Baby Boomer Self-Appraisal: Where Should I Live in Retirement

Note: This is the 3rd in a 3 article series about baby boomers and their retirement real estate plans. Part 1 featured the differences (and similarities) of boomers’ retirement housing preferences and the homes builders are building. Part 2 explored the conflict between baby boomer desire to retire in suburbia vs. reality.

What kind of retirement lifestyle is best for you?
Some visitors will recognize a few similarities to these questions and those in our free “Baby Boomers Guide to Selecting a Retirement Community“. Our goal with this article is to provide thought-provoking questions any self-respecting boomer should ask herself before deciding where and how to live in retirement.

1. Are you willing to move far away in retirement? Recognize that might mean starting over again with friends, and not seeing children and grandchildren as often as you do now. This issue is one of the most frequent causes of unfortunate retirement location decisions.
2. Can you afford to retire where you live now? Are your property taxes, insurance payments, and maintenance expenses going to be affordable on your retirement budget? Should you consider downsizing to save money and work?
3. Is warm weather important to you in the wintertime? Just how warm - would it be OK to have an occasional cold day in the 30’s or 40’s, or do you want at least 60’s every day? If the former is OK, there are lots of places in the Carolinas, west, and south. If it’s the latter, better head to South Florida.
4. Are you passionate about some activity, sport, or culture? If golf, tennis, or boating are extremely important you should probably consider an active adult community that has those activities. If culture is critical to you, better head for a college town or at least a medium sized city.
5. Do you like meeting people, but aren’t necessarily good at it? If that describes you, you should consider an active adult or 55+ community. In these communities it is so easy to meet people you almost have to try not to have a full social life.
6. Are you willing to try living in a new culture? If not, forget about moving to the south if you are from the northeast. Ditto moving to Mexico, or South America. No matter how cheap the lifestyle might be, you will not be happy.
7. Have you really thought through the idea of retiring in the suburbs where you live in now? It might be tempting to say you don’t want to move, but think about these factors: maintenance; taxes; driving miles to get to a store, doctor, or pharmacist. Imagine yourself in your 80’s living in your current house - who is going to maintain it, and what will happen when your doctor tells you to stop driving? The experts predict that residential density is the wave of the future - critical for transportation, energy efficiency, and an improved social life.
8. What is your plan for the long term? If we are lucky enough, youwill live into old age. If you live long enough, you won’t be able to take care of yourself. Long term care insurance is one way to plan for that eventuality, and you can either buy it or self-insure. But when the day comes that you need it, you better be ready. Many forward thinking people have a plan that includes living in a CCRC - Continuing Care Retirement Community- by a certain age. That way when they might need assisted living or nursing care, they can get in, and it’s paid for.
9. Have you thought about a 2 part retirement? Most people in their 50’s or 60’s probably wouldn’t like living in a CCRC - now. That being the case, you might be smart to consider a 2 part retirement (young retirehood in a 55+ or conventional community, then moving to a CCRC or independent living). You could make that a lot easier by making your first move to an active adult community that has these options as part of its campus, or has those type of facilities in the vicinity. That way your 2nd move, when you won’t be that young, will be a lot less traumatic.
10. Have you listed your priorities for the features that must be in your baby boomer retirement home? Here is what is on our list: universal design, door handles (not knobs), accessible counters, wide hallways, minimal steps, 1st floor master bedroom, no/low maintenance, public transportation nearby, walk/bike/golf cart to stores and doctors. List your must-haves, and don’t settle for less.
11. Before you buy, how about renting? We hear this time and again - I wish I would have rented first - then I would have known (fill in problem).

Bottom Line
Take a moment with your significant other to discuss these questions (and feel free to add others in the Comments section below). Are you both in agreement on these issues, and have you come up with a plan? In our opinion, the mere act of discussing these issues could help lead you to a more interesting and enjoyable retirement.

Baby Boomers Delaying Retirement

Remember the great fear of a few years ago: baby boomers will be retiring in droves, creating a severe shortage of skilled workers and driving up costs for employers. Whew - there’s one less thing to worry about. A recent survey on the impact on retirement of the recession by the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM) found that more than two-thirds of human resource professionals surveyed report that the number of employees planning to delay retirement has increased.

