Readers Like a Travel Twist on Finances

Two of our readers’ favorite articles so far this year connected difficult bread and butter issues – personal finance and retirement – with a far more pleasant topic: travel.

The most popular blog profiled a Houston couple scouting locations for a dream retirement home in South America, which has a lower cost of living.  Another well-read blog was about Liz Patterson, a young carpenter in Colorado who built a $7,000 tiny house on a flat-bed trailer to radically reduce her expenses – so she could travel more.

The downsizing efforts of 27-year-old Patterson inspired several older readers to post comments to the blog about their own downsizing. “From children’s cribs and toys in the attic, to collectible things from my parents’ 70-year marriage!” Elaine wrote. “Purging has been heart wrenching and frustrating and long overdue!”

The following articles attracted the most interest from our readers in the first six months of 2018. Topics ranged from 401(k)s, income taxes, and Americans’ uneven participation in the stock market to geriatric care managers. Each headline includes a link to the blog.

• The Ultimate in Travel: Retiring Abroad

• Future “Retirees” Plan to Work

• Know about the Roth 401(k) Surprise

• Retirees Get a 401(k) Withdrawal Headache

• Why Most Elderly Pay No Federal Tax– this 2016 blog is still popular in 2018.

• Tiny House Fixes Millennials’ Money Woes

• New Yorker Cartoon Considers 401ks

• Just Half of America Enjoys Bull Market

• What’s a Geriatric Care Manager Anyway? The companion article: “Geriatric Help Eases Family Discord.

• Why Retirement Inequality is Rising

• 5 Financial Goals for Teens, Young Adults– this blog was published in 2015.

• Retirement Ripped from the Headlines

• Burdensome Rents are the New Normal

• Dependence on Social Security is Striking. A related article: Social Security Mistakes Can be Costly

• Dreams of Retirement? Watch for Pitfalls

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