Best Places to Retire in the United States on $100 a Day

Whenever I find a high quality list of good places to retire, I try to pass that information on for my readers to review.  In 2012, AARP Magazine and AARP.com released their 2012 list of great places to live on $100 a day.  This amounts to $36,500 a year, which they estimate would result in an after tax income of $27,375 a year or $2281 a month. (Note:  Due to inflation, I suggest you add 3% to the home prices and cost of living for every year you read this after 2012.  In other words, if you are reading this in 2015, add 9% to the financial figures you see here.  The principle still remains, however, that these locations are affordable and could be good retirement locals for people who will be retiring on Social Security alone.)

This level of income is well within the reach of many retirees, especially couples.  If one spouse has Social Security benefits of $2000 a month and their spouse will receive $1000 a month, they could afford to retire in one of these communities. 

One of the requirements that AARP had in determining the best places to live on $100 a day was that they had to have "affordable luxuries".  They defined this as cities with cultural attractions like museums or symphony orchestras, sports teams, great places to eat, and homes that sell for about $192,000 or less.  In those instances in which I have spent time in a city, I have added my own comments to the AARP list.

2012 List of Best Places to Live on $100 a Day (Prices May be 5 to 10 Percent Higher, Now)

San Antonio, Texas:  San Antonio is a charming town that is sunny 263 days a year.  The median home price is $135,000.  There are plenty of libraries, museums, golf courses and other affordable luxuries in this city.  As a former resident of Texas, we have visited this city several times during the months of July and August and it is important to disclose that San Antonio gets HOT in the summer.  However, one delightful way to cool off is to take a stroll along the famous Riverwalk (pictured above) and perhaps have a cool beverage in one of the numerous sidewalk cafes.  It's right across the street from the Alamo.

Roanoke, Virginia: Roanoke is in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  It is sunny 217 days a year and has a median home price of $151,500.  The city hosts half a dozen festivals every year, and the downtown area has a planetarium, theater and museums.  One of our daughters went to college in nearby Lexington, Virginia and you should know that this town is about a four hour drive from Washington, DC, in a very rural part of Virginia.  However, it is also in an absolutely gorgeous part of the United States, and is a lovely location for enjoying fall foliage.

Las Cruces, New Mexico:  Las Cruces is in the high desert of New Mexico, which means you can expect very hot summers.  We have stayed in this town while driving across the country and love the desert landscapes.  However, the scenery may not appeal to everyone.  There are 287 sunny days a year, and the median home price is $148,000.

I have not stayed in the remaining towns on the list, so I will only list the main statistics here.  To read more, you can see the full descriptions at Best Places 2012.  I just wanted to make sure that I brought these great cities to your attention, so you could add them to the locations you are considering for retirement.

Spokane, Washington:  Spokane has 176 sunny days a year, with a median home price of $145,000.  It's a great city for people who love outdoor sports, whether it is fishing or skiing.  As most people realize, Spokane is much rainier than many other popular retirement locations.  However, we have friends who retired in this area, and they love it!

Eau Claire, Wisconsin:  Eau Claire is another location that is popular with people who enjoy outdoor sports, especially in the winter.  It has 200 sunny days a year and a median home price of only $121,100.  It is also home to a branch of the University of Wisconsin which provides lots of cultural, entertainment and adult education possibilities.

Morgantown, West Virginia:  Morgantown is a small college town in the center of Appalachia.  It boasts an excellent healthcare system.  There are 185 sunny days a year, and a median home price of $168,900.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:  Pittsburgh is no longer a city that is defined solely by the steel industry.  With a wonderful symphony orchestra and a beautiful waterfront, it has become popular with retirees.  The 194 sunny days and median home price of $106,500 is very appealing, too.

Omaha, Nebraska:  Omaha is a Midwestern city that has become popular with high-tech companies in recent years.  It has a symphony and the largest community theater in the United States.  Omaha has 193 sunny days a year, and a median home price of $123,500.

Grand Junction, Colorado:  Grand Junction is a lovely town only a few hours away from the gorgeous ski slopes of Vail and Aspen.  It also has 214 sunny days a year, and a median home price of $159,800.

Gainesville, Florida:  Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, as well as the Florida Museum of Natural History.  It has 205 sunny days a year, and a median home price of $125,000.  Florida has long been considered a retirement mecca because of low home prices and low taxes.  It does get very hot in the summer.