Topretirements is frequently asked this question and the SHRM survey confirms our theories on the matter. Millions of working Americans are nervous about their retirements because of a combination of ingredients: their investment portfolios are way down and they are fearful about their jobs.
According to The State, The unfortunate reality is that more and more people 55+ are out of work who would rather be working. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says more people in this age group are or out of work since they began keeping records. Experience Works, a nonprofit employment training organization for older Americans, figures that the expected retirement age for Americans is now 72.

What do you think?
Have you delayed your retirement for one reason or another? Please respond in the Comments section below.

Boomer Conflict Looming on Suburban Retirement: Desire Vs. Reality

Note: This article is a continuation of our earlier article, “55+ Home Buyers and Builders Not Exactly in Synch“. See Part 3, a Boomer’s Retirement Self-Assessment.

Baby boomers’ expressed desires about where they want to retire are pretty clear: we want to continue living where we do now - in suburbia*. That sounds fine as long as we are in our 60’s and 70’s. But think about what will happen when we get into our 80’s and 90’s. Studies find most people outlive their ability to drive by 6 to 10 years. In the suburbs if we can’t drive, we will be in very big trouble. Also, at that age moving and starting over with friends and neighbors is not that easy. It sounds harsh, but the reality is that many of us will become trapped in our homes with no easy exit.

Living in the suburbs is also incompatible with several of the attributes baby boomers say they want in their next homes. Chief among them is low maintenance (since suburban homes tend to be big with large yards to maintain). Another is proximity to doctors and shopping. As the Wall St. Journal puts it: “the suburbs are proving a tough place to grow old”. Bottom line: the conflict between where we want to live and the skills necessary for survival are setting up for a very big problem for millions of baby boomers down the road.

A Bright New Idea - Transform the Suburbs
One obvious solution to this problem is to scrap the suburbs as a retirement destination. Instead, we could move to a city, small town, new urban community, or active adult community where driving is not necessary. A place where proximity to life’s essentials is easy by walking or public transportation. But now another idea, transforming the suburbs so they are more livable is emerging. The implications of this movement are exciting for many suburban towns.

The Wall St. Journal had a fantastic article written by Glenn Ruffenach on this development last week: “Making Suburbia Livable“. The piece centered on towns on the south like Fayetteville (Georgia), Lakewood (Colorado), and Atlanta (GA). These forward-looking towns have hired urban planners and design firms to help them solve the problem of the future - how to make the suburbs livable for all of the boomers that want to grow old there.

One of the most interesting solutions is happening in Lakewood, where a failed shopping mall provided the necessary land for a planned community, Belmar. Here many delighted residents are enjoying 22 blocks of city living —offices, homes, shops, restaurants, and entertainment— right in the middle of suburbia. As opposed to homes set on 1 acre lots, here there is sufficient density to allow “walkability”, where one can walk or to take public transportation for access to shopping, restaurants, and medical services. “Walkability” comes right from the New Urbanism movement, which builds easier access to essentials while leaving the car in the garage.

The need for communities to develop alternatives to the suburbs, or to improve the infrastructure that is already there, is imperative for a number of reasons. At the peak of baby boomer aging bulge in 2030, one out of every five Americans will be 60 or older. Communities will not have enough resources to care for all the seniors who in effect become prisoners in their own homes at the end of life. And as other, more enlightened boomers see the light and flee the suburbs for more livable communities, these towns are going to lose essential tax revenues.

Fortunately some forward-thinking towns are now beginning to hire urban planning experts to plan for communities to will meet the needs of the future. Adding sidewalks, busses or other transportation systems, and neighborhoods with high density housing are some of the alternatives being considered.

Bottom Line
We baby boomers are a stubborn lot. We always want what we want,even if it’s not so good for us. It seems obvious to us that our desire to live in the suburbs is a good example. Look for the 3rd part of this series, which will be a self-questionnaire to help baby boomers identity and prioritize their retirement plans.

*An AARP survey found that 85% of people want to live in their existing homes as long as possible. The NAHB/Met Life study of the 55+ Market had results that pointed in the same direction but not as strongly; that survey found 62% want to stay where they are.

55+ Home Buyers and Builders Not Exactly in Synch

Note: This is the 1st of a 3 part article. Here is a link to the second, “Conflict Looming on Suburban Retirement: Desire Vs. Reality“. Part 3 is a Self-Assessment for Baby Boomer Retirement Preferences.

