Ryan Frederick - Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life

RYAN FREDERICK

FOREWORD BY PAUL IRVING

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Baltimore

2021 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2021

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Johns Hopkins University Press

2715 North Charles Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363

www.press.jhu.edu

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Frederick, Ryan, 1975 author.

Title: Right place, right time : the ultimate guide to choosing a home for the second half of life / Ryan Frederick, CEO of SmartLiving 360; foreword by Paul Irving, Chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging.

Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020057129 | ISBN 9781421442303 (paperback) | ISBN 9781421442310 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Older people Housing United States. | Aging Social aspects United States.

Classification: LCC HD7287.92.U54 F74 2021 | DDC 362.610973 dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057129

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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To my wife, Abigail, for her support of my passion to help people age successfully and for her shared appreciation for the role of place in helping us thrive

Paul Irving

Ryan Frederick is unusual, in a good way. Unlike so many of his Stanford Business School classmates, Frederick was not excited about a career on Wall Street or awed by the prospect of Silicon Valley stock options. Instead, Frederick was fascinated by homes particularly homes for our aging population. For many years now, he has studied and talked about the importance of homes and their remarkable impact on the health and well-being of older adults. He knows that place matters that where one lives often determines how long and how well one lives.

Homes have a special place in our lives. They are our base, the place where we start and end our days. They are familiar and safe, our retreat from the stresses of the outside world. They are a source of pride. But for far too many individuals and families, todays homes simply do not work. Many homes are isolating and unhealthy, lacking the comforts and characteristics that their occupants deserve. Many are inadequate for the realities of a population that is increasingly diverse and rapidly aging.

Frederick has been a passionate advocate for change. With an understanding that demographic challenges and twenty-first-century opportunities call for transformation in design, development, and use, he imagines a different future of living. That is why I was so pleased when Frederick told me that he was writing a book about homes and healthy longevity. He said that he wanted to discuss purposeful living and social connection, that he planned to examine age-restricted and intergenerational models. He had recommendations that deserved to be shared and ideas that called for exploration. It made sense. He was the right correspondent to launch an important conversation at the right time.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Across America and the world, people distanced and sheltered in place. Older adults and those with chronic conditions were even more restricted, often dependent on technologies to connect to the outside world. Dwellings became more important than ever, safe harbors in a frightening infectious storm. And in the midst of it all, more and more of us questioned whether our homes were right, whether they suited our needs, whether and how we should change our place.

Fredericks book could not be arriving at a more important time. Many of the topics it covers predate the recent COVID pandemic, but the virus elevates their importance and urgency. For those who are contemplating moves, Frederick raises questions that must be addressed. For those committed to their current place, Frederick probes issues that need to be considered. From tiny houses to advanced technologies to fresh approaches to healthy living, Frederick reveals new thinking about what home means and where home is headed.

In the final analysis, this is a hopeful read, and what is needed to thrive in an era of increasing longevity.

PAUL IRVING is chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, and chairman of Encore.org.

Writing a book was never on my bucket list. In fact, early in my life, the odds were against it. I excelled at math and science but struggled with reading and writing. Majoring in engineering in college was no accident; I embraced problem sets and labs to avoid reading literature and penning term papers.

But passion won over talent. I was blessed with intergenerational relationships as a youth, and these interactions planted a seed that later took root. I developed a keen interest in how people in the second half of life could thrive and how place helped shape the outcome. I became determined to understand how place can influence well-being, to advise organizations to help them better serve older adults, to create innovative residential models, and, now, to provide information and guidance for individuals to make smart decisions about the role of place in the context of an increasingly long life.

I am grateful for a number of people who helped spark this interest. I was fortunate to know each of my grandparents, spend extended time with them, and even use a winter break during college to stay with my maternal grandparents in their retirement community. My sixth-grade teacher, Marge Zellner, modeled passionate teaching in the classroom and the importance of developing intergenerational relationships in the community. She connected our class with a local retirement community where we played recorders and regularly met an older adult buddy. Melba Rowlands was my match, a widow in her 80s and kind soul. We continued to get together throughout my middle school years. I treasured this relationship and had no idea of its long-term impact.

A decade or so later, I was blessed to enter the field of housing for older adults. Paul Klaassen, founder and former CEO of Sunrise Senior Living, took a bet on me as an MBA summer intern and granted my wish to live in a retirement community in Atlanta. This experience was invaluable. I am grateful for my friendship with Dan Decker and our work together at CoastWood Senior Housing Partners. Dan challenged the rigor of my thinking, and we bonded over a shared passion for creating better environments to help people thrive. I value his ongoing mentorship. I am grateful for Don Wood, Deirdre Johnson, Greg Timpone, and other talented leaders at Federal Realty Investment Trust for the opportunity to create an innovative place that brings together people of all ages. I am thankful for my various consulting clients across the country and the opportunity to collaborate to make a greater impact on the thousands of people these organizations serve. I am grateful for countless friends, colleagues, and mentors who have directly or indirectly influenced this book, including but not limited to: Bob Kramer, Mike Kerlin, Matt Whitlock, Kurt Read, Mitch Brown, Dr. Bill Thomas, Dean Patricia Davidson, Rick Corcoran Jr., Julie Ferguson, Kathryn Burton Grey, Jacquelyn Kung, Larry Rouvelas, Fred Smith, Anne Tumlinson, Jack Lewin, Jill Vitale-Aussem, David Schless, Bill George, Peter Sims, Mike Metzger, Ken Dychtwald, and many others.