Lists

Forbes Magazine publishes a lot of lists.  They are always interesting, but if you read them carefully, they are also often contradictory.

For example - one recent post on their website has Texas and California tied for 10th place in a list of the best states in which to retire, while another recent article had California in the 10 worst states for retirees and Texas somewhere in the middle of the pack.  Granted the two lists were using different (and very subjective) criteria, but they both seemed to be stating facts.  The casual reader wouldn’t know what to think.

God only knows what the first list was based upon, but the second considered things like state taxes and the cost of goods and services – still opinion, but at least it used measurable criteria.

This color-coded map accompanied that second article.  It shows tax burden for retirees, with maroon being the worst and dark green as the least.  I wasn’t surprised at where Texas or California fell on this spectrum.  Montana, on the other hand…..