Cheap Places To Retire

In my opinion, the biggest chunk of your retirement spending is on housing as its cost probably takes up 30% of your expenses. Hence, finding cheap places to retire is akin to finding places that offer cheap, affordable housing.

It sounds easy but in reality, it takes quite a bit of research and information-gathering endeavor to get a house you can afford.

There's however, a way to beat this problem.

Instead of looking and searching for one only after you've retired, you could consider looking for one while you're still working.

This will give you time to do proper research and planning, increasing your chance of getting a better place for your retirement and also makes your money spent on the house worthwhile.

But of course if you prefer to look for it only after you've retired, go ahead....

With free time on your hand, you could do as good a research....and find a place and a dream house that are affordable.

In both situations, how do you search for these cheap places to retire?

Try friends, relatives, a good real estate agent, Internet, chambers of commerce and tourist bureaus.

You get loads of information on amenities, weather, activities, housing, house price, transportation, people, food, entertainment......

I'm giving you a list of the cheap places, which you can start off, right now.....

• Arizona - Tucson
• Baja California - San Felipe
• Colorado - Loveland
• Georgia - Atlanta
• Michigan - Ann Arbor area
• New Jearsy - Edison
• North Carolina - Raleigh
• Oregon - Portland
• Texas - San Antonio
• Washington - Bellingham

Once you've decided which city is the cheap place to retire, you zero-in on your house hunting effort.

I would say location of the house is your primo factor.

You would want to choose a house where it's in the thick of things - health care facilities, transportation, shopping center, community center, food outlets, arts and cultural interests, galleries.....

All to be within short-distance convenience. Easily accessible.

Satisfied with the location?

Then, decide what's your budget that comfortably allows you to buy the house.

Choose an agent you feel comfortable with and who understands your needs.

Complete the purchase.

Besides affordable housing, the other important factor in deciding if a place is a cheap place to retire, is to look at its tax climate. In the US, 40 out of the 50 states give a variety of tax breaks to retirees.

Check it out properly so you can get the most deductions (for example property tax relief to homeowners over 65; homestead exemptions to all homeowners and deductions from your government, military or private pensions) and benefits out of the taxation system and hence have more non-taxable income for your needs.

You've nailed down housing, taxation.......

What else you need to factor-in when looking for cheap places to retire?

Prices of essentials like food, medical, entertainment and transportation are important too.

You don't want to fork out more dollars for less, right?

But logically, if housing is cheap, naturally it follows that prices of essentials aren't expensive as well.

Choosing cheap places to retire isn't hard; just do enough research on the place you wanna retire to.

You can find an affordable lifestyle that's not only comfortable, but also chic!

Due to her strong yearning to retire early in life, Cecelia Yap has been researching on the subject of retirement. She shows you how she has grown her retirement nest egg here: http://www.perfect-body-toning.com/my-passion.html

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