Retirement Locations

Retirement Communities, Senior Living, Retire to Florida, Nursing Homes, Home Health Care

Many retirees make a big mistake and purchase a home or condo in a location they are not familiar with. Sometimes after they move they find they are not comfortable with their purchase or paid too much.If you are considering retiring to another location take a vacation there or rent a vacation home there to see if this is really the place you want to spend the rest of your life. If you like the area, consider purchasing a condo or home there and renting it out until you retire and are ready to move.

Where Will You Live?

The following list gives some generalizations about the hous­ing options for seniors and retirees:

At home
If they are healthy enough to care for themselves or if a member of the family or caregiver lives with them or can visit as often as is necessary to maintain their health and well-being.

With a family member or friend.

In an assisted-living or retirement community.
Traditionally these facilities offer additional care for seniors who can function independently. They offer assistance with both personal care and medical care.

In a continuing-care facility.
These facilities are actually retirement homes that allow seniors to move into a nursing home on site when/if necessary.

In a nursing home.
These facilities provide skilled medi­cal care for seniors who are dependent on others for daily functions. They have medical staff available 24/7.

At home with home health-care services.
Seniors who gen­erally need constant assistance due to their age or because of some disability live in this type of arrangement.

Hospice services
Are appropriate for the terminally ill and are available from weekly visits to around-the-clock attendance or in a hospice facility. Hospice services are connected to and work with physicians and hospitals to provide a maximum amount of emotional support to both patient and family. Hospice care typically refrains from using extraordinary measures to prolong life, but focuses instead on alleviating pain.

More retirees are “living nowhere” as they are RV enthusiasts; many have seasonal residences, living south in the winter and north in the summer. Others just use their RVs to travel to various destinations around the United States. If you wish to find more information on RVs, the nation’s largest RV dealer can be found online at http://freedomroads.com/

Often retired seniors say, "It's not where you live, but how you live". However sometimes where you live has a lot to do with how you can live.

Many U.S. Citizens are retiring to Central and South America. Housing as well as the cost of living is usually substantially less than in the states. Costa Rico is one of the countries that boasts a large contingent of retirees. Costa Rica allows U.S. citizens registered under its pension system to pay into the country's social-security system. Less than $40 a month qualifies you for full hospitalization and pharmacy coverage. Many retirees in Costa Rico use the local public-health administration as a backup for emergency care and rely on private clinics for most of their care.

Belize, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua also have a good sized population of U.S. retirees and they actively court American retirees by offering tax-free status to anyone willing to buy or build a house there.

However care should be given when you plan to retire in foreign countries as laws change. In Mexico's Baja peninsula a few years ago, many U.S. retirees learned that deeds on their beachfront property were not valid as they did not meet certain provisions of a national-security statute that permits only citizens to own land on Mexico's coasts.

To compare the cost of living in your current location to the cost of living somewhere else, check out the Moving Calculator at http://www.homestore.com and the Salary Comparison Calculator at http://www.monstermoving.com.

Things to consider when choosing a "retirement friendly" place to live: Remember that what seems great for you and your spouse when you are in your early 60's may very well not work at all later in your retirement years.

1. Chose a location where you can easily reach stores and services by public transportation or by walking. Prepare for when you are no longer able to drive.
2. Has an outside entrance without steps.
3. Has a bedroom and bathroom on the main floor.
4. Has nonskid floors and grab bars or room to install them in the bathroom near the shower and toilet.
5. Has doorways at least 36 inches wide to accommodate a wheelchair.
6. Has an extra room to accommodate a live in home health aide.

Many older seniors are returning to the northern states or to the area where they living prior to retiring.

Retirees who moved to Florida, Arizona and other warm areas in the south are returning north. Most go back when their health deteriorates, when their spouse dies or when they are worried about their moneys running out. When asked many also say they want to return to be near family and friends with whom they grew up. A common answer is they are lonely or have medical issues and want to be with loved ones. Some older couples indicated that the friends they moved south to join had either moved or passed on.

Most have moved south during early retirement when they were active and were interested in joining adult communities. However as they age and their health deteriorates and they can no longer participate in an active lifestyle they reconsider living in these communities which are often expensive and do not suit a more sedentary life style.

