Most seniors want to stay in their own homes as they age. For concerned loved ones, your simple desire to be at home is often not enough to assuage their reservations. Too often, younger family members are focused on the benefits and peace of mind of having you live in a community made to support you. Often, these places are compelling. But what about the other side of the coin? Are there benefits to staying in your own home that you and your family members should consider? Yes, and here are just some of them.
1. Keeping Active
When you’re younger, hearing that you could live in a place where you don’t have to mow the lawn, do your laundry, or wash your dishes sounds great. For seniors, these activities may become important. If you don’t use it, you lose it, and that is true for seniors’ joint mobility, coordination and flexibility. Staying at home can keep you active, which helps keep you healthy and capable.
2. Lower Costs
Staying in your home can cost considerably less than living in a retirement or long-term care facility. They may provide services you don’t need or have inflated costs for food, housing, and more. Staying at home even for a few months or years longer can make your savings and retirement fund go considerably further.
3. Social Stability
Many retirement homes talk about the advantages of being around a new group of seniors, and it can be great for some people to be surrounded by their peers. But the friendships you make in these facilities usually don’t compete with the comfort and joy of the relationships you’ve built throughout your life. If you’re a socially active senior, it is more important to stay in your existing community to get the social support that you need.
4. Retain Control over Caregivers
Family members may be surprised about this one. When your senior is living at home, and you don’t think their nurse or other hired caregiver is doing an appropriate job, you can speak with them or let them go to find a better solution. When in a retirement community, your loved one may simply have to deal with the nurses they are given. Sometimes, even significant complaints about a caregiver’s behaviour may go unaddressed, especially in a union environment.
5. Memory Benefits
The longer you have been in your home, the longer your routines have been established, and the more likely they are to stay with you even if you develop memory issues. Moving someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia to a new environment can be disruptive to them.
One of the benefits of a reverse mortgage is that it can allow you to make the changes to your home that you need in order to stay in it for longer or for life. You can renovate the home or simply have the money to keep maintaining it. Talk to Reverse Mortgage 4U about a reverse mortgage and how it can keep you or your loved ones at home today.