What do you look for when plan­ning a hol­i­day? Great reviews from fel­low hol­i­day­makers? Sun-kissed beaches? Deli­cious home-cooked food? Do you take the self-cater­ing, half-board or all-inclus­ive option?

Now ima­gine if the pro­spect of this ‘hol­i­day’ was not just for a fort­night but for the fore­see­able future: 20 years or even more. Would your require­ments stay the same?

Plan­ning for the future, and in par­tic­u­lar liv­ing arrange­ments, in retire­ment is a chal­lenge facing thou­sands of New Zeal­anders every year. Wad­ing through the paper­work, cal­cu­lat­ing fin­ances and nego­ti­at­ing the com­plex land­scape of the future to dis­cov­er what is best for you can be tir­ing and confusing.

Age Con­cern has been sup­port­ing the seni­or com­munity in Wel­ling­ton for more than 60 years, focus­ing on issues such as hard­ship and health care. Robert Ross, act­ing chief exec­ut­ive for Age Con­cern New Zea­l­and, says, “Our vis­ion is that all older people are val­ued and live in an inclus­ive soci­ety. Unfor­tu­nately, New Zea­l­and is not there yet. The key chal­lenges that older people are cur­rently facing are eld­er abuse and neg­lect, social isol­a­tion and loneli­ness, meet­ing the cost of healthy liv­ing, find­ing afford­able age-friendly hous­ing and receiv­ing care that is delivered with dig­nity and respect.”

In this guide you will dis­cov­er some of the options avail­able for you or a loved one, in addi­tion to first-hand exper­i­ence and advice from seni­ors themselves.

Let’s make a list

So, you’re plan­ning your hol­i­day — you know what you like and you know you want:

• A pool (to allow you to fin­ish that book you star­ted a year ago)
• A 24-hour bar (to allow you to have an illi­cit mid­night beverage)
• Shops and res­taur­ants with­in walk­ing dis­tance (to sample the loc­al cuisine and spend a week away from the kitchen)
• A bevvy of inter­est­ing activ­it­ies (to allow you to at least con­sider base jump­ing or zip-lining)

But what would you want in the future? What means a lot to you? Age Con­cern recom­mends mak­ing a list of what you would like nearby, now and in the future:

• Family/whānau and friends
• Neigh­bours
• Ser­vices and facil­it­ies like shops, the lib­rary, your doctor
• Places and activ­it­ies that are spe­cial to you: marae, church, gym, swim­ming pool, park, beach, bus, bridge club, sew­ing or book group
• Travel — bus stop or train (you may decide to stop driving)
• Mobil­ity and access­ib­il­ity — good foot­paths and access for easy walk­ing or a mobil­ity scooter
• A garden or a veget­able patch — your own or a com­munity effort

 

Age Con­cern also recom­mends tak­ing a look at your cur­rent sur­round­ings and being real­ist­ic about upkeep, main­ten­ance and access­ib­il­ity as you get older. Mak­ing a list of pros and cons can also be bene­fi­cial if you’re inde­cis­ive — take time to weigh things up practically.

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What should you con­sider when mak­ing this decision?

What cap­it­al do I have?
How much will I have for the future?
How much is alloc­ated from the government?
How do I access this?
Am I in good health?
Do I want pro­vi­sions set aside should some­thing happen?
Am I close to my family?
Will they still be close by in the future?

Let’s look through the options

Retirement villages

“If you want to be part of the com­munity and have an act­ive life­style, a retire­ment vil­lage might be the option for you,” muses Bill Atkin­son, aged 86 and chair of the Grey Power Fed­er­a­tion Retire­ment Vil­lages Nation­al Advis­ory Group. A retire­ment vil­lage is a great option for people look­ing to become part of a com­munity and reap the bene­fits of a secure environment.

Bill has been an act­ive mem­ber of Grey Power for 19 years and lives in a retire­ment vil­lage in Auck­land, where he and his wife Christine decided to move 14 years ago. He says: “Liv­ing in a retire­ment vil­lage has a great many bene­fits if you want to remain inde­pend­ent, yet have the peace of mind that comes from a vil­lage of like-minded people and the added bene­fits of a safe and secure set­ting. How­ever, there are always a lot of import­ant facts to con­sider when mak­ing this decision and most of the time it is around plan­ning and finances.”

Bill con­cludes that his and Christine’s for­ward plan­ning has afforded them the lux­ury of being one of the young­est couples with­in their retire­ment vil­lage. “Some­times you can leave it too late and have neither the energy nor resources to live some­where that ticks all the boxes. Plan­ning is the key.”

