The Best Sunny Places to Retire

Southern California is a fun and
sunny place to retire, as shown in
this mid-winter photo of Laguna Beach!

If you want to retire someplace that is sunny most of the year, there are plenty of locations available in the United States.  AARP, the American Association of Retired People, compiled a list of sunny places to retire. Since many retirees wish to live in a location where they can get outdoors the year around, this list will be a good place for them to start their search.

In order to make their list, the city had to have at least 250 sunny days a year, and have plenty of activities that are popular with retirees.  They also had to have a low crime rate, a strong local economy and a generally healthy lifestyle.  Since I have either visited or lived in several of these communities, I thought this would be a great opportunity to add some of my own comments about the cities they chose.  If you have additional thoughts about these communities, feel free to express them in the comments section.  The home prices listed here were the prices in about 2012.  You can assume that most of the prices are a bit higher today.

Sunny Cities in the United States

Asheville, North Carolina:  This community in the Blue Ridge Mountains is in an area where some of our friends live.  The community has museums, a live theatre, and frequent art fairs.  The average home sells for about $248,000, and the median income is $34,457 ... which puts in within the range of many retirees.  Surrounded by mountains and lots of outdoor space, this is a lovely area.  Although it may be sunny most of the year, it does get cold in the winter, so be prepared!

Grand Junction, Colorado:  This small city of 58,000 people is located in the high desert area of Colorado.  The average house costs $270,000, and the median income is $47,761.  For someone who wants sunshine, along with golf, hiking, ice fishing and skiing, this is the ideal location for you.  You get wide temperature swings in Grand Junction.  In the summer it can average 93 degrees; in the winter you can have snow and ice. 

Sarasota, Florida:  My husband grew up in this area along Florida's Gulf Coast.  Sarasota is a great town for people who have dreamed of retiring to the beach.  Sarasota has a population of 52,000.  The homes are quite expensive ... over $530,000 on average ... but the median household income is $36,742, so people are obviously finding affordable places to live.  If you go outside the town of Sarasota, you may find some better home prices a bit inland, and still be within easy driving distance of the beach.  The temperature gets quite hot in the summer, but is pleasant and mild in the winter. 

San Diego, California:  San Diego is actually a large city with a population of over 3 million people.  We have lived there, as has one of our daughters.  We currently live in Laguna Woods Village, a small retirement community about a one hour drive north of San Diego.  The photo above was taken by me from the cliffs along Laguna Beach, only 4 miles from our home in Laguna Woods Village.  All of Southern California actually has sunny weather and mild temperatures the year around.  If you are considering retiring to San Diego, you might cast a wider net and look at places to live from San Diego in the south to Santa Barbara in the north.  There are hundreds of wonderful, sunny small towns throughout Southern California, and most of them are within an easy drive to the beach as well as museums, theatres, and many fun activities.  Unless you are willing to live inland, home prices in Southern California are expensive.  For example, the average home price in San Diego is $646,000.  However, prices drop substantially as you move inland.  Some of the retirement communities are quite affordable, too.  While home prices in Laguna Beach average over $1,000,000, condominiums in nearby Laguna Woods Village have an average price of about $250,000.  Sunshine, beaches and outdoor activities like golf and tennis are plentiful throughout Southern California.

Las Cruces, New Mexico:  Las Cruces is almost always sunny.  In fact, it is sunny an average of 350 days a year!  AARP Magazine actually lists Las Cruces as a "retirement dream town."  Home prices average only $178,000 and the median household income is about $37,471 ... well within the means of many retirees.    There are plenty of recreational activities, too!  It is a lovely, charming community that is very appealing to people who want to live in the Sun Belt.  I have driven through Las Cruces during cross-country trips, and it does get quite hot in the summer!

San Luis Obispo, California:  San Luis Obispo is often nicknamed SLO ... and the nickname fits.  It is a very relaxed, slow-paced small city, and absolutely lovely.  My husband's sister has retired nearby in the small town of Avila Beach, one of several charming beach towns near SLO.  San Luis Obispo was actually named one of the happiest places in the world by writer Dan Buettner in his book "Thrive."  The average home in SLO sells for $695,000 and the median household income is $38,000.  There are affordable places to live there, although the cost of living is higher than other places on this list. 

St. George, Utah:  This small community is about 130 miles from Las Vegas, the nearest large city.  The average house sells for $311,000 and the median household income is $46,000.  This is a beautiful area, with golf courses and gorgeous vistas.  About 70% of the residents are Mormon, and there are only two state-owned liquor stores in the area; so, if you are a big drinker, this may not be the best community for you.  Another concern is the fact that the nearest major medical center is in Las Vegas.  However, most residents have long life expectancies, so this may not be a concern for you!

