America's Best Places for Retirees

Where to Retire?

Yesterday Yahoo! Real Estate put up an article by Forbe's William Barrett about America's Top Burb's for retirees. In it he poses the question that has been echoing through Boomer's minds since Boomer's first started retiring, 'Where to retire?' For many it's not really much pf a question. The vast majority of America's just stay where they've always been. But a few and in fact and increasing number of retirees do venture out to uncover the best places to retire abroad, motivated by either a desire for change or the need to save money. Most would say they are concerned about living on a fixed income and finding the cheapest places to retire and for many that means just staying put.  However, more and more American's are realizing that moving to another state or even another country could offer a substantially better retirement lifestyle on the same fixed income.

Barrett suggests a new alternative - jumping burbs. Where boomers who may have spent the majority of their years raising families and cutting lawns in one suburb consider trading it in for another somewhere else in America. To help retirees pick their new spot Forbe's has come out with a list of the Top 25 Places to Retire in America - places as in Top Suburbs.

Best Places for Taxes

Barrett also suggests that tax savings can be an important part of the decision to move and where to relocate as a retiree. For example, Texas and Florida have no state income taxes while others like Florida and Pennsylvania have special tax incentives specifically aimed at retirees.

Best Places to retire in America

The Forbes list of the Top Suburbs looks at places that are no further than 25 miles from the center (downtown) of a major metropolis and where average homes prices were less than $400,000. Interestingly enough half of the Top Places ended up with home prices under $200,000. They also looked at other data to determine places which represented the most liveable cities for retirement aged folk. Things like healthcare services, cost of living, tax environment, crime rates and more.

The Top Ten Places to Live for Retirees were:

Broomfield, CO

Davis, CA

Brentwood, MS

Ft. Thomas, KY

Meridian, ID

Lauderdale, MN

Allen, TX

Fayetteville, GA

Gilbert, AZ

Tamarac, FL

Source: Yahoo! Real Estate - Top Burbs for Retirees :

Tax-Free Retirement Made Easy 

You don't want to organize your new life overseas around tax code...but sometimes the two agendas can converge. 

We've identified three countries that roll out the welcome mat, not only offering significant benefits for foreign residents, including seriously appealing tax advantages, but also making it easy for you to become a foreign resident in the first place. 

That is, it can be possible to relocate to the Shangri-la of your fondest daydreams...while, at the same time, reducing your tax burden, maybe to zero. 

It depends largely on how and from where your income is derived... 

And the key is arranging legal foreign residency. 

Here's the good news: While not every country welcomes foreign retirees or expats, we've identified three countries that roll out the welcome mat, not only offering significant benefits for foreign residents, including seriously appealing tax advantages, but also making it easy for you to become a foreign resident in the first place. 

Revealed: The world's top 20 destinations where you can enjoy a better quality of life—

on a budget of US$1,200 or less Plus, everything you need to know

to make one of these 20 special places your home in as little as 12 months

Go Here Now To Learn More

Cheapest places to live and do business in Canada

Money a subsidiary of Quebecor Media illustrated on Canoe.ca how Taxes can mean the difference when it comes to finding the cheapest places to live and do business in Canada.

Living in B.C.

If you bring in $70,000 in regular income, i.e. wages or interest income, than British Columbia is the best place to live. There you'll pay less than $15,000 on your earnings vs the next lowest taxes you'll find in Ontario at $15,492.

Alberta is Best for High Earners

Now if you're one of those elite Canadians whose earnings top $150,000 than the province of Alberta is your place to be. there you will pay $45,304 in taxes. Plus Alberta is a great place to die - not really I don't think any place is the best place to die! But if you're planning on leaving something behind your heirs will be happy as they stand the most to gain. In Alberta the probate fees are just $400 - the lowest in the country and far , far below the national average of more then $3,500.

Cheapest Places to Do Business in Canada

Alberta again gets top grade with the lowest corporate tax rate in the country at just 28%. But Ontario digs deep to entice R&D investors and also movie makers with big tax breaks. Plus Ontario continues to drop it's corporate tax rate which is supposed to be down to just 25% by 2013. That's a comfortable margin below the national average of over 30%. Ontario provides a 25% tax credit for production costs related to making a movie and a whopping 40% tax credit for those involved in digital media. British Columbia offers similar credits to entertainment businesses while Quebec also jumps on the movie making business with a 35% tax credit and complete tax holidays for those willing to invest in manufacturing business in remote regions of the province.

Cheapest Place to Buy a Home

If you're looking for to make a move but the average $3,500 land transfer tax has you turned off take a trip to New Brunswick where you'kl find the lowest Land transfer taxes in all the land. There you'll pay just over $1000 on a $400,000 home. New Brunswick is easy on the individual too with a falling income tax rate expected to be down to 23% by 2013.

Tax Rates lower than virtually any place in the U.S.

Can you believe that? While Canadians bemoan their tax burden and our American cousins south of the border look on with skeptical eyes to their 'socialist' partner to the north, this is the reality. Corporate Taxes in Canada range from 28 to 30% while it's not uncommon to see 45% in the U.S. For individual income taxes the spread is quite similar.

Now it's true that we don't exactly have apples to apples for comparison. In the U.S for example most homeowners can deduct mortgage interest from their income which can really add up. But Americans also have to pay a big chunk of their income for health insurance either in the form of deductibles whenever they visit the doctor or hospital or in the form of a co-share of premiums with their employer. In Canada healthcare is a social right whereby every Canadian is entitled.

Source: Canoe.ca | Money - Beat the taxman