Retire­ment vil­lages come in vari­ous shapes and sizes. More often than not, you will buy a licence to occupy (which give you the right to live with­in the vil­lage but no own­er­ship of any land or build­ings). Essen­tially, when enter­ing a vil­lage you’re pur­chas­ing the life­style, not invest­ing in the bricks and mortar.

“The most import­ant things I stress when offer­ing advice on vil­lage retire­ment is, under­stand that there is no cap­it­al growth,” says Bill. “There is a weekly fee for the vil­lage and be smart with your sav­ings. Liv­ing here has been great for us we are glad we made this choice.”

Addi­tion­al bene­fits of liv­ing in a retire­ment vil­lage set­ting include extra-cur­ricular activ­it­ies that ensure you stay fit and healthy in addi­tion to hav­ing fun and mak­ing friends. At Ryman Retire­ment Vil­lages, which have more than 26 sites and 7,000 res­id­ents, the ‘vil­la­gers’ have the oppor­tun­ity to take part in the Triple A (Age­less, Act­ive, Aware) pro­gramme, cur­rently being flexed by more than 2,500 men and women of all ages. Pro­gramme co-ordin­at­or Nicki Brown based the plan on a study involving older par­ti­cipants. She says, “The truth is that you’re nev­er too old to exer­cise — you’ve just got to choose the right way to do it.”

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Con­sid­er­a­tions:

• You pay upfront for a licence to occupy your unit, a per­cent­age of which (up to 30 per­cent) is deduc­ted imme­di­ately and is non-refundable.
• Retire­ment vil­lage units are not affected by hous­ing mar­ket trends and values
• You will be required to pay weekly fees for the run­ning costs of the village
• Always check the occu­pa­tion right agree­ment or seek advice from someone who is spe­cial­ised in this area (not all law­yers are)
• Read the Code of Resident’s Rights and retire­ment vil­lages Code of Prac­tice 2008 as well (org.nz/retirement-villages/legislation#s3). The Code of Prac­tice 2008 sets out the rights and oblig­a­tions of vil­lage oper­at­ors and residents
• Retire­ment vil­lages also offer a vari­ety of pack­ages (sim­il­ar to hol­i­days): inde­pend­ent liv­ing, sup­por­ted inde­pend­ence and full care

THUMPS UP: Secur­ity and safety with­in the vil­lage; mini-bus or trans­port on site; com­munity spir­it and days out offered; main­ten­ance is handled; choice of liv­ing options; pri­vacy of your own home (great for couples)

THUMBS DOWN: a large upfront out­lay (in the region of $200,000); 30 per­cent of out­lay is deduc­ted straight away and is non-refund­able, so if you move, your cap­it­al is reduced; weekly fee on top of the ini­tial costs

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Staying put

If your house is your castle and your garden is para­dise, the thought of upping sticks can be a daunt­ing pro­spect and may cause more harm than good. Stay­ing put is usu­ally best for couples or indi­vidu­als in rel­at­ively good health with fam­ily and friends nearby.

Susan and Les Meek have lived in their King­ston house for more than 38 years and have no inten­tion of leav­ing any time soon. The couple, who have been mar­ried 42 years, have six chil­dren and two grand­chil­dren who also live in Wel­ling­ton with their parents.

The Meeks want to con­tin­ue liv­ing with their chick­ens and ancient dog in the home and garden they have built over the years. Susan, 62, says, “The main thing is to remain busy and act­ive; I cer­tainly want to con­tin­ue teach­ing and being an act­ive par­ti­cipant with­in the community.”

She also says that a retire­ment vil­lage would be their last option. “That is not some­thing we are inter­ested in and is the last thing we would want. Stay­ing in our own home, near our fam­ily and friends, is the most import­ant part of our lives.”

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Con­sid­er­a­tions:

• Can fam­ily members/neighbours/community pro­jects help with garden or maintenance?
• Can you share your home to help with house­hold expenses?
• Are you happy for the house to be adap­ted? A new shower or bath space, hand­rails and mov­ing a bed­room to the ground floor may all be bene­fi­cial for the future

THUMBS UP: Friends, fam­ily and estab­lished com­munity remains; famil­i­ar with sur­round­ings; min­im­al out­go­ings if mort­gage-free; no stress of moving
THUMBS DOWN: Home will prob­ably need to be modified/adapted for mobil­ity; more upkeep/maintenance as you get older

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Shared accommodation/renting

Shar­ing or rent­ing is always an option, no mat­ter what your age. Tap­ping into social media via plat­forms like Face­book and sites like Trade Me, have made the scope for find­ing a new place to live wider than ever.

