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.

The Other Side of Retirement: Mental Preparation

Everybody talks about, and many people even do something about, the two obvious aspects of retirement planning. But almost nobody is attending to the third leg of retirement planning: mental preparation.

The usual parts of retirement planning; finding a place to retire that matches your lifestyle preferences, and having the financial wherewithal to pull it off, are obviously important. The mental side of retirement planning, the one that most people forget about, is critical too. In fact there are at least 2 dimensions of retirement mental preparation. The first, and most obvious, factor is advance preparation. Well before the day you get your gold watch, you need to have some idea of what you will be doing starting on day 1 of retirement. Even more important, you need to plan for what you might be doing on day 1,365 of your hard-earned respite from the working world. Far too many folks assume they are going to travel a bit, play lots of golf, spend a little more time with the grandchildren - and that’s as far as it goes. Unfortunately after a while the trips peter out, winter puts snow on the fairways, and the grandchildren move away or grow up. In our experience the happiest retirements are those where the person has spent some time and energy researching how they will spend their time every day, and not letting the days fill up with whatever happens. To help with this aspect of retirement planning, we recommend searching the Topretirements Retirement Planning Bookstore at Amazon (or your favorite local bookstore) for ideas on how to focus your thoughts on working in retirement, volunteering, starting a new business, finding an interesting hobby, etc. Of course Topretirements’ practical “100 Best Retirement Towns” is another resource to check out. We guarantee it, your investment in this side of retirement planning will help you be a lot happier in the long run. By the way, here is a great WSJ article on finding volunteer gigs.

Increased Longevity Has a Downside
The second side of mental preparation is not so obvious. The CDC reports that the average American male who reaches 65 years of age has another 17.2 years of life expectancy. The average female has 20 more years. And these are averages; in other words, a lot of people will live considerably longer. The average life expectancy keeps going up; almost 5 years were added between 1950 and 2005. Meanwhile the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s Disease dramatically increases after 65. The Journal of the American Medical Association published an article that concludes: “The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is substantial and is approximately 14 times higher among persons older than 85 years compared with those between 65 and 69 years of age”. Having just spent a week helping to care for my Alzheimer’s Disease afflicted father-in-law I can tell you definitively - you do not want to get this horrible disease.

“Where Do We Live Honey?”
Since you can now expect to live a lot longer as retired people, you should take steps to reduce the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. A number of regimens have been proposed as good prevention, specifically red wine and the Mediterranean Diet. Dr. Vincent Fortanasce, a neurologist at UCLA, has written a new and excellent book, “The Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription: The Science-Proven Plan to Start at Any Age“, This easy to read book is brimming with scientifically substantiated advice for preventing the disease. Here are some of the factors in the book (from the Penguin website):
• Assess your risk factors and determine your “Real Brain Age”
• Step One: the Anti-Alzheimer’s Diet, including recipes and a twenty-eight-day menu
• Step Two: daily physical exercises for the body and mind
• Step Three: daily “neurobics” to build a big brain reserve
• Step Four: the importance of stress reduction and quality sleep

His book has certainly got this editor thinking. The wife and I started on a campaign to memorize common telephone numbers instead of simply relying on speed dialing. I even realized a life-long ambition, memorizing the 23rd Psalm (”The Lord is My Shepherd”). As I brag to anyone who will listen, if anyone dies on a camping trip I will now be able to cover the service. Next up: “The Gettysburg Address”.

Other suggestions to keep your mind sharp include crossword puzzles, learning new skills (like a language), classes, saduko, and Wii “brain-teaser” games. Anything that keeps your brain exercised and thinking in new ways seems to help.

What are you doing to prepare mentally for retirement? Please share your ideas in the Comments section below.

Retirement Your Way - Co-Housing Might Be Your Answer

For millions of baby boomers, adult communities and 55+ communities are a great retirement option. For these retirees, having everything pre-packaged; from recreation to housing and even to even friends; has a lot of appeal. But for many other boomers, the active adult community is anathema.

But before you give up on the idea of communal living, know that there are many different ways to have it your way. The cooperative senior housing movement has different names and concepts, including: co-housing, Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs), and aging in place. They all share the same common ideal –finding a way to keep people living in their own homes longer - but in a way that promotes health, safety, and a rich social life. Let’s look at each movement.

Co-housing (cohousing) takes many forms but usually combines independent living with the sharing of some communal facilities. The movement started in the 1960’s in Denmark. Most are located in rural areas. One of the most famous, Silver Sage in Boulder Colorado, features single family homes with a large common area where residents gather to eat, recreate, do yoga, and just plain hang together. Trails and other recreation are available. The community is located adjacent to a mixed generation community so residents do not feel separated from people of other ages. The residents are committed to supporting one another in their retirements and as they age. They also support sustainability and great architecture. In Brooklyn New York another group, Brooklyn Cohousing LLC, has been formed to find an urban solution to co-housing. As yet the group has not found a site, but it does have several possibilities and a number of active members committed to the project.

Naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) occur in some parts of the country where many of the residents, for one reason or another, happen to be of retirement age. In some of them, most notably Beacon Hill Village in Boston, a formal organization has been created to promote a cooperative approach to aging in place. Members pay an annual fee to be part of Beacon Hill Village and get many services in exchange. They can also barter for services (shopping, driving, eldercare, cooking, home repairs, etc.). The idea is to let people keep living where they have for years and years by giving them the tools to live well and happily. Similar ventures are in place or planned in a number of other communities. NORCs are a great example of aging in place strategies in action.

Another good example of a cooperative approach to retirement living was profiled in the February 1 NY Times, “My Sister’s Keeper“. The article explores the world of about 20 women who have built a lesbian only community in rural Alabama called Alapine. The women enjoy a communal lifestyle in their gated community and get together frequently for pot-luck dinners, poetry reading, etc. There are other lesbian communities like Alapine elsewhere in the country. The idea could be and is applied to other groups of like-minded people who choose to live among their own kind in a world of their own creation.

Start your own co-op community
Beacon Hill Village and the co-housing movement are eager for other communities to take up their approaches to retirement. You can buy workbooks and talk with their members for advice. Let’s say you have a core of friends or acquaintances in your area. It would take a lot of organization, skill, and energy, but you could buy a distressed property and develop it with your friends. If you plan well and choose your members carefully, you could end up with your own active adult community – one that fits your lifestyle on your terms – and that gives you all the perks and benefits you need for the rest of your life. For example as you age you could hire eldercare and medical assistance and use these services cooperatively. To us the cooperative approach has a lot of appeal. The major advantage is that you get to live with friends or relatives you like, instead of being stuck with strangers. You also get to live where you want to for the rest of your life. Plus, you win that extra special baby boomer benefit – you get to have it your way!

Our New Guest Columnist Writes: “The Pleasure of Nothing”

Topretirements is thrilled to announce that our frequent contributor, Betty Fitterman, has agreed to be a guest columnist on this site. Her new column will appear in our Tips and Picks Section under the heading, Betty’s Thoughts on Retirement. As many readers will remember, Betty has already contributed one of our best read collection of articles, a 6 part series on the trials, tribulations, and tantalizing highs that comes from “Turtle Living” - that is, retiring to a home that is really a 41′ Class A Motor Coach.

First Installment - The Pleasure of Nothing
Betty’s series will touch on other parts of the retirement life as it applies to over-achieving baby boomers. Over her long career as a successful advertising agency executive from the creative side, her perspectives are sure to be entertaining as well as thought provoking. Witness her first column, “The Pleasure of Nothing“, just posted to the site. Check it out. Betty welcomes comments on her musings, which you can do in the Topretirements’ Forum under “Baby Boomer Stuff“.

Will Retiring Baby Boomers Pull Us out of This Recession

The deluge of unending bad economic news is enough to make Pollyanna turn downright crabby. Stocks are down, Madoff type pyramid schemes are up, and real estate can barely be given away in some parts of the country. What is worse is that Americans have forgotten their economic history. Lost is the experience we learned the hard way - that lack of confidence fuels the downturn – individuals and businesses continue to feel worse, cutting back more, so more and more people lose their jobs. The bad news cycle just goes on, until some magical day (Inauguration Day!?) when confidence returns, people start spending again, and businesses feel like they have to hire more people to keep up with demand.

Baby Boomers as Captain America, the potential savior of the free world
More impossible schemes have come true. Picture this scenario, which is based on solid numbers – millions and millions of baby boomers will be in their early 60’s this year. Almost all are close to retirement, and a significant percentage already have the resources for a comfortable one. Perhaps they invested wisely in the stock markets and shielded a lot of it from last year’s big downturn. Or they have a secure government pension that they can count on for the rest of their life. If even a small percentage of them were to invest in their retirement dream home in 2009, hire a lawyer for the closing, pay a real estate commission, pay for a moving company, buy new furniture and household items, do some small remodeling – the impact on the national budget would be huge. Their self-interest would be the confidence that they are buying low – for real estate and services.

As a strategy, we would not deny that it carries some risks. Many will no doubt find this prescription too radical. Given 2008’s performance, real estate and stock values might sink even further, and the pensions of even the soundest governments or corporations could be compromised. On the other hand we might be looking at a period of genuine opportunity, one that could help restore confidence and even do some good. At the least though, you can take this strategy as a rationalization to tell your friends why, as Captain America, you just had to save the free world and buy into that great active adult community in 2009!

Baby Boomers Should Plan Now to Avoid Outgrowing Their Homes

It seems like an oxymoron to think that, just when you were beginning to think about down-sizing, you could actually soon outgrow your existing home. Worse yet, you could do the same for the home you are about to build or buy for retirement.

