The golden years of retirement. Many of us have an image of ourselves sitting along a lazy bayou with a fishing pole in hand when that time comes in our lives. The reality is that most of will be doing a lot more than fishing in retirement. It won't be the kind of activity we thought we'd be doing when we dreamed of retirement either.

According to a new study released by Bankrate.com, Louisiana is the fifth worst state when it comes to retirement. The study looked at several different criterion to develop their list. Among the items that were looked at in the study were the basic well being of the residents, healthcare, the crime rate, taxes and the cost of living.

The factors that kind of weighed Louisiana down in our rankings were its relatively high crime rate and poor quality of healthcare.

Those are the words of Claes Bell a senior analyst for Bankrate.com. Bell's comments were reported in a story published by the Louisiana Radio Network.

Bell went on to explain that while the state as a whole performed poorly in the study as a whole there were some very strong bright spots for those that choose to live out their retirement years in Louisiana.

Louisiana has a relatively low tax burden compared to other states, and the cost of living is relatively low as well. So in those areas, Louisiana did well.

If you're wondering what states the Bankrate study found to be the best for retirement then you can plan on heading west. Wyoming was the top choice according to the study while the worst state for retirees was New York.

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