“These active adults are the largest, wealthiest and fastest-growing segment in the population and they are searching for products, services and programs that are designed specifically for them,” says Lisa Puma, senior director of Marketing of GHA Community Management. Essentially, these individuals are looking for a maintenance-free, activity-filled, and well-managed community where they can begin their transition into retirement.

An option that perfectly complements the lifestyles of these vigorous individuals””while shifting from the common misconceptions surrounding senior housing””are Active Adult Communities, a unique form of housing where individuals move in at the age of 55 or older to enjoy the perks of various amenities. Many communities offer the option of purchasing a home or renting to further accommodate individual financial needs.

As with any other housing option, it is recommended that individuals speak to residents and the management of prospective communities in order to become familiar with their philosophy. It is also important to understand how the management of active adult communities differs from multi-family management.

“Unlike multi-family, active adult communities are unique because they require more complex management to serve the lifestyle of the homeowners,” says Lisa.”The goal is not only to achieve a successful homeowners association, but to build social involvement, exercise, education, stress reduction and a balanced lifestyle.”

GHA Community Management has a specialty division that provides professional management and lifestyle services to meet the needs of active adult communities. This includes services ranging from in-home maintenance to energy and utility management as well as various consulting services, including those for community lifestyle directors and amenity and recreational building design reviews.

Although many do not offer healthcare services, active adult communities are an appealing housing option with their extensive list of amenities and homes that are low maintenance and easily accessible. The communities are typically adjacent to recreational facilities and golf courses, and often include tennis courts and swimming pools among other perks.

With all of these aspects of a community, it is the responsibility of active adult management and key members of the staff to establish a relationship with residents that ensures the different facets of their home suits their needs and overall lifestyle.

The first step is to figure out where you are going, since what you will be able to take with you depends, a lot, on that decision. Moving from a large family home to a townhouse means one level of downsizing, and moving from a townhouse to a small apartment means another.

If you know where you’re going, you’ll have a much easier time figuring out what is sensible to keep, and what you will need to get rid of. Having a floor plan of the place you’re moving to, and important measurements, will help a lot in figuring out which large items you will be able to bring with you.

The timetable is important as well. Professional organizers will tell you that it’s best to have at least six months for such a move, but whatever your timetable is, you should get a calendar for this use only, and then plan your strategy. You might mark off “D-Day” (for decision made), and “M-Day” (for moving), then mark (in pencil!) the day the necessary steps will be made, moving both backward and forward.

Assign various members of the family to whatever tasks they can be responsible for. Decide on tentative dates for any sales you might have, and make deadlines for the other tasks you will need to accomplish. If you have no experience estimating the time needed for big jobs, take a general tip from freelancers and independent contractors: figure out the time you realistically think you will need, and then multiply it by at least two!

If possible, the move to another location should be completed with plenty of time to spare before the belongings that remain behind in the house are divided among others and removed from the premises. As anyone who has ever moved knows, moving is an exhausting, confusing, and emotionally upsetting ordeal. For a person who is moving out of a beloved home they’ve lived in for many years, it is all the more so.

Ideally, the person making the move should be given the time to settle into their new surroundings, and make sure that they have taken with them all they want, before the contents of their previous home are taken away. You don’t want to regret having given away too much too soon, or to have important things lost in the shuffle.

Creating a Visual Record

Insurance companies recommend that homeowners keep an inventory of household goods, with photos of the items. Such a list can be helpful when it comes to dispersing the items in a home as well. Make a page for each room in the house, with numbered columns, listing the item (“bureau”), a description (“4-drawer oak chest, 30 inches long”), its history or provenance (“wedding gift” or “purchased when Susie was born” or “belonged to Great-aunt Madeleine”), and any additional comments (“For my granddaughter Isabel” or “Please have this appraised and sold, with the profits divided equally among my children” or “Ask cousin Josh if he would like this; his mother gave it to us.”). You may leave the spaces in the last column blank if you want your children and grandchildren to decide which pieces interest them the most.

Take photographs of the items, and number the photographs to correspond with the list. If you are using a digital camera, you will be able to create an electronic record with photos and descriptions, and then send it to members of your family via e-mail.

The visual record can be used to help sort through and assign belongings to various members of the family in advance. Each child and/or grandchild in the family can be given a copy and asked to mark those items they would like to have.

The record will also come in handy when siblings are actually dividing up the estate. Each person can record which items they are taking, helping to ensure the items are being divided up fairly. It may seem that one person is getting more than the others because she’s been more vocal, but a look at the list will help assure each person that he or she is getting a fair share.

