Best Places To Retire

Everybody wants to know, "What are the best places to retire?" 

The answer is highly personal. You may like California. I like Florida. So, I won't say anything about where. 

The best places to retire, in my judgement are CCRCs. Continuing Care Retirement Communities are very special places, and for our third home since we've been retired, we finally hit a home run. 

I watched my Mother and Father retire to a condo on the water on the west coast of Florida. I watched my 88 year old mother tend to my bedridden Father, in the living room of that condo. 

If they had chosen in their 70s to live in a CCRC, their later lives would have been vastly different. Dad would have moved to the assisted living section while mother stayed independent. They could have had meals and common activities together, but mother wouldn't have lost touch with her friends, and stopped her activities to care for dad. 

Eventually, dad would have moved to the next building over, to the skilled nursing facility. Again, they would have had all the together time they wanted, but mother would have kept close to her friends and continued her independent activities. And, she wouldn't be an 88 year old nurse and caregiver. 

We tried to get them to consider a retirement home, but to their generation that was the same as a "nursing home" or an "old people's home."

If only they could have lived to see the place Shannon and I chose to move into; The Glenridge. It's incredible. It's like a resort.  We feel secure physically, socially, and financially. We know that whatever healthcare needs that either of us might have, it'll be available for us, at no extra cost. 

We looked at other retirement communities, but we never saw anything like The Glenridge. The others were so institutional. This place is like a resort. There are more interesting activities than one could ever want or need. 

So, getting back to the "best places to retire," I say, look for what is becoming the next new thing in retirement communities, a CCRC.  It's a place you can move to early in your retirement while you're still active and curious and vital. You feel secure because you know healthcare costs can't disrupt your comfortable retirement. No matter what health problems you ever might have, you pay nothing more than you pay while you're totally independent. And, if you find a new CCRC that's like a resort, you've found what I swear is absolutely one of the best places to retire. 

Yours for a safe, secure, worry free, active and vital retirement,

Ken Johnston

P.S. The Glenridge is almost completely full, but you can always get on a waiting list. Take a peek at their web site so you will know what to look for in other CCRCs.