Scott

Comments:

• We lived in Portland. Somehow I missed your move to Arizona, which explains a lot in terms of (1) finding communities that cater to retirees and (2) housing affordability. Beyond affordability, were there other reasons for the move? At one time we thought Portland would be ideal for retirement because of the fantastic mass transit, but it just kept getting harder to tough out the dreary, grey winters.

  Post: Aging Alone

  Link to comment from May 25, 2021

• I'm familiar with your area -- we lived there for 15 years -- and still I'm puzzled by how you found the community that you described. It's not exactly known as a "retirement haven", and real estate prices, last I checked, wouldn't be exactly described as, "affordable". Could you please, in your next installment, tell us how you found such an amazing place? For reasons of climate, we're not likely to return, or if we did it would only be for 3-4 months a year, but boomers are retiring everywhere, so one would think that the community you describe would be replicated in many areas. Or is there some magical spell that makes in possible there?

  Post: Aging Alone

  Link to comment from May 20, 2021

• It would be interesting to hear how you go about finding a financial advisor such as you describe. I tried searching for a independent fee-only advisor several years ago (on the advice of Tes Vigland and the old Marketplace Money show). They requested statements from all my accounts, which seemed reasonable. But when I realized that I was turning over information that, in the wrong hands, could be ruinous, I asked about what measures they took to insure the security of the data. Long story short, we agreed that we were not a good fit for each other. I looked briefly for advisors at large firms (that presumably have good security measures and large E&O insurance policies), but pretty much gave up. You make a good case for pursuing this kind of service, and as it's 10 years further down the road, the idea only become more weighty for me. I'd also be curious to hear what a reasonable fee for such a service would be.

  Post: Built for Ease

  Link to comment from May 1, 2021