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American Morning
"The Big Question": Where Are Best Places in Country to Retire?
Aired May 06, 2002 - 09:33 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: "The Big Question" at this hour, one which I have an increasing interest in, where are the best places in the country to retire. Today's seniors are living longer, they are doing more, and they are catered to like never before, because there's more of them. The golden years are now a full-fledged stage of life. So where are the hotspots for seniors to live these days. The new issue of "Money" magazine has the answer.
Joining us now is "Money" magazine's Marion Asnes. Nice to see you.
MARION ASNES, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you.
CAFFERTY: When you studied this and decided where the best places to retire, generically, what are the things you look for?
ASNES: There's a large combination of things. But What made our search different this year we were looking for a variety, because that senior stage of life is so long, seniors are healthy, seniors are well off, and they need a lot of things to do. So in addition to reasonable price of housing, reasonable taxes and good access to medical care, we also looked for a variety of activities, so all the towns that we selected have a surprising amount of things from continuing education to good restaurants to the traditional golf and tennis, you know access to boating when you're near the water, and also easy access to major airports.
CAFFERTY: Let's take a look, and you didn't rank these, like number one, two, three, four or five. These are there as a series or several that rank equally high on the...
ASNES: That's right. They all rank very high. They're in different geographic regions, so you can close to your family.
CAFFERTY: This is Roanoke, Virginia. What do you like about Roanoke?
ASNES: Well, it's a beautiful city. It's got tons of outdoor activity. It's incredibly reasonable in terms of taxes, and you also -- you're close to a lot of major cities, as well as being in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
CAFFERTY: Good climate, too. There you go. ASNES: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Next on my list at least is Boulder, Colorado.
You're up there in the Rockies, you're near Denver, so you have a big metropolitan city. You have great public transportation, which is unusual in a smaller city. You have outdoor sports galore, and you have Boulder University, University of Colorado at Boulder. You have good hospitals. You just have a ton of things to do, and there is a very strong senior center.
CAFFERTY: Las Cruces, New Mexico. That's pretty.
ASNES: Las Cruces, New Mexico. Yes, very pretty.
It's down near the Orgam (ph) Mountains in New Mexico. It is the second largest city in New Mexico. It's about 45 miles from the border. So you can get in and out of Mexico easily. Great food. There is a whole enchilada festival every year.
CAFFERTY: You don't want to miss that.
ASNES: No way.
CAFFERTY: Medford, Oregon made the list in no small part because of William Shakespeare. Explain it. That's interesting.
ASNES: That's right. That's right. You wouldn't seem to think that this would be the poem of one of the great Shakespeare festivals, but it is just a few minutes away in a nearby town of Ashland. There is a nine-month Shakespeare festival every year, where they do several plays.
CAFFERTY: There is one location outside the United States. I'm interested. San Miguel.
ASNES: San Miguel Dienka (ph) in Mexico has a very large expatriate American community. It is an absolutely gorgeous place, full of culture, also full of American conveniences. There's even a Costco.
CAFFERTY: Any risk at all to living outside the United States? That idea would tend to make me a little bit nervous, at least at first.
ASNES: There's one issue that you really have to think about before you move outside of the U.S., and that is Medicare. You give up your -- although you don't give up Social Security benefits, you do give up your medical benefits when you leave the country, so that -- it's an important thing to be in good health, and if you do want to return to the U.S., a few months in advance, you need to re-establish your Medicare eligibility, so you can be back in it when you come back.
CAFFERTY: No list of this kind would be complete without Florida. You picked Sarasota in Florida. ASNES: Yes, we did. Yes, we did. It's an absolutely beautiful city. It's on the Gulf Coast, rather than the ocean. So that there's -- and there's a little bit less of the traditional spring break craziness in this area. There's also a lot of very good Atlanta athletic facilities, and there's a lot of culture. You have -- you also have the circus. It is the home to a couple of circuses, and there's a circus museum.
CAFFERTY: For those of us working at CNN, it wouldn't be that big of a transition to go to then -- where there's a circus.
ASNES: Yes, and you get your grandchildren to visit you with is always fun. Is that Providence?
CAFFERTY: Providence, Rhode Island, college town, you think.
ASNES: That's right, 12 schools.
CAFFERTY: Why do I want to live in a college town?
ASNES: Well, it's actually interesting. Because there's 12 schools, there's a ton of culture activities once again, and there's a vibrant restaurant scene that is springing up in Providence. You can have some of the nation's best restaurants.
Here's the list for those of you who didn't have a pencil as we ran through these. Throw that up, Ted, and let's take a quick look: Boulder, Colorado, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Medford, Oregon, Providence, Rhode Island, Roanoke, Virginia, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico, Sarasota, Florida, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
And a staggering statistic you pointed out to me during the break, the population of people over the age of 65 will double to something in neighborhood of 70 million by the year 2030.
ASNES: It's extraordinary.
CAFFERTY: So this is subject that's going to be near and dear to a whole bunch of people.
ASNES: Oh, yes.
CAFFERTY: All right, it's Nice to see you.
ASNES: And you.
CAFFERTY: Thank you. Marion Asnes from "Money" magazine.
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