During COVID-19, we were isolated from family. We evaluated our lives and moved from AZ to OK to live close to our two sons, our future caretakers.
I made a spreadsheet evaluating 20 retirement communities. It took us 10 months to slowly downsize and choose a place to move. It has been a blessing. We have many more friends, and I know everyone in the over 50 homes in our community. I choose my meals from a menu instead of grocery shopping and cooking. It is a life we have worked hard and saved for the last 40 years.
We have Long-term care insurance, and now they come into your homes, so we did not need a facility with a nursing home. We no longer eat in front of the TV but enjoy conversations with our neighbors. When something happens to one of us, the other has their support community. We wanted to choose where we moved to and sort our own belongings. The move benefited us physically and cognitively. Do your homework and visit with your financial planner. Then find some place where you would love to live.