Choosing the best retirement state involves many factors. Be careful if you base your choice on one criteria.
Take taxes for instance. Five states do not have a sales tax. Seven states do not tax your income. Only one state has neither tax…Alaska. Ready to go…not so fast.
Due to its location, Alaska has to truck in most consumer goods. That makes the cost of consumer goods higher. Alaska therefore has a high cost of living. The fact that it has no taxes helps but it is still not among the cheapest states to retire.
High income retirees will be very interested in states that do not tax income. It is not a coincidence that Florida and Texas, have a high number of wealthy retirees. They are among the seven states that do not tax income at the state level.
In 34 states your Social Security income is free from taxes. If Social Security is your sole source of income it would be important for you to know if your best place to retire excludes SS from the income they tax.
There are other factors to consider when choosing the best place to retire, such as:
1) Proximity to appropriate health care
2) Proximity to family…could be too far, could be too close
3) Do you require certain cultural outlets?
4) Are there venues for your outdoor activities?
5) Is it secure?
So whatever factors are important to you in picking the best place to retire, there are two things you should do when starting the decision making process:
1) Take your time. You have worked a long time, take the time necessary to fully investigate your retirement locale.
2) Try before you buy…How does a area feel when you are not on vacation? Some places may be great to visit on vacation, but feel totally different when you live there. Rent a place for a few months before you look to buy.
You need all the information you can get on each state you are considering for retirement. Here\’s how to get the information. It is free.
To get more help on the best retirement states. Gary Pierce freely gives help on how to retire on less at best retirement states. It is loaded with free help on retirement lifestyles you may not have considered.
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