How to Safeguard Your Home in Retirement
Retirement is a wonderful time of life. We spend a lot of time on these pages discussing ways to make the most of our time through travel, hobbies and interests. While it’s always nice to get out of the house for an event or a meeting and go on a cruise or vacation, one of the great joys in life is to come back home where you are safe and most comfortable. Our home is our refuge and how to safeguard your home in retirement is an important consideration for almost every retiree. There are three areas to look at to ensure your home is protected as much as possible and will serve your needs as you journey through life. The first two points concern the physical structure of your living area.
When you look at how to safeguard your home in retirement, part of that analysis is to make sure that your home is adequately safeguarding you! By that I mean is your home going to accommodate your physical needs as you age. Let’s face it, none of us are getting any younger and there are things that you can anticipate as your body ages. In essence, you want to make your house as handicap accessible as possible. My wife and I bought a fix it up home when our children were three and four and over the years we made the house into a wonderful place for a young family. We knew it wasn’t a home we could stay in when we retired and that was evident whenever someone who was a bit elderly paid us a visit. It took twelve steps to get to the front door. All the bedrooms were upstairs. Our back door led to six steps down to our patio at the back of the house. It was great for us and our children loved it. We were there for forty years until we retired and by that time, we knew why this could not be our retirement home. This was made very clear when a friend of ours broke her knee getting out of bathroom tub upstairs and was forced to stay with us for a while.
Anticipating your needs as you age is a major consideration when you look at how to safeguard your home in retirement.
The first thing to consider when you think about how to safeguard your home in retirement is to have as few steps as possible leading in and out of the house and, while your home doesn’t have to be all on one level, having your master bedroom, walk-in shower and laundry facilities all on the ground floor is extremely advisable. Having wider doors to accommodate a wheelchair is also good advice and a totally handicapped accessible bathroom is a great idea if you can do it. We designed and built our dream retirement home with all of that included and we are very glad we did. To retrofit an existing house can get very expensive so, as you design your retirement lifestyle, don’t think of a new home as extravagant because you can make it anything you want and “age proof” it from the beginning. A new home can also go a long way into the second issue to consider as you look at how to safeguard your home in retirement.
Just as people age, homes age as well so you want to make sure that you have the funds and the budget to maintain your home and take care of it when you have become too old to do so. Everyone should have a retirement budget and the upkeep of your home should be a big item in your list. If your home is your biggest financial asset, it's even more important to put a percentage of your budget towards maintaining your home. Many people move into retirement communities and live in a condominium rather than a home to reduce the maintenance and in a way “outsource” that maintenance to the community itself. Living in a community can provide added security and safety so that is something to consider as well. You may want to consider a home maintenance plan to control your costs and guard against a catastrophic expense. Retirement is a great time to look at the long-term picture for the rest of your life, and a good financial planner can help you do that. A good planner can also provide some answers for the last category in how to safeguard your home in retirement and that is protection of your asset, namely your house.
Protecting your assets against unforeseen expenses and other issues is something a good financial planner can do. They may suggest placing your house in a trust as a way to protect your assets from being decreased by health or medical expenses. These are all important issues and, as you seek guidance on how to protect your home in retirement, remember to be as educated as you can be when you speak to an advisor and make sure that advisor is as unbiased and knowledgeable as possible. If they’re making money from a financial move that they are advising you to make, at least seek a second opinion as you protect one of your main assets in retirement. It’s worth the time to create a sound financial plan for your home and to make sure your prime residence is as adaptable as possible for the effects of aging. No one can avoid getting older but we can make that process as worry free as possible so we can go out and Enjoy Retired Life as much as we possibly can.
Thanks for visiting. If you like what you see here, please tell your friends. If you haven’t done so already, be sure you take The Self Discovery Challenge for Retirement! It’s designed to help you make the most of this wonderful time of your life. You’re never too old to discover something new about yourself!
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