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Before I reached age 65, nearly 20 years ago, I had the great opportunity to take more than a year to consider where I'd spend my retirement years. One of my jobs at the time was to set up and produce recognition programs for our company's insurance agents at resort areas throughout the US. I traveled everywhere, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, the Carolinas, Hawaii and several other states. Toward the end of my working years, I began to research potential retirement destinations.

Because my office was in Pennsylvania, where I was mighty tired of winter snow, ice and progressing arthritis, I knew my first retirement decision was to go to a warm climate. The secret to the best places to retire in the US is that there can be no best place. So many factors are involved in your choice that anywhere from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Key West, Florida, could prove to be the most appropriate retirement destination for you. Before I go into naming specific places, here are just some of the elements you must consider (with some personal comments) before making any retirement choices.

Climate: If you like Christmas card winters, stay in that climate. If you like hot, sticky weather, follow the retirement parade to Florida and the Carolinas. If you like hot, dry desert climates, trek out to New Mexico, Central California, Southern Nevada and Arizona. I chose Arizona because my arthritic bones love the burning, dry heat.

Location: If you must make frequent flights, how close and how big is the airport? Are there sufficient flight schedules? How convenient is it for you to make uncomplicated trips to friends and family, or for them to visit you?

Health: Do you need big-city hospitals and their state-of-the-art facilities? Today, big isn't necessarily the best. We needed heart surgery, went to a prestigious big city hospital. The month-long treatment and surgery were terrible, and the problem was later solved in one week by one of the world's best cardiologists just a few miles away from our desert home.

Sports, exercise and entertainment availability: If you're a freaked-out golfer, your choice will be to set yourself down where you can reach some greens within an hour or less. Many senior communities have pools and exercise rooms. In today's world of wall-sized TVs and NetFlix, do you really want to go out to the neighborhood cinema and sit behind a bunch of screeching kids? If your new home is near a university, you can have access to live theater and other

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