Myth-Busting: "My current home is the best place to live in my retirement years"

“My current home is the best place to live in my retirement years.”

How many of you have thought that’s true? How many of you are sure there is no better option for you than remaining in the home where you’ve spent decades living? After all, this is where you raised your children, hosted parties for friends and family, celebrated holidays, planted your annual gardens and stored decades of fond memories. Often, when looking back, our minds gloss over the negatives, choosing to remember the happy times and moments.

If you are still living in this home, you have to consider that it is also where you had to pay holiday rates to a plumber because your son wanted to see if his toy car would flush down the toilet. It’s where you had to pay to have the leaking roof repaired just after you paid for your daughter’s first year of college. It’s where you had to shovel 18 inches of snow to be able to get to a doctor’s appointment, where you had to pay to have the fence repaired, the swimming pool liner replaced, and let’s not forget that you still have to make dinner, put away the leftovers and clean the kitchen every night.

With all that considered, your home—as chock full of good times as it has been—may not be the best home to spend your retirement years.

Imagine that you live in a place where a handyman fixes a stuck window before you’ve had the chance to catch an evening draft. Where snow-blanketed sidewalks and driveways are cleared with no effort on your part. Where you don’t have to cook dinner (but still get to eat it!) Where you can make a mess, and have someone else willingly clean it up. Where you have transportation to personal appointments.

If your eyes are still closed, open them: this is senior living; these are all benefits that come with living in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).

Residents report that moving into a CCRC has alleviated common stressors and freed up time for them to pursue more fulfilling purposes. Age Wave, a research and consulting company, conducted a survey featuring residents of a leading senior living community, and what they found may surprise you: The average person age 65 or older spends two hours, 48 minutes per day shopping and doing household work, as compared to the one hour, five minutes spent by residents at a senior living community. Their survey also discovered differences in the amount of time spent socializing and the amount of time spent learning or participating in educational activities. The average person aged 65 or older spends only 35 minutes per day socializing, and less than one minute per day learning or participating in educational activities. The average resident of the senior living community surveyed spends three hours, seven minutes per day socializing and two hours, three minutes learning or participating in educational activities.

Current residents of CCRCs are happy to discuss the benefits of leaving their longtime home and moving to a community. Letty Caplan, a resident of Whitney Center in Hamden, Conn., said, “I lived in my home 47 years but it was never a love affair between that house and myself. Where as for my husband, he adored that house. It was difficult for him. But I knew that I was not going to be spending my old age in that house. I was happy the moment I walked through the [Whitney Center] lobby.”

Bill Leach, a resident at Lakeview Village in Lenexa, Kan., said, “Where you were in your younger years might not necessarily be the place you can spend the rest of your years; upkeep of the property, lawn mowing, snow removal—all those things are things that you could do when you were younger, but as you get older, you may feel like you don’t want to do all that yard maintenance.”

So—take another look around your current home. Is it really is the best place for you to live in your retirement years?


Carry on!

Ann’s blog appears here every Thursday. Your comments are welcome and appreciated!