Retirement Reinvention: Boomers Plot Their Next Big Move

We’re on the cusp of a great migration that will fundamentally change the landscape of America. It is a simple matter of numbers.

We of the boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, are retiring. The oldest people have started reaching what the Social Security Administration calls “full retirement age.” The likely result over the next decade or so will be a migration from the North into the South. Obviously, not all those 80 million people will decide to move, but those who do will cause massive changes to the built environment.

Just as boomers generated sequential surges in the construction of K-12 schools, suburban home, shopping centers, faculty expansions, more suburban home, vacation homes and hotels; our generation will cause the building of a tide of “retirement home.”

In a feeling, this migration is going to be the final chance boomers might have to reinvent themselves. So what locale and type of dwelling will they select for their golden years? A single-family detached residence? A community of condominiums, townhouses, villas or other attached forms? Will it be on the water, nestled in the woods, by a river, overlooking a fairway, perched atop a hill, place among the cacti or at an urban setting with all the conveniences? Will it be a modern equivalent of the Plains Indians’ cellphone, light-on-the-land teepee, fixed in place, or some blend of the two?

Let us take a peek at some of the chances.

Water, palm trees and an incredible pink blue sky: A house in Florida or the Caribbean has for its reward that wonderful blend of sky and water with you in between. It is a life that disturbs us to love and enjoy each passing blur, each shade of lush green and each rising and setting sun.

Christopher A Rose AIA, ASID

Maybe we favor a 200-acre “backyard.” We would like the expansive vistas and all that green but do not wish to worry about maintenance. In addition, we need a place of community, with a clubhouse and a social life that retains our evenings and days filled with action to replace the old 9-to-5 grind.

Andrew Hinman Architecture

Many of us boomers will hear the call of the open road. We’ll proudly display all those state decals on the side of the RV as we consider in what this vast country has to offer you. And if we are fortunate enough, we’ll have a place we could go back to whenever we need. It’ll be a place that we simply drive the RV around and anchor ourselves while the batteries get recharged. A property yacht indeed!

Carney Logan Burke Architects

How about a cabin somewhere on the Great Plains? A place of reflection and solitude, where we establish a bond with character that could only be located there.

Many people, thankfully, will stay up North near family and all that’s familiar. Cold and snow are all components to be enjoyed. Skating, skiing, sledding, hot cocoa by the fire, snow angels and much more are all things to be cherished and celebrated instead of to be escaping from. A location nestled in a wood however near a little town might be just the right answer.

Edgewater layout llc

Those people who stay near home and kids might need to be certain that we’ve got our own space, even if it’s attached to our child’s house. Something that’s not too little, not too far away rather than a burden on us. Maybe this is a location where, when it is just too hot in the South or cold in the North, we locate ourselves for a few months. Or perhaps it’s a permanent house that we’re able to escape from for travels across the world.

jamesthomas Interiors

And who among us would not want their very own small pied-a-terre? While this might be the year-round residence, it might also be that special place we go to once in a while, once we would like to observe the glowing lights and enjoy city life.

For many, this can be an out-of-reach luxury that makes no sense as a first or second residence. In these cases, we could home swap or perform a temporary rental. Just think, with no 9-to-5 grind along with the kids on their own, getting to research many different lifestyles and places could just be what the doctor ordered.

Sure, there are some who state that people haven’t saved and sacrificed enough to ride into the sunset and revel in their golden years. While the fantastic Recession has made it hard for many, especially where the property markets took a nose dive, the reality is that tens of millions of people are financially protected. And, like they have done in every decade since the 1950s, they will guide the way in a lot of things.

Inform us about your dream retirement house. Are you currently staying stuck or planning a move? Please tell us how are you going to make it a reality, and the way you’ll love yourself once you get there.

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