There are fewer simple choices about where to retire nowadays
When a wedding anniversary break from the kids took us down to the idyllic South Coast of NSW our minds playfully turned to retirement and where we might eventually end our days in peace.
I should have kept quiet. What might have been an idle speculation as to the dream location soon turned into a more fraught negotiation about the relative merits of the beach, bush and even inner city.
It soon emerged we have a lot more work to do before reaching any type of consensus especially since the advice can be to plan such moves, be they sea or tree changes, at least five to ten years ahead.
And we are not alone. As with so much of life the simple choices of yesteryear, perhaps a cottage in a seaside village, may not just be less available or affordable but they are also surrounded by so many more options.
There are now more retirement villages as opposed to simple retirement homes. Some are even in high rises and so-called vertical living.
There are different legal and financial structures of retirement village but they can end up cheaper and more many more secure and sensible than owning another home.
There’s also independent living units, as they are called, in the city and government funding to encourage older people, as they often prefer, to stay in their own homes longer.
And many downsizing retirees prefer to stay put in their own neigbourhoods with friends and infrastructure rather than move out into aged enclaves akin to ‘God’s waiting room’.
This issue emerged in our suburb some years ago when a charity tried to build high-rise apartments to accommodate independent living for older locals.
It was an innovative plan which could have been a model for many more but was blocked by NIMBY attitudes so retirees who can’t afford to stay in their homes face moving far away from friends and family.
We hear a lot about first-home buyers and their trials and tribulations but there are also last-home buyers who face different kinds of decisions.
It’s not just about where they might chose to live there’ the option of retiring to SE Asia where some nations welcome elderly Australians. (Click here to read this report)
Looking back on our time by that south coast beach we could feel comfortable that, without doing the sums to see if we can afford it , it at least appears we are spoilt for choice with retirement options.
However there’s also the dawning realisation that we and perhaps many others might need to start talking about this subject now as it’s takes time to get it right.
Listen to Steve Price: Christopher Zinn From The FiftyUp Club
