Do you move or do you stay 2

To summarize this Merrill Lynchstudy reveals new choices and opportunities retirees have to live in homes and communities that can make their lives even more fulfilling. Achieving your best home in retirement and navigating challenges requires careful forethought and preparation, including:

1. When deciding where to live in retirement, whether you decide to move or stay in your current home, carefully consider a range of priorities that will be important to you in future life stages. These may include affordability, climate, proximity to family and friends, recreational or cultural activities, opportunities for continued work, access to good health care, etc. Consider trying out a potential area to live in retirement with extended visits or short-term rentals.

2. Consider all expenses when forecasting potential home-related costs during retirement, including mortgage or rent payments; income, estate, and property taxes; and insurance, relocation, utilities, repairs and maintenance, and other expenses. It is also important to consider whether you might want to renovate or remodel your home in retirement and plan and budget for those expenses as well.

3. Assess whether you should pay off your mortgage before retirement. Paying off your mortgage before you retire can create greater financial security and peace of mind. But there are many factors – such as your risk tolerance, interest rates, taxes, estate planning, and other investment opportunities – that you should factor into this decision.

4. Don’t assume you will downsize your home in retirement. Moving to a smaller home can provide cash and reduce expenses, but you may find your current or even a larger home better fits your lifestyle and family needs in retirement.

5. Prepare for long-term care, in case it is needed, by researching options that would enable you to receive care where you most prefer, whether you choose to move to more supportive communities and housing or to stay in your own home.

6. Consider home modifications and services that can empower you to remain in your own home if you face health challenges. Modifications, like installing lower counters and tables, replacing lever handles, enhancing bathroom safety features, and changing your living situation to avoid the use of stairs, can make it easier to get around your home. Home care services and health monitoring and alert technologies can enable you to continue living independently as long as possible.

Do you move or do you stay? 1

Yesterday I talked about life as a journey, as part of the journey, no matter how we view it, we need to have somewhere to live. Back in 2014, Merrill-Lynch did a study of what retirees do when they retire to answer the question do, we stay in place or do we move. The Study was called Home in Retirement: More Freedom, New Choices A Merrill Lynch Retirement Study conducted in partnership with Age Wave

The results were interesting, with new freedom to decide where they want to live, many of us make the decision to move to a different home, community, or even to a new part of the country. An estimated 4.2 million retirees moved into a new home in 2013.

Sixty-four percent of us say we are likely to move at least once during retirement, with 37% having already done so and 27% anticipating doing so.

We want to move to lower home expenses, move closer to help if we are encountering health challenges. Divorce or widowhood, and empty-nesting can all be triggers for moving in retirement. However, retirees cite “wanting to be closer to the family” as a top reason for moving.

Many of us assume that once we retire, we will downsize our home. Our children have moved out, we need less space, we don’t want the maintenance hassles of a larger home, and moving to a smaller home might free up cash. In fact, many pre-retirees assume they will downsize to help pay for their retirement. However, those of us who expect to downsize when we retire may be surprised to learn that half of those who did retire did not downsize in their last move. In fact, three in ten upsized into a larger home.

We want to upsize is to have a home that is large and comfortable enough for family members to visit and stay with us. Many of us are empty nesters and our adult children, grandchildren, and other family members may live in disparate parts of the country. Our homes become places for family to come together and reconnect, particularly during holidays or summer vacations.

Many of us also say we upsize so that family members can live with them if needed. According to this study, one in six of us has a “boomerang” adult child who has moved back in. In fact, due in part to adult children returning to their parents’ home, the number of multigenerational family households doubled between 1980 and 2010, from 11% to 22%.

Those of us who have downsized in our last move cite freedom from the financial and maintenance burdens of a larger home as the top reasons to downsize. By reducing expenses and releasing equity tied up in a larger home, downsizing can help make retirement more financially secure.

According to this study, just 7% of retirees have moved into age-restricted retirement communities. However, there is a growing diversity of retirement communities designed to meet the needs and aspirations of new generations of retirees. Today, approximately 100 retirement communities have ties to universities, affording opportunities for continued learning and connections with both students and alumni. Other retirement communities have been created around niche interests and affinities, such as religion and spirituality, art and theatre, and hobbies

While roughly two-thirds of us are likely to move at least once in retirement, the other one-third anticipates staying where they are throughout their retirement years. The reasons many retirees don’t move reveal the deep emotional connection we have with our home. Retirees who don’t plan to move cite, “I love my home” as a top reason for remaining where they are.

