|
|||||||
 |
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
Retirement Communities & Senior Housing |
Retirement Living News April 2005 HEADLINES
(Click
on headline to read story) Archive
of Past Issues
New Retirement Communities New
Retirement Survey Shows Boomers Not Interested Merrill Lynch has released the findings of a new study that reveals how baby boomers envision their retirement and the coming decades of their lives. "The New Retirement Survey," conducted for Merrill Lynch by Harris Interactive in collaboration with Age Wave, reports that the majority of boomers plan to keep working and earning in retirement, but will do so by cycling between periods of work and leisure, thus creating a new model of retirement. "Baby boomers fundamentally will reinvent retirement, says James P. Gorman, President of the Global Private Client Group, and this has profound implications for how we at Merrill Lynch need to advise this generation of clients -- individuals as well as retirement plan sponsors. With boomers living longer and remaining engaged and employed beyond age 65, many of the traditional financial assumptions regarding retirement need to be reexamined," he said. This survey offers insight into the hopes, fears and motivations of this influential generation, as well as the coming impact on retirement, work, recreation, marriage, family, healthcare, housing, entitlements and the economy. Highlights of the survey include the following: The new retirement "turning point." While 76% of boomers intend to keep working and earning in retirement, on average they expect to "retire" from their current job/career at around 64 and then launch into an entirely new job or career. The "longevity bonus." Boomers will create a whole new life stage. Since Social Security established the "normal" retirement age at 65, life expectancy for a 65-year-old has increased by over seven years and continues to lengthen. As a result of living longer, this generation plans to be "younger" longer and work longer. Most boomers (65%) will stop working for pay and retire in the traditional sense at some point. However, that phase is more likely to begin in the late 60's, rather than at age 60 or 65. Boomers reject a life of either full-time leisure or full-time work. When probed about their ideal work arrangement in retirement, the most common choice among boomers would be to repeatedly "cycle" between periods of work and leisure (42%), followed by part-time work (16%), start their own business (13%) and full-time work (6%). Only 17% hope to never work for pay again. It's not about the money. While 37% of the boomer generation indicate that a continued income stream is a very important part of the reason they intend to keep working, 67% assert that continued mental stimulation and challenge is what will motivate them to stay in the game. The "me" generation becomes the "we" generation. The "me" generation has grown up -- now with deep concerns for the well-being of their children, their parents and their communities. Boomers are now ten times more likely to "put others first" (43%) than "put themselves first" (4%). The unpredictable cost of illness and healthcare. This is by far the boomers' biggest fear. They are three times more worried about a major illness (48%), their ability to pay for healthcare (53%) or winding up in a nursing home (48%), than about dying (17%). Boomer women are better educated, more independent, are simultaneously juggling more work and family responsibilities and are more financially engaged than any generation in history. They are dreaming of retiring to Mars while boomer men hope to retire to Venus. Boomer men are looking forward to working less, relaxing more, and spending more time with their spouse. However, boomer women view the dual liberations of empty nesting and retirement as providing new opportunities for career development, community involvement and continued personal growth. "The results of this visionary
study provide an unprecedented preview into the future of this
influential generation. While there are some problem areas, it appears
that boomer men and women are generally optimistic, innovative and
hopeful - and they're definitely gearing up for a new model of
retirement," said Ken Dychtwald, co-author of the survey and
president of Age Wave. "We asked boomers for their hopes, fears
and thoughts about retirement and what we got was the systematic
dismantling of all of our preconceptions about the future, for not
only this generation, but for nearly all of society's
institutions." Survey
Shows Near-Term Retirees Desire Single-Family Home A survey of more than 1,500 people, age
50 and older by ERA Real Estate revealed changing attitudes about real
estate that seem to contradict some long-held assumptions. It was
often believed that the typical aging homeowner was looking to move to
an active adult community and downsize, but survey results show
otherwise. "These survey results show that as more and more baby boomers turn 50, it is becoming harder to define the increasingly diverse mature consumer," said Brenda W. Casserly, president and COO, ERA Franchise Systems, Inc. The ERA Real Estate survey also showed some interesting findings regarding mature consumers' level of concern for some common economic costs. Despite a historically strong real estate market that has seen continued price increases, more respondents expressed greater concern over prescription drug costs (62 percent), hospital-related costs (60 percent), income and other taxes (59 percent) and gas prices (56 percent) than they did over the price of houses (43 percent). Other interesting findings from the ERA
survey included: The survey was conducted for ERA
Franchise Systems, Inc., by InsightExpress, a market research firm
