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While many U.S. cities offer the right combination of factors to consider for retirement, some cities are better than others when it comes to providing opportunities to pursue old passions – and develop new interests. This article by William P. Barrett highlights Forbes’ list of 25 cities that offer outstanding opportunities for retirees in the arts, fine dining, learning, volunteering, outdoor water pursuits, outdoor land pursuits and golf. Those top retirement destinations include Seattle, Austin, Las Vegas, Tucson, San Francisco, Charleston, Chapel Hill in North Carolina and Naples in southwest Florida.
Do you have a long neglected passion – or a new one – you’re keen to spend more time on during retirement? Then consider choosing a place to retire where you can pursue with gusto the leisure time activities you enjoy the most.
To help you scout out potential locales, Forbes offers a new edition of our chase-your-bliss list: 25 Great Places to Follow Your Passions in Retirement In 2016.
While most of the places on our list are noteworthy for three or more passions, two cities – Austin and Seattle – rate high in six of our seven categories.
Since we realize you may not want to move too far from family, our picks are spread across 20 states and the District of Columbia in all four continental time zones. Tellingly, a new study of the primary reason why people retire, found 31% of those quitting work at a normal retirement age (between 65 and 67) had activities they wanted more time for, while 38% were primarily interested in spending more time with family.
Note that this list is very different from our annual selection of the 25 Best Retirement Places. Those are chosen for not only a high overall quality of life, but also affordability, and the strength of the local job market, since two thirds of Americans now say they want to work part-time in retirement. The passions list is less pragmatic. While we note which of our picks have high costs, expense alone didn’t keep a place off this lifestyle-first list.
So, for example, San Francisco, with a median home price of $809,000 and a cost of living 143% above the national average, made this new list. As a mecca for foodies (one restaurant for every 250 homes), an arts and education center, and great place for outdoor water activities, it simply can’t be denied. It’s walkable, too, and those hills will keep you in shape. Naples, Fla., with a cost of living 81% above the national average, also made the list, for its golf courses, water sports and arts scene.
According to RealtyTrac’s 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report, released last week, home sellers experienced an average price gain of 11% last year since the purchase of their home. That was the largest price gain for home sellers since 2007. This Bloomberg article from Steve Matthews highlights some of the details of the RealtyTrac report findings, as well as a Federal Reserve report on rising home’ equity.
Home-price appreciation is a welcome development for households whose nest eggs were shattered by the residential real-estate bust that began a decade ago.
The 2006-2009 housing slump reduced wealth by $7 trillion. Since then, the value of homeowners’ equity in real estate has more than doubled from a low in the first quarter of 2009, a Federal Reserve report showed. What’s more, housing wealth is poised to reach a new record as early as the second quarter, say economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Pantheon Macroeconomics Ltd.
Some cities, including Charlotte, are already seeing prices at all-time highs. Home values in Dallas, Denver, and San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, all hit records in December, while they’re down less than 1 percent in Boston from an August peak, according to S&P/Case-Shiller indexes. About 38 percent of 87 U.S. metropolitan areas were in record territory last year, data tracker RealtyTrac figures show.
Foreclosures were filed on just 95,186 properties in January, an almost 10-year low, RealtyTrac data show.
Even in the worst-hit markets, home equity is being restored. Just 8.5 percent of properties had so-called negative equity in the fourth quarter, with debt exceeding their value, according to a report Thursday by consumer analytics firm CoreLogic Inc.
The number of homeowners with at least 20 percent equity is “rising rapidly,” Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive officer of CoreLogic, said in a statement. “In 2016, we expect home equity levels to continue to build.”
Forbes has released its newest list of America’s Fastest Growing Cities, factoring in metrics including estimated population growth, job growth, economic growth and median salaries in 100 metros. Topping the list was Austin, pictured above, followed by cities including San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Orlando, San Jose, Raleigh, Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Denver, San Diego, Oakland, Charlotte, Phoenix, Portland, Las Vegas and Ft. Lauderdale. Here are some of the details from Erin Carlyle of Forbes.
