Planning Briefs

The Best Places In The Country To Retire

Published Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at: 7:00 AM EST

"Go west, young man, go west" was an expression first used by John Babsone Lane Soule in the Terre Haute (Indiana) Express in 1851. It appealed to famed New York journalist Horace Greeley, who rephrased it in an editorial in the New York Tribune in 1865: "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."

The country indeed has grown up in the past century and a half, and the new advice well could be, "Go south, old man [or woman], go south."

That's essentially what financial planner website WalletHub reported recently when it compared information about 150 metro areas and listed what it calls the best places in the country to retire. Topping the list was Orlando, FL, with Tampa, FL, coming in second. Florida cities took three of the top four spots with Miami picked as No. 4 best place to retire. Cape Coral came in seventh, giving the Sunshine State four of the top 10 rankings.

Scottsdale, AZ, was ranked third best and Sioux Falls, SD, fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Las Vegas, NV, sixth, Atlanta, GA, eighth, Minneapolis, MN, ninth, and Los Angeles, CA, tenth.

Sioux Falls fifth? How did a far-flung area in the Snow Belt get such a lofty rating?

WalletHub statisticians used four sets of criteria in arriving at their conclusions: cost of living, recreational activities, quality of life, and health care availability.

Sioux Falls ranked No. 1 in health care and No. 19 in affordability.

By comparison, San Francisco, CA. – No. 11 – ranked No. 1 in activities, but came in as the 146th most expensive place to live in the U.S.

This article was written by a professional financial journalist for Preferred NY Financial Group,LLC and is not intended as legal or investment advice.

An individual retirement account (IRA) allows individuals to direct pretax incom, up to specific annual limits, toward retirements that can grow tax-deferred (no capital gains or dividend income is taxed). Individual taxpayers are allowed to contribute 100% of compensation up to a specified maximum dollar amount to their Tranditional IRA. Contributions to the Tranditional IRA may be tax-deductible depending on the taxpayer's income, tax-filling status and other factors. Taxed must be paid upon withdrawal of any deducted contributions plus earnings and on the earnings from your non-deducted contributions. Prior to age 59%, distributions may be taken for certain reasons without incurring a 10 percent penalty on earnings. None of the information in this document should be considered tax or legal advice. Please consult with your legal or tax advisor for more information concerning your individual situation.

Contributions to a Roth IRA are not tax deductible and these is no mandatory distribution age. All earnings and principal are tax free if rules and regulations are followed. Eligibility for a Roth account depends on income. Principal contributions can be withdrawn any time without penalty (subject to some minimal conditions).