Anyone who has spent time planning for retirement has likely tried to predict how much money they’re actually going to be spending once they stop full time work. Making a realistic retirement budget is a critical part of financial preparedness. Now, however, a new study is revealing that workers approaching retirement age are pretty far…
We’re not certain where all our AgingOptions blog readers live – but those here in the Pacific Northwest know that, for the most part, the housing market remains sizzling hot. Seniors planning for retirement often think about downsizing, and for many that means moving into a low-maintenance condo or a planned senior community. Those can…
As most of us contemplate growing older, we expect to have our spouse and supportive family members alongside us on the journey. As we often say here at AgingOptions, “Aging is a family affair.” However, for millions of seniors, their experience will be quite different: for a variety of reasons these men and women are…
If you and your “significant other” are starting to look ahead to retirement, it’s likely you’ve spent some time daydreaming about where you might live. While most retirees say they hope to age in their own home, close to family and friends, there are still plenty of folks out there who dream of retiring in…
At least three-fourths of American adults age 50 and older have one thing in common: they want to grow old in their own homes. According to a 2018 AARP survey, 76 percent of respondents prefer to stay put in the houses they’re living in now as they age, enjoying the familiar surroundings of the community…
Downsizing – moving into that smaller, better-organized, better-located retirement residence that’s just right for you as you age – is a popular topic these days. We’ve presented dozens of articles here on the AgingOptions blog about where and why to downsize. But here’s an article we found last fall on the MarketWatch website that we…
The traditional to-do list for couples approaching retirement includes several familiar elements: signing up for Medicare, deciding when to take Social Security, figuring out what to do about the 401(k), and so on. But what about selling the big family home and downsizing to the smaller house with lower costs and less maintenance? A significant…
The ads on television, the slick brochures and the finely-targeted websites for today’s retirement homes typically portray the same types of images: groups of seniors happily doing things together. They take bike trips together, they do wine tasting together, they go antiquing together. If all that advertising were to be believed, retirement living today is…
About a year ago here on the AgingOptions blog, we told readers about a small program, started in Little Rock, Arkansas, that is now providing care to about 1,000 veterans, at a fraction of the cost of nursing care. Besides saving the Department of Veterans Affairs millions in care costs annually, this initiative, called the…
It’s a dilemma that almost every family faces sooner or later: an aging parent or spouse can no longer live at home and has to move into a care facility. Sometimes the move into long term care is planned, but often – due to a health crisis, accident, or lack of preparation – it catches…