California and Florida each place four metro areas on our 2016 list, while North Carolina and Texas scored two cities each. Austin regains the No. 1 spot after being toppled by Houston last year. Thanks to its booming technology, pharmaceutical and biotech industries, low cost of living, and cachet, the Austin economy remains on fire. Hordes of people are moving in (Austin’s projected 3.15% population growth rate in 2016 is the highest among the 100 metro areas we examined) to take advantage of Austin’s job opportunities (employment expanded 3.28% last year). The city has topped our list of Fastest-Growing Cities for five of the past six years (last year it slipped to second place).
The Golden State is well-represented on our list, with both San Francisco (No. 2) and Silicon Valley (No. 8) up significantly compared to last year, when they were seventh and 17th, respectively. The tech boom is paying well for college-educated workers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (Silicon Valley), where the $106,000 median pay is the highest among America’s 100 largest metro areas. San Francisco stacks up second in the nation at a median pay of $89,100.
Is downsizing to a new home the right financial move for retirees? It depends on your personal situation. But if you’re serious about cutting expenses, moving to a smaller home can be a terrific way to save, according to this CNBC article by Jeff Reeves of InvestorPlace.com.
When it comes to retirement planning, there are a lot of opinions on how much you need to save; eight times your salary and the 4% rule are just a couple rules of thumb out there.
Equally important to a comfortable retirement is not just the money you have, but also the expenses you’re tallying up, too. And reducing your monthly bills can be a powerful tool for savers who are either behind on savings or simply looking to do more with less.
If you’re serious about cutting expenses, the most obvious place to look for savings is your home.
“Often a house is the most valuable asset that people have, so it is the source of potential wealth in retirement,” Lori Trawinski, director of banking and finance with AARP’s Public Policy Institute.
Yes, there are potential savings by moving to a smaller place, even for someone with a significant mortgage or even someone who rents. But if you’re near retirement you should do some careful calculations before deciding to downsize.
Done right, there are a host of cost savings that can be found from a change in scenery. But you have to know what to look for beyond simply selling your house for more than what you paid.
“I think you have to look at it holistically, and I think it’s hard to look at any one lever to pull for savings,” said Chris Blunt, president of the investments group at insurance giant New York Life.
The good news, Blunt adds, is that a variety of items can add up to a pretty big difference in the monthly budget of Boomers who are willing to downsize. Those items can include taxes, access to public transit, health care, and the lower costs of utilities and insurance that come with a smaller home.
Many Americans are concerned about their financial well-being after retirement. “People who are anxious almost universally say they didn’t start thinking about proper money management when they were young,” according to this article by Chuck Jaffe of MarketWatch. But sharing good money habits with your kids now can help them become responsible for their finances throughout their lives. Here are a few excellent tips.
Kids know all about spending money. Spending comes naturally to them. It’s everything else about money that they need to be taught.
Kids need to have discussions about saving and spending with parents, grandparents, and other trusted adults because they’re not going to hear it in the classroom. Here’s what they need to know to become responsible consumers, employees, and savers:
Money gives you choices. Kids need to know that today’s purchases impact the ability to buy something else that in fact might be more important or valuable.
You can pay for a lot of things you can’t afford. Understanding how debt works — and learning the real cost involved in paying for today’s purchases over time — goes a long way to making someone a smart consumer. The question young consumers must ask isn’t whether they can afford it, but whether they can afford to pay it off over time.
Saving is a chore, but it doesn’t have to be painful. Social Security is an automatic savings program; set aside the politics of the program and it boils down to money being pulled from the paycheck, set aside, and becoming an asset in retirement. Adding a few dollars now to a retirement savings plan, a health-savings account, or for other employee benefits, generates real dollars over time — the payoff for setting money aside now.
There’s a common misperception that the older you get, the less important it is to have good credit. But your credit score is a vital financial tool at every age, according to Ken Chaplin of TransUnion. This DS News article by Brian Honea highlights the results of a recent TransUnion survey of baby boomers and the importance of maintaining strong credit.
A recent survey conducted of 1,037 non-retired consumers ages 51 to 70, i.e. the “baby boomer” generation, found that almost half of them believe that their credit score does not matter as much after age 70, according to TransUnion.
About 70 percent of respondents indicated that they believe a healthy credit score is necessary for refinancing a mortgage, but only 61 percent said they believe a healthy credit score is necessary to co-sign a loan for a child or grandchild. Only 32 percent of boomers surveyed said they thought they needed a strong credit score to enter a long-term care facility.
