Retiring in 2021
If you thought you had planned sufficiently for any eventuality when it comes to your retirement — then you weren’t alone. However, 2020 was a bit of a shock for everyone. Normal has been replaced with social distancing and a few years ago walking into a bank with a mask on would have meant you got arrested. In 2021, if you don’t have a mask you won’t be let into your local bank or credit union, due to health concerns.
Retirement has been seen as a way for grandparents to spend time with their grandkids and do more of the things you want to do for you in your own time and your own space. In 2021 the age of a viral pandemic the world changed significantly. This year more than ever people have been connecting online and this has created some differences in the way retirement is being viewed. Being able to use Skype or Zoom or even FaceTime is useful in lieu of in-person interactions, but many older Americans struggle with some of the technology or can’t remember passwords.
If however you aren’t at the care-home stage of your life and are feeling fit and strong but are still ready to retire, it seems that where folks even a year ago were looking to downsize, in 2021 the opposite is happening. Research from Merrill Lynch and Age Wave Retirement discovered that 30 percent actually ended up moving into larger homes and a fraction under half didn’t downsize in their last move. Covid-19 has fundamentally shifted the way we think about spending time with family and how much time we spend at home.
Long commutes to the office are a thing of the past for most and having close family support for the kids or homeschooling while mom and dad are on zoom meeting calls all day means many retirees cited their reason for upsizing was a desire for a home large and comfortable enough for family members to visit or even live with them. One out of six retirees had a child move back in with them after the pandemic struck.
If you are spending all your time at home and can’t socialise at the local golf course or meet at a fancy restaurant, it will come as no surprise that 19 percent of retirees said they upsized in retirement in order to have a more “prestigious” home. No matter where you retire this year, you can be sure that you’ll be spending a lot more time at home than you thought you would.
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