00:00 Lisa: John Ross and it's another Saturday where you're gonna be getting some great information. I always say John, growing older like our tagline says, the challenges and blessings of growing older and certainly it can be a challenge and certainly its full of blessings but the alternative is no good. [chuckle] 00:22 John: Yeah, I get that all the time. Clients come into the office and they'll say, "Yeah, this gettin' old, this gettin' old stinks." And I say, "Yeah well, doesn't stink like the alternative." 00:32 Lisa: Ross, that's right, so welcome to our listeners and also welcome to our Facebook Live viewers. Appreciate you all tuning in and so if you're listening to the radio and you're a Facebook user, and John, we've been on the radio for about four years now. 00:49 John: Yeah, we've been on the radio four years. 00:51 Lisa: And for those of you, I know we've got a lot of listeners just spread out everywhere. Off the farm to market roads, and bunch of folks who are out on the farm and enjoying the farm life and maybe you've always wondered what we look like. 01:07 John: Yep, well, you now have that tool available. 01:11 Lisa: That's right, so if you have a Facebook account you can jump on your iPad or your laptop or your desktop and even your phone with your Facebook App and you can go to... 01:24 John: The Ross and Shoalmire Facebook page. 01:28 Lisa: That's right, so... 01:29 John: R-O-S-S-A-N-D-S-H-O-A-L-M-I-R-E. 01:33 Lisa: Yes, that S-H-O-A-L-M-I-R-E. 01:35 John: Ross and Shoalmire. 01:37 Lisa: That's right. And you can see us there. But we come every Saturday because we wanna bring you some new information, maybe some stories about the things that we deal with day in day out. Aging Insight, it's a great source for information, for legal information, John. 01:55 John: Yeah. Absolutely. 01:56 Lisa: We know stuff about that. Even a little bit, kind of a lot of times how medical and legal and all that combines... 02:04 John: Yeah, some healthcare related stuff, certainly. 02:06 Lisa: That's right, and financial. I know we've talked about some different financial things. 02:11 John: Lots of financial parts; that's a big component of it. 02:13 Lisa: And then housing is another place and I don't build houses but... 02:19 John: Nope. Me either. 02:20 Lisa: But we have worked with many, many, many families who are dealing with all those four issues and that's what Aging Insight's about, is to bring you information about that and we have some sponsors who make sure that we're on the radio and we always wanted to give a shout out at the beginning of the program to our sponsors, to Edgewood Manor, The Barnett Agency, Dierksen Memorial Hospice, Riverview Behavioral Healthcare, Cowhorn Creek Estates, Curt Green and Company, St. Michael's Hospital, Red River Federal Credit Union, Twin City Rehab, and Inspiration. 02:58 John: Yeah, thanks to all of them and thanks to all of y'all out there who listen and of course if you have any questions or comments today you can feel free to give us a phone call. Lines are open and its, 903-793-1071. 03:14 Lisa: Well, John, here we are. Another week's gone by... 03:19 John: Another week's gone by. We did have our big even last Saturday. 03:22 Lisa: Yeah, we talked about last Saturday that the Perot was having a Elvis Lives show with three separate Elvis impersonators who had won the Elvis Presley Enterprises competitions. And so we did go to the show... 03:40 John: Did go to the show and we were out there in front with the Elder Law Mustang parked out in the front of the Paroe... 03:48 Lisa: That's right. That's a nice Mustang, John. 03:51 John: It is a nice Mustang. I have to agree. 03:53 Lisa: Yeah. [chuckle] So if you pick up a Four States magazine in the last few months you've seen the Elder Law Mustang. There's an ad in there, shows that Mustang and we had it out at the Paroe and we were able to... I made some treats, John. 04:09 John: You did make some treats. You got to doin' some baking and quite a bit of it. 04:14 Lisa: That's right. So hey, I can lawyer, I can do all kinds of stuff, and I can bake. So I baked some blondies, that's opposed to brownies, baked some blondies but these were special. These were Elvis blondies because these were peanut butter and banana with a little bacon in 'em. 04:34 John: Yeah, peanut butter, banana, little chocolate... 04:39 Lisa: Little chocolate chips, yeah. 04:40 John: And some bacon. 04:42 Lisa: Yeah. Bacon makes everything better, even dessert. 04:44 John: It really does. I agree. 04:46 Lisa: But made some treats and had those out for the folks coming into the show and got some compliments on my baking ability so if this whole Aging Insight thing doesn't work out, I might have other job opportunities [chuckle] 05:00 John: Well, you gave out the recipes, although I don't know that we ever actually put the recipe up on the Facebook page, we probably need to do that 'cause surely somebody's out there thinking, "Hey, that sounds delicious. I'm gonna make some of those." 