Downsizing sounds wonderfully simple when you first start thinking about it. The kids are grown. There are rooms you barely use. The yard seems to require more work every year. You look around and wonder why two people (or one!) are still heating, cooling, cleaning, repairing, and paying taxes on so much house…

There is a strange thing about retirement decisions: we often make some of the biggest ones when we have the least experience with the life we are choosing. You may have spent 30 or 40 years working, raising a family, paying a mortgage, building routines, and organizing your life around a calendar that was largely decided for you. Then retirement arrives and suddenly you have choices…

Linda retired on a Friday with the kind of farewell most people hope for. There was a luncheon in the office conference room, speeches from coworkers who had become lifelong friends, a scrapbook filled with photographs spanning nearly three decades, and a cake decorated with the words Enjoy Your Next Chapter…

Most retirement plans assume life will continue more or less as it does today. We picture ourselves healthy, independent, driving where we want, visiting family, enjoying hobbies, and finally having more time to relax. I hope retirement looks exactly like that for you…

When people talk about the best places to retire, the same names tend to come up again and again. Florida. Arizona. The Carolinas. A sunny town near the water. A low-tax state. A popular retirement community that a friend, neighbor or magazine article recommended. There is nothing wrong with any of those places. Many people love them…

Moving somewhere new in retirement can sound wonderfully simple at first. You imagine a lower cost of living, better weather, less stress, perhaps a smaller home, and maybe more time near family, friends, or the kind of place you always wished you had lived…