Michael W. Trickey - Finding Home Over 50: Achieving Your Housing Needs and Life List Dreams in Retirement

FINDING

HOME

OVER 50

MICHAEL W. TRICKEY

FINDING

HOME

OVER 50

Achieving Your Housing Needs
and Life List Dreams in Retirement

Finding Home Books, LLC

FINDING HOME OVER 50

Achieving Your Housing Needs and Life List Dreams in Retirement

Copyright 2018 by Michael W. Trickey

All rights reserved.

Cover Illustration: Copyright 2018 by Amanda M. Trickey

Published by: Finding Home Books, LLC.

Lake Zurich, IL 60047

www.findinghomebooks.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-7322165-0-1

ISBN: 978-1-7322165-1-8 (e-book)

Printed in the United States of America

The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor Finding Home Books, LLC shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it.

Acknowledgments

FINDING HOME OVER 50

Achieving Your Housing Needs and Life List Dreams in Retirement

The process of researching, compiling, writing, editing, and publishing Finding Home Over 50 was challenging and rewarding. I want to thank my family and friends for providing support and encouragement throughout the process. To my wife Diane, thank you for your input and advice, especially in the areas of elder care for aging parents.

I would like to give special thanks to Amanda Trickey, who, as with my first Finding Home book, spent countless hours reading and editing my early drafts. She told me when things did not make sense, carefully reviewed my tables, charts, and graphs, and helped me to use words and expressions more understandable to those who have not spent their careers in the real estate and mortgage lending industry. Amanda also contributed her substantial talent to creating the artwork for the cover of the book.

Chris OReilly and David Schiff joined in the editing efforts as well, lending their skills to later drafts. They helped me to improve my words and grammar, and to make sure that the book reads well. Any remaining transgressions are my own.

Beth Lottig provided guidance and insights as I worked through the many steps of taking the book from working draft to finished product. Simon Presland was a source of information and encouragement.

My thanks, also, to Janice Ramocinski, who once again provided industry expertise and guidance to assist me in completion of the book. She gave special attention to on reverse mortgages.

Dedication

To my parents, Ray and Johnavieve, and my wife, Diane.

Table of Contents

9-1-1-4 Easy Opening Doors and Drawers,
and Adjustable Shelves

FINDING

HOME

OVER 50

Introduction

Two key aspects of leading a more secure and satisfying retirement involve achieving your housing needs and life list dreams. The ideal situation occurs when you can allocate your time and resources to simultaneously achieve both elements. Finding Home Over 50 provides knowledge, insights, and tools to help you do just that. It will lead you through the steps necessary to optimize your retirement experience.

You will start by assessing your current family, financial, and health circumstances, and then projecting how you expect things to change over your retirement horizon. Within this exercise, you will consider how long you reasonably expect to be active and alive, and the order and priority of goals that you would most like to accomplish.

Next you will do a deeper dive into your financial condition, examining your assets, debts, earnings, and cashflow sources and amounts. You will evaluate your current and projected financial profile based on expectations of future employment and the point at which you will start drawing from retirement plans, Social Security, or other programs. You will plan and execute steps to improve your financial profile prior to and in retirement.

To help simplify your life and trim expenses, you will take steps to rid yourself of seldom used, unneeded, and outdated possessions, by selling, gifting, or otherwise disposing of them. This includes removing items from storage and eliminating related costs.

You will identify your anticipated housing needs and potential living options, and determine which alternatives best meet your needs. Your requirements will likely change as you age, and with them, your preferred living choices. Currently, you may be able to independently age in place in your present or a new home, either of which might be located in a city or suburban neighborhood, rural area, naturally occurring retirement community (NORC), cohousing community, Village, or active adult community. You may prefer to live with family members in multigenerational housing. Later you may need in-home care or health care, or foresee moving into a facility providing 24/7 health care and assistance with your activities of daily living. You will weigh the cost of each living option against your resources, and determine which ones are both affordable and leave you with sufficient resources to pursue your life list goals.

You may need to consider and plan for a timeframe both preceding and within your retirement during which you will have loved ones for whom you will be providing care and/or shelter. These could include aged parents, adult (or younger) children, and others. You may be assisting or sheltering them within your own home or at another location. Part of the Finding Home Over 50 process involves assessing and managing the needs of older loved ones, as well those of younger persons dependent on you.

While you are reading this book, remember that you are going to be part of a sizable group of people who will be retiring within the same timeframe as you. Persons aged 50 to 70 comprise about 25 percent of the current population in the U.S., and an even larger percentage of the population that directly owns or rents their homes. As the following table and chart show, this group spans two distinct Baby Boomer sub-groups, and the oldest slice of so-called Gen-X adults.

The following chart further breaks down the population by age bands and gender.

The table and chart are telling you two main things, with a common theme:

As a part of this group, you are among a huge number of people who are approaching retirement age all at once, and who will be scaling back, selling businesses, and changing living arrangements amidst great competition.

The message: You need to start preparing for your upcoming housing choices soon; you will have fewer options as the masses continue to rush in.

Second, the number of people represented by each bar in the chart drops off pretty fast on the right.

The message: Like it or not, you are at least halfway through your life and time is marching on. You must start preparing soon if you want to accomplish some of your life list goals. You have to know what you can afford to do, and your upcoming housing choices are central to your decisions.