First Things First
The best way to begin the process of moving on, before any items are removed or even spoken for, is to talk with everyone in the family about what is happening. Here are some questions to ask:

–Has everyone in the family been informed that we are about to start emptying the house?

–Have we made a family plan for how to go about this process? Has everyone agreed to it?

–Have we set a date when the process will begin? Is it clear to everyone who will be involved?

–Have we talked about how to handle any disagreements or disputes that may arise in the process?

–Have we dealt with any disagreements about any of the above as well as we can? If we are not all in agreement, do we at least have a consensus that the process should begin?

Additional Resources:

American Moving and Storage Association
Association offers helpful consumer tips and information.
703-683-7410
www.moving.org

Appraisers Association of America, Inc. (AAA)
The oldest professional association of appraisers of personal property and the recognized authority for setting appraisal standards.
212-889-5503
www.appraiserassoc.org

American Society of Appraisers (ASA)
Organization founded the Appraisal Foundation, which issued the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
703-478-2228
www.appraisers.org

National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM)
Non-profit, professional association of organizations dedicated to helping older adults and their families with the physical and emotional aspects of the moving process.
www.nasmm.com

Excerpted from Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home by Linda Hetzer and Janet Hulstrand (Stewart, Tabori & Chang). To learn more about the book, visit their website: www.movingonthebook.com

According to the Home Safety Council’s study, The State of Home Safety in America report 2004, falls are the leading cause of unintentional home injury and related death for older adults. In fact, falls account for an average of nearly 5,000 deaths each year for people ages 65 and older. It is important to invest a little time in a home safety walk-through to find and fix hazards. Taking “safe steps” will not only protect you, but your entire family from falls injuries. In addition to making safety changes within the home, older adults must also maintain a healthy level of physical activity and carefully monitor medications to minimize the risk of suffering a serious fall-related injury.

The Home Safety Council has developed the national Safe Steps program designed to educate older adults and their family members on how to reduce their risk of falling dangers. The national program promotes preventative low cost solutions and simple behavioral changes to enhance personal safety and independence. The Safe Steps curriculum includes an instructional video, educational wall poster, and activities that can help track medications, exercise and assess overall home safety. Downloadable materials are available at no cost on the Home Safety Council’s Web site, www.homesafetycouncil.org.

Home Safety “Walk-Through”

What to look for:

All stairs and steps should be protected with a secure banister or hand-rail on each side that extends the full length of the stairs. Make sure stairwells have a bright light at the top and bottom of the stairs.

Make sure all porches, hallways and stairwells are well lit. Use the maximum safe wattage in light fixtures. Maximum wattage is typically posted inside light fixtures.

Use nightlights to help light hallways, stairwells and bathrooms during night-time hours.

Keep stairs, steps, landings and all floors clear. Reduce clutter and safely tuck away telephone and electrical cords out of walkways.

When very young children are present, use safety gates at the tops and bottoms of stairs.

Use a non-slip mat or install adhesive safety strips or decals in bathtubs and showers. If you use a bath mat on the floor, choose one that has a non-skid bottom.

Install grab bars in bath and shower stalls. Do not use towel racks or wall-mounted soap dishes as grab bars; they can easily come loose, causing a fall.

Keep the floor clean. Promptly clean up grease, water and other spills.

If you use throw rugs in your home place them over a rug-liner or choose rugs with non-skid backs to reduce your chance of slipping.

Know that window screens are not strong enough to protect a child from falling out. Install window guards on upper floors, making sure they’re designed to open quickly from the inside in case of fire.

Always practice constant supervision if children are near an open window, and keep cribs and furniture away from windows.

Follow medication dosages closely. Using multiple medications and/or using medications incorrectly may cause dizziness, weakness and other side effects which can lead to a dangerous fall.

When climbing on a ladder is necessary, always stand at or below the highest safe standing level. For a stepladder, the safe standing level is the second rung from the top, and for an extension ladder, it’s the fourth rung from the top.

If you would like to learn more about preventing falls, you can take the Home Safety Council’s online quiz on www.homesafetycouncil.org. The interactive tool features a falls-specific quiz that will assess your level of knowledge in this area and help you learn how to correct potential dangers in your home.

About Home Safety Council
The Home Safety Council (HSC) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing home-related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits on average each year. Through national programs, partnerships and the support of volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to keep them safer in and around their homes. The Home Safety Council is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization located in Washington, DC.

