Your retirement home : Rooftop Views

Rooftop Views

Your retirement home

If you, like me, are a member of the Baby Boom generation, your thoughts may be turning to retirement. Or perhaps not. A recent study by NAR indicates that most boomers think they'll stop working at around age 70 or so. But 27% don't think they'll ever retire!

I was thinking about why that is. My parents generation couldn't wait to get the gold watch and hit the golf course or the trout stream. But, for the most part, they had physically demanding jobs that wore out their bodies. Today's worker is very different. Instead of standing on their feet in a factory they have their feet up on a desk while talking on the phone and typing at a keyboard. We certainly don't feel the need to relax and recuperate because of physical stress and strain.

Those of us that have thought about it, though, still consider the South and West as places where we'd like to spend our retirement years. Lots of us, 4 out of 10, already have a vacation home that we intend to convert into a retirement home. Since most of us own real estate this is a natural progression.

The lure of small town life is strong. Most boomers say they want to get away from the rat race and retire to a small town - but it still has to have services. We really don't want to be too far away from cultural and sporting activities and good restaurants and book stores are a must.

In short, most of us have thought about retirement and even done some planning. But we're not ready to actually do it yet.