05:12 Lisa: Yeah, well, it was delicious. Peanut butter and banana and bacon. Anyway, for those of you who maybe haven't had lunch yet or dessert, maybe you're inspired now. So we gave out some treats. We were able to meet and greet a lotta folks who came out to the show. And then we went into the show and John, I have to say, Elvis died when I was a child. I do remember him but these performers that did the impersonations and everything, they were really good. 05:43 John: Yeah. They did a fantastic job as evidenced by the very wild crowd. 05:49 Lisa: Yes, wild ladies... 05:52 John: Some ladies having a good time. 05:54 Lisa: Yeah, running up to the stage, gettin' some kisses on the cheek from the Elvis performers and some scarves. It was fun. It was a good time. They also had some multimedia presentations, some of Elvis' history. But yeah, these performers did a great job. They had young Elvis. They had what they called "Hollywood" Elvis. And then they had what they called "Concert" Elvis, which was the '70s, in the jumpsuits and the rhinestones. But all of these gentlemen did a... They sang themselves. 06:32 John: Right. Played their own music. 06:34 Lisa: And had the moves. And it was just a blast. So for those of you who missed the show, you missed out. 06:42 John: And we 'course gave away tickets, so we got to meet the people that won our tickets to the show. And of course that's one of the benefits of payin' attention to what we've got going on out there, both on the radio and on our digital world out there. We do lots of stuff like that, giveaways and all kinds of things. So be sure and check us out, out there. 07:02 Lisa: Yeah, so what else was going on this week, John? Law school, lunch? We do anything? 07:09 John: No I don't think. I was trying to think if I gave any speeches or anything, but I don't think I did. 07:14 Lisa: Yeah, well just a... 07:14 John: Just a busy work week. 07:16 Lisa: Yeah so, well alright. 07:19 John: Yeah so... Now, course when you have a busy work week, that means you talk to lots of people. And I know Lisa and I, you and I both had several folks this week that were making some life changes, and some of those life changes involved basically their living situations because they were either by necessity having to make some dramatic living changes or kinda looking down the road towards, through their retirement, and making some changes related to their living environments. And so that kinda got me thinking that maybe we should talk about what all's out there in the world of retirement living. 08:05 Lisa: Alright. Well John, I saw a news story this week about retirement living. And I am... Let me just say that I fully intend to explore this option. [chuckle] 08:14 John: Alright. 08:15 Lisa: Okay, so I always have news stories coming through my news feed on seniors and retirements and all those issues, just trying to keep up. And all of a sudden what popped into my news feed was this beautiful, lush looking, tropical, artistic rendering of a retirement community. It had palm trees and swimming pools and kind of a cabana feel. And you know who was coming out with that retirement community? 08:49 John: Who? 08:50 Lisa: Jimmy Buffett, the 'tropical minstrel' himself. So, Jimmy Buffett, he's in his 70s. 09:00 John: Yeah. 09:00 Lisa: And he had his super-mega hit, everybody knows the super-mega hit of Margaritaville. And of course and Jimmy Buffett has his restaurants, Margaritaville restaurants. 09:12 John: Yeah. He turned that one song into an industry. 09:15 Lisa: Yeah, and he's got casinos. 09:17 John: Casinos, restaurants, clothing, all kinds of merchandising. But when did Margaritaville come out? 09:27 Lisa: I think it was the early '70s. 09:29 John: Yeah, so it's been a while in any case. 09:30 Lisa: Yeah, 'cause I remember having it... Okay folks, I had it on a 45 record. 09:35 John: Okay, yeah, so dating yourself a bit there. 09:38 Lisa: Yeah, because remember the song, he steps on a pop top. 09:43 John: Right, yeah. 09:44 Lisa: And so we had to cruise on back home. 09:45 John: That's right, and there hadn't been pop tops... 09:47 Lisa: For a long, long time. 09:48 John: In a while. But I guess kind of the things is is that... The one thing you've seen is that that has evolved along with the... I guess the followers are generally referred to as "Parrotheads" 10:02 Lisa: "Parrotheads" that's right. 10:03 John: And the "Parrotheads" themselves have aged. And so we've gone from vacation theming out there... 10:13 Lisa: And recreation theming. 10:14 John: And recreation theming. Well, and the boozy theming of the... 10:20 Lisa: Gee, [chuckle] let's start there. 