The Best States to Retire (and the Best Age to Be) for Your Overall Well Being

Well-being in older adults can be measured in many ways, but it can also be somewhat determined by where you live and how old you are.

best states to retire
Where are the best places to retire for overall well being?

Gallup’s recent State of American Well-Being found the best states for well being and discovered which age groups feel the most well being.

Older is Better!

The Gallup report measured five elements of well-being: purpose, social, community, physical and financial and study rated each state for every category and compared the well-being of adults 55 and older compared to those who are younger.

Surprisingly, the study found that older adults tend to have better well-being than other age groups — well-being seems to actually gets better with age, with those 75 and older scoring higher than those between 65-74. Seniors 65-74 rank higher than their younger counterparts.

Reaching retirement can play a big role in overall well-being, and keeping up an active, social and financial sound lifestyle after leaving the workforce can be easier to do in some states.

The Best States to Retire for Well Being

Here are the top 10 states for overall well-being:

  1. Hawaii
  2. Montana
  3. South Dakota
  4. Alaska
  5. Iowa
  6. New Hampshire
  7. Utah
  8. Oregon
  9. New Mexico
  10. Connecticut

Financial Well-Being Influences Overall Health and Happiness

Several of these states also were ranked highly for financial well-being, an important influencer on retirement health.

Overall well-being was found to have an influence on health outcomes, the report found. But of these five measurements, financial well-being may be the most important, says Nathan DeVaux, an investment advisor with Howard Bailey, a financial planning services company that operates in North Carolina, South Carolina and Indiana.

“Money isn’t everything, but sometimes it allows us the flexibility to pay more attention to some of those other areas.,” DeVaux says. “I think that if I have saved appropriately and I’m able to step into retirement and exit the workforce at 65 instead of 70, I’ve now eliminated some potential stress from five years of my life, which could, in turn, increase my health.”

Financial well-being can also influence other areas of well-being, such as purpose. Having the ability and financial means to visit friends and family can give retirees more purpose in their lives and overall better well-being.

“While finances don’t necessarily create happiness, I think sometimes it gives us the freedom to enjoy some things, even spending time with family,” says DeVaux. “It’s hard to weigh which one is the most important, but I don’t think that any of those areas are going to be as healthy if you remove the financial aspect from it.”

The Best States to Retire for Financial Well Being

North Dakota was found to be the best state for financial well-being, followed by Delaware, Alaska, Iowa and Minnesota. DeVaux says this may be because of the openness and freedom the state offers, as well as a lower cost of living.

“If you look at the culture of a western state like North Dakota, it’s a much slower pace,” says DeVaux. “People who live [there] probably adopted that philosophy early on in their lives. So when they step into retirement, they are just able to maximize that even more and be able to now enjoy that lifestyle even greater because they perhaps don’t have the imbalance of their work life.”

As people continue to live longer, retirement planning may need to change to ensure overall well-being, but the financial implications on health outcomes are a major consideration for those still planning their futures. The best advice is to plan early, says DeVaux.

Location is often a big decision in retirement planning, as some may choose to live somewhere with a lower cost of living to make their money stretch further or move to an area that is closer to family. DeVaux says this is an important financial consideration to ensure that seniors have enough money to last through a longer retirement and enjoy the golden years.

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