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CNN Live Today

Interview with Marion Asnes

Aired July 24, 2002 - 10:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: When the stock market started to go south, many people's retirement nest eggs also followed suit. So, to help those on the verge of retirement get the most for their dollar, "Money" magazine put together a list of the eight best places to retire.

Let's look at some of them. They say Providence, Rhode Island and Sarasota, Florida made the list, as did Roanoke, Virginia and Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Other hot spots were in Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and across the border in Mexico.

With us now to talk more about retirement values is "Money" magazine senior editor, Marion Asnes -- Marion, good morning, thanks for being with us.

MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Good morning, Daryn. It's everybody's dream to retire in one of these places, isn't it?

KAGAN: I am telling you. First of all, who has the money to retire these days?

ASNES: Well, it's a different question than it was when these stories came out way in the past in June, but most of these places, other than Boulder, Colorado, the housing prices in all of these locations are less than the national median, which is about $146,000.

KAGAN: So that helps. Yes, Boulder did pop out on the list. We will get to that in just a second. Let's start the cheapest, since people are watching their pocketbook. Providence, Rhode Island.

ASNES: Yes.

KAGAN: When I think retirement, I think warm, I think South. I'm not thinking Providence.

ASNES: Well, you know, one of the things that we thought about when we were putting together this list is the fact that today, as for all those people that you can think of who retire to the sunbelt, there are a lot who retire near where they've spent their lives, if not in their own homes, so we were thinking about those people. It is now a trend called retiring in place. And because of that, we wanted to have a real geographic distribution where people could be near their families, near their favorite pursuits and yet still have a reasonably-priced place to live, and an interesting, exciting place to live with a lot of opportunities for education, for culture, with good health care, with good services. These are also an important element of retirement.

KAGAN: And as you said, people sometimes do reevaluate. Maybe they head south to Florida, but then think, You know, maybe want to go about halfway, and some of those folks end up in Roanoke, Virginia.

ASNES: That's right. You know, that was the funniest thing when we heard that term that people were using of "half-backs," of people coming halfway back from the Sunbelt. At first we thought, what kind of bizarre name is this? You know, but in a way it makes sense, and this is a part of the states where you have the reasonable prices and a lot of natural beauty, relatively gentle weather. Low prices, but you are not all the way in the South. You still get seasons, you still get, you know, fall colors and that means a lot to a lot of people.

KAGAN: All right, Marion, now you are going to have to justify this one. Boulder, Colorado. Lovely, but hardly a bargain with the median housing price of $429,000.

KAGAN: Boulder is no bargain, it is true. But Boulder offers things that an affluent retiree would really love. Some including a lot of outdoor recreation, and a very strong senior center which sponsors a lot of activity. They also have something very important to those who are older retirees. They have a very good public transit system. They have buses, so that if you are retiring, you're active, you're youthful, but you want to spend the rest of your life some place, and you are concerned about whether or not you can drive later on, then Boulder becomes a very interesting place. Also, one thing to recognize, when you look at the median housing prices, they are for single family homes. Condos can be less expensive.

KAGAN: Yes, but you have got to think, if a house is 429, a condo probably also not going to be the cheapest.

ASNES: No, it is not going to be cheap there, but sometimes you have to think about value as well as price.

KAGAN: Value for dollar. All right. Now, let's head to kind of my part of the country, the Southwest and the West. Las Cruces, New Mexico.

ASNES: Las Cruces, New Mexico is a smaller town, it's a quiet town. It is very reasonably priced. They are close to El Paso in Texas, they have -- so that you have access to a larger city, and it has got incredible natural beauty, very low prices not only for housing, but also for food and recreation.

KAGAN: And finally before we let you go, got to take a trip across the border and check out this spot in Mexico, San Miguel de Allende.

ASNES: Oh, yes. This is actually a retiree hot spot right now for people who do want to retire abroad. One thing that you have to remember, though, if you are thinking about retiring abroad, is that while you do remain eligible for social security, and can collect your social security payments no matter where you live, you lose eligibility for Medicare. So if you don't have private insurance, this becomes an issue. That means that a lot of retirees who don't have private insurance will take this as a second home, and if you are thinking repatriating to the United States, you can give -- you should give yourself six months to move back, because it will take you six months to get once more on the Medicare role.

KAGAN: Got it. Well, it is a good problem to have to have...

ASNES: That's right.

KAGAN: ... picking where you get to retire. Let's hope that more people are going to have that opportunity coming up...

ASNES: Oh, I know.

KAGAN: ... and that the stock market will turn around.

ASNES: It will eventually. The question is when.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Marion Asnes from "Money" magazine, thanks for stopping by.

ASNES: Thanks so much for having me.

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