A Better Way to Live in Retirement
The Motley Fool, May 7th, 2008
We each have a vision of what we want from our retirement years. Mine involves a lot of travel, maybe on my own by sailboat or small plane, but always starting out from a friendly community of caring neighbors who swap stories over coffee, share fun projects, and help each other out when needed.
Whether or not the travel in my vision fits into yours -- it doesn't fit into my wife's, which will no doubt make for some lively debates in 20 or 30 years -- the idea of settling into a rich, close-knit community in your post-working years appeals to many folks contemplating retirement.
Such a community can be hard to find under the best of circumstances. As you age -- and as you or your old friends move to warmer climes or to downsized houses in different neighborhoods, grown children disperse, and interests long shared with friends start to diverge -- community can be a downright scarce resource.
Many developers and community leaders have tried various approaches to help older adults recapture the close-knit neighborhood feel that is increasingly hard to find in American life. Over-55 "adults only" developments suit the needs of some, and some of those developments have seen great success. But others say those neighborhoods feel sterile, with stilted "community activities" that few attend and a general sense of isolation -- exactly what they moved into the neighborhood to avoid.
In recent years, a few other developers and groups have taken a different path. Using an idea conceived in Denmark in the early 1970s, these groups have been building brand-new close-knit neighborhoods from scratch. The idea is called cohousing, and it's quickly gathering steam in the United States.
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