Santa Fe, New Mexico:  Santa Fe is a fascinating mixture of Spanish, Native American and modern American cultures.  It is an artists' colony, as well as a mecca for people who love music, including the symphony and opera.  The average home sells for $433,000 and the median household income is $52,000.  It is a small city, with a population of only 68,000.  In addition to modern medical facilities, this is also a popular location for alternative healing and holistic medicine.  It has been listed as one of the 10 healthiest places in the US to live!

Bend, Oregon:  Bend is the sunny inland area where many residents of Oregon travel to get out of the frequent coastal rain.  It is in the high desert, about two hours southeast of Portland.  The average home price is $427,000 and the median household income is $53,177.  One of the upsides of living in Oregon include paying no state taxes on your pension income. 

Fort Worth, Texas: My husband and I lived for 25 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of north central Texas, and we have a number of friends who have chosen to retire in that area. The summers get very hot ... often over 100 degrees.  The winters tend to be mild, although so-called "Blue Northerns" do occasionally bring frigid temperatures to this area of Texas.  However, people can golf,  play tennis, go boating and enjoy other outdoor sports almost the year around.  This area of Texas is surrounded by over 100 lakes, so you may want to expand your search outside the major cities to some of the lovely lakeside subdivisions in the area.  Within the city of Fort Worth, the average home sells for $148,000 and the median household income is $47,634.  Texas also has the advantage of no state income taxes at all, although property taxes are higher than in other states.

If you want to enjoy sunshine most of the year, any of these communities could be a good choice for you.  Remember to expand your house hunt outside the immediate area of the towns and cities mentioned.  There are a lot of wonderful communities in the U.S. sunbelt!  If you know of other communities that may interest readers, feel free to mention them in the comments sections.

If you are looking for more retirement ideas, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page for links to hundreds of other articles on a wide variety of topics of interest to retirees and Baby-Boomers.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com.

Photo from personal collection of author.

Home prices, household income and other data from http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-11-2011/10-Great-Sunny-Places-to-Retire-AARP.11.html

Exercises that Help Fibromyalgia

Gentle exercises like Tai Chi
seem to lesson pain.

Like many of us, I have a few friends who suffer from Fibromyalgia.  In the people I have observed who are suffering from this disease, their pain seems to have gotten worse as they aged.  They are exhausted from dealing with the chronic pain, and all they really want to do is stay home and move as little as possible.

A little research has shown me, however, that sitting still is the worse thing they could be doing.  Although they shouldn't take up an aggressive exercise program, a little gentle movement on a regular basis may be exactly what they need in order to relieve their pain.  One of my friends has chosen to avoid most exercise; the other one has signed up for a yoga class, and believes that it is helping. 

According to the website RealAge.com, there are some exercises that you might find helpful if you are living with the chronic pain of Fibromyalgia.

Exercises that Help Fibromyalgia Pain

Start with water exercises, especially in a warm pool.  You might try swimming laps, or taking a water aerobics class.  Being in the water makes this a low-impact exercise, and it has been shown to reduce stiffness, pain, fatigue and even the depression that is common in people with Fibromyalgia.

If you don't like water, try low impact aerobics, including biking, walking, or a gentle aerobics class.  Do not get too aggressive if you decide to take aerobics.  Take your time and keep the distances short if you are biking or walking.  In fact, you may want to start out on a stationery bicycle or a treadmill, so you can stop whenever you need to.  Keep moving, but don't push yourself too hard.

Strength training may help your muscles.    In fact, according to RealAge, strength training with lightweight hand weights or gym equipment has been shown to reduce the number of tender points on your body ... a common indicator of Fibromyalgia.

Stretching exercises, such as those done in physical therapy and yoga, seem to improve your flexibility, and reduce your stiffness.  Be gentle, and don't push yourself too hard.  However, doing some gentle stretching exercises daily may be a good way to get started on an exercise program for your Fibromyalgia.

Tai Chi and Chi-Gong are both martial arts that will improve your posture, breathing, and balance, and may help you cope better with chronic pain.  The over-55 community where we live offers classes in both Tai Chi and Chi-Gong.  You may want to see if a community organization or senior center in your area offers these classes, too.

Whatever exercise you choose, don't stop.  The people who reap the greatest benefit from these programs are those who keep it up.  If doing a half hour of exercise a day seems too much, break it into smaller pieces.  In fact, spending 10 - 15 minutes engaging in gentle exercises several times a day may be especially effective in helping someone who has become sedentary because of their pain.

As always, check with a doctor before starting any exercise program.

If you are interested in more health and retirement information of interest to retirees and Baby Boomers, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of this page to find links to hundreds of additional helpful articles.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com 



photo courtesy of wikipedia.com/commons

Doctor Housecalls Provide Home Medical Care

Doctor house calls are making a
comeback!  Once again there are physicians
who will come to your home.