Abbey­field is one of the pion­eers in this area, offer­ing an altern­at­ive way of liv­ing in your twi­light (or sun­rise, depend­ing on your per­spect­ive) years. If you prefer a more integ­rated approach, Abbey­field is great for people aged 55+ who want a ‘fam­ily’ type atmo­sphere, com­plete with com­mun­al din­ing and liv­ing — with the excep­tion of a cook, who sources and pre­pares meals twice daily. Res­id­ents (typ­ic­ally up to 14 retir­ees) over­see import­ant decisions with­in the house, even down to who rents along­side them.

A new­bie to the rent­al mar­ket, Pamela Lun­don, 58, has been liv­ing in Aus­tralia for the past ten years and has returned to Wel­ling­ton to be near­er her fam­ily. She says, “Liv­ing on your own allows you to remain inde­pend­ent and con­tin­ue liv­ing life at a pace you choose. I am lucky that I am fairly mobile and have two sons who help with things like car main­ten­ance or repairs around the home.”

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Con­sid­er­a­tions:

• Rent­ing can be great if you’re inde­pend­ent and like your own com­pany, not too good if you’re prone to feel­ing lonely or isol­ated. Shared accom­mod­a­tion may be a bet­ter option if you want a lively space — but remem­ber, it is shared; being respect­ful, and patient is important.

THUMBS UP: Great for singletons or friends who want to share togeth­er, or for those on a budget; fam­ily-style inclus­ive approach to living

THUMBS DOWN: Not suit­able for those who require care or have mobil­ity issues; could poten­tially have a lack of pri­vacy; no invest­ment or return

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Living with family

Act­or and dir­ect­or Mir­anda Har­court says that a “com­mon fam­ily cul­ture” is the glue that binds her fam­ily unit togeth­er, weav­ing the lives of her hus­band, chil­dren and moth­er, theatre legend Dame Kate Har­court, into one unique tapestry in Melrose.

“It was a really nat­ur­al pro­gres­sion from Kate liv­ing in a large space by her­self after my fath­er [Peter] had died, and decid­ing that we would con­sider liv­ing togeth­er after the birth of my son Peter 15 years ago,” Har­court relates.

“We are a very close-knit fam­ily and spend a great deal of time togeth­er; fin­an­cially it made sense and we agreed it would be great to live together.”

Mir­anda explains that Dame Kate, 86, has a keen eye for real estate and was look­ing around when she found a house that she loved and would meet the needs of both parties. “We con­ver­ted two gar­ages at the base of the house with the help of an archi­tect, and it was perfect.”

Almost 15 years on, the fam­ily lives in what Mir­anda describes as a com­mune: a home with like-minded indi­vidu­als who speak the same lan­guage — the lan­guage of the cre­at­ive arts. “Peter flats with Kate and she and Thomas­in prac­tise the piano togeth­er; it works wonderfully.”

The idyll­ic life­style has been cap­tured even more so by an Eng­lish coun­try-garden, cul­tiv­ated and tendered to by a green-fingered Dame Kate. Dame Kate agrees enthu­si­ast­ic­ally, “I am nev­er lonely or bored, and I am with my fam­ily yet have retained my inde­pend­ence. The import­ance of liv­ing like this is the rela­tion­ship with your fam­ily. You need to listen and talk to each oth­er, and the key is tol­er­ance on both sides.”

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Con­sid­er­a­tions:

• The needs and expect­a­tions of every fam­ily mem­ber should be considered
• What sup­port net­work is available?
• Will the eld­erly fam­ily mem­ber live in an annexe or in a room with­in the house?
• How will the eld­erly fam­ily mem­ber integ­rate with young­er people/children?

 

THUMBS UP: Great envir­on­ment and fam­ily atmo­sphere; shares on costs and liv­ing expenses; safe and secure
THUMBS DOWN: Liv­ing with fam­ily can risk lack of pri­vacy; suits like-minded members

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Resources — for sup­port and information:

eldernet.co.nz — home and hous­ing information

seniornet.co.nz — learn more about technology

ageconcern.org.nz — the back­bone of the seni­or community

greypower.co.nz — com­munity and advice

nzaca.org.nz — New Zea­l­and Aged Care Association

rymanhealthcare.co.nz

abbeyfield.co.nz

 

Quick facts:

• Home own­er­ship is highest for the 70–74 age group — 77.5 per­cent own their home (source: Stat­ist­ics New Zealand)
• From 1950 to 2010, the over-65 pop­u­la­tion has grown from 9 per­cent to 13 percent
• Retire­ment age pop­u­la­tion in Wellington*:

55–59 = 27,555

60–64 = 24,369

65–69 = 20,262

70–74 = 15,294

75–79 = 10,800

80–84 = 8,382

85–89 =5,007

90–94 = 2,007

95–99 = 456

100+ = 60

*Source: 2013 Census

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