The more precise statement is that you probably won’t outgrow your home, but if you are not careful, your needs will change to the point that your home no longer fits you. Anyone’s health and/or mobility can change quickly - and when it does your choice is either to move, or put in expensive and inconvenient renovations.

Several important concepts apply to this issue. “Universal design”, as the name implies, means that one set of design principles should be applied when it comes to accessibility. In other words, whether you are a young child, healthy and athletic 40-something, a slowed-down senior, or confined to a wheelchair - your home ought to be able to accommodate you. Universal design fits nicely with another principle, the goal of “aging in place”. The AARP has statistics showing that 84% of Americans 50 and over would like to age where they live now.

So with these two concepts in mind, what can you do to promote your future aging in place - whether you are renovating your existing home, building a retirement home, or buying into an active adult community? First, you should read up on universal design as it applies to aging in place (see references below). If you are buying an existing home or one that is in the process of being built you might be able to negotiate some of these improvments into your purchase contract. Or you can choose to look elsewhere.

Some of the obvious steps are:
- Wide doorways and hallways
- No changes in levels (unless they are ramped) between rooms
- Ramped entry(ies) to your home
- Tall toilets and grab bars in bathrooms
- Non slip floors
- No glare, contrasting lighting and paint
- Lever style handles instead of doorknobs
- First floor master bedroom (or the option for that)
- Provision for future elevator (if building or remodelling)
- Kitchens and major appliances on the main floor
- Kitchen counters at varying heights to fit a range of users

Building in universal design principles now will save you time and trouble, and allow you to age in place. Incorporating universal design principles in new construction can add about 5% to the cost, an enormous savings compared to the 30% of a home’s value retrofitting can cost. Most people tend to think they are 10 years younger than they actually are, so Topretirements urges our visitors to carefully consider universal design and incorporate it now. If we are fortunate enough, we will all age and lose mobility. It’s smarter to prepare now.

The National Association of Home Builders has a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist program to help builders and designers. Pima County, Arizona is just one town that has mandated universal design elements for all new housing.

Resources:
NAHB Aging in Place Suggestions
NC State R.L. Mace Universal Design Institute
Blueprint for Boomers

Your Next Real Estate Tour - On a Bike!

Looking over the handlebars at 6 lanes of busy traffic that bars the way to your daily destination, you might wish you had done your bike-friendly research a little better. Fortunately that’s a lot easier in some parts of the country, because believe it or not, according to the Wall Street Journal the real estate tour by bicycle is here!

In Northampton Massachusetts these tours are so popular that one agent,Craig Della Penna of Murphys Realtors Inc., closes about half his sales that way. Strapping on his spandex in Ventor NJ is Cris Noreen of Farley and Ferry GMAC. He takes clients on 5-10 mile rides and shows them 5 or so houses. The technique is working well for him too.

The idea is perfect for bicyclists - either those who cycle for exercise or the thousand of folks who are moving to bikes to save gas. After all there is nothing worse than buying a home only to discover you are hemmed in by busy traffic, or face a 2 mile hill every time you want to head downtown. While on a bike tour you’ll be able to see firsthand if claims about bike paths are really true, and get a good gauge on traffic too.

One thing the new real estate tour transportation method is doing is changing the realtor dress code a bit. Picture your agent in spandex and helmet, perspiring gently in the heat. And even if you can’t find a real estate agent in your area who offers the service, you can still give yourself the tour. Happy biking!

Retirement Communities Prepare for U-Boomer Invasion

April 5 — You’ve heard of the U(na)-Bomber and U-2 the rock group. Now get ready for another U, the U-Boomers. Forbes Magazine recently published an article that differentiates among different sub-sets of baby boomers. The U-Boomers are a huge segment that constitutes about 24 million of the 76 or so million baby boomers out there.

The “U” stands for uncompromising, so U-Boomers are folks who intend to maintain their lofty lifestyle aspirations - but who won’t necessarily have the financial means to execute on those dreams. The article is a call to action for baby boomer marketers. U-Boomers are such a big and important group that these marketers have to figure out creative ways to meet boomer demands — without going beyond the resources available to them. This group is expected to represent 25% of total U.S. consumption by 2015.

For marketers of active adult communities, that will be a challenge. Part of the solution is in positioning communities so they deliver high value and prestige without pricing the product out of reach. Maybe that means inexpensive hiking and biking trails instead of ultra-expensive golf courses. Or intimate clubhouses instead of monstrous edifices. A la carte services instead of the buffet approach. Environmentally sustainable communities that not only keep energy expenses down, but make U-Boomers feel like they are fashionable and responsible. Or, co-housing communities that use the community to deliver services at a reduced cost.

From all we here about the poor state of retirement preparation that exists among baby boomers, there certainly seems to be something to this demographic. We can’t wait to see which over 55 developers try to tackle it - and how they do it.