Retirement Residence

[Deadlift1]

There have been a few threads on retirement cities. Do you have a specific type of residence that you would like to retire in (condo, house, style, or size?)

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=c+brandon+ingram+house+plans&oq=cbrandoningram+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2j69i60l2.18536j0j8&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgdii=5H-jwN_w85xq0M:&imgrc=V303p2rAwEjLUM:

[KeepItReal]

There have been a few threads on retirement cities. Do you have a specific type of residence that you would like to retire in (condo, house, style, or size?)

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=c+brandon+ingram+house+plans&oq=cbrandoningram+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2j69i60l2.18536j0j8&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgdii=5H-jwN_w85xq0M:&imgrc=V303p2rAwEjLUM:

A cabin. With a balcony. On a cruise ship.

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-retire-on-a-cruise-ship-4589917

Only half joking. I have thought about it seriously.

[+ oldNbusted]

[Guest]

There have been a few threads on retirement cities. Do you have a specific type of residence that you would like to retire in (condo, house, style, or size?)

In a house, if I'm able. If ever it gets to a point where I need assisted living, a place with a gourmet chef and daily activities (like the place we got our mother).

[Walker1]

I like a small house on the beach. I don't like rain or snow though-love, love sunshine .

[spider]

I fantasize about going off the grid. No newspaper, no TV, no social media. Go into town a couple times a month for supplies while averting my eyes from anything unnecessary. No text. Cell phone only so people can check that I’m alive. Porch on the lake. Long walks with the dog...

 

the reality is I’d be bored to tears.

[+ azdr0710]

[BSR]

I fantasize about going off the grid. No newspaper, no TV, no social media. Go into town a couple times a month for supplies while averting my eyes from anything unnecessary. No text. Cell phone only so people can check that I’m alive. Porch on the lake. Long walks with the dog...

 

the reality is I’d be bored to tears.

No strippers? No sugar babies? No escorts? Sorry, that's just not a life worth living.

[+ Reisr30]

I’m a city guy at heart. A condo with a doorman and amenities like concierge service, valet etc would be what I would love to have in retirement. Particularly as I get to a stage where I need assistance.

[Guest]

I’m a city guy at heart. A condo with a doorman and amenities like concierge service, valet etc would be what I would love to have in retirement. Particularly as I get to a stage where I need assistance.

I would only go into assisted living if I needed a lot more assistance than what a doorman, concierge, or valet could provide (such as being unable to cook for myself, transfer from wheelchair to bed/toilet, etc.). Hopefully I'll never get there, but gotta be prepared for the worst.

[+ bigjoey]

I would only go into assisted living if I needed a lot more assistance than what a doorman, concierge, or valet could provide (such as being unable to cook for myself, transfer from wheelchair to bed/toilet, etc.). Hopefully I'll never get there, but gotta be prepared for the worst.

 

Having volunteered at a continuum of care facility for decades, I do not recall anyone wanting to leave their home and move into any institution with great enthusiasm. It is a matter of necessity.

 

It is not just physical necessity like transfer from wheelchair to bed/toilet but often memory loss. For example, assisted living facility staff dispenses all drugs; people often forget to take their medications on time or even forget they took them and double dose. Where I volunteer they use to manage a Section 8 independent living building with 200 plus apartments; people would forget they had something on the stove and start a fire or start to fill the bathtub and forget and the tub would overflow. Assisted living can provide a good measure of safety as our memories start to fail.

[spider]

No strippers? No sugar babies? No escorts? Sorry, that's just not a life worth living.

 

nope. Sort of a hermit life although all my nice stuff would come with me as reminders of my past, and I’d need a chef’s kitchen complete with one of those $50K French stoves and A/C as I can’t stand heat and bugs. Well there goes the simple life thing, I guess.

[+ g56whiz]

I’m thinking a remote cabin shared with a dozen uninhibited naked bodybuilders half of whom are blond and rest Asia or black. And should I expire in flagrant delicio there would be no need for assisted living.

[+ FrankR]

I’m thinking a remote cabin shared with a dozen uninhibited naked bodybuilders half of whom are blond and rest Asia or black. And should I expire in flagrant delicio there would be no need for assisted living.

And I thought @KeepItReal was aiming high when he started talking about retiring on cruise ships! Lol??

[+ Charlie]

It depends on a lot of things. Because I retired at 60 in good health, I wanted a house with a yard and a pool, in a beautiful warm location, so I moved to Palm Springs. A colleague who also retired at 60 in good health wanted a cottage in a small town on a spectacular Northwestern coast, and he got that. I loved to visit his place, but I wouldn't have wanted to live there, because I would have been bored (and cold and wet). Also, as he aged, problems of transportation and lack of amenities--like a supermarket or any medical facilities, not even a pharmacy--became more important. As he became infirm, just getting in and out of the cottage, which was small but had stairs leading up to the front door, much less strolling on the beach, was problematic.

 

Eventually, that Midcentury Modern home with the pool and the yard with its beautiful trees began to need too much maintenance, and we moved to a new house (still all on one floor) in a gated retirement community on a small plot that required little maintenance, with pools as part of the community amenities. The next move will probably be to assisted living, more than likely in an apartment, which is not what appeals to me, but what makes sense. I already own the little grassy plot that will be my final retirement spot.

