What do you want to do when you retire? Where do you want to live? Obviously there are no easy answers to these questions. Everyone will have different plans based on their hobbies, family, financial situation, and more. There is no one-sized-fits all approach to these issues.
However, that did not stop one well-known financial services firm, Money Rates, from putting out a list ranking each state as the best and worst for retirement. Survey results constituted the crux of the rankings, but those questions were centered on four different factors: economic climate, crime rate, longevity, and climate. The report on the survey explains that those four categories were not weighed equally. Economic factors accounted for nearly half the score (47%), with climate accounting for a third and health and crime factored in 12% and 8% respectively.
Texas and Kentucky came out on top of the rankings, with Maine and Michigan listed as the worst? So where did New York come out? Near the bottom.
According to the final list, New York state was the 9th worst place to retire. The story explains that the poor ranking mostly has to do with poor scores on the two most heavily weighted factors–climate and economics. Our state has the sixth highest cost of living overall, which hurt its score on the “economics” section of the survey. Similarly, our climate score was below average. The life expectancy in the state (77.7 years) is slightly above average and the overall crime score was decent, but those factors were weighted too low for them to counterbalance the poor economic scores.
While this list might be an interesting story that nabs headlines, at the end of the day it likely doesn’t have much practical value for local residents working through their retirement options. New Yorkers chose to live, work, and play throughout our state for a myriad of reasons. For most, they have deep roots with family and social networks entwined in local communities–from the Big City to small village upstate.
No list could possibly take into account all of the dynamics to explain where one should retire. The most important step for all local families is simply to take the time to honestly think through all of the issues and make prudent plans based on your actual financial situation and long-term goals. In our area, be sure to get in touch with our New York elder law estate planning attorneys to see how we can help put those plans into concrete legal realities.
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