Our homes are both a financial asset and also an important emotional asset – representing memories with family and treasured life experiences. Prior to age 55, most of us say the financial value of our home outweighs its emotional value. As we age, however, we are far more likely to say their home’s emotional value is more important than its financial value

Overwhelmingly, we say our top preference for receiving extended care, if needed, is to age in place in our own home. With new technologies (such as telemedicine and remote diagnostics)-, growing numbers of home care providers and services, and renovations to make homes more ageing-ready, it is increasingly possible for those of us with health challenges to continue living independently at home.

In fact, there has been a significant shift in where people are receiving care. The number of nursing home residents have declined in the past, while at the same time the number of people receiving care at home has increased

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As we enter our later retirement years and the need for all types of long-term care increases, new services, technologies, and options will continue to develop to enable us to receive care how and we most desire

Life is a journey

Life, we are told is a journey that starts at birth and ends at death. How do you define the journey you are on at this point in your life? 

Some of us view life as a book, with many characters, chapters and struggles. In this view, we are the heroes or heroines of our own story. In this view of the journey when a new person enters our story the focus changes, but the only constant in the journey is you as the writer. If you hold to this view that life is a book and you are the writer of the book you may believe that the story has already been created and you just have to search for it throughout your journey and craft it in the book that you like.

Others hold the view that life is a journey but life depends on how you choose to travel. These people believe that life is an experience and that life is best if we can find wonder at every step, see the small things that make a difference, touch people's lives as our paths cross. They see the point of the journey is not the destination, but to experience the joy of every day.  In their view, as we travel through our journey we experience good and happy things. We experience bad and sad things. We experience them and then move on to other experiences. We are playing the game of life.

  

For others, life is a journey that is full of educational opportunities. Life is filled with lessons, hardships, heartaches, joys, celebrations and special moments. If we understand the lessons these experiences teach us, we will be led us to our destination, our purpose in life.  Those who hold this view understand and tell us that the road will not always be smooth; in fact, throughout our travels, we will encounter many challenges that will test our courage, strengths, weaknesses, and faith.

Another group believes that as we travel along our journey, the people we meet, are people that we are destined to meet. They believe that everybody comes into our lives for a reason. Some stay in our life for a lifetime; others may only stay for a short while.

Throughout this adventure, people will give us advice and insights on how to live our life but when it all comes down to it, we must always do what we believe is right. Always follow our heart. Don't hold anything back. Say what you want to say, and do what you want to do, because sometimes we don't get a second chance to say or do what we should have the first time around.

In life’s journey, it's the final moments, that define you and the first ones that make it possible. Both, you have total control over.

Runners High

When I was young, I was a middle-distance runner, half-mile and mile and I was good at it, but I trained hard. Every day and every weekend I would go out and run. When I was training and running on the weekends I would run a marathon and I enjoyed it and it was fun. At the time we did not know about the runners high. 

"'Runner's high' is a phrase that we use to describe the feelings of psychological well-being that are associated quite often with long-duration, rhythmic-type exercise, and marathon running certainly falls into that category," says Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise.

Why runners high make an athlete feel good, and what's happening in the body when those positive feelings wash over a person, however, it is anyone's guess.

"For a long time, people believed the answer lay within the whole endorphin argument -- with the long-duration exercise you release endorphins, which have a morphine-like effect on the body and therefore may be responsible for the feelings of well-being," Bryant suggested,

Why runners high make an athlete feel good, and what's happening in the body when those positive feelings wash over a person, however, is anyone's guess.

"For a long time, people believed the answer lay within the whole endorphin argument -- with the long-duration exercise you release endorphins, which have a morphine-like effect on the body and therefore may be responsible for the feelings of well-being," Bryant suggested.

While it's a good theory, Bryant explains it doesn't necessarily hold water.

"While our circular levels of endorphins might be up, whether that impacts a person's psychological outlook output directly is probably not that likely," says Bryant. "In some studies, when the effects of endorphins have been blocked chemically, people have still experienced this high, so the whole endorphin argument has been called into question."

With endorphins largely out of the picture, researchers have looked at other types of neurotransmitters that might have a role in affecting a person's mood. 

At this point there are a number of theories about what gives athletes the “runners high” but my point is that a “runner's high” doesn't come from just thinking about running. Same thing for a manifester's high. If you want the experience, and thrill of a runners high start running: on your mark, get set GO!