| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JULY 19, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| COVER STORY
Commentary: Not Your Grandfather's Retirement Twenty years ago, as a young newspaper reporter in Broward County, Fla., I was assigned to cover the massive retirement communities sprouting up like saw grass on the edge of the Everglades. I soon made a sad discovery: The Sunbelt paradigm for aging--retirement as an endless vacation--didn't deliver as golden a life as promised. The age-segregated lifestyle struck me as a depressing, indeed wasteful, way to grow old. My grandmother had lived with our family throughout my childhood, and she added a wonderful dimension to our lives, as we did to hers. Old people surrounded solely by other old people seemed grim. I sensed many South Florida seniors felt the same. They were starved for youthful company, chatting as long as I'd listen about grandchildren they seldom saw. I left Florida in the mid-1980s, but over the years I've watched the evolution of Sunbelt retirement. Many so-called active retirement communities have become populated by the old-old, who need services far beyond golf or bingo. Long-distance caretaking has imposed an exhausting burden on many adult children, while business has boomed for geriatric-care managers who look after the elderly when their families can't or won't. Indeed, the luster of a Sunbelt retirement has dimmed, and researchers are starting to document ''outmigration'' as older people, typically ailing or widowed, return home. To be sure, affluent elders are still flocking to new communities. But now these residences are sprouting up close to home. Del Webb, which has built retirement complexes in Arizona and California, has opened an inaptly named Sun City in Huntley, Ill., a Chicago suburb. ''We're finding that a growing population of older adults want to remain closer to family and friends,'' says Dave Schreiner, Del Webb's vice-president. NEW TRENDS. What's more, many are seeking to spend their later years with younger people. The American Association of Retired People (AARP) reports intergenerational programs such as children's day-care centers in senior housing facilities that tap the residents as staff. Gerontologists cite an emerging trend of retirees moving to urban areas, drawn by public transportation, cultural facilities, and neighbors who are active and young. Some cutting-edge senior housing options are in age-integrated settings. Last year, CareMatrix, which runs 44 assisted-living facilities and other senior residences nationwide, opened a 168-apartment complex for active retirees in a mixed-age subdivision in Rye Brook, N.Y. Experts say we'll see lots more of the same. Looking ahead, the trend away from retiree-dominated Sunbelt destinations should continue. For one thing, the traditional idea of retirement may no longer make sense: One AARP study found that 80% of baby boomers believe they will work during their retirement years, either for enjoyment or income. Today, just 12% of people over 65 are in the workforce. Besides, places mockingly known as ''heaven's waiting room'' won't appeal to a group that sees itself as forever young. ''Boomer retirement will not be about canasta games and early-bird specials,'' says Norman Sherman, managing director of Senior Network, a market research firm. ''We think of those as things old people do, not us.'' I thought of South Florida recently when I read Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders (Riverhead Books, $24.95). The author, Mary Pipher, notes that our age-phobic, age-segregated society makes older Americans feel isolated and disconnected. It's hard to imagine that the gigantic generation of trendsetting boomers won't rewrite the rules for this stage of life, too. BY MARY C. HICKEY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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