It’s All About Your Choices
A great retirement is possible, even on a shoestring budget.
Earlier today, I read an article in the New York Times titled Aging in Place, or Stuck in Place. My initial reaction to the article was the writer made some good points. My second reaction was to write an article discussing the challenges of downsizing.
As I began researching (fact-checking), I rapidly discovered that this article, like so many about retirement, was designed to make things look bad, but the reality was very different.
The Three Examples
I want to begin by sharing some of the examples used in the article and then share my perspective.
This article began by sharing the story of a couple in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The couple are both 71 years old. They currently own a four-bedroom house on two acres of land. The wife finds herself having trouble climbing the stairs of their two-story home, and the husband is starting to tire of yard work and snow shoveling.
They now want a 2-bedroom, single-story condo with a den. According to the article, their current mortgage-free home is worth $700,000, but the two-bedroom condos are hard to find. And when they do find one, it is more than $900,000. One condo that they looked at was asking for $950,000 and…
