Shirilevita

Archive for June, 2009

You may know exactly how you want to spend the rest of your life. If you—or your family—are fortunate, you may even have the means to carry out all your plans. But, for most of us, life brings changes, sooner or later, that call for modifying our plans. Decisions about major changes, such as moving, are not usually made quickly, so you will want to sort out all your options and weigh each one carefully.
Not all reasons for a late-life move are negative ones. This may be the chance to realize a long-held wish or dream: to live near ocean or mountains, to devote serious attention to a talent or avocation, to try a type of community living ruled out earlier by work or family obligations. How closely can you approximate your dream? What are the financial and emotional costs? How permanent a commitment will this be? What if you want to make a change again?
Every move involves a trade off between what you have now and what you exchange it for. There is no one right way of arriving at the best trade off. Every thoughtful decision reflects some combination of logic and emotion, to which reliable information contributes. In this chapter, we will present information that can help you decide whether you are better off staying put or relocating.
Before deciding whether or not a move is in order, you will first want to make sure you are exploiting the current options as fully as possible. The rest of this chapter will describe steps that can be taken to adapt life in your present house or apartment to your changing needs.
Even if you feel ripe for a change, there are probably some advantages to staying put. Some of the financial options we describe in this chapter may make staying in your present home less of a financial burden than you expected. We will also discuss a variety of community resources that can help meet changing health and social needs while remaining in your present home.
And, finally, we will consider home sharing as a strategy for continuing independence that many people are turning to.