Sun City Texas is a Premier Retirement Destination

When I sold real estate in Dallas, Texas in the 1990's, the other Realtors and I were delighted when Del Webb made the decision to build one of their fabulous Sun City retirement communities in Texas. Nothing like that existed in Texas at that time.

The developers made a presentation to the real estate community and told us that, although they had been aggressively promoting their Arizona Sun City to Texans for a number of years, they had found that the majority of Texans who visited Arizona were reluctant to leave Texas.  If they couldn't get Texans to move to an out-of-state Sun City, they realized they would have to build one in Texas.  Since then, of course, Del Webb has built up their Sun City franchise in a number of other states, including California.

Sun City Texas

The Sun City concept has turned out well for Del Webb.  It has also been a popular retirement choice for the people who moved to Sun City Georgetown (since renamed Sun City Texas) and has helped the economy of the charming town of Georgetown, located about 26 miles north of Austin's central business district in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. 


Sun City Texas is primarily made up of single family residences as well as a few duplexes.  You can legally drive golf carts in the streets, and there are special community parking spaces for golf carts.  The community has tennis courts, three golf courses, a large central activity center as well as satellite community centers, hobby facilities, several swimming pools, a fishing lake, dances, yoga classes and many other clubs and activities.  Southwestern University in Georgtown and the nearby city of Austin both provide the opportunity to attend many cultural and sporting events.

Georgetown, Texas

Georgetown gives you the advantage of living in a small community with a population of about 30,000 people, while being only a short drive away from the state capital of Austin, Texas.  There are many colleges and universities in the area, including the University of Texas in Austin and Southwestern University in Georgetown, a small liberal arts college which one of my daughters attended.

Georgetown, like most of Texas, has long, hot summers and cool, mild winters.  High temperatures in the summer range from about 90 to 100 degrees, and highs in the winter are typically in the 50's and 60's.  Occasionally, temperatures will drop near freezing.

Many people consider Georgetown to be one of the top places to retire in the United States because of its warm climate, close proximity to excellent medical care in Austin, and the approximately 11,500 retirees living in the master planned community of Sun City Texas.  In addition to Sun City, retirees may also want to consider living in one of the other over-55 communities that have been built in the area, including Wesleyan at Estrella, Heritage Oaks and the Oaks at Wildwood.  There are also different levels of assisted living in the area.

The charming community of Georgetown is another reason why Sun City Georgetown has become a popular retirement community.  The shops shown here are typical of the shops you will find facing the historic town square.  The town has made a genuine effort to reface their downtown buildings to enhance their Texas-Victorian architectural heritage.

In addition, several of the town's historic neighborhoods have also undergone redevelopment with the restoration of some of the older homes.  In fact, Georgetown has been called one of the best places to buy a historic home.

Whether you are a native Texan, or someone who wants to relocate to Texas because of its warm climate and low cost of living (including no state income tax), you may want to put Sun City Texas and the other Georgetown retirement communities near the top of your list.

If you are looking for more places to retire, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional articles on where to retire in the United States or abroad, common medical issues, financial planning and changing family relationships.

You may also be interested in reading:

The Best Sunny Places to Retire
Cheap Places to Retire
Finding Niche Retirement Communities

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

Photo of Sun City Texas entry courtesy of www.en.wikipedia.org/commons

Photo of downtown Georgetown, Texas courtesy of www.en.wikipendia.org/commons and should be attributed to Austex.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is said to be one of the favorite holidays for most Americans because it is simply a time we spend with our families.  There are no presents to purchase, no greeting cards to send, and most people look forward to the meal.  Thanksgiving also does not come with a lot of expectations regarding how you should spend the day.  Some people watch football on TV.  Others go to a movie.  This year there will even be a large number of consumers who will head to their favorite store to begin their Christmas shopping.

However, despite the generally laid back attitude about Thanksgiving, it will be still be a stressful time for many Baby Boomers.  Some of them will be torn between which child they will see this year.  Others will be depressed because they are far away from their children and grandchildren and will not get to see them at all.  Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters during the past year has caused many Americans to unexpectedly be living in hotel rooms or other cramped quarters.  With the difficult times many Baby Boomers and their family members experienced during the past few years, a number of people will be depressed by their financial situtation, which may make it difficult for them to cook a large meal or enjoy the holiday.   Others may be saddened by the recent loss of a dear relative or friend.