An old idea in home medical care is becoming popular again in communities that service a large number of elderly patients.  Like most Baby Boomers, I have no problem hopping in my car and driving 15 miles to see my favorite doctor.  However, since moving into an over-55 community, I have learned that visiting a doctor is a much more complicated process for many of my neighbors.

Although there is a network of volunteers in our town who will drive patients to their doctors' offices, and patients can sometimes take a taxi, these options are still challenging for people who are handicapped, seriously ill or, for other reasons, have trouble getting out of the house.  With the return of physicians who will make house calls, leaving home to obtain medical care may no longer be necessary for people who are home bound.

Doctor House Calls can provide Home Health Services

There are now several medical practices in our area that offer at home care as an option for their patients.  In perusing their ads, I was stunned by the wide range of home care services that were available:

blood work
echocardiograms
urinalysis
blood oxygen level test
doppler ultrasound
EKG's
pulmonary function tests
nerve conduction tests
X-Rays
joint injections
flu shots
wound care
ear wax removal

Types of Patients seen by Home Medical Care Physicians

The doctors who offer to provide these health services in your home treat a wide variety of medical conditions, including patients suffering from these conditions:

strokes
diabetes
asthma
hypertension
emphysema
pneumonia
flu
colds
heart problems
arthritis
abdominal & stomach problems

Obviously, this list does not cover all possible medical conditions.  There are still illnesses which will necessitate an office visit by some patients.  However, if you suffer from one of these common medical conditions, it can bring you real comfort and peace of mind to have the doctors come to you.

Cost of Doctor House Calls

You may be pleased to know that many medical insurance policies will cover the cost of medical house calls with the same co-pay as an office visit.  Since you also eliminate the cost of travel, you may find that receiving home care services actually saves you money.

Availability of Doctor Home Visits

According to a November 13, 2010 article in USA Today, there are currently about 4,000 doctors in the United States that make house calls, and the number is growing.  When I entered "doctor house calls" in the Google search box on my computer, I came up with a number of entries for physicians in my area who make house calls ... in addition to the ads I have seen in my local paper. 

If you have a medical condition that makes it hard for you to get out, you may want to check with your insurance company and see if they have a list of physicians who provide at home care that would be covered by your policy.  It is certainly worth a phone call to find out!  Even if you don't need a doctor who makes house calls at the moment, who knows when you or someone you know might need this service in the future?


If you are interested in more information for the 10,000 Baby Boomers who are now retiring every day, use the tabs or the pull down menu at the top of this page to find links to hundreds of additional articles on where to retire, healthcare issues, financial planning and more.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

photo "The Doctor Luke Fildes crop" courtesy of wikimedia.com/commons

Sexually Transmitted Diseases After Age 50

Romance is alive even when you
are in your 60's!

Many younger people are uncomfortable when they think about romance and dating among people in their 50's, 60's, 70's or even older.  However, Baby Boomers know that just because we have a few more wrinkles, we aren't dead yet.  Many people remain sexually active for decades after retirement.

When you live in an over-55 community, you are well aware that many of the single adults in these communities are enjoying love and romance the second time around.  People who are widowed and divorced are meeting and enjoying the relaxed feeling of not having to worry about pregnancy, children and all those responsibilities.  However, the one thing that many of them are not thinking about are sexually transmitted diseases!

Sexually Transmitted Disease Rates for People over 50 are Going Up!

According to a CNN report dated May 10, 2011, there has been a significant increase in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, chlamydia and HIV/AIDS in people over the age of 50.  In fact, approximately one-quarter of the people in the US who are living with HIV/AIDS are over the age of 50!

Sexually Active People Still Need to Use Condoms

Part of the problem is that Baby Boomers are not using condoms to protect themselves from STD's.  Since they no longer have to worry about pregnancy, they feel that condoms are not important.  As a result, among men who are NOT in a monogamous relationship, the rate of condom use is about 53% for men in their 20's and only about 28% for men in their 50's.  This decrease in condom use as we age is fueling the dramatic increase in STD's among people who are age 50 and older.

Hopefully, we can all get the word out to our loved ones that they are not safe from sexually related problems simply because they are over the age of 50.  Anyone who is sexually active and not in a monogamous relationship needs to take precautions.  There are enough serious medical problems that will harm our health and slow us down as we age.  We don't need to add to our health issues by exposing ourselves to preventable diseases.

If You Have Been Exposed to an STD - Get Treated!

If you suspect that you may already have been infected with a sexually transmitted disease, do not ignore it.  Contact your physician right away to get medical attention.  Many new treatments are helping people with sexually transmitted diseases live long, healthy lives.

In addition, take responsibility and make sure that your do not pass this disease on to other people.  Make sure that a condom is used whenever you engage in sexual activities and follow your physician's recommendations.

