Present and future planning

Things I am doing in preparation for my move from a house to an apartment in a retirement community.

There is a lot involved with any move but your final independent living move has a lot more things to consider than a normal move. Every decision you make must take into consideration how you want to live now, while also considering how each decision will affect your living as you get older and frailer. If you don't consider these things now, you will have to deal with the consequences later when you may not be healthy enough to deal with them by yourself.

Navigation

Navigation by Salemtowne is a program that allows its members to age at home and not have to worry about their medical care. The program will have a new offering in 2019 for those who want to live in their current home as long as they can and then move into Salemtowne. The new plan will cover 65% of in-home care services and up to 96% of the one-time Navigation membership fee may transfer to the Salemtowne entrance fee.

Merry Mingle

I went to a Merry Mingle at Salemtowne this afternoon. Its the annual Christmas gathering of the Towne Club (people on the waiting list for residency at Salemtowne). Lots festive, friendly folks getting to know their future friends. You never meet a stranger at Salemtowne, everyone seems like someone already you know; that's one of the reasons I chose to live there.

Savers will understand

I signed the reservation agreement for my apartment in Salemtowne so I'm now committed to the move. As it is with anyone moving to a CCRC, there is a lot I have to do in preparation for the move. I have to downsize, consider all I need and don't need due to the lifestyle change, and then prepare the house for selling and put it on the market. All that keeps you busy every day, but for some of us, there is another is another concern. The reality of having to spend the money you have saved just for this occasion. When you are a dedicated, lifelong saver, spending is painful and keeps you awake at night second-guessing all your decisions.

Financial Trackers

I like to manage and track my finances myself instead of paying someone a lot of money to do a relatively simple task. For major investments, I use mutual funds that have very low management fees and have better growth over time than that of any financial firm. The online services of major mutual fund groups offer all the information and analysis iI need

For over 20 years, I’ve used Quicken software to track all my finances and keep track or net worth. It’s been very useful, but it's always had a lot of features I don’t need or use. Over the years it’s become slow and prone to problems, but I stuck with it because it was familiar with it. However, under new ownership, it has switched from being an application you could use for years to an overpriced annual online subscription, so in January I began evaluating some top FREE online money managers. I narrowed the choices to three, Mint (owned by Intuit, the old owners of Quicken), Personal Capital, and the Money Manager provided to Truliant Credit Union members (other credit unions also offer money managers to members).

I used all three trackers simultaneously for a few months to evaluate them. Personal Capital ads and phone calls can be annoying and it doesn’t allow you to split transactions into different categories or delete them. If you don’t need to track your spending closely, then it's okay. Truliant Money Management is easy to use and has no ads. It lets you split transactions but not delete them. Mint has ads but they are unobtrusive. You can split transactions and delete them. It automatically updates your home and vehicle values. Although the Truliant tracker is a good choice, overall, all I like Mint the best and have been using it as my sole financial tracker for the last 6 months.

I got the call!!

After 35 years of planning for retirement living, 5 years of touring retirement communities in the triad area and lots of research and analysis on the subject, I finally got the call.

In February 2019, I will be moving into the Salemtowne Retirement Community in Winston-Salem NC.

I will be posting updates (under the My Quest topic in the menu) about my experiences during my transition from a house to an apartment in an independent living retirement community. Once I move in, I'll be adding more information to the blog about what its like to live in a CCRC and I'll create a page of tips for Salemtowne residents, some of which may be useful for residents of other CCRCs.

A new concept in residential living for those suffering with dementia

Dementia village, a new concept in residential living for patients with dementia, started in 2009 in Norway. The Hogeweyk (from the Hogewey nursing home) is a specially designed, self-contained,  residential neighborhood with 23 homes where 152 elderly people with dementia live in maximum privacy and independence in a lifestyle similar to that with which they are familiar. There are 7 lifestyles available: city, Goois, domestic, Christian, traditional, Indian, and cultural.