For those of us who will be sitting down to a bountiful table covered with food and surrounded by family and friends, let us be grateful for what we have and remember those who are not so fortunate.  Let's enjoy our time together and not allow this special day to be spoiled by petty squabbles with relatives, or stress over creating the perfect meal.

If you are able to reach out to someone and lend a helping hand, please do so.  Invite that lonely friend.  Donate a turkey or canned goods to your local food bank.  Help serve a meal at a soup kitchen.  Even making a phone call to a relative who is unable to share the day with you will be greatly appreciated.

Are you estranged from one of your adult children or grandchildren?  You may find it helpful to read my blog post, "Healing Relationships with Your Adult Children."  In fact, even if you currently get along with your children, you may still find it helpful to read this short article so that you can minimize any stresses that do exist in your relationship and avoid future conflict with them.

I want to thank each of my readers for their continued support during 2012, and wish you all a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

You are reading from the blog:  http://Baby-Boomer-Retirement.blogspot.com

Photo of turkey dinner courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Help For Caregivers - Reduce Caregiver Stress

If you are a Baby Boomer who is caring for elderly relatives in your home there are times, especially during the winter holidays, that may be especially stressful. 

In addition to being a caregiver for a senior citizen in your family, you may still have children living in your home.  If you do, they may expect holiday decorations, gifts and special meals that you feel they expect you to prepare.  If your children are adults, they may still assume you will put on the traditional holiday events they loved as children. 

In other cases, adult children may want you to come visit them and spend time with your grandchildren or other family members. 

All of these conflicting demands on your time can make your role as caregiver for an elderly parent or relative seem like a particularly heavy burden during the holidays.

While you may not be able to eliminate all of the stress that you are feeling as a caregiver, there are steps you can take to minimize your stress so you can actually enjoy your holidays and the time you spend with the rest of your family.

How to Reduce Caregiver Stress

Below are a few actions you should take, if possible, to relieve the stress you are experiencing.

Talk to your other family members and ask them to help you out.  If they want your home to be decorated, ask them to do it, especially if you still have teenagers or young adults living at home.  Heap praise on them, even if their efforts do not quite measure up to what you have done in the past.

Do not be a martyr, if you can avoid it.  For example, if there is a special event you want to attend, such as a child's school performance or dinner at a relative's home, do not feel that you will never be able to go.  Whenever possible, make the necessary arrangements.  Here are some ways you can manage that:

   * Ask friends or other family members if they can sit with your elderly relative for a few hours. 
   * Call an agency and see if you can temporarily hire a paid caregiver. 
   * Contact local nursing homes and see if they have a respite program where you can leave your family member for a few days and give yourself a break.  These respite programs are especially helpful when you want to take a trip to visit other family members.

See what services are available in your community to help you.  If you are feeling overwhelmed at of the year, call your local senior center and ask if they have an adult day care program.  Many communities offer these services for a very low fee.  Often elderly adults who suffer from dementia, depression, and other mental and physical problems really enjoy these adult daycare programs because of the opportunity it gives them to meet other senior citizens, while working on arts and crafts with their new friends.  In fact, these programs have been shown to significantly lift the spirits of many seniors.  Just as important, they give caregivers the time they need to take care of themselves.

Do not feel as though you need to use any free time you carve out to care for everyone else in your family.  Instead, when you get help, spend at least part of the time taking care of yourself.   Get your nails or hair done.  Sign up for a yoga or exercise class.  Socialize with friends.  Take a nap.  Read a novel.  Caregivers need to take time to energize themselves.  If they don't, they will eventually discover that they are too overwhelmed to care for anyone else.  Put yourself first every chance you get.

Take advantage of all the local services you can.  For example, if you are hosting a holiday dinner in your home, feel free to order a precooked meal.  Other services you should check out are grocery delivery, dry cleaning pick up, online banking, mail order prescriptions, etc.  Set up your life so that you need to do as few mundane errands as possible.

