
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15 Flexible and Fun Ways You Can Work During Retirement

Will working be part of your retirement? Perhaps your answer is not just “no!” but a resounding, “HELL no!!!” It may seem like an oxymoron to see “working” in the same sentence as “retirement.” By definition, isn’t retirement what you do after you stop working? Not necessarily. Retirement comes in many shapes and sizes, and…
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Best Places to Retire Lists – Fact, Fiction, or Fantasy?

There are now hundreds of Best Places to Retire lists on the Internet, as well as some Worst Places to Retire lists. They all offer different results. With so many contradictory lists, how are you to make sense of it all? Best Places to Live lists have a long history. Money magazine published a Best…
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100 Ways to Enjoy Your Life for Less Money

Living a fabulous retirement – or enjoying your life at any age – does not necessarily require having a large amount of money to spend lavishly. It means designing a life for yourself (and your spouse, if you have one) that is happy and fulfilling. This doesn’t require a lot of money in many cases.…
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Your Retirement is a Journey, Not a Destination

Throughout your working years, you have probably viewed your retirement as a destination. It is a goal you are saving for and will hopefully reach one day. But once you reach this destination, then what? The perception of retirement as a destination may be why some people approach retirement with dread rather than anticipation. They…
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10 Truths About Retirement

I’ve been retired for over seven years now. The newness and shininess of retirement has worn off, and I’m now well-settled into this chapter of my life. Work has receded into a distant memory. Has retirement turned out the way I thought it would? No. Has retirement turned out well anyway? Yes! Over the past…
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12 Essential Considerations for Deciding Where to Retire

One of the greatest benefits that retirement provides is the opportunity to choose where you want to live. Once you no longer have your job tying you to a particular area, there’s no reason not to relocate to a place that’s more to your liking. Perhaps you want to move someplace warmer, closer to the…
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How to Survive and Thrive as a Single Person in Retirement

How to Survive and Thrive as a Single Person in Retirement

Are you single? If so, you probably have some concerns about your retirement that people with partners are less likely to experience. If you’re married (or otherwise partnered), don’t click away! Consider that, unless you and your spouse pass away at the same time, one of you will experience being single at some point. Later in…
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8 Conversations Every Couple Needs to Have

Hopefully, you have at least a general idea of how you hope your life will unfold in the years to come. You probably have some ideas (whether vague or specific) about where you’d really like to live, where you hope to travel, when you hope to retire, and an assortment of dreams and “bucket list”…
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The Greatest Gift You Can Give in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 has changed most aspects of our lives, in both subtle and dramatic ways. How we will celebrate the end-of-year holidays is no exception. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with other government and public health authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere, have emphatically requested that people stay…
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Interview: Time to Retire the Word Retirement?

I recently became acquainted with Chris and Susan Beesley, who created Living the Retirement Lifestyle. Chris and Susan host a podcast series, and I had the privilege of chatting with them recently. My recent article about retiring the word “Retirement” in favor of the term “Renaissance” resonated with them, and during the interview we explored…
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“What Will I Do After I Retire?”

Are you uncertain about what retirement holds for you? Are you worried that your days will be dull, boring, and empty? Some people continue to work because they truly enjoy their jobs. Some people continue to work because they haven’t saved enough money to retire. But you would be surprised at how many people continue…
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5 Things You Shouldn’t Put Off Until You Retire

How many things are you putting off until you retire? Sure, your life is busy. There never seems to be enough time to do the things you really want to do. It’s easy to think, “When I’m retired, I’ll have all the time I want for <insert activity here>.” To an extent, you’re right. You…
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How Can You Decide If It’s the Right Time to Retire?

Years ago, knowing when to retire was easy. Back then, you probably would have taken it for granted that you would retire when you turned 65. Or, if you worked for the same employer your entire career (which was much more common in decades past) you would retire when you had worked enough years to…
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It’s Time to Retire the Word “Retirement”

I like the word “retirement.” I always have. During my working years, the more I planned for and anticipated my retirement, the more I became optimistic about it. Don’t get me wrong. Retirement isn’t a panacea any more than everyday life during your working years is. There will be good days, bad days, and average…
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Retirement Communities for LGBT Seniors

Many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) elders report serious concerns about aging and retirement, according to the nonprofit group Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE). For years, LGBT retirees have suffered indignities during their final years. For example, same-sex partners have been denied the opportunity to share the same room, staff members who personally…
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New Urbanism: A Charming, Walkable, In-town Option for Retirement Living

