photo credit: Kolin Toney via photopin cc

The internet loves to share lists. There is a reason for this. People love to read lists and so they skyrocket to the top of Google searches and suddenly everyone believes they have to have a list. I won’t promise that there will never be any sort of list on this website but I thought a more constructive thing to start with, rather than “Top 5 Places to Retire,” would be a guide to determine the right place for you.

I live in Asheville North Carolina which is consistently on the top 10 or so cities for retirement but I know that it isn’t a perfect place for everyone. However, for those who love it they can’t imagine living anywhere else.

This article gives some practical advice for choosing where to retire. Rather than reinventing the wheel, here are the important questions asked by writer Steve Vernon in the linked article.

• Do you want to be near friends and family?
• Will you be taking care of aging parents? If yes, will you need to be close by?
• Do you have hobbies or interests that play into where you’d want to live?
• Will you work during retirement? If so, will the location matter to you? (If you’ll transition to a part-time schedule for your current job, you may need to retire near or exactly where you live now.)

Click below for my thoughts on these bullets.

[Read more…]