To live where you want, do the math

People tend to postpone as long as possible the decision to move to a continuing care retirement community, but the longer you wait the higher the costs become, according to Jennifer R. Salmon, assistant professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida.

"Most people want to stay in their own home, and that's what most people do," she said. "If you own your own home and don't intend to leave it as an inheritance, you can get a reverse mortgage and stay in it until you die or move to a nursing home.

"But you have to make the calculation that the money won't run out before you do."

While it may be hard to face such difficult decisions about the future, it's important to do so, Salmon said.

"Most of us are not planners," she said. "We're teenagers at heart. We think we're indestructible.

"But if you don't do the planning, you lose a lot of personal control, and it's important to have a sense of personal control.

"Good research shows that when people move and they don't get to pick where they go, the transition is much more difficult.

"People need to start thinking about long-term care."

A checklist Salmon has created to help people assess some ALFs is at www.fpeca.cas.usf.edu/chltc/PDF_Files/ALFEVAL.pdf.

- TOM VALEO - St. Pete Times