10:23 John: But like you said, Jimmy Buffett rollin' up into his 70s, and that means a lot of those "Parrotheads" also rollin' up, and so yeah, the next evolution of the Margaritaville brand is now looking like it's going to be essentially retiree housing. 10:43 Lisa: Yes, a retirement community in, not Idaho. 10:48 John: No, get out of here. 10:50 Lisa: I know, Jimmy Buffett yeah. It will be in Florida. Apparently the land has been purchased. And the illustration that I saw was a artist rendering of what they intend for it to look like, and they're expecting to have that up and going within a couple years. Construction's about to start. And the article I read about this Jimmy Buffett retirement community is they're wanting to keep that laid-back vibe. 11:20 John: Of course. 11:20 Lisa: Although if it's a retirement community, it should be laid-back. And he is intending to compete with one of the most well known retirement communities down there in Florida called The Villages. And The Villages, it's pretty swanky. I've been there. So Jimmy Buffet says, "Well, hey, we can do it just as well as The Villages, but maybe not so stuffy." And so if any of you are thinking about relocating to Florida then Jimmy Buffett 's retirement community is on your list. But what I wanna know John... 12:00 John: Okay. 12:00 Lisa: I saw the pool renderings and the cabana. Are they gonna have a margarita machine always on... Available. 12:09 John: You know they are. It's got to be. Surely it's got to be. But I guess the interesting thing about this though, is that if you've never... Lisa and I have both been to Florida and toured some of these monstrosity retirement living communities, which are essentially, they're basically like privately owned cities. 12:32 Lisa: Yes, they're private, and they're self contained. They have so many of the amenities, grocery stores, barber shops. Just everything. 12:41 John: Right. And so essentially you have just this gigantic campus that has everything that you would ever need. 12:46 Lisa: And all you need to drive is a golf cart. 12:49 John: And all you have to drive is a golf cart. But it brings up some interesting points. That's obviously not something that we have around here but of course that environment... 12:56 Lisa: We should. 12:56 John: That environment is not for everybody. Particularly in Florida, those in Florida, I have found that it doesn't matter how nice the buildings are. I can't deal with the Yankees that have moved there. 13:09 Lisa: Oh my goodness. [laughter] That is true. 13:13 John: It's a personality thing. 13:15 Lisa: There's a lot of snow birds, I guess you would say. A lot of New Yorkers. 13:19 John: Some of 'em are fine but it's just a culture difference. 13:21 Lisa: It is. 13:22 John: I'm from South Texas. I'm a hill-country boy. We're a little slow. We talk a little slow. We do things a little slower. 13:31 Lisa: Well, I know when I've been down to Florida to visit those retirement communities. My dad use to live in one so I have a very personal connection. We used to go and visit and I think I'm in Florida. That's the South. And yet when I would open my mouth to speak to my dad's neighbors or anything, they would always just gush over my accent but they were from Wisconsin. [laughter] 13:53 John: Right. Yeah. So anyway, lots of stuff to think about as you're approaching retirement, going into retirement, especially if you're thinking about changing locations. So one of the things we wanted to do today was talk about some things that you should definitely keep in mind as you're talking about different transitions, some things you need to keep in the back of your head, some things to look out for, and maybe some things not to do. Because often Lisa and I's experiences are based on the, "What you shouldn't have done", experiences that are presented to us. Here's what we did and here's how badly it went wrong. 14:30 Lisa: So you can learn. 14:31 John: We like to share those with y'all. [pause] 14:57 John: Welcome back to Aging Inside everybody. This is your host, John Ross, here now wearing my correct headphones. 15:03 Lisa: Proper headphones. 15:03 John: Because Lisa tried to steal mine right before we got back on the show. 15:06 Lisa: Oh, it was a good Keystone Cop moment. 15:09 John: Yeah. So we are back and if you have any questions, this is, 'course, is our little short break here right before the end of the bottom of the hour and our news break. But, Lisa, you were asking me, would I move into one of these places, and I think I certainly would consider it. I like the idea of... I'm big on downsizing, and getting rid of the clutter and thinning out all the junk. I find that to be... 15:37 Lisa: It just brings you some peace. Some calm. 15:41 John: Yeah. I find some chi, some zen, in getting rid of all the junk and narrowing it down. And so the idea of moving into a smaller environment where most of the resources that I need are around me, the things that I need... I know like in a lot of those big retirement communities, those city, retirement cities they handle the lawn care. 16:11 Lisa: Oh, yeah. 16:12 John: You just don't have to worry about anything, like I said, you don't even... Yeah, you just don't have to do anything. We had one comment, it said, "Sounds like Disneyland for seniors." 