Planning for Your Retirement Place

Planning for a retirement place can be both exciting and yet overwhelming. While preparing to live on a fixed monthly income, chalking out retirement planning details is essential. It involves ensuring financial stability in the years lying ahead by creating a budget, evaluating your assets, and maximizing your savings. First and foremost, discuss your planning for retirement with your spouse.

Communication between you both is the key because spouses often do not have the same planning for retirement. They may not be on the same page. While you may be dreaming of moving to a farm in the countryside, your spouse may be thinking of moving into an apartment in the city. So, think of where you will live and whether you will continue to stay in your home or downsize.

Avoid communication gaps with your spouse by talking openly and transparently about your retirement planning. Chalk out your post-retirement life of leisure and how you are going to pay for it. Discuss with your spouse when and where you wish to retire and the income you anticipate post-retirement from pensions, social security, or investments. Will it be sufficient for you to afford the lifestyle you desire and meet your current and future health needs? It is important to consider the impact of your future health care needs on your nest egg. The type of health care coverage you have, and its associated costs, will help you estimate better.

The first step towards enjoying your golden years is to do your retirement planning by customizing your budget to your goals, needs, and wants. Essential items such as food, health care, shelter, life insurance, and clothing may be defined as “needs”. Discretionary items are your retirement “wants” which vary from person to person. Sort out your needs and wants and decide how you will pay for them. Looking forward to a retirement lasting 30 years or more, proper investment is essential. Ensure that your asset allocations meet your lifestyle, goals, and expected lifespan in your retirement planning. However, your retirement scenario may change despite having a planned retirement age and strategies to achieve your goals.

Consider alternative options and understand where your retirement planning and savings are. If they aren’t adding up, you may modify your plan by reconsidering your needs and wants. Increase your current retirement contributions. Delay your retirement date. Plan to work part-time. If you are retiring on a limited income, you must know your options. Daily living expenses can be costly enough. Not everyone can build up massive savings for health care, housing, and other essential post-retirement expenses. Seniors with limited income have options to ensure they can live out their golden years securely. These include Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid, Affordable senior housing, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Military veteran benefits, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), etc.

Housing will also play an important role in your retirement planning budget. Whether you are planning to stay in your current home, downsize, or shift to a retirement community, retirement housing costs will use up a large portion of your savings. Many empty nesters realize that their houses are bigger than their needs. Downsizing to a smaller home saves on monthly payments, utilities, and repair costs. It also frees up funds to pay for assisted living or nursing home costs.

A smaller home helps simplify your life and frees up time to enjoy hobbies or travel the globe. However, the emotional ties to a family home can be strong, and the decision to move is difficult. Therefore, you must consider how much equity you have if it’s your own home. Whether you can afford to stay in it for ten years or more, and whether your medical and physical needs can be met there. Also, if you are feeling lonely or isolated or finding it tiresome to maintain your home? Depending on these factors you must decide which of the following five retirement living options suit you better-Aging in place, Independent living retirement communities, Assisted living retirement communities, Continuing care retirement communities, or Nursing homes.

Aging in Place

Seniors who age in place prefer to remain in their current home instead of moving to a retirement community. But comfortably and safely aging in place means ensuring home health care is available and necessary home modifications are made. The costs for aging in place are based on medical and physical needs. While adding wall-mounted grab bars and a shower chair in the bathroom to prevent falls are not so expensive, extensive modifications such as installing a stair lift or adding a wheelchair ramp are costly.

Independent Living Retirement Community

Independent living retirement homes are designed for independent and active seniors. The minimum age limit ranges from 50+ to 55+ and 65+. High-end hotel-like amenities are provided, including fitness centers, swimming pools, restaurant-style dining, beauty salons, and security services. Independent living facilities often combine rent, utilities, and amenities into the overall monthly cost. Costs vary by location. There are a wide variety of independent living retirement homes which you may choose from, depending on your budget.

These include:

Condominiums

They eliminate the burden of exterior property maintenance. You won’t have to shovel snow, cut grass, or clean gutters ever again! Common amenities include a pool, gym, and parking garage.

Senior Apartments

Designed for the needs of older adults they offer amenities such as dining, housekeeping, and community social events. Accessibility and safety features such as walk-in tubs make the space easier to navigate.

Independent Living Units

Housing options range from apartments to single-family homes based on built-in accessibility features. Independent living units enable seniors to remain self-sufficient without feeling isolated. Resident amenities often include a gym, dining, a salon, and social activities.

Cooperative Housing

Residents of cooperative housing collectively own the building and land where they live. The residents are the stockholders in this unique non-profit form of senior living.

Townhomes

Larger than a condo but smaller than a stand-alone home, senior townhomes provide low-maintenance living without the responsibility of exterior property upkeep and repairs. Many townhomes include amenity-rich features such as a community pool, fitness center, and walking paths.

Cottages

These stand-alone residences are part of a senior community, enabling older adults to live independently while enjoying a range of amenities. Recreational options often include swimming pools, tennis courts, wellness activities, and social events.