The United Nations estimates that about one out of every 10 people on the planet today is at least 60 years old. By 2050, it’s projected to be one out of five. Which means that not only will there be more old people, but there will be relatively fewer young people to support them.

Demographer Richard Lee of the Universiy of California at Berkley says this aging of the world has a significant impact on economies. “Population aging increases the concentration of population in the older ages and therefore it is costly,” he said.

Aging populations consume more and produce less. With more people living longer, it could get expensive. But Mr. Lee says with continuing increases in worker productivity and smart planning, it can be manageable.

Societies have different methods for caring for the elderly, but each carries a cost. Generally, there are three types of support. Seniors can live off the wealth they accumulated when they were younger. They can rely on their family to take care of them, or they can rely on the government.

In industrialized nations, governments created publicly-funded support systems. These worked relatively well until recent years, when aging population growth in places like the United States and western Europe began to undermine the systems finances. These nations now face some tough choices. Mr. Lee says the elderly in some of these countries must either receive less money, retire later or increase taxes to make the system sustainable.

Most developing nations have not built this type of government-funded support, but have instead relied on families to care for their elderly. These nations also generally have much younger populations, which means their situation is not as urgent as more developed nations. But Mr. Lee says that doesn’t mean they can ignore the issue.

“Third world countries should give very careful thought to this process, to population aging and how it may affect their economies – now, before population aging may have even appeared on their radar screens as an issue,” he explained.

Mr. Lee says some governments see family support systems as a way to avoid the financial problems that industrial nations face with their publicly-funded safety nets. But he says history has shown that familial support systems are generally weakened when nations become more prosperous — as fewer children live with and care for their parents. And he says if the nations wait too long, it may be too late.

“Once population aging has become visible demographically, it’s really too late to tell people who are just about to retire that they should have been saving since the time they were 20,” added Mr. Lee.

For those people planning on retiring in 2050, the time to start saving was five years ago.

Article original printed on Voice of America’s website: www.voanews.com

More and more active adults are seeking educational opportunities in retirement. From learning vacations to the full campus lifestyle, retirees are making the world their classroom and learning their life. For these individuals, retirement is not about relaxing or rest homes, it is a learning opportunity. They form the inaugural class of the rapidly growing “University of Retirement.” The University of Retirement does not have a single campus or strict degree requirements, and it is not symbolized by an imposing building or an endearing mascot. The University of Retirement Living is a way of life.

In recent years, educational opportunities in retirement have expanded from the routine health and wellness classes offered at the local senior center to include a wide array of intellectually and physically stimulating offerings. From poetry to history and from physics to geology, seniors can find classes specifically tailored to their interests and ability levels. Physical fitness classes ranging from Tai Chi to Spinning help older adults keep their bodies fit as well.

The philosophy of lifelong learning was crafted by retirees themselves, who are increasingly aware of the importance of remaining physically, mentally, and socially active. Many lifelong learning institutes and senior education programs were organized in response to the lack of these vital opportunities in local communities. As each new program emerges, colleges, universities, retirement living service providers, and local governments are taking notice and taking action to provide these same types of services to their populations.

Elderhostel, the world’s largest educational travel organization for adults 55 and over, was among the first organizations to respond to the lack of educational opportunities for American over age 55. According to their website, the not-for-profit organization now serves almost 200,000 program attendees and offers nearly 10,000 programs ever year in more than 90 countries.

The growth of Elderhostel coincided with the grassroots development of college-affiliated and community-driven lifelong learning institutes. These institutes were conceptualized and conceived by alumni and community activists. Many of these same institutes are now affiliated with Elderhostel and offer on-campus programs and learning and travel opportunities. For a list of lifelong learning institutes affiliated with Elderhostel and/or a list of programs in your community, visit their website at www.elderhostel.org.

The Elderhostel programs and institutes are well known, but they only account for a fraction of the lifelong learning and continuing education programs available in this area. For a comprehensive list of the wide array of programs, institutes, and other educational opportunities available in the D.C. Metropolitan region, please see the chart.

The enormous growth of continuing education programs has not gone unnoticed by the retirement living industry. As the Baby Boomers age, the industry is faced with the challenge of providing more than just care. Baby Boomers, a large majority of them college educated, are demanding more opportunities in retirement. They want more than bingo and sittercise; they want to be challenged, to learn, and to continue to grow. In direct response to this demand, retirement communities affiliated with universities are being developed across the country.