16:23 Lisa: Well, and that is pretty much what they try to be. Like I say, I've actually been... I've vacationed really in these communities when visiting my dad. He lived in a community in Ocala, Florida and it was... His community was called, On Top of the World. So it kinda goes with our comment there that it was a... Ocala's, north of Orlando, so you're on top of the world, Disney World. But all sorts of options are available in a lot of these communities. You can have anything from a town home to a patio home that shares common walls and they'll be... 17:09 John: Yeah, like a Four-PLEX or a Six-PLEX, or things like that. 17:13 Lisa: Right, and everything to what I call stand-alone site-built homes. On the back of the golf course. But many of these communities, they have an inventory of all the different types of housing and so that's available. 17:30 John: Sure. 17:31 Lisa: Of course, it is a lot of golf. A lot of golf in Florida. But swimming pools and therapy pools, and shuffleboard courts and putt-putt and radio... This was one of my favorites. The radio-controlled airstrip. 17:50 John: Right. 17:51 Lisa: They had the enthusiast who did that so they had an airstrip for those planes on the grounds. And all those amenities are right there. They even had a community college classroom and annex there at their community. So if you wanted to take a little class... 18:12 John: Yeah, with real-life college classes and everything. 18:14 Lisa: Yeah, and then they have lots of hobbyist groups, woodworking shops. So yeah, they had their own newspaper. 18:22 John: Yeah, there's certainly something to be said for that. Now, obviously that's not gonna be for everybody, and there's certainly a lot of factors that you would wanna consider. Particularly with those sort of things, where you're often making a very big move. You're moving many states away. 18:40 Lisa: Right. 18:40 John: And often gonna be very far away from family, which in many cases can be a fantastic thing. But as needs increase and things like that, that lack of familial support around you can be a problem. The other thing is, is that often when that person passes away, you end up with this asset. 19:02 Lisa: Right, that's in one of these communities. 19:05 John: That's in one of these communities, and some of the... As attitudes about these things change, you can find these things that now there's no more market for them. 19:19 Lisa: Well right, and that has happened. These communities for the most part, these dedicated communities like Jimmy Buffet's building. They are a 55 and older community. Which I think that's hilarious, it's 55 and this is a senior community. But hey, it's 55 and older. And if the senior passes away, and all the family, they have lives elsewhere and they don't even meet the age requirement yet. So what does that asset do for them? 19:48 John: Right, and particularly if the market has changed, or the attitudes have changed and you can't sell it, now you have an asset that you can't use and can't get rid of. 19:58 Lisa: And, you still get to pay all of the community fees to upkeep all those wonderful amenities. [chuckle] 20:04 John: Right, so that can certainly become a burden. But again, that's not really our main topic today. Our main topic today is gonna be about some other choices that we want you to kinda keep in mind. 20:13 Lisa: Maybe closer to home, maybe. 20:14 John: A little closer to home, and some things to do, some things not to do. Course, it's the bottom of the hour, so we've gotta take our break here, and you can be thinking about any questions that you might have for us either here, or checking us out on Facebook Live on Ross and Shoalmire's Facebook page, but we'll be right back. [pause] 20:51 Lisa: Alright, welcome back everyone to Aging Insight, and today we've been talking about some different kinda housing options, or living arrangements, things to consider. And for those of you who've just decided that packing up, and moving to Florida, or a retirement community. I would call those destination retirement communities. 21:12 John: Sure, and that's certainly... There's some people that are gonna be interested in that, but that is not going to be for most people. 