Some clients may turn to you for guidance on the best places to retire in the U.S., but it may not necessarily be the sunny golfing spots that typically come to mind. In fact, several states at the top of the list are in the Great Plains and Midwest, according to Bankrate.com’s latest ranking.
Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota, for instance, may not have the mildest weather in the nation, but they score on Bankrate.com’s list for wellness. That score is measured by the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index, the number of places providing services for the elderly and people with disabilities per capita from the U.S. Census Bureau, and the number of health care benchmarks states achieved or exceeded in the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
“Obviously, a primary area of concern for older Americans is health care costs,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “The older we get, the more likely it is we’re going to have an increasing need for health care services. In some cases, there will be illness, and, in some cases, there will be catastrophic illness. That can be very expensive.”