If you have read some of my past articles about places to retire or read my book, The Quest for Retirement Utopia, you have probably noticed that I’m not a big fan of 55+ active adult retirement communities. Based on numerous comments, survey responses, and emails I have received, many Retire Fabulously! readers aren’t, either.…
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How to Make the Best of Retirement in the Pandemic

It’s July 21, 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been raging for at least four months now. I hope you are doing well and staying safe and sane, to the greatest extent possible. Aside from the immediate impacts of the pandemic, many other aspects of your life have been upended and changed in one way…
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50 Things You Can Do During the Pandemic

The most popular article on RetireFabulously.com has been the mega-list of 100 Things You Can Do After You Retire. After all, there’s no reason to be bored after you retire. Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of those activities aren’t feasible because they involve interacting with groups of people in potentially unsafe situations. But don’t…
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Your Retirement Has Changed – Perhaps For the Better

A couple weeks ago (mid-May, 2020), I was contacted by a writer for MarketWatch who was working on an article about “retiree resentment.” He was seeking input from experts on how retirees can reframe their resentment in a positive, proactive way. In order to give him the best information I could, I asked Retire Fabulously!…
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It’s Time to Rethink What Makes a Good Place to Retire

There are many factors that compete for your attention when it comes to deciding where you want to retire. You probably consider the climate, recreational amenities, cost of living, safety, and tax rates. Being close to your family and friends may be the most important factor for you. Even if you’re pretty sure you want…
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Give Your Loved Ones Something to Remember

If you are like most of us, you probably don’t think much about how you will be remembered by your loved ones after you’re gone. But trust me – you will be missed and remembered more than you will ever know. Think about your loved ones who have already passed. Don’t you miss them? And…
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Stay-at-Home Orders Offer You a Chance to Preview Your Retirement

This article was written on April 2, 2020, about three months into the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, most state governors have issued stay-at-home orders. Everyone except essential workers is urged to stay home and only venture forth to procure necessities, maintaining a distance of at least six feet from others. Soon, we…
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“I’m Afraid to Retire.”

In the years that I have been writing and speaking about retirement lifestyles, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with and exchange emails with many people about their hopes and concerns as they anticipate their retirement. During one such exchange a few months ago, a reader told me, “I’m afraid to retire.” I suspect this…
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The Best Cities for LGBTQ Retirees

[This excerpt from my book The Quest for Retirement Utopia: How to Find the Retirement Spot That’s Right for You, first appeared on NextAvenue.org. While this excerpt focuses on LGBTQ concerns, the book is written for everyone who is considering moving after they retire.] When it comes to choosing a place to live during retirement,…
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21 Things to Look for When You Visit a Potential Retirement Destination

[This article is an excerpt from my book, The Quest for Retirement Utopia: How to Find the Retirement Spot That’s Right for You.] When you start thinking seriously about where you want to retire, there are dozens of factors you can consider. The number of criteria that your ideal retirement destination should ideally meet can…
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Could You Retire on a Cruise Ship?

A lot of people, both retirees and those who are still working, enjoy vacationing on cruise ships. I have taken thirteen cruises that have carried me to Europe (six times), the southern Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, Asia (including Japan), Tahiti, South America, and New Zealand/Australia. I have enjoyed them all immensely, especially the last three. Occasionally,…
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Can Moving After You Retire Really Make You Happier?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? For now, assume that cost is not a factor and you could afford to live wherever you want. Hopefully you have at least one place in mind, and maybe several. Now for the bigger question: Why? What characteristics of the place(s) you thought…
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Dating Over 50: How to Look for Love in All the Right Places

Dating at any age can be complicated. It can be an emotional roller coaster ride of optimism, disappointment, anticipation, uncertainty, elation, agony, and futility. While some people reach retirement age having been single all their lives, others find themselves newly single as a result of death or divorce. Even if you’re married now, consider that…
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I Started Taking Social Security at 62. Maybe You Should Too.

When I turned 62, I celebrated by filing the paperwork to start receiving my Social Security benefits. This goes against the advice offered by the vast majority of professional advisors. Almost universally, financial advisors recommend delaying your benefits for as long as you can. Yet I have analyzed the numbers and pondered the non-financial aspects…
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Health Wisdom Magazine’s Premiere Issue Features Retire Fabulously!

