TV Westerns all had one thing in common – the general store where town folk came to purchase their supplies, rock on the front porch and catch up on local gossip. The north end of Anna Maria Island also has a general store pretty similar to the ones of old except for one thing, its painted purple and green and looks liked it just jumped off the pages of Coastal Living.

Like so many Anna Maria transplants, Brian Seymour discovered the island while visiting friends in 2009 when he was still living in Virginia. After working for Marriott Resorts for 20 years starting in the food and beverage area and moving up to assistant general manager, he was ready to trade in the stress of the corporate world for the lifestyle that a Florida barrier island offered.

Shortly after relocating Seymour met Mike and Lizzie Thrasher, who were in the midst of developing their Green Village on Pine Avenue. It was a fortunate meeting for both of them, since the Thrashers were looking for someone to manage their newly acquired Anna Maria General Store and Deli and Seymour was the ideal person to do it.

After managing the store for 2 ½ years Seymour bought the it in July of 2012 and has been putting his own personal touch on it ever since.

To say that the store is a deli would be a gross understatement. It is true employees make fresh deli sandwiches using Boar’s Head meats and cheeses and they also have daily specials and cold salads like macaroni and potato, but that’s just the beginning.

The store has a full line of 80 domestic and imported wines, craft beers, St. Armands’ breads, Hometown Desserts, Tylers Ice Cream, frozen meals from Island Gourmet Grill, frozen pizzas from Village Idiot Pizza, Greenleaf Wisconsin Cheese and fresh juice from Mixon Farms. Seymour is very proud of the fact that he either uses all local suppliers for his food products or prepares them in house like salads and fresh muffins and cookies baked from Otis Spunkmeyer dough.

It also carries fresh ice tea and coffee as well as fountain sodas, cigarettes, cigars, candy and personal items like sunscreen, ice, propane gas, bait and tackle, some household items and even an ATM. In addition, Seymour provides a pre arrival delivery service to the entire Island. He will make a trip to Publix to fill a shopping list, and visitors can contact him on the General Store’s website to request a pre arrival delivery.

The store participates in all of the Pine Avenue events like Bayfest and Food & Wine on Pine and is always looking for ways to make the store more energy efficient in keeping with the Green Village concept.

Seymour plans on expanding and remodeling the General Store during the next two years, and wants to thank the local community, visitors and the Pine Avenue business community for supporting him and helping to double the store’s business since 2010. In particular he wants to thank his staff of six associates who have all been with him since the beginning. Seymour says “good value, good portions, good quality” sets the store apart from others.

Anna Maria General Store lives up to its motto, “Your friendly local store.” It may not have a real front porch, just colorful tables and chairs outside and the barrels of old have been replaced with wine racks. Chances are you won’t witness a shoot out on Pine Avenue, but the essence of the old West’s general store is still there.

What it does have is great food, a good selection of beer and wine, homemade ice cream and a variety of canned goods with a little local gossip and produce thrown in. Marshal Matt Dillon never had it this good.

My father and mother are 89 and 84, respectively. Dad’s never spent a night in the hospital in his life, even though he was wounded a couple times in a minor way during World War II. He was born at home, and his tonsils were removed on the kitchen table sometime during the Great Depression. Mom had heart surgery, certainly extending her life. Despite the other aches, pains, and inconveniences of getting older, they are a great illustration of the relationship of health and wealth.

On an individual basis there are exceptions, but across the population we are tending to live longer due to advances in healthcare, more knowledge about diet and staying physically fit. While it is a great goal to live a long, happy and healthy life, there is a stress created by living longer. The stress is on your retirement income plan.

For those who work for the government or a corporation which offers a guaranteed pension benefit, this may be less of a worry than for those who use 401Ks, IRAs and funding of personal wealth through savings and investment. With less and less companies offering guaranteed pension programs, more retirees will be on their own to convert the capital that they are a ble to accumulate and invest during their working years into retirement income to supplement their Social Security benefits and possibly some supplemental income from working while in retirement.

Planning for the creation of this income is not something you should do the day after your retirement party. Ideally, the process should start years in advance, with some reasonable assumptions of investment returns and calculations of savings and investment goals during your accumulation years so that you can be comfortable in the distribution years that you won’t run out of money in retirement, even if you are fortunate enough to live into your 90s and become great-grandparents.

Fortunately, advances in technology that have benefitted us in many ways, including helping us live longer, allow us to perform a retirement plan analysis using realistic assumptions for savings, investment returns, and inflation. Many mutual fund and brokerage firm websites have some simple tools available for free. Charles Schwab & Company has one at: http://www.schwab.com/public (click into the Retirement Planning section from this page).

The Blackrock Funds group tool also looks interesting at www.blackrock.com/cori

More sophisticated analyses may be available with the help of an investment adviser or representative of a brokerage firm, but may involve fees to compensate the representatives for their time. Ask about fees before engaging them for help.

I’ve written often in recent months about planning for Social Security to maximize your benefits as a married couple, before engaging an advisor for help.

I’ve written often in recent months about planning for Social Security to maximize your benefits as a married couple, divorcee, widow or widower. That process is a part of the overall retirement income planning process, which should be accomplished in a holistic approach to planning for household income in your golden years.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.