If you are looking for more information about health issues that could arise as you age, financial planning, where to retire, changing family relationships or more, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page for links to hundreds of additional articles.

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo credit:  morguefile.com

If Grandkids Call for Money - Grandparent Scam

Would your grandkids call you
if they were in trouble?

Last weekend a close friend of mine received a terrifying call from her grandson, who lives in another state.  He had rear-ended a car containing tourists from another country, and he had a sealed bottle of vodka in the car when it happened.  He was in a heap of trouble.

My friend asked her grandson details about what had happened.  He told her he had hired an attorney, and he was at the courthouse with his lawyer trying to get everything sorted out.  My friend asked to speak to her grandson's attorney.  The attorney explained what was happening, the charges he was facing, and what the judge felt her grandson should do in order to reimburse the people he had rear-ended for their out-of-pocket expenses.

After talking with the attorney, my friend got back on the phone with her grandson, and asked what she could do to help.  He told her he needed $4000 to be sent to the tourists, to cover their expenses.  Then the charges would be dropped.  He had not been drinking the vodka, and he had passed the sobriety test.  He just needed to cover the expenses.  He was very upset and embarrassed.  He begged her not to tell other members of the family, including his parents.  After discussing the situation more with the lawyer and the prosecuting attorney, to be certain that the charges would be dropped, my friend discussed the situation with her husband.  Then, she and her husband went to her bank, removed $4000, took it to a Western Union office, and had the money wired to the "victims," who were now back home in the Dominican Republic.

The entire incident was part of the well-known GRANDPARENT SCAM!

My friend lost her entire $4000, despite the fact that both she and her husband had read about money transfer scams in our local newspaper.  She simply didn't connect the financial scams reported in the newspaper with the situation she was facing with her grandson.

Once she realized she had been cheated, she reported the case to the local Sheriff's Department and the FBI, but there was nothing they could do to help her.  All the calls originated from outside the US.  The money was wired to another country.  Her grandson had not been involved in an accident; he doesn't even own a car. He was happy and busy doing other things on the morning when all this was transpiring.  He had even called that morning and proudly left them a message about a new job.  However, they were so busy with the money transfer, they didn't listen to the messages on their answering machine.

How to Recognize the Grandparent Scam

When my friend thinks back on the call, she realizes that her supposed "grandson" simply said "grandma" when she picked up the phone.  Then she responded by saying his first name.  He was upset during the call, so it was difficult to recognize his voice.  Besides, she really didn't talk with him on the phone all that often, so she wasn't sure she would have known whether or not it was him, even if he hadn't been pretending to be upset and stressed.

Despite his request to not tell anyone, my friend and her husband should have called other relatives to check on their grandson.  Even if their grandson really was in trouble, taking an extra hour to help him would not have made a difference ... and would have given them an opportunity to check everything out.  These people work in teams, often with several different people available to talk to you on the phone.  You need to get completely independent confirmation before trusting anyone who calls you.

We have already told our own children and grandchildren to not get their feelings hurt if they ever call us for money and we tell them we will call them back later ... after we have had a chance to make a few confirming phone calls.  They understand.

The Grandparents Scam Can Happen to Anyone

In case you think these types of scams couldn't happen to you, my friend is a retired teacher; her husband, who was involved in the decision and helped her wire the money, is a retired parole officer who worked for the Sheriff's Department.  They are both intelligent, very conservative and suspicious of strange phone calls.  Neither one suffers from dementia or any other health condition that would have made them easy marks.  They have a grown daughter who is a lawyer, but they didn't consult her before sending the money.  They didn't try calling their grandson on his cell phone.  They didn't try calling other family members to see if they had heard from their grandson.  Despite all their natural reservations, they fell for this scam hook, line and sinker.

My friend knows that I am making a blog post about this financial scam. We took a long walk at the beach this morning as she relayed the story to me.  She was understandably upset with herself, and angry at the loss of her money.  She also felt powerless to do anything about it.  However, she was adamant that she wanted to do whatever she could to keep it from happening to anyone else, so she asked me to post a fraud alert.  Feel free to forward this post to your friends, in the hope that we can prevent others from becoming victims of money transfer scams and other retirement scams, as well.

Although she isn't sure why they contacted her, the authorities told her that the scammers often target residents of over 55 communities, such as the one where we live.  They also scour Facebook for older people who show photos or mention teenage grandchildren on the site.  These money transfer scams are well-planned, and organized by groups of swindlers who do a lot of research to make their phone calls seem real.

Don't let the grandparent's scam happen to you!

If you are interested in staying up-to-date with other news affecting retirees, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of this page to find links to hundreds of other articles of interest to Baby Boomers, including where to retire, financial planning, medical conditions, family relations and more.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com.

photo courtesy of morguefile.com