21:19 Lisa: Yeah, no it's not. But for those of you who've just kinda got a little tickling of an idea, should always go explore it and one thing about those destination retirement communities, is that everybody shows up brand new. And so what I learned from my dad's experience was that you make friends pretty easily, because everybody's... 21:41 John: 'Cause everybody's new. 21:42 Lisa: And so you end up with a nice support group of friends and all there. But yes, if that's not your home, or close to your home, then you are... The grandkids may come and visit and vacation there with you. But when an illness strikes, or a health crisis comes along, you don't have that family support. So that's really a deal breaker, and also you're not there day-to-day to see those grandchildren, or great-grandchildren grow and mature. So destination retirement community living is not for everyone. 22:20 John: Yeah, but there are some things to think about if you're talking about looking for the right place to do that retirement. Speaking about grandkids, 'course lots of people have a good relationship with their grandkids, or their kids, and they wanna be a part of their grandkids' lives. That being said, almost universally, you've got to be very careful about following your kids. In the sense that if you think, "Oh well, my kids live down in Austin, that's where they work, and so I'm thinking I'm gonna move to Austin so that I can be around those grandkids, and be a bigger part of their life." And the theory behind that sounds pretty good. The problem is, is oftentimes you're talking about moving into a major metropolitan area like an Austin, or a Houston, or something like that. 23:17 Lisa: Yeah, where the jobs are. 23:18 John: Where those high-powered jobs are. But your cost of living is gonna go up quite a bit, plus you get a lot of the travel issues, even locally where you're having to deal with large city traffic, things like that. The biggest problem is, though, and one of the reasons that most advisors will tell you not to follow the children, is because especially the working generations now are much more mobile than the generations that are retiring today. The people, the baby boomers who are retiring, and particularly the generation above them worked one or two jobs throughout their working career. 24:04 Lisa: Yeah. They bought the house. They paid on that mortgage for 30 years. 24:09 John: Yeah. And then lived in it for another 10 after that. But, yeah, you went to work for the plant, you worked your way up through the plant. If that plant closed, maybe you went to the other plant in town and worked at the other plant, but in any case, you worked at that same job. Maybe even a professional, you worked as a CPA for the CPA firm, but you just worked for that one firm. This is just not the case anymore. And so it's very likely that in any given circumstance, you follow your kids all the way down to Austin thinking that you're gonna be there, you set-up roots and then, poof, they're getting transferred to Seattle. 24:49 Lisa: Or, like you say, I think the statistics are that a person coming out of college today or starting in the workforce can expect to change jobs something like 12 times. And so the likelihood that those are all in the same community are pretty slim. And, John, even if we're talking about a city or a Metroplex area, even if your child gets another job in that same metropolitan area, they may end up moving because the commute... There's all kinds of issues. And if you are now retired and you have your fixed income sources and your savings, moving is an expense. And selling a property, buying a property, you don't have a company paying for it. [chuckle] 25:37 John: Yeah. No. That's right. And, yeah, so it can be very difficult. You can actually end up... Because in many cases where you did work that one job and so you've been in the community for 30 years or longer, then uprooting yourself to those kids, although it's nice that you've got the kids as a support structure there, it turns out that's the only support structure you have there because you don't have the friends and the contacts that you had back in your local community. And so when the kids do leave, or something happens to them, whatever the deal is, but you can really find yourself essentially orphaned out here in the middle of nowhere, or some place that you're very unfamiliar with, and that can cause a lot of stress and a lot of strain and a lot of... So think very carefully before following the kids. It's usually much easier for them to come back to you than it is for you to go try and to chase them around. 26:46 Lisa: Right. So that's one point. And then, so John, I'll jump in here with a point and that is, as you contemplate retirement, you might be contemplating that you've always wanted to live, kind of have that little piece of heaven, the fields that you could walk out on your back deck and if you're in your PJs and there's no neighbors around to see and you can view the fields and the trees. 