As the largest demographic in American history, the baby boomer population is a well-studied group: all sorts of marketers are anxious to know what we will be up to next. Part II of a 55+Housing joint study done by the National Association of Home Builders and The Met Life Mature Marketing Institute was just released: “What are Builders Building, What Do Buyers Want“, and the results provide an interesting insight into what is happening in the 55+ housing market.

One important fact to know is that some 62% of all boomers plan on staying where they live now,which is generally in the suburbs. That percentage staying home is probably lower than their parents’ generation, but it still represents a very large number of people who intend to age in place. Only 9% are interested in living in a city, and 28% would prefer rural life.

People 55+, who increasingly include a lot of baby boomers, are looking for these features in their new homes:
- Single story home (79% prefer)
- A home should be about 1900 sq.ft., about the size of their current home
- Most (51%) want a 3 bedroom home
- They expect to pay about $189,000 for their new home, around $70,000 less than the value of their current home.
- Highly desired inside features include washer dryer in the home, storage space, easy to open windows, 1st floor master bedroom, and easy to use climate control,
- High speed internet access is an overwhelming need

Community services. Would be buyers are interested in these services in their new communities:
- Proximity to shopping, walking/jogging trails, doctors, and church were the 4 most popular location preferences
- Maintenance programs (indoor and outdoor)
- Transportation services
- On site medical care
- Housekeeping

Some of the features that were not high up on the 55+ market’s mind:
- Green. Only 12% said they would pay more for an environmentally friendly home
- Elevators, compartmentalized toilets, and fireplaces placed near the bottom of desired features

Reasons for relocating:
The top reason for relocating would be to live in a lower maintenance home. Moving to be closer to family members is second, and lower cost living is third.

What the builders are building
- 55+ builders are constructing more single family detached homes (69%) than single family attached or townhouses (29%)
- Most homes are being built in the inner suburbs (46%), followed by the inner suburbs (30%), then cities
-
Gaps between Buyers and Builders - Almost but not exactly in synch.
- Builders are building a higher percentage (29%) of single family attached homes than buyers say they have a preference for (13%)
- 55+ households seem to prefer the farther out suburbs more than builders are building there
- Likewise builders are building a higher percentage of 2 story homes than buyers say they want
- When it comes to interior features there is an interesting mishmash of what buyers want and what builders are including. In general, builders seem more aware of the importance of universal design than consumers. Buyers want more non slip floors and 1st floor master bedrooms than builders are building. But in contrast, builders are including more 1st floor full baths, door levers (rather than knobs), and wider hallways than consumers say they have a preference for.
- When it comes to location consumers are very interested in having a drug store in their community, a preference not reflected by builders.
- Consumers wish builders would offer more maintenance services, both inside and out.

Summary
In general, 55+ consumers and builders for that market are in agreement about their preferences more than their differences. Consumers don’t seem to appreciate the importance of universal design yet. Builders seem to be building more of what they want to build where they can build it, compared to what consumers want. Bottom line for you the consumer: Know what features are important to you in your next home, and make sure you buy a home in a community that has them. This is still a buyers market, so you are in charge!

Part 2: Conflict Looming Over Suburban Retirement: Desire Vs. Reality

Fab 4’s New Releases Rock

First we must start with a question for you: “What is the best way for a member of Gen Y or Gen X to bait a baby boomer”? Answer: Be less than reverential when discussing the Beatles. (Thanks to Seth Schiesel of the New York Times).

So the music and the game world is, shall we say, “rocked” about 2 new releases about and from the Beatles. First up is a new video game that is garnering rave reviews, “The Beatles: Rock Band”. It comes as the latest release in the highly successful Rock Band and Guitar Hero series.

We confess we are not into video games. But reading Mr. Schiesel’s highly entertaining review of “The Beatles: Rock Band” might make us think about it. Apparently the computer screen shows the Beatles as they generate their music. The beauty of this game is that it has a chronological theme, so the game and the music change as the Beatles evolved. Using a microphone, electronic drum kit, and simulated bass and guitar, up to 6 players are the Beatles as their career and music moves from Liverpool to the Ed Sullivan Show to Abbey Road and beyond. According to the reviewer, this game brings the joy of music (and what music it is!) to new generations. By participating in its creation and its performance, game players are introduced to something special. And as Mr. Schiesel says, “Never before has a video game has such cultural resonance”.