The new Health Wisdom Magazine recently published their first issue, and it includes an interview with yours truly! Their writing staff did a terrific job on this article. It touches upon many of the retirement lifestyle principles I have been writing about for over five years. It’s an excellent summary of what the Retire Fabulously! website and philosophy…
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10 Ways to Make This Your Best Year Yet

Regardless of whether or not you embrace the practice of making new year’s resolutions, the start of each new year presents an opportunity to reflect upon what went well and not so well during the past year.  Of course, any time is a good time to assess your life in its current state and make…
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What is a Successful Retirement?

What is your definition of a successful retirement? Obviously, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Nor is there a right or wrong answer, although you could say that the best answer is a thought-out, well-defined answer that’s right for you, and the worst answer is no answer at all. Trying to define a successful retirement is…
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Fabulous Places to Retire: Malta

If warm, sunny weather, reasonable cost of living, and excellent yet inexpensive health care are among your top criteria for selecting a place to retire, Malta might offer just what you’re looking for. Since English is one of Malta’s two official languages and it has perhaps the easiest immigration requirements in Europe, Malta might be…
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6 (More) Questions for Dave Hughes

I’m always thrilled to have a conversation with Mark McNease, murder-mystery author, Emmy-winning TV writer, and editor of my first two books. My most recent print interview on MarkMcNease.com utilizes Mark’s “Six Question” format. Mark and I had just returned from cruises. His was a 14-day cruise from New York to Quebec with stops along…
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Confronting the Realities of Retirement Travel

One of the greatest benefits of retirement is that it affords you the opportunity to travel more than you could during your working years, when you are limited to a fixed number of vacation days each year. You may have a travel bucket list that’s full of places you hope to visit once you have…
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Let’s Skip the Silly Euphemisms and Embrace Our Age

“I will never refer to myself as ‘XX years young’ and expect others not to, either. There is no shame in being old so let’s not manufacture it with patronizing crap like that.” That bold declaration was posted by my friend, author Mark McNease (the editor of my first two books) recently on Facebook. He…
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Retirement is Like a Buffet. Will You Stuff Yourself or Starve?

There’s a buffet restaurant a few miles from our home called Pacific Seafood Buffet. Most of the food is Asian, and the primary draw for us is the opportunity to eat all the sushi we care to eat for one price. Of course, there are a lot of other good dishes there too: tempura vegetables,…
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The Adventure List: What It Is and Why You Need One

By now, you have almost certainly heard of the Bucket List. That’s a list of things you hope to experience before you pass away or “kick the bucket.” Perhaps you even have one. I do. I think they are a good idea. But while the concept of the Bucket List is good, it has its…
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Senior Housing Needs to Increase its Diversity Competency

[ Last year, I was honored to be named one of Next Avenue’s 2017 Influencers in Aging. Subsequently, I was invited to write an article for that website about the one thing I would like to change about aging in America. This is the article I wrote in response to that question. Reprinted with permission…
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How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur After You Retire

For many people, being retired doesn’t necessarily mean never working again. A growing number of retirees are choosing to start their own business. According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a leading researcher on entrepreneurship, more businesses are started by people ages 55 to 64 than by those under 25. While it is often difficult for…
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Why You Should Write Your Life Story

Your retirement should be a time of fun, relaxation, and fulfillment. It is best enjoyed by living in the present. Still, there will be times when you will find yourself recalling memories from throughout your life and reflecting upon the life you have lived. During these times of recollection and reflection, why not take some…
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5 Ways Pets Can Add Love to Your Retirement

Most people anticipate a retirement filled with travel, fulfilling leisure activities, and fun times with friends. But for some retirees, especially those who are older and less able to participate in an active lifestyle, retirement can become a time of isolation and loneliness. Fortunately, a growing body research suggests that owning a pet can be…
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How to Successfully Retire if You Have a Type A Personality

You probably know some people who have Type A personalities. They are driven, goal-oriented,  rigid, competitive, and edgy. They thrive on being over-committed and they like to take charge. They’re perfectionists who have low tolerance for incompetence. Type A people thrive in a fast-paced, demanding work environment. While these qualities may be desirable for career…
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How to Enjoy the Adventure of Traveling Solo

Regardless of whether you’ve been single for most of your life or you’re newly single following a divorce or the death of your spouse, there’s no need to give up on your dreams of traveling after you retire. The hardest step will probably be to convince yourself to go. Once you do, you will discover…
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9 Ways to Maximize Your Retirement

When you retire, a wide array of new possibilities becomes available to you. You have the opportunity to create a life that’s determined by your interests, desires and priorities, unencumbered by the constraint of having to earn a living. Yet many people don’t take advantage of the possibilities that retirement offers. They just continue with…
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What’s Your Retirement Personality Type?