[+ Reisr30]

nope. Sort of a hermit life although all my nice stuff would come with me as reminders of my past, and I’d need a chef’s kitchen complete with one of those $50K French stoves and A/C as I can’t stand heat and bugs. Well there goes the simple life thing, I guess.

Love high end stoves (Lacanche, La Cornue) but find them intimidating. I am not a very good cook but I always wanted a high end kitchen where I could burn things LoL

[Rudynate]

A little farmhouse on a hillside with a wraparound porch

[BSR]

I would only go into assisted living if I needed a lot more assistance than what a doorman, concierge, or valet could provide (such as being unable to cook for myself, transfer from wheelchair to bed/toilet, etc.). Hopefully I'll never get there, but gotta be prepared for the worst.

Nowadays I can't imagine a senior would need to move into assisted living just because they could no longer cook for themselves. With so many meal delivery options (services that deliver frozen meals to your door or UberEats, etc.), a senior doesn't have to cook as long as they can afford those services (and manage a microwave). Yes, they can get expensive, but so is assisted living.

[cany10011]

I need to live close to museums and dimsum restaurants.

[BSR]

Two aunts live in an active adult community in FL. You have to be 55+ to buy or rent a home there, but don't ever call it a retirement community because the residents (almost all of whom are indeed retired) get all upset.

 

It's way far away from what I would call "civilization," an hour south of Orlando, with not much in the area outside the gates except a good hospital. Otherwise it's all big box stores & fast food restaurants. But within the community, they have every activity imaginable. The health club is enormous & state of the art. They have multiple lap pools, jogging paths, tennis courts, and 36 holes of golf. At the community center, you'll find a club for everything under the sun: ballroom dancing, photography, pottery, bridge, mahjong, travel, sea kayaking, spelunking, you name it.

 

Both aunts have picked up terrific new hobbies (salsa dancing for one, Texas hold 'em for the other) and made so many close friends. They both say that the community is paradise for them.

 

For me? I'd rather live under a bridge. You have to drive at least an hour into Orlando to get to a gourmet restaurant. French pastry shops or Italian gelato? Maybe Orlando, but Ft. Lauderdale would be a better bet. Culture, like the ballet? Drive to Miami. Strippers, sugar babies & escorts? Make sure to fill up before heading out.

 

The worst of it is that I would feel like the Only Gay Man On Earth, at least within the gates of the community. I asked if any gays live there (out of ~12,000 residents), and the gossipy one said she didn't know a single one. Not that they discriminate, of course, it's just not the kind of place a gay person or couple would choose to retire in. I'm glad my aunts are so happy, but I'd rather shoot my toe off than live there.

Edited October 3, 2019 by BSR

[RealAvalon]

A little farmhouse on a hillside with a wraparound porch

I also like the eclectic style of Queen Anne architecture

[Rudynate]

I also like the eclectic style of Queen Anne architecture

Queen Anne-exactly.

[+ Charlie]

Nowadays I can't imagine a senior would need to move into assisted living just because they could no longer cook for themselves. With so many meal delivery options (services that deliver frozen meals to your door or UberEats, etc.), a senior doesn't have to cook as long as they can afford those services (and manage a microwave). Yes, they can get expensive, but so is assisted living.

There is a difference between not wanting to cook for oneself and not being able to do so. If the advertising is any indication, those meal and grocery delivery services are aimed mostly at busy younger people, not people who are unable to shop and make their own meals. If you can't make toast or scramble an egg for breakfast, or pour the milk into your oatmeal before you microwave it, GrubHub is not going to be of much use to you. As Unicorn mentioned, those who no can longer cook for themselves probably can't do a lot of other things for themselves, which is why they opt for assisted living.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Charlie

[Rudynate]

There is a difference between not wanting to cook for oneself and not being able to do so. If the advertising is any indication, those meal and grocery delivery services are aimed mostly at busy younger people, not people who are unable to shop and make their own meals. If you can't make toast or scramble an egg for breakfast, or pour the milk into your oatmeal before you microwave it, GrubHub is not going to be of much use to you. As Unicorn mentioned, those who can longer cook for themselves probably can't do a lot of other things for themselves, which is why they opt for assisted living.

 

 

My husband and I subscribe to two different services, hellofesh and plated. They eliminate meal planning and grocery shopping, but, if anything, meal prep is more complicated because you're always fixing something new. It's great for us because of the amazing variety but a lot of people like having a limited food palette, particularly old people.

[Guest]

Yes, Charlie is right. During my mother's last year, she couldn't even make toast. It was very difficult to get her to accept help, even when she was "surviving" (but losing weight) on yogurt and cold cuts. My greatest fear is having dementia, but no idea as to how impaired I am. She couldn't even figure out how to put the ATM card into the machine (i.e. tried to put it in sideways), let alone remember her PIN. Yet still believed everything was fine. The last time she drove, she called the police to report her car stolen because she couldn't remember where she had parked it. A bystander eventually found it for her. She blamed the "bad lighting" in the streets.