It becomes more attractive to return to the place they came from, particularly if their children and other family and friends still live there. Some have grandchildren they wish to spend more time with as it is expensive to fly them back and forth for visits..

Moving firms that track moves on a state by state basis note more and more moves of their senior customers back to the northern states. Florida attracts the largest number of retirees from states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio; however there are a good number of moves from Florida back to these states or origin recently. More of these late movers are women, who on average live longer than men. Seniors who leave Florida for northern states are often twice as likely to be widowed as those who move south. Between 2000 and 2005, about 58,000 people in the older age group left the South for the Midwest, compared with about 17,000 people who made the more traditional move from the Midwest to the South.

A 2006 study by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging showed that "over half of the communities in the country had not begun to plan for the aging of their existing population, much less contemplate a boomerang population coming back in their community."

Private companies are sprouting to fill the void in public services for the aging in northern cities. Companies like Home Instead Senior Care, an Omaha company that provides shopping, cooking and cleaning services for seniors. It has expanded from 228 to 533 franchises in the USA since 2000.

It is often said that it is not where you live but how you live that is important. While this is certainly true, where you live, at least for seniors, very much determines how you live. Your lifestyle as a senior or retiree will depend on whether you live at home by yourself or with your spouse or with fam­ily, in a retirement community, in an assisted-living com­munity or a nursing home, and so forth. Your lifestyle will also depend on where you live geographically and how close you will be living to friends and family who can assist you in times of need.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Nevada showed the greatest percentage increase among all states in residents 65 years of age and older; this state was up 72 percent between 1990 and 2000. Next was Alaska at 60 percent, Arizona at 39 percent, and New Mexico at 30 percent.

Cities and States Where Seniors Live

Cities with double-digit growth rates for the 65+ population include Denver, San Antonio, and Phoenix. The largest growth by far is the Las Vegas area, where the 65+ population grew 86 percent between 1990 and 2000 (99,000 to 184,000).

Read Retire in Style: 50 Affordable Places across America by Warren Bland for more information. This book offers val­uable tips including which states have no personal income taxes (Alaska, Nevada, Texas, etc.) and which states, like Texas, freeze school-district property taxes for homeowners at age 65. William H. Frey analyzed census data to come up with cities with the greatest percentage growth in popula­tions for people age 65 and over:

Major Metro Areas Rank (cities over 1 million)

Las Vegas Orlando

Phoenix Sacramento

Austin-San Marcos Raleigh-Durham

Houston-Galveston Denver-Boulder

Atlanta Dallas–Fort Worth

Small Metro Areas Rank (cities under 1 million)

Yuma, AZ Fort Walton Beach, FL

Naples, FL Flagstaff, AZ

Anchorage, AK Wilmington, NC

Myrtle Beach, SC McAllen-Edinburg, TX Las Cruces, NM

A 2004 survey by Economy.com showed the following cities as being the most affordable: Elmira, Jamestown, Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, and Binghamton, New York; Springfield, Illinois; South Bend and Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Topeka, Kansas.

Many retirees choose to move north of the border as hous­ing and the cost of living in most areas are less expensive, and there is a favorable exchange rate. However, Canada has stringent requirements for establishing residency. You must show good-sized net worth, pay a great deal of taxes, and, if you are intent on emigrating, a substantial amount of paper­work and up to three years waiting time.

Compare Costs of Living

To compare the cost of living in your current location to the cost of living somewhere else, check out the Cost of Living Calculator http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html Salary.com has a cost of living Wizard which can be reached athttp://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_start.asp

You can also check out the Places Rated Almanac which compares most major cities in every conceivable way including climate, educational facilities, sports teams, cultural advantages etc. http://www.placesrated.com/

Source: Advertising Age’s American Demographics, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2003 Consumer Expenditure survey. (1) Age reflects age of the homeowner or renter as identified by survey respondent. (2) Includes social security contribution (excludes health insurance, which is classified as health-care expense).

U.S. Government Nursing Home Comparison

Sitehttp://www.cms.hhs.gov/CertificationandComplianc/12_NHs.asp