Finally, make sure you get enough sleep.  Do not get up before dawn or stay up after everyone else has gone to bed in order to clean your house, wrap Christmas presents, prepare meals or do anything else.  Your sleep is more important than these chores.

If you want to be able to care for anyone else, you need to care for yourself.  Otherwise, you may end up sick and in need of a caregiver, too.  This is definitely a risk we take when we spend too much time putting others ahead of ourselves all the time.  You are important, too!

You may also be interested in reading:

Planning for Long Term Medical Care
Patient Safety in the Hospital Near You
Aging and Tips to Prevent Hip Injuries
Living with your Kids

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

Photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Be Careful at Black Friday Sales

With Black Friday Sales coming up soon, as well as other big sales planned by major retailers, many of us will be spending more time than normal at our local malls.  So will the thieves. 

While shopping for my husband in a Macy's two Christmas's ago, two teenage boys were also casually shopping in the men's department.  I thought nothing about it until they ran to the door, their arms full of clothing, jumped into a waiting car, and sped off.  They could just as easily have grabbed my purse or that of one of the other nearby customers. In fact, as we get older we are even more likely to be thought of as easy marks and victimized by criminals who are looking for the opportunity to snatch purses, shopping bags or anything else of value that they see.  None of us can be too safe.  Therefore, it is worth repeating a few safety rules we need to remember before we head to the malls:

Holiday Shopping Safety Rules

Avoid shopping alone, if you can.  Go with friends or family members.

Wear comfortable shoes and leave your expensive jewelry and purses at home.

Do not hang your purse on the back of your chair in a restaurant.

Do not flash a lot of cash.

If you use a debit card, conceal your PIN number when you enter it.

Stay Safe in Parking Lots

Park as close to the stores as possible, in a well-lit area, or try to shop in daylight.

Do not leave packages visible inside your car.

If you put items in the trunk of your car and plan to do more shopping, you may consider moving your car to the other side of the mall parking lot, to avoid having someone watch you fill your trunk and then re-enter the mall.

If you are uncomfortable, ask mall security to walk you to your car.

Keep Your Gifts Secure at Home

Once you get your gifts home, do not display them under a tree in the front window of your home where others can easily see all the packages.  It is far too tempting for theives.

During the holidays take special care to make sure your home is locked up when you leave, and use your alarm system if you have one.

Do not open your door to unknown solicitors.  They may be planning to rob you.

While all of us hate to be so cautious and suspicious during the holidays, this is one time when it truly is better to be safe than sorry!

You may also want to read some of these articles from my Lies-and-Liars blog:

Phony iPad Hoax
Security Breaches Endanger Your Personal Information
How to Avoid ATM Theft, Scams and Skimmers
Credit Fraud and Identity Theft During your Vacation

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

Photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Live in an RV after Retirement

In the early 1970's, my husband and I spent six months traveling through nearly every state in Mexico, as well as across the Southern United States, in a VW Westfalia Camper similar to the one shown here.  We were young, spontaneous and not very worried about needing a lot of luxuries.  Things have changed since that time.  Today, I would need something much larger and more comfortable if I were going to spend months, or years, living in an RV.

During our trip, we met many retirees who had made an RV their permanent residence.  Some of them maintained small apartments in the United States where they could live when they returned home.  Others, like us, had put their belongings into storage during their travels.  I'm sure there were at least a few people who had sold everything and were carrying what they had left in their RV.  As a result of meeting these fellow travelers on the road, as well as our own experiences, we learned a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of life in an RV.

Are You Ready to Leave Your Friends and Family Behind?

Today it is much easier to communicate with your loved ones while you travel.  Most modern day vagabonds have laptop computers and cell phones, both unheard of when we were traveling in the 1970's.  However, even with though it is easier to stay in touch, it is not the same as being able to have coffee with your neighbor or lunch with your grandkids.

If you aren't absolutely sure you want to live in a motor home for a long period of time, you may choose to rent an RV for a few months and try out the lifestyle for a while before you sell your home, buy an RV and go on the road.

