We hope you’ve enjoyed our recent series on retirement living options, and it’s got you thinking – because nothing is more important than putting your feet up in the home that suits you best. From caravans, cottages, and co-sharing, to apartments down town and abroad, our series has covered a huge range of retirement living choices. We’ve taken you into rentals, retirement villages, tiny homes, and homes shared with family. We’ve even given retirement as a live-in property manager a whirl! But when it all boils down, what’s most important is you choose a home which makes you happy – and it can be for a whole raft of reasons, as we’ll see below.
When we choose our retirement living option, we factor in multiple considerations, one of the most important of which, is financial. There’s little point in choosing a home which we can’t then afford to maintain, or which drains our finances to the degree we have no ability to enjoy other aspects of retirement such as holiday breaks or club memberships. And what’s a home if we can’t afford to entertain in it occasionally? Just as importantly, although none of us want to consider life after our ‘forever retirement home,’ it does pay to consider the possibility of another move, should it be required. Will our retirement home be quick and easy to sell should we ever need to move into supported care?
When choosing a retirement living option, we need to think about location, and how it will enable us to connect with community and stay in touch with family and friends. Will our retirement home be situated so we can easily get to social outings, clubs, groups, and family, without the need to drive, or where driving without stress is an option? Or are we confining ourselves to ‘life at home’ because getting out and about will be just too difficult? If family live abroad, is our retirement home in a location considered a travel hub, or are we hiding ourselves away in a scenically beautiful part of the country but is far away from main centres, and difficult to reach. Will our home be lock-and-leavable, making it easy for us to travel to stay with friends or family abroad, or are we hobbling ourselves with a property requiring daily attention? When it comes to our friendship group, if we leave them behind when we move, how confident do we feel about building new relationships?
Whether we like to admit it or not, a big part of growing older is we’re likely to increasingly require the services of health professionals. From physicians to physios and optometrist to osteopaths, will they be reachable from your retirement home, or will accessing them be mission-impossible? Even if you can call on help to get you where you need to be, will you want to make the arduous journey, or burden others with your requests?
Safety becomes a serious consideration as we age, which means choosing a retirement living option isn’t simply about opting for favourite locations or appealing architecture. Retirees require homes that contribute to their physical well-being as well as their need to socialise. A home with upstairs bedrooms may seem manageable today, but will those same stairs, in ten years’ time, become a potential hazard? While paths don’t need to be perfect, they do need to be slip-proof and easy to maintain. While a garden and lawn might be a must-have, is their size sensible, going forward?
Choosing the best retirement living option for you, requires considerable thought, but it doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel. As you consider making the move, be sure to talk to professionals, family, and friends who’ve already made the move. Read all you can on the subject; don’t do anything in a rush, but don’t leave it too late.
Whether you’re staying put and making modifications, or moving to a new home, we wish you luck. And always remember: you’re an individual – and your choice must reflect who you are!