27:15 John: Yeah, your nice little 40 acres or 100 acres out there, maybe with a pond on it. 27:20 Lisa: Yeah. So you start thinking about that, well, that means a more rural choice in lifestyle and housing, and we've seen that choice. And it's wonderful while someone is younger enough, and active enough, and able enough, to take care of that property, to enjoy that property, and to be able to walk down and go fishing at the pond. But unfortunately, we deal with families who, course, they didn't see us during all those enjoyment years, they were active and going. But now that maybe there's a crisis, a lot of times we're talking to families because we've got adult kids who live in the big city, and they're realizing that mom and dad in the rural setting, they're having limitations in the services they can get there. 28:11 John: I visited with a family here and they did exactly that. They retired, they bought a farm about 40 miles outside of town, they've really enjoyed it, it's on about 75 acres. The part of it... They used to run some cows and stuff, but about 10 years ago that got to be a bit much and so they just started leasing out that part of the pasture land and then there was about a good 20 acres or 30 acres around the house that the husband was still maintaining. 28:48 Lisa: Yeah. So he was brush hoggin', that was his job every day. He would get out and go brush hoggin' and just commune with nature. 28:55 John: That's right. He was doing his little thing out there. He's had some recent health issues and one of the things the doctor has told him is, "No more." 29:04 Lisa: Yeah. No more sitting out there for hours on that tractor. 29:07 John: Yeah. "No more on the tractor, not even riding the little riding lawnmower around the yard, no more of that business. You're done or somebody's gonna find you dead of a heart attack out there." 29:20 Lisa: Yeah. And John, these folks, they were taking care of their property, they like it a certain way, and I understand that they got some... They checked in with some folks to see how much would it cost for someone else to come out and maintain their property in the same manner that they liked it, that they had maintained it. 29:38 John: Yeah. Came out in their case, came out to be about $15,000 a year to maintain the property in the same way they were maintaining it. 29:50 Lisa: Yeah. So that's not a great use of resources. [chuckle] 29:54 John: That's not. 29:54 Lisa: The grass keeps growing. [chuckle] 29:56 John: And they had purchased this place. Their living environment was based on their income and assets. And part of their calculations in all of that had not included $15,000 for... 30:13 Lisa: Outside maintenance. 30:14 John: Outside maintenance. 30:15 Lisa: Yeah. 30:16 John: The other thing is, is that one of the other things that has come with this health event has been routine medical checkups. Lots of coming in for cardiac rehabilitation work. Spending time at St. Michael's rehab on a routine basis, and things like that. And so, I mentioned, they're 40 miles outside of town. 30:44 Lisa: Yeah, so it's... It's a beautiful piece of country. 30:47 John: Yeah, it's a beautiful piece of country. But, man, that's getting to be a long commute every day. Or every other day. And so, they're far away from their medical providers. They can't maintain the place. And so... It seems like this has come as a surprise to them. 31:06 Lisa: Right. 31:07 John: That they had this concept that this was going to be where they were gonna go. And it never really dawned on them. And so, they hadn't thought about what other alternatives are out there. And they're really kind of in a pickle now, because it's come down to the wire. 31:24 Lisa: Right. And they're gonna have to make some changes, or spend a bit more money, do something. 31:30 John: Yeah, so, for example, even having something like that, but, again, do you have the kinda support structure that can come in and help maintain it, if you can't? And if not, what are going to be your alternatives? Where are you gonna go next, and thinking through that. And it seems like, in their case, they had not ever gone through the concept of, "Where are we gonna go next?" 31:56 Lisa: Yeah, the thought processes. 31:57 John: And so, now, they're having to do it almost in a crisis scenario. And in their case, there's some differences of opinions. 32:04 Lisa: Ooh, you mean husbands and wives have differences? And their kids and all have differences of opinions? 32:08 John: Well, particularly in this case, it's the husband and wife. The wife is kinda saying, "Hey, why don't we go to one of these continuing care retirement communities?" 