Birmingham – retire here
A recent study by WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked Birmingham as the 18th best city in which to retire. The study, according to the website, is based around the fact that about a fourth of people approaching retirement age say they can’t afford to retire because the economy won’t allow them to save money.
WalletHub’s solution is to consider moving somewhere cheaper.
“To help Americans plan for retirement, WalletHub compared the affordability, quality of life, health care and availability of recreational activities in the 150 largest U.S. cities,” the site said in a press release.
“Our data set includes 24 metrics, ranging from the cost of living to public hospital rankings to the percentage of the population aged 65 and older.”
Here’s how Birmingham ranked in the WalletHub study:
Retirement-friendliness of Birmingham (1=Best; 75=Avg.):
- 11th – Adjusted Cost of Living
- 24th – Annual Cost of In-Home Services
- 21st – Number of Adult Volunteer Activities per Capita
- 35th – % of the Population Aged 65 & Older
- 35th – Number of Fishing Facilities per 100,000 Residents
- 27th – Number of Public Golf Courses per 100,000 Residents
- 8th – Number of Nurses per 1,000 Residents
- 17th – Number of Home-Care Facilities per Capita
To see the full report, visit wallethub.com
Alabama – Drive here, film here, make some money
The Alabama Tourism Department invites budding travelogue makers to take a look at the state and make a movie about it. The 2015 Alabama Road Trip Video Contest is seeking the “ultimate Alabama road trip.” Winners of the competition will take home — or on the road — $10,000 or other prizes, including a GoPro video camera, or copies of books about Alabama road trips.
They’ll take entries three ways: 1) take an Alabama road trip and create a video of your journey; 2) submit a video of an Alabama road trip you took in the past; 3) create a video telling them why you want to take your dream Alabama road trip and where you want to go.
“Judges are looking for high-quality, creative entries that highlight all the best Alabama has to offer. From local dives to famous destinations, the Alabama Tourism Department wants to see it all.” The winners will be announced by Oct. 12.
For more information, including prize package descriptions, complete rules and instructions on entering, visit roadtripcontest.com. To help in your quest, visit alabama.travel/road-trips or download the Alabama Road Trips app, available on available in the Apple App Store or Google Play.
McCalla woman adds food stamps to her list of fraud convictions
Federal authorities this week said that Sherica Lacey Lee, 33, has pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and income tax evasion. Lee is already serving time for attempting to defraud the fund set up to pay victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill.
Lee, a former income tax preparer, evaded taxes in 2008 by preparing and submitting a return falsely claiming she had no taxable income, when in fact she had earned nearly $230,000 that year. She also claimed in 2009 “that she had no household income, cash on hand, or money in the bank,” to convince the Department of Human Resources and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to give her food stamps, now known as SNAP for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The year she applied for SNAP, she had earned more than $200,000.
Her plea agreement in the current cases comes as she is still serving a one year, one day sentence for attempting to defraud the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. Her sentence in the new charges has not been set. However, she has agreed with the government to forfeit $23,757 to the government as proceeds of illegal activity, to pay restitution of $134,448 to the IRS for taxes not paid between 2008 and 2010, and restitution of $23,757 to the USDA for food stamp benefits she was not eligible to receive between July 2009 and June 2013.