| Comparing the Cost of Aging at Home With Seniors Alternatives
Upon retirement, or when you begin to find yourself among the group known as “senior citizens” – whether you’ve accepted the term or not – there are some serious decisions that will eventually need to be made concerning your residence and your lifestyle for future years. If you are someone active and independent, the decision you make may largely be based on the financial possibilities before you.
Therefore, it is only natural that you will want to compare the costs of staying in your own home with those associated with a different home (one that is cheaper to maintain), living at a senior congregate, a continuing care retirement community, or other senior living residential locations. Naturally, this comparison should include not only the cost of the lodging itself, but all of the services and conveniences that are included among the different residence options.
To do this, create a chart on a piece of paper or on your computer, with a column for each possible living option. Within each column, include the cost of each of the following items:
- Mortgage and Association Fees
- Taxes
- Maintenance of outside, gardening
- Repairs
- Fire, theft and liability Insurance
- Electricity and gas
- Water, sewer and trash pickup
- Telephone and cable
- Meals
- Transportation
- Car ownership (ownership, maintenance, repairs, insurance)
- Insurance
- Housekeeping
o Laundry
o Linen service
o Cleaning
- Comraderie with privacy
- Supplemental Medicare Insurance
- Long Term Care Insurance
After you’ve come up with the numbers within each of the columns, sum each column’s total and compare the costs. You may be surprised at your results. You may find that living in a retirement community holds a great deal more advantage for you, or you may discover that staying at home is your best option for the meantime.
Don’t forget to consider elements other than cost differences, such as social, stress, and medical advantages and disadvantages. Only with this information will you be prepared to consider the possibilities that best suit your needs.
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