With the assistance of staff, the residents run their own households to the best of their abilities. In the neighborhood are streets, squares, courtyards and a park where the residents can walk safely in freedom. The neighborhood has various facilities including a restaurant, café, supermarket, and a theater. Interacting in this type of environment appears to trigger memories in the patients and helps slow the progress of dementia.

The dementia village concept is spreading around the world. The first village in the United States, Town Square, a new adult daycare facility using this concept, is opening in San Diego, California. The facility represents a "town" from the years 1953-1961. It encompasses 8,500 square feet with 24 buildings and 12 storefronts — including a diner, post office, barbershop, pet store, library, museum, and a movie theater. Dementia patients will be able to spend the day exploring the facility independently, in small groups or with their families. The facility offers a secure environment, under the watchful eye of dementia care professionals operating the storefronts and other businesses and interacting with the patients throughout the day.

Useful information

For useful information about retirement planning and retirement living, check out this publication.

Tribune: An Erickson Living monthly newsletter.

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

The younger you start thinking about, saving for, and planning for retirement the better. Retirement years will then be your golden years, not your beholden years.

There’s more than getting feeble and frail to be worried about as you get older. Of course, there is always the need for food, shelter, and clothing and quality of life to worry about but there is also maintaining your independence, being able to care for yourself and not depend upon the kindness of others for your care, which usually means giving up some or all of your independence. 

 Also, what happens when you fall and break a body part, need knee or hip surgery, develop some type of dementia, become disabled, or have some aliment than prevents you from taking care of yourself and your home. Who will help you get through the short-time tough times or take you in when you are unable to care for yourself ever again.

For many of the silent and baby boom generations, one of the reasons to have children was to have someone to take care of you when you got old and feeble. Many people of these generations thought that since they would be taken care of by their children there was no need to be too concerned about planning for retirement. However, over the years of their lives, family circumstances changed, societal values changed, and the economy changed in ways no one expected. 

Partially due to some many baby boomers reaching their senior years, the youngest are in their 70s, more seniors than ever now live alone, and the numbers are increasing all the time. Reasons for them living alone include:

• Having never married.
• Being a widow or widower.
• Having divorced and never remarried.
• Not wanting to be a burden on anyone.
• Having chosen to live alone.

When you are old and alone and need help, sometimes the ones you thought would be there to take care of you are not there because they:

• Are no longer living.
• Have others they are already taking care of.
• Need help taking care of themselves.
• Aren’t physically, mentally, or emotionally able to take care of you.
• Live too far away.
• Don’t have the money to take care of you and still be able to take care of themselves and their families.
• Aren’t willing to upset their lives and lifestyles to take care of you.
• They simply don’t want to take care of you.

Since you can’t count on there being someone to take care of you when you are old, you need to prepare for having to pay for someone to take care of you. To be able to pay for your care, you need to save as much money as you can throughout your life specifically for this outcome. 

If you have not prepared for retirement and growing old alone and you need someone to care of you, you have some choices, you can:

• Pay for your care until you do not have any more money and then rely on the government to care for you.
• Negotiate for your long-term care with your nieces, nephews, or other relatives.
• Live in a joint household of trusted “extended” family members and friends and share the care.
• Adopt a family you trust that lives nearby and use your will to assign part of your estate to them in return for them taking care of you until you die. Make sure you get advice from an elder law attorney before entering into this type of arrangement. 

If you have prepared for retirement and growing old alone by saving a large nest egg, you have more choices, you can:

• Live at home and pay for your care as it is needed, although you may reach the point where you are unable to make decisions and coordinate your care and will need someone to do it for you. If assisted living or skilled nursing becomes necessary, someone will have to find one of these places for you, move you, sell your home and belongings.
• Pay for a local Continuing Care at Home (CCaH) plan, such as Navigation by Salemtowne in Winston-Salem, NC,\  that will coordinate and pay for your health care needs as you need them.
• Move into a life of luxury amongst likeminded friends in a CCRC/Life Plan Community and be cared for through all level of care until you die.

The choices you have available to you in your later years depends on how well you have prepared for your later years during your earlier years, and, the younger you start preparing, the better off you will be.

New concepts

Some of the new concepts in assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing facilities.