32:16 Lisa: Yeah. 32:17 John: "Let's just sell the whole mess off, and move into one of these places where we can have a little house, and then, we can move from there into the assisted living, and there, into a nursing home, as our life takes us." And, the husband... 32:32 Lisa: Husband's not into that? 32:33 John: He's not into that, so something, especially if you're a married couple, some things you might wanna be talking about, of, "Hey, this is our combined dream here, at 65. But when this dream becomes... " 32:49 Lisa: A little more than we can handle. 32:50 John: A little more of a nightmare... 32:52 Lisa: Yeah. 32:53 John: Then what's our next dream? And make sure you're on the same page for both of those. 32:58 Lisa: Yeah. 33:00 John: Between the two. Alright, well, we've gotta take one more break, so stick around. We'll be right back. [pause] 33:30 John: Welcome back to Aging Insight, everybody. This is your host, John Ross, and thanks to all of those folks out there who are watching us on Facebook Live, as well. And somebody gave us a like, so I don't know who it was. 33:40 Lisa: Woo-hoo! 33:40 John: The little picture popped up, but I couldn't see it well enough, so... [chuckle] But, hey, somebody likes us out there. 33:46 Lisa: Yeah. 33:46 John: But we were talking about this couple. They bought this ranch property, and it was great, but now, it's not great. 33:57 Lisa: It was great for a season. To everything, there is a season. That seems be a, that's a Bible verse, John. You may know it from the song. [laughter] But to everything there's a season, so they enjoyed their farm life, but it sounds like they might be transitioning to a different season. 34:15 John: Winter is coming. 34:17 Lisa: Oh, come on. Yes. 34:18 John: That's from a book, too, but it's a different book. Anyway, so we've had that. So, now I did have another couple that was coming in for retirement. And I was actually relatively surprised. Oftentimes, people are coming in, and I end up providing them a lot of advice, but this married couple, really... 34:39 Lisa: They were on top of it? 34:41 John: Yeah, they live in a smaller community surrounding Texarkana. But now approaching retirement. But they're basically already making plans. They're going to sell their house, and they're gonna move into Texarkana, where they're closer to all of the services that they routinely utilize, downsizing a bit. But also looking at making sure that they've got a very accessible place, that you can get a walker or a wheelchair through, if and when that ever becomes a problem. Not doing something crazy, like buying a two-storey house. 35:21 Lisa: Right [chuckle] 35:24 John: Like somebody's parents did, when they moved to Texarkana. 35:27 Lisa: Well, anyway, that's probably not a good radio discussion, but... But, yeah. So, there are people who are thinking about that. But one of the families I met with this week, the seniors had... You know, John, Texas is a popular retirement destination. 35:48 John: It is, and becoming more and more... And particularly, as I understand it, there's a growing shift into East Texas. 35:58 Lisa: Right. So, the hill-country's gettin' filled up. 36:01 John: Hill-country has gotten filled up and expensive, as all the dellionaires outta Austin retired out into Fredericksburg and opened wineries. Yeah, that got expensive and pretentious, and too many Californians, and so yeah, now people are startin' to look at our little slice out here. 36:21 Lisa: Yeah so Texarkana, Long View, Tyler, growing area, and of course Arkansas, Mountain Home is a big retirement area. 36:30 John: Hot springs. 36:30 Lisa: Hot springs. Yeah, hot springs. And what people are looking for is access to medical services, and affordability. 36:41 John: Sure. 36:42 Lisa: So I was visiting with family this week and mom and dad had spent a few working years in Texas. They were from a northern state, and they had spent a few working years in Texas, and they ended up, during their career journeys, back up north, retired up north, and then said, "Uh-huh, this is way too cold. We're goin' to Texas." [chuckle] 37:08 John: Yeah, I don't know how, frankly I don't know how anybody... Maybe next time we're at one of the national conferences, we may have to visit with... How in the world do people manage in those extremely cold climates with blizzards and things like that? There's days that you can't get outta your house or you open the front door and it's just a wall of snow and ice there. 'Cause yeah, I do think you gotta take into account your ability to get out of the house and get the things that you need and get back into that house. 