The second new release is actually from the Beatles. The Beatle’s catalog has been remastered by EMI and will be released this Wednesday, September 9. It’s the complete catalog remastered from the original British albums, not the American releases which the Fab 4 weren’t quite as happy with. Allan Kozzin, music critic for the New York Times, loved the remasterings in “Long and Winding Road, Newly Repaved“. As he says: “In most cases this music has dimension and detail it never had before”. He particularly loved the sound on the “White Album”. The recordings are available individually or as a boxed set for $259.98.Enjoy

Woodstock Trivia Quiz

Our friends at Eons.com ran a pretty nifty trivia quiz about Woodstock, now celebrating it’s 40th anniversary. The survey’s rankings of favorite rock groups playing at Woodstock: #1 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, #2 Credence Clearwater Revival, and #3 Jimi Hendrix.

Favorite expression from that era: “Far Out” was “out of sight” compared to 2nd place finisher, “Groovy”.

For full details, go to the Eons summary of the Woodstock poll.

Closeness to Family is Primary Consideration for Baby Boomers’ Move to Active Adult Communities

April 28 - A much larger percentage of baby boomers now cite ”being close to family and friends” as their primary motivation for selecting an age-qualified active adult community. The sharp increase, from 19.7% in 2001 to 39.9% in 2007, represents one of the most striking conclusions from a study released today at the NAHB`s Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium in Philadelphia. The study was produced by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMI). The data is significant because by 2010 the Boomers will represent one quarter of the U.S. population.

Design is the other critical factor
Americans who are 55+, in addition to being family oriented, are also very picky consumers. Design is very important to them - the study found that the design of the home and community is a primary consideration in choosing a new community. Buyers of active adult communities will also go to great lengths to find just the right new home; they typically visit an average of 12 homes before making a purchase.

“The Baby Boomers’ influence on housing choices has been profound, and will have a huge impact on trends in housing for the mature market as that age group continues to move toward retirement,” said Sandra Timmerman, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. “Some findings, such as the tendency for buyers in 55+ communities to continue to work in greater numbers and for longer periods of time, show us that this group is redefining the traditional notion of retirement to suit their lifestyle choices.”

The multi-phased study, “Housing for the 55+ Market: Trends and Insights on Boomers and Beyond,” examines a number of trends and behaviors of the important boomer segment and the population in general. The research, released during NAHB’s Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium in Philadelphia, includes an in-depth profile of the 55+ market, based on figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey from 2001 through 2007.
Although the data covers all types of housing and households, the research concentrates on age qualified active adult communities, other non-age-qualified 55+ owner-occupied communities (not explicitly age-restricted but nevertheless occupied primarily by people age 55+), and age restricted rental communities.

The research showed that while most 55+ consumers prefer to stay in their current home as they age, an increasing number (3 percent, compared to 2.2 percent in 2001) will opt for an age-restricted community designed to attract “active adults” with a heavy emphasis on lifestyle. The analysis also confirmed that while most consumers were generally happy with their current homes, residents of age-restricted active-adult communities had the highest satisfaction rates.

The research noted that those who were residents of multifamily dwellings often sought less expensive homes. Of the Baby Boomers who are close to the traditional retirement age of 65, many are not yet planning to retire, are looking for a community close to their place of employment, or one that allows them to transition into a work-from-home situation. The number of people who chose a community close to work increased from 11.4 percent in 2001 to 16.6 percent in 2007.

And while there is increasing interest in age-restricted housing among mature adults, the number of units being built has decreased with the downturn in the economy. Not coincidentally, sales of new homes for active adults have fallen off as interested buyers either cannot sell their current homes, or simply decide to wait for a more stable market.

Download the research from the MetLife Mature Market Institute at www.maturemarketinstitute.com under “What’s New.”

Conference to Discuss Baby Boomers Housing Trends

You know you are a force when industry experts call a conference to discuss how to best serve your needs. The National Association of Home Builders is hosting a conference in Philadelphia (April 27-29), “Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium”.

The conference will bring together builders and a host of experts to discuss how to best meet baby boomer needs as this huge group gets ready for retirement living. Keynote speakers include Mark Zandi, Chief Economist & Co-Founder, Moody’s Economy.com; and Dave Crowe, NAHB Chief Economist.  Some of the planned sessions include a bus tour of active adult communities in Philadelphia’s northern suburbs. There will be a case study on Chatfield Farms: Redefining a 55+ Lifestyle Community.

Your Topretirements editor will be attending the conference to try to glean some insight into what might be coming up for baby boomer housing. Some of the sessions we are interested in attending include “Developing Active Adult Communities: A New Model for the Baby Boom Generation” and ” Boomers in the City: Designing for an Urban Lifestyle”.