Retirement is not one-size-fits-all. There are many ways to envision how you’ll spend your retirement years. Identifying your retirement personality type can help you gain clarity about what you want your retirement to be like on a day-to-day basis. You might see yourself in more than one of these categories, and the categories you fit…
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7 Ways to Prevent Loneliness After You Retire

When you retire from work, you retire from pressure, stress, deadlines, performance reviews, boring meetings, and that annoying guy down the aisle who spends all day making personal phone calls that everyone can hear. But you will also leave behind something that is more important than you may realize: human contact. While most of your colleagues probably aren’t…
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Fabulous Places to Retire: Portugal

If you dream of retiring to Europe, Portugal is well worth your consideration. It is the least expensive country in Western Europe, its immigration requirements can be satisfied by most retirees, and the country enjoys mild, sunny weather. Portugal has long been a favorite of expats from Great Britain and other European countries, but it…
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12 Reasons You’ll Love Being Retired

Hopefully, you are looking forward to retirement with eagerness and anticipation. You envision retirement as a well-deserved reward that you have earned with years of hard work. You are imagining all sorts of ways to fill your days once you are free from the constraints of work and your life is truly your own. But…
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How to Slow Down Time and Maximize Your Retirement

As you get older, doesn’t it seem as though time passes faster and faster? That’s the perception most of us have, although intellectually we know that time passes at exactly the same speed. But perception counts for a lot. And based on that perception, twenty years of retirement will seem to pass much more quickly…
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6 Trends That Are Changing Retirement in America

During the course of your working career, many factors such as technology and globalization have changed the work environment in countless ways. Many societal changes have impacted your personal life as well. It should come as no surprise that many of these same factors have also changed the retirement landscape. Some changes are positive, some…
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12 Regrets You Can Avoid in Retirement

Your retirement presents you with the opportunity to truly live your life on your own terms. You are no longer bound by the constraints of your job. You are now free to do the things you have wanted to do for years, limited only by your available resources and your mobility. It would be unfortunate…
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7 Tips for Thriving as a Mixed-Retirement Couple

It’s not uncommon for two-career couples to retire at different times. This may happen when there is a significant age difference or if one spouse retires sooner than planned due to an unexpected layoff or an irresistible early retirement incentive package. In other cases, one spouse may feel burnt out and ready to throw in…
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5 LGBT-Friendly Small Town Retirement Destinations

Most lists of top retirement destinations focus on medium to large cities. For LGBT baby boomers, as well as many others who prefer places with diverse populations with thriving arts and culture scenes, larger cities usually have the most to offer. Larger cities also provide more options for medical care and senior support services. But if…
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4 Things to Eliminate From Your Life for a Happy Retirement

Many retirement articles have been written about all the wonderful things you can do with the free time you will have after you retire. Once you leave work, you’ll have more time to travel, volunteer, take courses, play golf, enjoy hobbies and so much more. The possibilities seem endless. All of these articles talk about…
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10 Tips to Help Your Marriage Survive Retirement

While you may view retirement as a long-anticipated emancipation from the work world, it is also a period of considerable change and adjustment. If you are married, some of the most profound changes will take place within the context of your relationship with your spouse. For some couples, the fact that they have been drifting…
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10 Factors You Must Consider Before Moving to a Retirement Community

For over 60 years, millions of retirees have chosen to move to age-restricted active adult communities where they can live out their remaining years surrounded by golf courses, swimming pools, organized activities and – perhaps most important – other retirees. Many people are drawn by the appeal of living in a safe, leisure-focused environment that…
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10 Great US Cities for LGBT Retirees

When it comes to selecting a highly desirable retirement destination, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people have a few additional criteria to consider than do most Americans. In addition to considerations such as low cost of living and low taxes, LGBT people tend to value cities with strong LGBT communities, higher levels of acceptance…
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8 Issues You Must Address if You Plan to Retire in Place

Among the most popular features of retirement websites are the articles and lists of top places to retire, domestically and internationally, which tempt you with new possibilities for exciting, exotic, yet affordable places you can live after you retire. While it’s fun to imagine what living in those places would be like, most people don’t…
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8 Tips for Planning a Volunteer Vacation