Here is information about other wonderful places you may want to put on your retirement list:

The Best Sunny Places to Retire
Cheap Places to Retire
Best Places to Retire Outside the US
Finding Niche Retirement Communities

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

Photo of the San Antonio Riverwalk courtesy of www.wikipedia.com/commons

Pros and Cons of Social Security Privatization

Social Security privatizaton has been under consideration since George Bush suggested it in 2005.  However, after the Great Recession hit in 2008, many people were shocked to see their stock portfolios and mutual funds crash.  Those who were forced to retire in 2009 were frequently left far worse off than they had ever anticipated.

Recently, the subject of Social Security privatization has resurfaced because of the nomination of Paul Ryan as the Republican candidate for Vice President.  In 2010, Mr. Ryan proposed in his work "Road Map for America's Future" that workers should be allowed to divert one-third of their Social Security taxes into private accounts that individuals could invest and control.

Politics aside, this is a subject that needs to be respectfully analyzed.  What are the pros and cons of Social Security privatization?

Pros of Social Security Privatization:

My husband has been an institutional stockbroker for 41 years.  He has pointed out to me that people in the investment business would stand to earn much more money, since billions of dollars would be invested in the stock market.  This would provide a huge influx of capital that would be invested in large corporations, mutual funds and financial markets.  This would raise incomes for people in the investment business.

In a bull market, successful investors could make more money than the guaranteed amount from Social Security. During those bull market years, people could retire with a large nest egg, which is what Mr. Ryan concluded in his analysis of the benefits of privatization.

Cons of Social Security Privatization:

If people could remove money from their Social Security investment accounts over the years for things like down payments on homes, medical costs or educational expenses, many people would raid their accounts regularly, just as they now raid their IRA's.

However, it is possible that raiding Social Security savings would be strictly forbidden.  Even so, not everyone would retire in a bull market.  Every few years, some people would be retiring in a bear market, which could mean that they would be worse off than if they had chosen to take traditional Social Security.  It would be a type of Russian roulette.

Some people would make investments that turned out to be disastrous.  Remember those who invested in Enron or put all their retirement savings with Bernie Madoff?  In both cases, they lost nearly everything.

For those people who did choose to invest one-third of their Social Security taxes into private accounts, and lost it, their traditional Social Security benefits would be cut by one-third.  Most retirees can barely survive on Social Security alone right now.  Losing one-third of their benefits would be devastating.

People can already put money in personal retirement accounts that they manage themselves.  Unfortunately, research shows that many of them spend that money during the first few years after they retire, rather than spreading it out over their lifetime.  Although investment planners recommend that people never withdraw more than 3% - 4% of their retirement savings in a single year, far too many people exceed this amount and run through their savings quickly. 

Would the government have to spend substantially more on low cost housing for the elderly, special supplemental payments and food stamps for all those who lost that portion of their Social Security taxes that they had managed and invested themselves?  Would the government be spending less on Social Security, only to spend more on providing supplemental income?  Although it is impossible to predict the future with absolute assurance, it is possible that what started out as a Christmas gift for people in the investment field could become the Grinch who stole Christmas for future generations of taxpayers and retirees.

Other Options for Saving Social Security

There are ways, other than privatization, that could help put Social Security on solid ground.  Social Security taxes could be collected on incomes above $110,000.  The retirement ages could all be raised by one year, including the age of early retirement, which is currently 62.  In fact, the age of early retirement could be raised to age 64.  If someone is disabled, they could still collect disability.  However, able-bodied people would be better off waiting to collect Social Security until age 64, at the very least.  These modest adjustments would insure that Social Security benefits could be paid in full for many decades.  (Disclosure:  I am 63, so these changes could affect me.  However, if they strengthened Social Security, they would be worth it.)

Another suggestion that could be made to Social Security is raising the tax from 15% (half paid by the employers and half paid by the employees) to 16%.  Some people have also suggesting reducing the Cost of Living Adjustments that retirees currently receive.  They would still receive a COLA, it would just be smaller.  Needless to say, theses ideas are not popular, but they would be effective in saving Social Security for future generations, and they may honestly be the changes that must be made.

Conclusions:

There are certainly both pros and cons to the idea of Social Security privatization, and undoubtedly there would be both winners and losers with this change.  However, since it seems to be a topic of consideration again, it is important that we carefully discuss the advantages and disadvantages, as well as other options for saving Social Security.  What do you think?

