March 28, 2024

Bucks Blog: One Perspective on the Best Places to Retire

A woman shovels snow after a spring storm in Fargo, N.D.Associated Press A woman shovels snow after a spring storm in Fargo, N.D.

When people dream of places where they’d like to retire, chances are that North Dakota is not at the top of the list. Or South Dakota, for that matter.

Not that there’s anything wrong with those states. It’s just that prospective retirees tend to think more about warmer climates. North Dakota, by one measure, is the coldest state in the continental United States. Bismarck, the state’s capital, just had a blizzard in April.

Yet, the state makes a list of the 10 “unexpectedly best” states for retirement, according to Bankrate.com. The top 10 states, in descending order, are Tennessee, Louisiana, South Dakota, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Nebraska and North Dakota.

The financial Web site crunched a variety of data on the cost of living, taxes, health care, crime and climate to come up with the ranking. Access to health care, for instance, was measured by the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people, using data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

By that measure, North Dakota scores well — it has five beds available for every 1,000 people, which ties it for second place nationally. So “if you can handle the cold,” Bankrate says, it may be a good place to consider.

Other states on the list are notably warmer, like Alabama and Mississippi.

Chris Kahn, a statistics analyst with Bankrate, said any sort of relative ranking was bound to draw criticism because people had different ideas about what they wanted in retirement. But the point of the list, he said, is to have people on fixed incomes — as many retirees are — consider what areas might actually make financial sense.

“Florida is beautiful, and so is Arizona,” he said, naming two states known for their warm climates and retirees. “But if you’re on a fixed income, looking at other factors is a smart thing to do.”

There will always be tradeoffs. Tennessee, for instance, has the second lowest cost of living, an attractive climate and scores well on access to health care, too. The drawback is a relatively high crime rate, Bankrate said.

Some people might prefer California, despite its higher cost of living. The state ranks fourth on Bankrate’s list of “bad” states for retirement. So if you choose to go there, “have your financial house in order before you go,” he said.

You can check Bankrate’s full list to see where your preferred state ranks.

What do you think is the most important factor in choosing a location for your retirement?

.

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/one-perspective-on-the-best-places-to-retire/?partner=rss&emc=rss

In California, Strategy as Tough as Traffic

“I only stopped here because I’m running on empty,” said Maura Trejo, a real estate agent. “You’d have to be pretty silly to fill up here. What a waste of money.”

It was substantially better but still pricey across the street. Shell was selling regular for $4.23 a gallon. One more mile east, it was $4.31 a gallon.

Even when gasoline is not near its peak, California almost always has the highest average gas prices in the continental United States, owing to a combination of high state and local taxes and stringent state fuel regulations. This forces Californians to be more calculating than drivers in other states about where to buy, how to track down cheaper options and whether to spread the word about a particularly cheap station.

Certainly, anyone who spends time shuttling around Southern California’s inland suburbs, where the round-trip commute to Los Angeles can be 100 miles a day, knows that buying gas from a station off any freeway is an express lane to pauperdom.

“It’s always worse here,” said Yolanda Buller, who commutes into Los Angeles, where she works as a hospital receptionist.

Those who don’t like to hide a good discovery love to boast about an off-the-beaten-path pump with the cheapest prices. There are those who debate that approach; how much can one really save by driving several miles out of the way (“In traffic?,” they’ll ask incredulously) just to save a couple of bucks?

But they have no choice when they forget to fill up in the morning. So they pull out their crumply dollars and put in only what they need to get down the road.

Dozens of California cities top the list of the current highest prices in the nation, as measured by the Web site gasbuddy.com. Santa Barbara always has relatively expensive gas, as do several cities in the Central Valley. In Santa Monica, one station was charging a whopping $5.69 for premium full-serve gas, making the $4.69 for regular self-serve seem like a relative bargain.

It’s enough to turn even the most generous car-pooler into a bit of a cheapskate.

Jacque Jones, a 33-year-old musician, agreed to drive his friend from Diamond Bar to Los Angeles, about 30 miles. Every time he fills up his Ponitac Aztek these days it costs at least $60. So this time he made his friend fork over $5. These days, he said, “I’ve got to take all I can get.”

He gave his friend a look of mock embarrassment before adding: “Man, this thing don’t drive itself for free.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=749db7ca6b226012a879af0a2b7ed2cd