| Spotlight: real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran |
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 You summarize that in the title of your opening chapter: "Forget Florida!"
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| Where do you fit? |
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 (Laughs) Oh boy, have I gotten a lot of e-mails on that one! I probably should have said "forget conventional retirement," but I thought Florida was a symbol of the usual ways and usual places. I wouldn't do that again! But there's one place in the book, however, in Florida. It's my only nudist colony, and if you could see -- well, maybe you might not want to see -- the people living there happy as could be in the most luxurious nudist colony I could ever imagine! At least I saved myself by including one place in Florida, but that's it.
But one obvious plus to Florida is, it's probably the single biggest fire sale in the history of the U.S. in terms of retirement homes. Prices there have plummeted statewide more than any other single state short of Nevada. If you're looking for a great deal and you want to retire in Florida, it's a great time to be looking now.
You break boomers into five retiree types: "Zoomers," "Ruppies," "Boomerangs," "Aging in Placers" and "Huddlers." Let's start with "Huddlers."
These are people who are hungry for human contact; that's No. 1 on their priority list. The biggest complaint I heard from people in retirement, no matter where they were, was that they were lonely. The reason they were lonely is that they didn't have a common ground with people in their new area. They hadn't given that any thought. For those people who really want a great sense of community, there is a new trend where people are forming their own communities. Depending on what's in your heart and soul, there are communities everywhere across the United States where you can find like-minded souls. It may be something as mundane as people who love board games or bird watching. Wanting to huddle together is not a weakness; it's a shared interest in life. I want to be cuddled and huddled.
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