37:42 Lisa: So I had this family, the mom and dad retired to Texas, near our local community here, and again, enjoyed that dream for that season, a little bit rural environment, and started to have some challenges. And so luckily, as those challenges became more difficult, one of their children moved from their home city up north, and moved across the street from mom and dad. 38:10 John: Yeah. Well that was very nice of them. 38:13 Lisa: It was nice. But, wow. And so now this child is thinking, "I left my friends and everything I knew and grew up with to come help mom and dad," and now they've been in and out of the hospital and it looks like we're gonna need some more intense care, but child's not all that happy in the rural Texas community as opposed to their home city. 38:41 John: Yeah, it's one thing if... I mentioned central Texas there and the Austin and the hill-country, if you've retired from Silicon Valley, California and moved to Austin... 39:02 Lisa: You wouldn't hardly know the difference. 39:03 John: You wouldn't hardly know the difference. And when your kids come, and have to stay around and take care of you, they're gonna find that they actually really like Austin too. 39:11 Lisa: Everybody likes Austin. 39:13 John: And unfortunately, they're probably also gonna move there and continue to corrupt the place. But, on the other hand, if you're talking about having family that's from a New York, a New Jersey, and you think, "You know what, I love the... 39:32 Lisa: Chicago. 39:33 John: The fishing and the hunting and the outdoorsy-ness of east Texas." When your family does need to come and assist, how well are they going to receive your chosen little neck-of-the-woods? 39:51 Lisa: Yeah, no, it's only the bonds of parental love that are holding this family member helping mom and dad. So it's pretty difficult. 40:01 John: Yeah and you better maybe think about exactly how much of that parental love there is. Depending on the... And we say this somewhat jokingly but generally speaking, we talk about it all the time, that people that we talk to, they want to age in their own home, they want to not be a burden on their family, and they don't wanna go broke trying to get through this process. And your housing choices through retirement are going to directly impact all three of those things. 40:40 Lisa: Yeah, it's huge. It's huge. 40:42 John: It's huge. Yeah, if you live in a multi-level home that has a little six inch dropdown every 30... 40:51 Lisa: Yeah, going from the kitchen to the den, and then to the family room... 40:55 John: That place is going to become a nightmare at some point if you're having mobility issues. So you've got to look around and all of a sudden now, just because of your house environment either you're not gonna be able to go to that home, and you're gonna end up in an institutional setting, or you're going to burden friends and family as they try to figure out how to build 15 ramps around your house so that you can get from one place to another. 41:24 Lisa: Yeah, and I think John, a lot of people, they just can hardly conceive sometimes of changing their housing situation. They paid off that 30-year mortgage or they've been very happy, they have wonderful memories, it's very nostalgic in that home. 41:40 John: Well, it's the American Dream, of buildin' and buyin' that house, and gettin' it paid for. 41:47 Lisa: And I will say, you're right. The housing choice, second maybe only to lifestyle choices like smoking or something like that, the housing choice probably has the biggest impact on navigating retirement years. 42:04 John: Yeah, absolutely. And so there's a lot of these factors. Look at the location of where the house is. What's your accessibility to things like a grocery... How can you get to a grocery store and back... 42:20 Lisa: Without major traffic snarls and... 42:23 John: Yeah, exactly. Can you get to your healthcare providers in the same way? How close are you to support structures? Not necessarily family but friends. Are you in a community that you've had a long association with, or is this someplace new? Because all of these things are gonna have an impact. And lastly, are you gonna be able to change this decision as life changes? Because the one thing is you can't predict how everything is gonna go. And since you can't predict how everything is gonna go, ultimately, you're gonna have to come up with some alternatives out there to say, "Well you know what? This is our dream retirement, we're moving to Margaritaville." 43:11 Lisa: Let's go. 43:12 John: We're moving to Margaritaville. And now, if we can't stay here in Margaritaville, then... 43:18 Lisa: Then what's next? 43:19 John: Yeah, then what's next? 43:21 Lisa: And so if anything, I would just encourage people to have a open mind. 43:25 John: That's right. 43:26 Lisa: Real quick shout-out to our sponsors, Edgewood Manor, the Barnett Agency, Dierksen Hospice, Riverview Behavioral, Cowhorn Creek Estates, and St. Michael's Hospital. 43:37 John: Thanks. Yeah. 43:38 Lisa: We'll see you next Saturday. 43:41 John: I was two seconds off. Bye-bye everybody. 43:43 Lisa: Bye-bye. [pause]