Showing posts with label best place to retire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best place to retire. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

How Far Should You Live From Your Adult Children?

If you are planning to retire soon, one important question you may have to ask yourself is how far you are willing to live from your adult children.  Do you want to live within a short drive, a long drive, or an air flight away?  There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

It is important that you spend some time thinking about the different concerns you have before choosing a new retirement location.  You don't want to make an expensive mistake, if you can avoid it.

When my husband and I were visiting potential colleges with one of our teenage daughters, the admission's officer said to the parents who were gathered, "Please do not move and forget to tell your children your new address!"  That got a laugh from the crowd.  However, it is apparently not unusual for some parents to send their kids off to college and then move into a retirement community or downsize to a smaller home ... neglecting to give their new address to their children for a few months!

Many people wrestle with the decision of where they want to live after they retire.  Below are some thoughts for you to consider.

Retirement Near Your Adult Children

Whether your kids already live in your hometown or they live across the country, is it your goal to retire someplace near them?  Do you envision seeing them on a regular basis and being involved in your grandchildren's daily lives?  Sometimes this is wonderful ... and sometimes things do not work out the way you envision.  Questions you need to ask are:

Do your children want to see you on a regular basis?
Do your children agree that you should spend a lot of time with your grandchildren?
Will your children start using you as a regular babysitter and/or pet sitter?
Is it possible that, after you move close to them, your children may end up getting a new job and moving somewhere far away?
How will you feel if you move near them and they get transferred somewhere else?
Will your feelings be hurt if they spend the holidays with their in-laws instead of you?
Will your adult children become too dependent on you?
Will you be expected to host all the major family dinners and special events?

Retirement a Long Drive From Your Children

Do you think you will be more comfortable if you are within driving distance of your children, but not close enough that they will regularly depend on you for babysitting and hosting all the holiday meals?   Is that your ideal living arrangement?  If so, here are the questions that you should ask yourself:

How far are you willing to drive to attend a grandchild's birthday or special event?
How often are you willing to make the drive?
Where will you stay during your visits ... in a hotel or with your children?
Will you have a guest area for your children when they visit you?
Will your other friends and relatives be willing to visit you there?
What happens if your adult child is transferred to another region of the country?

Retirement That is an Airplane Flight Away From Your Children

What if you must take an airplane in order to visit your children?  Many of the questions that pertain to a long drive will also pertain to taking a flight.  However, there are a few other issues you may need to consider:

How much will it cost to fly to see your children?
Will you have to take different flights to see different children?
How often will you be able to afford to fly to see them?
Are you willing and able to help pay for your children to visit you?
Where will you stay when you visit your children ... in a hotel or with your children?
Will you have a guest area for your children when they visit you?
Will your other friends and relatives be willing to visit you there?

Our Personal Experience with Retirement Distances

My husband and I have adult daughters who live in all the categories mentioned above.  One lives just 7 miles from us and we see her and her children several times a week.  Yes, we often babysit the kids, pick them up from school, pet sit when they go out of town, and help out financially.  We also host all the holiday dinners.  Those are the advantages or disadvantages (depending on how you look at it) of living near your adult children.

Another one of our daughters lives an 8 hour drive away.  We see her every few months.  Sometimes we drive to see her and sometimes she drives down to see us.  We are much less involved with her children, but we see them more often than we do the grandchildren who live an air flight away.

Two of our daughters and their families live on the other side of the country from us.  We go and see them once a year and they come to see us once a year.  Fortunately, we are able to combine the trips when we visit them, since they only live a couple of hours' drive away from each other.  However, we see much less of those grandchildren and that will probably remain true most of their lives. Using Skype and Facebook helps to make the distance between us seem shorter.

Which decision is right for you?  Only you can decide that.  However, it is important to consider all the possibilities before you make a final decision.

However, before making the decision, you may also want to read my next post on this topic.  It contains comments of both grandparents and young people and the way they feel about having grandparents who live either nearby or far away:

http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com/2015/04/the-perfect-distance-from-children-and.html

For more information about what you should consider when choosing a retirement community, use the tabs at the top of this page.  They contain links to hundreds of additional articles about where to retire.

