View from a Retirement village

This photo was taking from the balcony of a 2 -bedroom retirement home.



Last weekend, we went to an open day of a retirement village near our house with Parents-in-law. "Village" is the good word to describe this place, it is huge and still expanding. There is a cafe, a beauty salon, a cinema (20 odd seats), a swimming pool and a gym, all within the premises. The place was buzzing with people on a beautiful Saturday.

We looked around three display homes, two were new with good views but very small for their huge price tags in my opinion. It wasn't a bad way to spend a couple of hours - we had nice sausages for lunch (free courtesy of the retirement village) and Lara was happy looking around with her Grand-parents. However, I just can't get rid of the sad and depressing feeling this place made me feel.

Parents-in-law have been talking about downgrading to a smaller place so there is less work to do around the house. Father-in-law plays golf and still goes to the gym and Mother-in-law enjoys ceramics, sawing, and gardening. They are hardly the types of people I associate retirement or nursing homes with. We couldn't hide our surprise when the subject was first mentioned. The main reason Parents-in-law gave us for thinking about this option was that "they don't want to burden their kids in the future".

We didn't like the idea at first, but after listened to the particulars of this type of arrangement, like the idea even less. The entry expense is not small. The on-going expense is huge. And when you leave the place (voluntary or involuntary), there are different rules on how much 'capital gains' they are entitled to take away from you. If you want more attention or special care, it will cost you a fortune on top up that, and that's no guarantee you will get what you pay for. No wonder, the shares we owned on companies specialising in retirement homes were doing very well. BUT WHY are we robbing our elders??

Luckily, after last week's visit, Parents-in-law are actually put off by the idea now. Even though most people visited that day looked fit for their age, we did see a few frail people - people walking around on walking frames and being pushed around in wheelchairs. Mother-in-law decided afterwards "I don't feel old yet. I'm not ready to go into this type of accommodation". Thank god!

That's life, isn't it? It's joyous to watch your baby grow, on the other hand, it's so sad to watch your parents get old.....