Other articles that may interest you are:

Do You Need a Million Dollars to Retire?
Retirement Deferred by Parent Student Loans
Retirement Income from Annuities or Investment Income
Cheap Places to Retire

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

Photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com

How to Treat Chronic Pain

While people of any age can experience pain, as we grow older we are even more likely to experience chronic pain.  It may be back pain, migraine headaches, neck and shoulder pain, or overall pain.  The pain can be caused by a variety of reasons, including overly aggressive exercise and health problems. 

Often we simply reach for the nearest over-the-counter NSAID pain reliever, such as Tylenol or Aleve, and hope that these pain relief pills will help us to feel better in the morning. 

Dr. Oz Alternative Treatments for Chronic Pain

If you develop chronic pain and you do not want to take pills every day for it, you may want to try some of these alternative treatments that recently were mentioned on The Doctor Oz Show.  For more information about them, you can get detailed information at DoctorOz.com.

The first of the pain solutions that Dr. Oz mentions on his website is called Gua Sha.  This treatment for back pain is provided by a licensed acupuncturist and involves scraping the skin's surface with a special instrument.

Although Dr. Oz did not mention in this article the advantages of getting a traditional acupuncture treatment using needles, I personally used this ancient treatment when I developed a stiff neck a few years ago.  It worked surprisingly well, and the beneficial effect has remained, despite the fact that it has been over four years since I last saw the acupuncturist.

The second pain management technique suggested by Doctor Oz was botox for migraines.  Botox is a powerful muscle relaxant and can be effective at relieving tension in the forehead and neck.  Many women who have had botox to reduce their wrinkles have also experienced the pleasant side effect of fewer migraine headaches.

The third pain reliever mentioned by Doctor Oz was HVLA.  This is similar to chiropractic manipulation, but it is performed by an osteopathic doctor.  Again, although Dr. Oz did not mention seeing a chiropractor, members of my family have been very happy with the pain relief they have received from chiropractic manipulation.

The next method of pain management that he mentions on his website is called Radiofrequency Ablation, which uses a radio wave to treat pain anywhere in the body, including the back, neck and even your feet!  If you suffer from overall pain, and you cannot get relief any other way, you might ask your family doctor to recommend someone who is trained to do Radiofrequency Ablation.

Dr. Oz also recommended some cheap treatments for chronic pain that cost less than $10.  His list included:

Helichrysum Oil - available from health food stores
Hot and Cold Packs
Medicated herbal plasters

He also suggested that people use a telephone headset, rather than cradling a phone on their shoulders, which is apparently a common cause of neck and shoulder pain.

Since so many of us suffer from chronic pain, it is important to stay up-to-date with alternative treatments, especially any new treatments or unusual ones.  There is no reason to suffer unnecessarily.  If we can relieve our chronic pain, even a little, it will improve our quality of life, and keep us much more active after retirement.  It is not much fun to quit working, only to discover that pain keeps us from doing many of things that we had anticipated being able to do after retirement.

If you are interested in learning more about medical issues that can affect us as we age, financial planning, where to retire, or changing family relationships, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional articles. 

You may also be interested in reading:

How to Prevent Bone Loss from Osteoporosis
Brain Activities to Lower Alzheimers Risk
Natural Cures to Stop Snoring
Your Medication May Be Causing Your Depression

To read more about Dr. Oz's recommendations for pain relief, the link to his article is:

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/best-solutions-your-pain?page=3#copy

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

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com

Watch 'Hope Springs' for Baby Boomer Couples

The movie "Hope Springs" is a thought-provoking film for Baby Boomers who are either married or in a long term relationship.  My husband and I viewed this movie with two other couples who have also been married over 40 years.  When we discussed it afterwards, we agreed that we had all enjoyed it, and we acknowledged that it had brought up some interesting issues in our own relationships.

Plot Summary of "Hope Springs"

The movie is about a couple, Kay and Arnold, who have been married 31 years.  They now sleep in separate bedrooms, and have very little intimacy left in their relationship.  Kay arranges for the two of them to spend a week in intensive marriage therapy in the town of Great Hope Springs, Maine.

Kay is played by Meryl Streep, her husband Arnold is played by Tommy Lee Jones, and their therapist is played by Steve Carell.  With this cast, the movie could have easily slipped into being a silly, light-hearted situation comedy, but all of the actors play their parts with sincerity and honesty.  The topics that are discussed in the movie are subjects that are difficult for most couples to discuss, and the actors are able to portray that discomfort convincingly.