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo credit: www.morguefile.com

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Age in Place Villages Provide Resources in Your Neighborhood

When I first heard the term "Age in Place Village," I thought I was hearing about a new type of senior housing.  However, I was surprised to learn that this is actually a system for organizing local resources to make it easier for seniors to remain in their current homes and neighborhoods. Aging in place refers to people who decide to continue to live in their current home after they retire and stay there for as long as possible.  When these people are connected to local service providers and senior centers, it often makes it easier for them to remain in their homes.

In the past, aging in place often meant that people became isolated.  As their long-term neighbors moved away or died and new, younger families moved into the neighborhood, many elderly people simply began to hole up in their homes with little or no social interaction with the community around them.

Where to Find Age in Place Villages

According to a U.S. News article dated April 4, 2013, the concept of Age in Place Villages began in 2001 when several senior citizens in the Beacon Hill area of Boston decided that their neighborhood needed to have more support services if seniors were going to be able to successfully and happily live out their lives in their current homes.  They called their network of support systems a "village."  The original Age in Place Village was very simple, primarily consisting of neighbors who were willing to check on each other and help each other out, when needed.

The village concept has become more sophisticated and is now spreading across the nation.  Today, the Beacon Hill Village has a board of directors and an executive director.  Their goal has also expanded beyond the idea of simply making it easier for people to remain in their homes.  Today they also strive to provide more community activities so that aging citizens can find companionship and fun activities in their neighborhood, providing them with some of the same benefits they would find in an over-55 retirement community.

Rutgers School of Social Work has studied the village phenomena and they concluded that there are now about 85 organized Age in Place Villages located around the United States and 120 more are planned for the near future.

According to the Age in Place website, the goal of the village concept is to help people remain active, independent and social in the neighborhoods that feel familiar to them. The movement has now also formed a National Aging in Place Council called NAIPC.

You can find local chapters of NAIPC in these areas, as well as many others:

Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Central Florida
Central  Virginia
Jackson, Mississippi
Long Island, New York
Minneapolis - St. Paul
Orange County, California
Providence, Rhode Island
Sacramento, California
Seattle, Washington

The Resources Provided by the Villages

One way that these villages succeed is by providing senior citizens with access to local service providers who can help them remain in their homes.  While there are many types of services that can benefit seniors, depending on their needs, some of the choices include adult day care services, money management and credit counseling, in home care, home accessibility consultants, physical therapists and much more.  These organizations can also help seniors learn how to find local transportation assistance and make their homes more senior friendly.

As a resident of Orange County, California, I have known people who have taken advantage of some of the transportation assistance, adult daycare services, in-home care providers and similar programs.  The network of senior centers that are dotted throughout Orange County have helped many senior citizens stay active.  Before I moved to my current over-55 retirement community, I took yoga classes at a senior center in Irvine, California.  While I was there, I observed other senior citizens who were enjoying low cost lunches, taking exercise or art classes, playing bridge and participating in many of the same activities that are available in my retirement community.  These senior centers have made me aware of the fact that many people can remain in their current communities and still stay connected with their peers, get out of their homes, make new friends and participate in a variety of activities.


If you are interested in aging in place, you may want to contact the NAIPC at www.ageinplace.org.  The information they provide will make your aging experience go smoother, since they strive to help senior citizens find the resources they need to successfully remain in their homes as they age, even if they need a little help in order to achieve this goal.

If you need assistance with your retirement planning, or you have not made up your mind where you want to live after you retire, you may be interested in using the tabs or pull down menu at the top of this article or checking out the index articles shown below.  Each index articles contains a short introduction followed by links to a number of other posts that have been made to this blog about a wide variety of topics.

Gifts, Travel and Family Relationships

Great Places for Boomers to Retire Overseas

Great Places to Retire in the United States

Health and Medical Topics for Baby Boomers

Money and Financial Planning for Retirement

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo of cottage courtesy of www.morguefile.com


Resources:


http://homes.yahoo.com/news/what-seniors-should-expect-from-aging-in-place-villages-215144777.html

http://www.ageinplace.org

http://www.ageinplace.org/village_concept_promotes_aging_in_place_%E2%80%93_aging_well_magazine.aspx