Do You Want To Move To A Retirement Community?

 By Karen and Erica

A retirement community? Are you kidding?

No, we’re not. But we sure don’t mean one of those places where you are supposed to live out your golden years isolated from the rest of humanity. We define retirement community as a place you choose to live when work no longer dictates where you must live.

Of course, you don’t have to move just because you have retired. But you could! You can decide what you want to do next, and then move to where you want to do it. Or, you can move somewhere you think you would love, and then find something fabulous to do in your new neighborhood. Isn’t that an exciting and liberating thought?

We think New York City is the ideal retirement community. There are so many fabulous people to meet, there is so much to do, there are so many places to eat, it is so easy to get around without a car, and the city is reasonably proximate to the beach. But we concede there are others.

Here are our ideas about how to think about making the choice.

First, we have this advice—if you have just retired, wait a bit before you make the decision. Playing golf in Florida might seem perfect—and it may be perfect, for a few months. (After this COVID winter it even sounds good to us, and we don’t play golf.) Playing golf in Florida for thirty years might wear a bit thin. Don’t make a permanent decision until you have had more time to consider your options.

Then, think about what you like to do. We have friends who want only to scuba dive—all day long and all over the world. Their idea of perfection is a series of boats and a community of divers. If you see yourself in their wetsuits, no need to read on.

Others want to garden, in a serious way. They need a bit of land—for plants and to store a tractor. Of course that idea horrifies friends who thrive in the concrete jungle and fear having green things growing madly all around them.

Some want to go back to school, and choose to live near an institution of higher learning—maybe even in a dorm. (Yes, you can do that.) Perhaps you want to be near where astronauts live and work, just in case space travel opens up. Think about Houston.

Assuming your choice of home Is not wholly dictated by your passion, think about your favorite environment. City? Country? Warm? Cold? Beach? Mountain? Dense? Uninhabited?

Do you want to buy a big home, where lots of family and friends can stay and pets can frolic? Or maybe a tiny condo, high in the sky in a big city skyscraper, where you can preserve your privacy? And forget the garden, and the Newfoundland puppy?

A shack on the beach? Maybe make sure there is a bookstore nearby. Unless you want your own private island. Do you like ski resorts? Learn to be an instructor, and live in the snow. Want to live high on the hog but don’t have the money? The perfect solution may be in another country.

Can’t decide? Circumnavigate the globe, continuously, aboard a ship.

Whatever you do, enjoy the excitement of being able to choose. You’ve earned it.