This Movie Could Enhance Your Own Relationship

This movie is designed for a narrow audience, primarily people over the age of 50 who are in committed relationships and, because of this, it will surely never be considered a blockbuster movie for any of these actors.  Performing in this film almost certainly was a labor of love.  However, for those who are open to seeing it, just viewing this movie could bring life back into a marriage that has slipped into boredom and repetition.

What better gift can we give each other, as we prepare for retirement, than to bring enthusiasm and romance back into our lives?

If you are interested in reading more about changing family relationships after retirement, where to retire, financial planning, medical issues and more, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of other helpful articles.

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

Photo:  wikipedia.com/commons  User: PhotoTakeReality

Retirement Postponed by Parent Student Loans

When our youngest daughter graduated from college eight years ago, the father of one of her roommates made the comment that he would probably be paying off student loans for his children for the rest of his life.  Sadly, he died six years later, still carrying the burden of those loans.  Unfortunately, his situation is not uncommon.  Many parents in their 50's who take out student loans to pay for their children's college education will not live long enough to pay off those student loans.  As a result, an unknown number of senior citizens have to postpone their own retirement because of the debt they took on in order to get their children through college.

Retirement Destroyed by Student Loans

An article I recently read startled me.  The title was "Baby Boomers Beware: Many Paralyzed by Burden of Student Debt; Parents Sacrifice Financial Stability in Down Economy to Support Children Pursuing Degrees."  (That is one exhaustively long title, by the way!)

The article was distributed by PRWeb, and bemoaned the fact that many parents sacrifice their own financial security in order to pay for their children to attend college.  According to FinAid.org, the student loan debt carried by parents amounts to approximately 10% of outstanding total student loan debt.  Often parents will continue to pay these loans for 15 to 20 years after their last child has graduated from college.  This means that many Baby Boomer parents will be paying for their childrens' educations well into their 70's!  Although some have petitioned the government to consider a program of student loan forgiveness under certain circumstances, to date this movement has been unsuccessful.

Since the focus of this blog is geared towards helping Baby Boomers have the type of retirement they desire, the burden of these parent student loans can be crippling and may even prevent many of them from ever being able to retire at all!

High College Tuition Contributes to this Problem

The problem of student loan debt has become even more serious since the cost of tuition at the average university has quadrupled over the past 30 years.  In addition, a little over a decade ago the U.S. federal bankruptcy laws were changed so that even a bankruptcy does not make it possible for either parents or students to rid themselves of student debt.  It almost seems like a joke that student loans are considered financial aid, since they frequently to not provide aid but rather a burden to students after they graduate!

How to Reduce Student Loan Debt for Both Parents and Students

If you want your student to attend college, and you cannot afford to easily pay for it, what options do you have?  Your first step will be to try to reduce the amount of debt you have to take on, since it is nearly impossible to get rid of the debt, once you have incurred it.

The same article mentioned above made these suggestions:

* Students should live at home and attend a community college for their first two years of general education courses.  If there is a state college within driving distance of your home, students should consider living at home for all four years of college.

* Students should apply for every possible grant or scholarship.

* More than ever before, students should consider whether their choice of major will support their potential loan balance. (Ironically, this may mean that many students should not attend expensive, prestigious colleges if they intend to teach school, become a minister or go into public service.)

* Students (and their parents) should avoid all consumer debt, especially credit card debt, in order to avoid being crushed by their entire debt load.

* Students should be willing to work part-time during college in order to keep student loans to a minimum.

These choices may not be what your student had in mind when they envisioned going to college.  However, when your child graduates and sees their friends making student loan payments of $400 - $600 (or more), while you and your child are paying little or nothing, your entire family will be grateful that you followed these suggestions.

In addition, the Baby Boomer parents who encourage their children to follow these recommendations are much more likely to have a happy, comfortable retirement without carrying the burden of student loans for the remainder of their lives!

If you are interested in additional information about retirement financial planning, where to retire, medical issues and changing family relationships, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional helpful articles.

You may also be interest in reading:

Healing Relationships with Your Adult Children
Retiring Former Hippies Spark a New Generation Gap
Do You Need a Million Dollars to Retire?
Retirement Income from Annuities or Investment Income

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

Photo: morguefile.com