Can You Afford the Cost of Living in an RV?

Many people assume that living in a motor home is cheaper than living in a traditional home.  However, this is not always true.  First of all, a basic RV starts at about $20,000 and prices go up from there.  In order to avoid overpaying for your motor home, you can check out the value of used RV's through Kelly Blue Book and other online pricing guides, just as you would when purchasing a car.

In addition to paying for your vehicle, you will also need to pay a daily fee to stay in a a campground or RV park.  According to the website, www.RVParkReviews.com, the daily fee at an RV park ranges from about $15 to $50 a day, with the majority charging about $30 to $40 a day.  If you do a lot of driving, your fuel costs can be astronomical.  From time to time you will also have repair and maintenance costs.  At $30 a day, you will pay a minimum $900 a month to park, plus the cost of fuel when you travel between locations.

In addition, you may be paying for an apartment back home, or a couple of hundred dollars a month to store your belongings.  Don't forget the normal expenses you will have, no matter where you live.  These include items such as health insurance, medical costs, motor vehicle insurance, groceries, life insurance, and any other debts and bills you have to pay.

Depending on your other expenses, the size of your RV payments, and the amount of driving you do, it is feasible that a couple could live and travel in an RV if they have an income of $3000 to $4000 a month.  This is well within the reach of many people on Social Security.  You will need to carefully consider your own budget to see if your income will cover the RV lifestyle you have in mind.

Can You and Your Spouse Get Along in a Small Space?

After my husband and I traveled in our Westfalia Camper for six months, we frequently said we knew that our marriage would last.  If we could get along as well as we did in such a small space, we were convinced that we could live anywhere.  After 43 years of marriage, that seems to have been true.

However, people need to be willing to adjust to the loss of space.  You will not have a garage, large walk-in closets, an attic or a basement.  There is very little room to store things that you do not absolutely have to have.  You also will not have a lot of privacy.

How is Your Health?

This is a serious question to consider before you move into an RV.  Remember that you will not have a regular physician.  There may be times while you are on the road that you could be a long way from emergency medical facilities.  If you have serious medical problems, you should discuss them with your current doctor before deciding if traveling around the US is a wise decision.

The Advantages of Living in an RV

Hopefully, I have not discouraged you from giving this lifestyle a chance.  My own parents lived in a fifth-wheeler for three years after my father retired.  While they now live in a retirement community in Florida, they look back fondly on their days of traveling around the country.

The older couples we met when we were traveling in Mexico in the 1970's all seemed to enjoy their lifestyle, too.  Living in an RV is relaxing. There is no yardwork to do, and the motor homes are small enough that very little housekeeping is necessary.  Many of the RV parks have a wide variety of amenities, including swimming pools, lakes, game rooms, and club houses.  Some of them are located on beaches or in fascinating state and national parks.

Living in an RV gives you the opportunity to travel around and see distant friends and relatives.  You can also go to out-of-the-way attractions and feel that you have plenty of time to take tours and really enjoy each place you stay.

Finally, I have never met someone who regretted the experience. Although I am sure that there must be some people who have taken off in an RV and hated it, all the RVers I have known have been excited to tell everyone they meet about all the wonderful experiences they had on the road.  Of course, most people also have at least one disaster story to tell, too, such as the time they got a flat tire in an inconvenient location, or had a complete breakdown on the way to visit a family member.  However, they usually are laughing about the experience once they have put it behind him.  In general, people on the road do not have the stress of time constraints, and they are able to change their plans easily, when they have to.

Of course, living in an RV is just one of the choices open to people after retirement.  If you are looking for more retirement information, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of this article to find links to hundreds of additional articles on where to retire, common medical issues, changing family relationships, financial planning and more.

While you are trying to decide what you want to do, you may also enjoy reading these blog posts:

The Best Sunny Places to Retire
Best Places to Retire Outside the US
Do You Need a Million Dollars to Retire?
Cheap Places to Retire
Finding Niche Retirement Communities
Retiring Former Hippies Spark a New Generation Gap

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

Photo of VW Westfalia Camper courtesy of www.en.wikipedia.org/commons