Volunteer vacations have grown in popularity over the past several decades. Today there are hundreds of opportunities to travel to nations around the globe and spend a week or two volunteering for a wide variety of good causes. While some volunteer vacations are designed for young people and families, there are many that are well-suited…
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How to Thrive as a Single Person in Retirement

[Editor’s note: An expanded version of this article appears here.] If you are single, you probably have some concerns about your retirement that people with partners are less likely to experience. If you are married today, consider that someday you may encounter these same concerns if your spouse passes before you do. With awareness and…
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8 Things That Matter More Than Money for a Happy Retirement

Hopefully, by the time you retire you will have saved a sufficient amount of money to be able to live comfortably and do the things you want to do. But if you are facing retirement with less money than you would prefer, don’t despair. It’s important to remember that there’s a lot more to enjoying…
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7 Steps You Can Take to Avoid Becoming an Elder Orphan

The number of senior citizens who are single, isolated, and who lack a support system to help them deal with health issues and day-to-day living activities has been increasing, prompting the geriatric care industry to coin the term “Elder Orphan.” Many factors contribute to the increase in Elder Orphans. People are living longer. Marriage rates…
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12 Steps to a Longer, Healthier Retirement

We all know that we should exercise regularly and eat responsibly in order to stay healthy. The benefits are clear: you will live longer, you will have fewer doctor visits and lower medical bills, and you will be better able to travel and go about your daily routine. But sadly, according to the President’s Council…
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Experienced Retirees Share Valuable Advice for a Better Retirement

The internet is awash with advice from retirement planning experts. Interestingly, many people who write retirement advice haven’t retired yet or are relatively recent retirees (like me). Plus, much of the advice you read comes from financial planners. That’s important, of course, but as you know, there’s more to a happy retirement than simply saving…
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18 Questions to Ask Yourself and Your Spouse Before You Retire

After you retire, your daily life will change in more ways that you probably imagine. There are many changes you won’t realize until you experience them, but forming a clearer picture of your values and how you want to live your life after you retire will help you make better plans and adapt more easily…
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8 Retirement Myths Debunked

[Editor’s note: A lengthier version of this article appears here.] During your working years, you may have rarely thought about your retirement. When you did, you probably had only a vague, general notion of what your retirement would be like. For many years your retirement probably seemed so far off that you could easily postpone…
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26 Tips for Enjoying Retirement on a Reduced Income

For many retirees, having enough money to enjoy a satisfying retirement is a major concern. Fortunately, enjoying a happy and fulfilling retirement does not necessarily require spending a lot of money. It’s true that the best things in life are free; for others, there are discounts. Here are 26 steps you can take in your…
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5 Reasons to Plan Retirement Activities Before Leaving Your Job

If you’re still five, ten, or even twenty years away from retiring, then what you will do after you retire might be the farthest thing from your mind. You’re busy and have your career to focus on. If you still have kids at home, it’s all you can do to keep track of all their…
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5 Steps to Accomplishing the Things on Your Bucket List

Do you have a bucket list? Hopefully, you have envisioned your retirement as a time to try new things, travel to places you have always wanted to go, and do the things you didn’t have time for during your working years. But will you actually get around to doing any of those things on your…
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The 10 Most Important Criteria for Deciding Where to Retire

It’s fun to think about where you want to retire. Once you no longer have your job tying you to a particular area, there’s no reason not to relocate to a place that’s more to your liking. Perhaps you want to move someplace warmer, closer to the water or where the cost of living is…
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What Will Your First Year of Retirement Be Like?

You have probably been anticipating your retirement for many years. Perhaps you’ve entertained some general ideas about what your retirement will look like, but you’re not sure what your day-to-day life will be like once the big day comes to pass. Despite your years of anticipation, you may be surprised by what it’s really like…
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Will You Be Happy After You Retire?