Continuing Care Retirement Community

A Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) is a life plan community offering an independent, amenity-rich lifestyle with access to onsite care, should medical needs progress. This continuum of care offers stability, allowing residents to stay in one community for the long term. The biggest advantage of these is that family members with different levels of care needs need not be separated. Monthly charges may increase as needs change. It’s important to note that these fees may include the cost of care, depending on the contract and community you choose.

Assisted Living Retirement Community

Within assisted living retirement homes, some seniors remain largely independent. While some residents may require assistance with specific Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), they don’t need 24-hour medical attention. Common services provided in these communities include meals, housekeeping, laundry, and transportation. The final cost depends on the size of the facility and the types and number of services you require. They are more affordable than a private or semi-private room in a nursing home. 

Nursing Homes

These are residential care facilities that provide 24-hour care for seniors needing high levels of assistance with non-medical, everyday living tasks. Support may include housekeeping, dispensing of medication, meal services, and assistance with ADLs. Senior Care in a nursing home is more advanced than assisted living and costs more. While private rooms are costly, semi-private rooms are more affordable.

Now that you have decided to move into a retirement home, here are a few things to ponder over in your retirement planning.

• Your expectations for daily life as a senior
• Your preference for geographical location and climate
• The cost of living in the retirement home you are considering
• Meeting payments for living in a retirement home
• The contract terms, entrance fees, and monthly association fees
• Your plan for current and future health care needs
• The recreational and leisure activities of interest offered, such as exercise classes, gardening, golf, or crafting.
• The amenities offered
• Restrictions imposed such as no pets, limited visitors, or no smoking
• Whether the location is a gated community. What is the crime rate?
• Your eligibility for municipal tax benefits like property tax exemption

Deciding on the Retirement Home That Meets Your Lifestyle Needs

As you age and settle into your place in the world, your sense of identity strengthens, and by the time you reach your senior years, you have a fair idea of the kind of lifestyle that will make you happy. Keep these objectives in mind as you search for a retirement home or community. Finding a place where you truly feel at home is your key to long-term happiness. There are many retirement lifestyle communities to choose from, including :

• Veterans’ senior living communities focus on individuals who served in the active military, naval, or air service 
• LGBTQ+ retirement communities providing quality care in a discrimination-free environment
• Religious-based senior care providing spiritual support in a faith-based facility
• Masonic senior living housing catering to master masons, wives, widows, and female dependents
• Singles retirement communities tailored to single, divorced, and widowed older adults
• Luxury senior living communities provide upscale living and high-end amenities
• RV retirement parks give full hook-up to power, water, and sewage
• Beachfront senior living communities at a coastal location close to the water.
• University retirement communities with advanced educational options and on-site classes
• Equestrian retirement communities with access to horses, stables, and trails
• Golf communities for seniors with well-kept courses, a clubhouse, and carts
• Houseboat retirement communities with open spaces for motorized or moored vessels

Now that you have decided on the location and kind of retirement home you desire, the next step would be to tour the retirement homes you have shortlisted. When you visit the retirement home, you should get a warm, friendly, and welcoming feeling. Will you fit easily into the community? Is the food to your taste and is the service good? Is the staff personal and family-like? Drop into the ongoing classes and activities and check out the common spaces for cleanliness and maintenance. Are the residents happy? Visit an apartment. Will your things fit there? Will you be able to customize it to your needs? Or will you still be able to live in the community if your health needs increase with age? This brings us to the questions you need to ask when you tour the retirement home.

• How does their meal plan work?
• How is the food? What is their chef’s culinary experience like?
• What contract options do they offer?
• Do they have on-site fitness training sessions? What are the different types of group fitness classes they offer?
• Are there healthy dining options available? Do they have an on-site nutritionist?
• What social activities do they offer? Is the resident turn out good at these sessions?
• Are there shopping centers, grocery stores, hospitals, and pharmacies nearby? Or are these needs available on campus?
• Are pets allowed? If so, what kind?
• Are there maid services available? At what frequency? Will they take care of all the maintenance needs?

Apart from these, there are certain key senior living benefits of retirement homes that can be very important for you. Are you looking for a casual and warm homely feel or a luxury resort-like atmosphere? Atmosphere and setting are therefore very important for you to consider. What are the activities and social opportunities offered? You need to make sure your hobbies and passions are met so that you can enjoy a positive quality of life. For clubs, recreation, fitness and educational classes, swimming, golf, Happy Hours, yoga, and spirituality sessions offer you opportunities to make friends, learn and grow as you age.

Retirement homes are designed with the seniors’ safety in mind. They have carpets for warmth and traction so that your home is better insulated and you are less likely to fall. There is night lighting in bathrooms so that residents can easily find their way at night. There are fast-response buttons in each apartment so that the medical staff can be alerted when they need assistance, or there may be pendants for the residents to wear, especially in assisted living. Memory care areas have extra secure spaces and memory care-trained staff, for residents who may get lost or wander off. Finally, most seniors seek the peace of mind that a Life Plan Community offers to know that care will continue to be available to them when and where they need it.

For these reasons, retirement homes are becoming increasingly popular and customizable to your needs. With so many choices available, carefully decide what to look for in a retirement home and ask the right questions about continuing care retirement communities. This is going to be one of the most important decisions of your life.