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Preparing to Age in Place

Aging Well | Last Active: Dec 27, 2024 | Replies (414)

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@denisestlouie

My brothers son was born paraplegic and requires assistance everyday. My brothers income has never been good because he takes jobs that allows him to care for his son who has tried to work but his health issues keep getting in the way. I see your dilemma. But many people who are average people could afford these apartments. Maybe it is because they sold the home.
Nurses deserve to be paid a professional wage. They do ALL the work in the hospital and their education supports that.

I don't believe the current generation won't have homes to sell. When I bought my first home the interest rate was 15%. What is different now than then is we didn't have talking heads telling us how bad we had it. We just did it.

Yes an I'll and aging population is a problem. I both those things so I'm not pointing figures

Also a home is a very poor investment if you don't pay cash for it. In most environments you will pay for that home more than twice because of interest and the up keep is expensive. Sometimes I think let the landlord deal with the headaches and put that money you send in up in another more liquid investments.

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Replies to "My brothers son was born paraplegic and requires assistance everyday. My brothers income has never been..."

@denisestlouie

You make many uncomfortable but valid points.

In an ideal world all of us would start planning for retirement as soon as we joined the workforce. We don’t for a wide range of reasons. For myself, because it was way down the track and there were much more fun things to do with my money (such as travelling) and I had a naive belief things would be fine.

I was very lucky that I rose through the corporate world and made very good money. I could make up for lost time when I finally wised up. The tax system in Australia during my life has also been structured to get people to put money into super. I needed the tax deductions which helped incentivise me to “save” by putting money in each tax year. My super then grew substantially through the fund’s investments over the years.

While interest rates were very low, I also bought a home and prioritised paying off the mortgage as quickly as I could. Yes I’m lucky I could - but through a lot of hard work, long hours and sacrifices. With the housing crisis I am now very grateful to own the roof over my head and not fear the rent rising or worse being evicted. So many people in Australia ARE homeless, even some who make a decent wage.

I know I’m extremely fortunate to be in the position I am and so darned relieved I made wise financial decisions when I could.

No children or family to help during ill health and/or in my older age though is a different and new challenge.

Money sure helps get outside assistance, whether it’s your own or strong government policies to provide support. Yet many voters don’t agree with providing that support.

It’s a hard world that constantly needs careful planning. New home structures like a group of women or men in a shared rented house is one possibility I read on here. New challenges. New solutions 🤔

"...Also a home is a very poor investment if you don't pay cash for it."
Generally, I advise younger people to start saving for retirement as soon as they have a job. Today, pensions are gone and have been replaced with a 401K.
Regarding the purchase of a home, remember that one has to pay rent if one does not buy, And rents increase and that is money one never sees again. With a home one builds equity.