At first, this may seem like a rhetorical question. After all, you won’t have to work anymore! You will no longer have to deal with pressure, deadlines, performance reviews, demanding customers, or annoying co-workers. You can shut off the alarm clock and get up when you want. And best of all, no more boss! (Well,…
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How to Plan and Execute a Memorable Retirement Party

[Editor’s note: A lengthier version of this article is available here.] One of the nicest rites of passage when someone wraps up their working career and transitions to retirement is the retirement party. If you have been given the opportunity to help plan a retirement party, here are some suggestions to create a send-off that…
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7 Reasons Why Retirement Income Formulas May Not Work For You

How much money do you need to retire? This is probably one of the most significant questions facing workers approaching retirement age, and it’s not simple to answer. Some experts will tell you that you will need 80 percent, 85 percent or even 100 percent of your pre-retirement income to live comfortably during retirement. Other…
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4 Reasons Why I Won’t Be Moving to a 55+ Active Adult Community

When you think about what type of community you plan to live after you retire, what comes to mind? Are you giving serious consideration to living in an age-restricted 55+ active adult community? Chances are, the younger you are today, the less likely you are to choose such a community after you retire. As I write…
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Congratulations! You’re Retired! … Now What?

It’s not news to anyone that the people in the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) are leaving the workforce and entering their retirement years in larger numbers than ever before. An estimated 10,000 people turn 65 in the United States every day. Among my circle of friends and former co-workers, I…
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10 Great International Retirement Destinations

Do you want to fill your retirement years with the adventure that comes from discovering and experiencing new places? Are you looking for a place to live where your retirement savings will stretch further? Or maybe you are formulating an escape plan in the event your least favorite candidate makes it into the White House.…
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How to Make Your Travel Dreams Come True

Do you have a bucket list? Is your bucket list just a vague, ever-changing set of ideas in your head, or do you actually have yours written down? As you look forward to all the things you might do to make your retirement fun and memorable, actually writing a list of things you want to…
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Fabulous Places to Retire: Colombia

What’s the first thing you think of when you think of Colombia? I’ll be honest. Up until recently, the first thing I thought of was drug cartels – cartels so prominent that they were named after major cities such as Medellin and Cali. Just two decades ago, Colombia was a dangerous, lawless country overrun by…
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How to Conquer the Challenge of Downsizing

If you’re like most of us, at some point you will face the prospect of downsizing. Perhaps you want to move to a smaller house. Perhaps you want to move overseas or wander the country in an RV. Perhaps you just don’t want to leave a lifetime of stuff behind for your survivors to deal…
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To Enjoy a Happy Retirement, What Are You Willing to Let Go Of?

In many of the other articles on this website, I write a lot about all the possibilities for what you can do with your life once you no longer have to work (or at least, work full-time). You can spend more time doing things you’re passionate about, such as writing, playing music, creating art, or…
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4 Questions You Need to Answer to Enjoy a Rewarding Retirement

“Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?” You’ve probably heard this question many times during job interviews throughout your career – especially from interviewers who weren’t very skillful at conducting job interviews. One of the biggest problems with this question is that you have no way of knowing what opportunities may be…
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12 Retirement Myths – Busted!

People have a lot of misperceptions about retirement.  I’ve heard a lot of them over the years, and I’ve become especially aware of them since I started reading and researching extensively in order to produce content for this web site. Where do these misperceptions come from?  Generally, misperceptions thrive wherever there is a lack of…
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An Amazingly Simple Secret to Greater Happiness, Health and Longevity

Would you like to slow down your rate of physical decline by as much as 62%? Want to be able to reduce or delay the risk of cognitive decline? The answer is not some new miracle drug.  I’m not even talking about exercising regularly and eating responsibility – although those habits are certainly important and…
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How Will You Be Remembered?

Do you ever wonder how you’ll be remembered after you die? At your memorial service and for years to come, what will others remember most about your life? What do you want people to remember about you and your life? Of course, you’ll be gone, so it may not matter that much to you.  But…
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Retirement is Fabulous at the US’s Classiest LGBT Retirement Home

You know it’s out there somewhere – the perfect place to retire. A place that’s comfortable, classy, rich with amenities, and located in a beautiful area with perfect weather and scenic views. Could such a place actually exist? Or is there always going to be someplace else where the grass is greener? Of course, no place is perfect. And…
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What Does (s)he Who Dies with the Most Toys Actually Win?

You have probably seen a bumper sticker, T-shirt, or coffee mug that exclaims, “He who dies with the most toys wins!”  Many people in the U.S. and other first-world nations seem to have bought in to that philosophy to at least some extent. What does the person who dies with the most toys actually win?…
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8 Surprising Ways that Retiring Can Stress You Out – And How to Conquer Them

When you think about what your retirement lifestyle will be like, what comes to mind? What adjectives would you use to describe what you hope your life will be like? I’ll bet one that’s high on your list is “stress-free.” Like practically everyone else, I’m sure you hope that your retirement years will be more…
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