Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
STAFF WRITER
New Mexico is the 11th best state for military personnel to retire, according to a recent study.
In recognition of May being Military Appreciation month, and to help ease the burden of retirement planning for the nation’s military community, WalletHub, a personal finance social network, conducted an in-depth analysis of 2015’s best and worst states for military retirees, said Diana Popa, WalletHub communications manager.
Popa said WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 20 key metrics ranging from job opportunities for veterans to the number of VA health facilities that speak collectively to the economic environment, health care services and overall quality of life in each area.
Jill Gonzalez, spokesperson for WalletHub, said the report is a “study of studies.”
“The statistics are from the census, the VA, Veterans United Home Loans and Department of Housing and Urban Development,” she said. “We gather all of the data and really crunch it down.”
According to Gonzalez, New Mexico excelled in its health care category, ranking ninth due to a few reasons.
“New Mexico has a really high number of VA health facilities per number of veterans, and it also has a high number of federal, state and local hospitals per one hundred thousand residents,” she said.
Gonzalez added that New Mexico ranked seventh for its quality of VA hospitals.
“Every year the VA takes a survey, and one of the metrics on their survey is the patient’s willingness to recommend a veteran hospital,” she said. “I think that the quality and the wait period that some of these retirees and vets have to go through in order to get sufficient care has really been getting attention as of late.”
New Mexico also did well in the economic environment category, according to Gonzalez.
“One of the reasons we looked into that is because I don’t think a lot of people realize that these military retirees are not 65-year-old people getting out of the workforce,” she said. “They are typically anywhere from 43 to 47 years old, which means they are probably not leaving the workforce anytime soon.”
Gonzalez said retirees are looking to see where they can use their skill set and re-enter the workforce.
Gonzalez said although New Mexico ranked 30th for veteran job opportunities, it also ranked seventh for the number of military bases and installations per number of veterans, which goes a long way for the retirees.
“Living near a military base or installation allows retirees the most access to all of the benefits that they can take advantage of,” she said. “They will be saving a lot of money on everything from airfare to working out exactly how they can maximize their pensions, and it also contributes to their quality of life by being around people who have gone through the same situations they have.”
