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Excerpts from
an article about real estate communities thriving with older workers who aren’t
quite retired and don’t intend to be. We discussed this
several years ago as a housing options conversation, but the Bush economy and
failed pension plans have changed a lot since then. Time for further
discussion? Other readings of
interest? KwC Active Adult
Enclaves: semi-retired
communities. “These days, the biggest growth in "active
adult" communities is in snow-belt cities like Chicago, Detroit, and
Cleveland. As the first baby boomers hit retirement age, they're already doing
many things differently. Forgoing Florida and Arizona - often to stay closer to
family - is just one example of a trend fueled in part by an increase in
options as developers catch on to what older home-buyers want. Many more are
also continuing to work, looking for educational opportunities, or shifting
their energies to nonprofit activities. This generation "looks at retirement more as a transition than as
a destination,"
says Marc Freedman, president of Civic Ventures and author of "Prime Time:
How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America."
"They're embarking on a new stage of life as opposed to an exit ramp....
Their parents moved into a pretty well-defined notion of what success was - a
focus on leisure and recreation was the norm. I think this is a group that is
coming into a whole new chapter that hasn't been well-defined." The annual Del Webb Baby Boomer survey,
released this month, showed about half of respondents planning to buy a new
home for retirement. Del Webb, which is part of Pulte, is opening communities
in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, and New Jersey - areas that Mr.
Schreiner says are attractive in part because of how little attention they've
attracted in the past. "There was always this vast silent majority that
we've never appealed to." About half the residents still work, and the
average age is slowly dropping down to 60 or 61, says Chris Naatz, a sales
representative. Some like the social aspect - Mr. Naatz compares it to living
in a college dorm, surrounded by people at a similar stage of life - while
others are drawn to the activities. Residents keep the pool and fitness center
filled, and the monthly calendar lists everything from field trips to Chicago
to meetings of the wood carvers' guild and jazz band. Freedman of Civic Ventures says more aging boomers are also looking for ways to become
active in education, nonprofits, or highly skilled volunteer jobs. His organization develops ideas and
programs to tap into the talents of older Americans; a recent survey of people
aged 50 to 70 that Civic Ventures conducted with MetLife showed half of
respondents saying they wanted a job that contributed to the greater good. Rather than focusing on retirement as a
liberation from labor, or "a long-awaited vacation," many retirees
are looking at retirement as "freedom to work," says Freedman. "It's a chance to
step back," he says. "So many people have a love-hate relationship
with work in midlife, and this is when they try to get more love and less hate. |
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