“Baby boomers need to prepare their credit score for retirement so they have the tools to fund financial obligations later in life,” said Ken Chaplin, SVP for TransUnion. “As Americans age, good credit can not only help them finance medical expenses and long-term care, but also help them support children, grandchildren and other family members as they take on middle-life expenses, like buying a house or paying for school.”
Lennar Corporation, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, is utilizing its recent acquisition of more than 450 homes and buildable home sites from Orleans Homes to expand its longstanding presence in New Jersey and enter the New York and Pennsylvania markets.
Lennar’s acquisition includes new offerings in eight residential communities that serve entry-level, move-up and 55+ home buyers with a mix of single-family detached and townhome designs.
“These are all well-located communities that offer the core characteristics we value for our development efforts and for our customers,” said Jay Goldberg, Director of Sales for Lennar New Jersey. “In the case of Middletown, NY, we’re already hard at work building homes and striving to deliver an exceptional consumer experience to homebuyers which is a Lennar hallmark.”
Located in the Orange County, NY town of Middletown, Wildflowers at Wallkill is a 55+ active-adult community that will ultimately include 283 single-family homes complemented by an assortment of lifestyle amenities.
Wildflowers at Wallkill features a full suite of amenities and social spaces to foster an active lifestyle. These include a community clubhouse offering a fitness center with cardio and weight-training equipment, indoor pool, a banquet room with a catering kitchen, card room, art studio and a billiards table. In warmer months, residents enjoy an outdoor pool, tennis and bocce ball courts, a putting green, grilling area, and a network of lakes and ponds that provide a scenic backdrop for quiet strolls around the gated community.
Nestled in the historic Hudson River Valley, Widlflowers at Wallkill enjoys a Middletown location that is home to the historic Paramount Theatre, as well as thirteen parks and recreational areas. The public Town of Wallkill Golf Club also lies within the City’s borders, while the Hudson Valley region is home to a variety of performing arts venues, wineries, historical attractions, museums, fine shopping and a host of state parks and outdoor activities. Shopping can be found minutes away at the Galleria Mall.
Lennar is no stranger to the 55+ market, having consistently raised the bar on what’s possible with its celebrated Greenbriar portfolio of active-adult communities throughout New Jersey.
According to the National Association of Realtors’ Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report, released today, people who are 35 years of age and younger continue to be the largest generational group of homebuyers – and 67% of those buyers were first-time homebuyers. This article by Andrea Riquier of MarketWatch highlights some of the findings from the report.
Maybe millennials aren’t so different after all.
There’s been widespread fascination with a generation that’s supposedly shunned homeownership and the suburbs in favor of rented apartments in hip, walkable cityscapes. But millennials, also known as Generation Y, have consistently made up the largest share of home buyers in annual surveys conducted by the National Association of Realtors, and 2016’s findings are no different.
“The largest cohort in America is growing up, and while Gen Y ages they become more traditional in their buying habits,” NAR noted in its 2016 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report, out Wednesday.
Some 35% of buyers in 2015 were millennials, up from 32% in 2014, and their median age was 30, according to NAR. Generation X, those aged 36 to 50, made up 26% of buyers, the second-largest group, and had a median age of 42.
How much energy does it take to power your life? This article from Julian Spector of CityLab highlights a fascinating effort by SaveOnEnergy.com, that aims to take the complex measurement of energy use and put it in terms of something that we can all understand: the human body.
One of the benefits (and dangers) of modern living is that we can use energy without having to work for it or think about where it comes from.
To make it easier to contextualize the energy usage of basic daily activities, researchers at the online energy marketplace SaveOnEnergy.com converted these tasks into units of human activity. Any physical action – walking up a flight of stairs, lifting weights, taking out the trash – uses energy, just like turning on the light switch. Comparing those units, though, shows just how much we benefit from electric power permeating our lives.
Checking your email and reading the news on a laptop is the least energy-intensive routine activity on the list. Still, it requires the same energy as climbing almost 29 flights of stairs, equivalent to walking up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That’s nothing, though, compared to the energy it takes to make a cup of coffee. That vital, life-giving task requires the same energy it would take to scale 383.3 flights of stairs, equivalent to the total height of two Empire State Buildings.
