If your clients are in their fifties or early sixties, they may be old enough to retire early and young enough to enjoy it.
But having good health in retirement goes hand-in-hand with good planning and preparation. According to personal finance website SmartAsset, one great strategy for retiring early is to move somewhere affordable. With a low cost of living that can stretch earnings and build retirement savings faster, your clients can retire sooner rather than later, SmartAsset says.
SmartAsset ranked the most affordable cities for early retirement by comparing them across 10 factors that included the effective income tax rate; average annual cost of a silver health insurance plan; cost of living; median housing costs as a percent of median household income; average effective property tax rate; state sales tax; property and violent crime rates; medical facilities per 1,000 residents; and the unemployment rate. The city with the best average ranking received a score of 100, while the city with the worst average score received a 0.
SmartAsset found that the South is a great place to start planning for an early retirement, with four of the top 10 cities located there, and that even the Northeast, where one of the top 10 cities is located, offers retirees in the making an affordable relocation option.
Here, in ascending order, are SmartAsset’s top 10 cities for an early retirement.
10. Arlington, Texas
With an effective income tax rate of 10.3%, Arlington is a tax-friendly retirement haven. However, the average effective property tax rate is 2.2% and the state and local sales tax rate is 8%. Total index score: 73.71.