These communities are connected with their affiliated university to varying degrees-from on-campus communities with class requirements to loose affiliates that provide access to university amenities to residents. An industry standard for defining these communities is yet to be developed, which makes charting the growth of these types of communities difficult. In “Advanced Education,” Alvin Sanoff explains, “There is no precise count [of retirement communities linked to universities] available-estimates range from a few dozen to about 80-and they vary in the amenities they offer and how they are set up financially.”

In an attempt to help quantify what these communities are and what they can offer retirees and universities, Andrew Carle, Director of the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University, has coined the term “University Based Retirement Communities” (UBRC’s). Carle explains that such communities have direct links to universities and are located either on-campus or very close to university grounds. Residents of UBRC’s are given access to university educational and social opportunities, often including university facilities, amenities, and sporting events. The university also maintains teaching, education, employment, volunteering, and other opportunities for students and faculty within the community.

For retirees, this association is incredibly beneficial because it provides convenient opportunities for continued education and intergenerational activities. Many of these communities are marketed to university alums and retiring faculty, who have nostalgic ties to the university. This, Carle notes, is also beneficial to the operators of the retirement community because they tap into “a unique brand loyalty that was established up to 50 years in advance of purchase and will never end as long as the university exists.”

According to Carle, a typical UBRC includes a mix of independent living units (in the form of houses, townhouses, or apartments), as well as assisted living, skilled nursing, and often Alzheimer’s services – which are consolidated within a core health care center. Entrance fees and monthly costs vary widely. Examples of communities meeting Carle’s criteria for a UBRC include: Oak Hammock (University of Florida), The Village at Penn State (Penn State University), Lasell Village (Lasell College), Classic Residence by Hyatt (Stanford University), Kendal at Oberlin (Oberlin College), Green Hills (Iowa State University), and Longview (Ithaca College). Dozens of other UBRC’s are currently under development or review, including one at George Mason University.

The continued development and improvement of UBRC’s signals a shift in the retirement living industry in response to the demands of today’s active retirees. Lounging by the ocean or whiling away the hours on a golf course is still a common retirement dream; however, the unprecedented growth in continuing education and lifelong learning programs and the more recent development of UBRC’s demonstrates an increasing desire for something more.

This new breed of retiree wants more than relaxation. They seek challenges, new experiences, and the rewards that come from accomplishment. An emerging population of highly-motivated, older adults is busy building a new model of retirement living-one that can most accurately be called the University of Retirement. And the last thing they want is “no more books”

Many independent living communities provide a full range of activities that promote social contact among residents. Shopping trips, outings to cultural events, and organized gatherings are typical activities. Many independent living communities also have tennis courts, swimming pools, activity rooms, and other amenities. Most offer a variety of meal plans, including the option of preparing meals in your own apartment.

Most independent living communities do not offer health care services (such as those provided, for example, by assisted living communities and nursing facilities), but some independent living communities are affiliated with health care facilities that can provide such care when it is needed. Residents can also purchase home health care services from outside providers.

Paying for Independent Living Communities

Most independent living communities are rental communities, but a few are condominiums or single-family communities in which residents must purchase their own units or homes. Costs and services vary widely. In some communities, a monthly fee covers many services, while in others a fee-for-service system is used.

A few independent living communities offer subsidies based on strictly defined need. There is almost always a waiting list for subsidized units. To learn more about what is available, contact your local Area Agency on Aging.

What to Look For in An Independent Living Community

A major question for those who are considering an independent living community is how to meet their future health care needs. It is important to have a specific plan covering various contingencies.

Another question may be whether to select a fee-for-service arrangement or an all-inclusive fee. Fee-for-service may appear at first to be the more economical choice, but if a resident expects to use several of the available services, an all-inclusive fee could turn out to be a better buy.

“Vital Aging” is defined as “striving to experience physical and cognitive vitality, emotional and social well being, and spiritual growth until the end of life, including dying own on one’s own terms, in so far as possible.” The development of this concept and the creation of subsequent workshops and training programs have led to major advancements in the fields of gerontology and older adult psychology. However, the influence of this concept extends far beyond academe.

The Vital Aging program proposes to simultaneously improve the self-esteem and well-being of older adults and to serve community needs by utilizing the rapidly growing older adult population: “Older adults, not prematurely disabled but experiencing Vital Aging, could meet much more of the desperately needed human and public services now existing in our local, state, national and world society, either through paid employment (full or part-time) or volunteering.” Continued involvement in the community would help to foster continued social and intellectual growth in the older adult population. One need not look any farther than Julius Knox Singleton’s on-going service to his community to see that it is possible to grow and improve with age-to age vitally.