headquartered in Stamford, Conn. What Builders Are Being Told About Creating a Lifestyle for Active Adults The sheer volume of 55+ buyers is awe-inspiring. Forecasters place their numbers in the tens of millions by 2010, says David Jensen, president of the Denver-based David Jensen Associates, a company that designs active adult communities. They are the largest group of homebuyers today and they have enormous purchasing power. Jensen told attendees at the recent International Builder's Show in Orlando to keep in mind that when targeting active adults, lifestyle often outweighs the house itself. For many, retirement may be several years away, but they are not only looking to purchase their retirement homes now at today's prices, they also seek a lifestyle that will reflect their future way of life. He offered builders five tips on how to package lifestyle into new communities so they stand out among the competition. More Than a House on a Lot For example, potential buyers in a master-planned community may travel around half the development site looking at your community's structure, safety features, recreation offerings, amenities, lot layout and more before walking into any of the models or homes to examine the architecture or floor plans. Because active adults purchase community lifestyle more than any other age group, community designers should treat each step of the community plan as another opportunity to positively shape the buyer's first impression. Blending planning concepts and sales and marketing techniques is a fundamental element of community design. On the Left We Have…Lifestyle Many communities lead buyers down a transitional road from the entry gate to a T-intersection. There, potential buyers are encouraged to stop and take in the surroundings where they'll see many amenities strategically placed to wow them and paint a picture of the community's ultimate lifestyle. After they get the big picture, they can explore the community and see the other amenities or neighborhoods. Lifestyle impressions can be crafted through extravagant architecture or simply rely on the site's natural topography to impress. To illustate, Jensen said Lake Las Vegas -- a $4 billion, 5,000-acre residential and resort development surrounding a 320-acre lake -- features a magnificent town center reminiscent of an Italian piazza with walkways, cafes, outdoor seating areas and fountains. It sparks the imagination and communicates a fun, outdoor social lifestyle. Reveling in Success Nostalgia Nostalgia is important to many active adults, so homes and communities should take prospects back to a place they might have visited -- or wanted to visit -- in the past, Jensen said. Lake Las Vegas has a Tuscan theme because Tuscany is a popular vacation spot for many of the community's residents. Tuscan and other Italian elements were delicately woven throughout the entire community -- from the village town center to the tile roofing on the guardhouse and the street lamp design. Fitness In concluding his remarks, Jensen urged
builders to revisit their plan and tweak it so that the community's
fabric has an appealing function, lifestyle and image. Recognize
active adults' hobbies and desires and pepper images of a rewarding
lifestyle throughout the community, he added. Medicare
Premiums Will Increase 4.3% in 2006; Medicare spending for doctors' services increased 15 percent last year, and beneficiaries will have to pay premiums of $89 a month in 2006, up $11 from the current level, the Bush administration said in late March. The increase is driven by the fact that doctors are billing Medicare for longer, more intensive office visits, more laboratory tests, more frequent and complex imaging procedures, and more prescription drugs given to patients in their offices, according to the administration. Beneficiaries now pay a premium of $78.20 a month. The administration said last week that the premium would rise to $87.70 next year. Medicare officials, however, raised their estimate to $89.20. That amounts to a 34 percent increase in two years, from $66.60 in 2004. Those numbers do not include the cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit that becomes available in January. Those premiums are expected to average $35 a month. Due to a quirt in federal law, Medicare will cut payments to doctors by 4 percent to 5 percent in each of the next six years unless Congress intervenes. Any action to prevent those cuts would further increase Medicare spending and premiums, officials said. But doctors said that if the cuts took effect, many physicians would be less willing to take elderly and disabled patients covered by Medicare because the payments would not cover the costs of care. Doctors are now mobilizing a nationwide lobbying campaign to stave off cuts in their Medicare fees as Congress seeks ways to hold down the soaring cost of the insurance program. The American Medical Association is urging its members to make telephone calls and send e-mail messages to Congress, and it has organized a nationwide network of patients to "help stop the cuts." Any action by Congress would affect
beneficiaries and perhaps other taxpayers as well. Premiums are
adjusted each year to cover about 25 percent of Medicare spending for
doctors and other health care professionals. So if Medicare pays
doctors more, premiums will rise even more than projected under
current law. Older Workers Being Sought by Some Companies After years of encouraging workers to take early retirement as a way to cut jobs, a growing number of companies are hunting for older workers because they have lower turnover rates and, in many cases, better performance. AARP recently put on its Web site links to 13 employers that are recruiting older workers with offers of health benefits, training and flexible work schedules. The companies include Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Pitney Bowes, MetLife, Borders, Principal Financial, and Walgreens. The link that follows identifies all of the firms and has links to their Web sites -- http://www.aarp.org/money/careers/findingajob/featuredemployers/ Also on the AARP Web site is a list of
companies and organizations, recognized by the organization in 2004
for their best practices and policies for valuing the mature worker. http://www.aarp.org/money/careers/employerresourcecenter/ |
||||||