For more information on the conference go to the NAHB.  Stay tuned for our report in the coming weeks.

See also: “Top 10 Trends in Active Adult Community Trends - 2009“

Predicting How Baby Boomers Will Change Retirement

We’re the generation that thinks we own the trademark on youth, but now ironically headed for retirement. A lot of experts are trying to figure out how we will impact the multi-billion dollar retirement market when we hit it in force in the next few years.
Many experts agree that a significant portion of baby boomers will thumb our noses at the stereotypical retirements of our parents. To those of us who grew up in the Age of Aquarius, selling the split level and spending our days playing golf and shuffleboard at Leisure Acres is just not very appealing.

A broader consensus believes that we will be searching for retirement lifestyles that are youthful, interesting, and fulfilling.  Consider this statement from Matt Thornhill of the Boomer Project: “The typical Boomer at 50 feels like 35. Mid-life extends from 50 to 75. Boomers have decided to put off old age. That’s something for the future. They think they’re never going to be seniors; they’re Boomers.” Or this one from Gene Warren, Retirement Consultant: “They (FL and AZ) are what our parents and grandparents were looking for. They are nice warm places where people can sit around. The boomers are looking for something different. They are looking for activities, for lifestyle.”
The first rule when it comes to categorizing baby boomers is – don’t try this at home! We are way too big a group for broad generalizations.  That said, here are some of our predictions (and please give us yours via the Comments box at the bottom!):
-    Boomers will do whatever they want to do. So their retirements will go off in a million directions – from the conventional to the completely wild.  Retirement options will change as a result.
-    Conventional retirement communities (55+, active adult) will change in many significant ways. Once a critical mass of boomers move into them these communities will become more casual, less hierarchical, and more individual.  And the services they offer will change as well.
-    Baby boomer finances will be part of the picture. Although there are millions of boomers who are very well off, more of us are going to be facing a tough financial future. Our savings are low, 401ks are shredded, and pensions aren’t as good as our parents’. Faced with keeping up the lifestyles we’ve become accustomed to, we are going to get creative. Retiring later, finder lower cost states and towns, working in retirement, even retiring out of the country will be more common.
-    Mobility and flexibility. We’ve moved all over the country in our careers and a move isn’t that big a deal. We’ll be more willing than previous generations to move to a college town, small town, big city, or new area if that means a better retirement.
-    Fulfillment. There is a significant segment of baby boomers for whom personal responsibility and fulfillment is very important. After working a lifetime for the man, many of us will be interested in doing some good for the world in their retirement. Volunteer organizations should start getting ready to exploit an important new labor source.
Please share your thoughts in the Comments section below. We’d like to hear!

Topretirements Quoted in Herald Tribune on Arizona Retirement

Our friend and colleague Michael Pollick has been writing a fascinating series about baby boomer retirements in the Sarasota Herald Tribune. And we are very pleased to have one of our quotes featured in the headline of this week’s article: “Arizona, a Fresher Florida?“.

Michael has spent a lot of time researching where boomers are retiring and which states are doing the most to attract them. He has found that his own state, Florida, is starting to lose retirement share to upstart states like Texas, Tennessee, the Carolinas, etc.; which have active marketing campaigns to attract retirees (such as certified retirement community programs).

The quote from Topretirements came in the section where Michael discussed the different attractions of Florida and Arizona and why people tend to choose one state over the other: “Arizona seems fresher,” says Tom Brady [Editor's note: people are always confusing me (John) with the dashing NFL QB for the Patriots and escort of Gisele, the beautiful German model], who fields hundreds of e-mails each month from potential retirees as founder of TopRetirements.com. “If you look at Florida, to some extent it has the same problem the Northeast has — an aging infrastructure that is hard to support.”
That makes Arizona attractive to “people who are looking for something newer,” Brady says.”

We should add that we continue to believe that 2 of the other major reasons why folks choose Florida vs. Arizona are 1) climate preferences (water vs desert or mountain), and 2) proximity. Regarding the latter, people who live in the west and near the Mississippi naturally gravitate towards Arizona vs. folks in the northeast tend to go for Florida retirements.

To read the entire article go to the Sarasota Herald Tribune. If you search for Michael Pollick on that site you will find his other baby boomer retirement stories. Of course if you have comments please post below.