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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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[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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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After you retire, what will you do with all of your new-found time? Are you concerned that you’ll be bored? I’m always bewildered when I hear people say that they think retirement will be boring. I’ve heard many people say they don’t want to retire and they would rather keep working, because they have no…
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Do you sometimes find yourself imagining how you’ll fill your days once you no longer have to work? During those times when you seem so busy there never seems to be time to do what you want, do you say to yourself, “When I retire, I’ll have lots of time to do this!” On the…
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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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