Are you planning to downsize when you are older?

[D20]

What age/life stage are you aiming for? We’ve always assumed at some point we will downsize (physically) when we retire. Our Mortgage will be paid off, kids will be well on their way into adulthood. Both of our neighbours are now in their 70s and in failing health but no plans to move so I wonder if we’ll end up the same.

Of course 60/70 isn't old. I want more freedom though as our DC get older. I've always had itchy feet. DH and I plan to buy a three/four bed cottage where we live now, a city apartment and plan to spend six months of the year pissing about and travelling. The rest split between the two properties.

I'm not interested in being tied to a property. I've seen what it does to people.

Sounds lovely.

But 60/70 is old.

It's older than 55.

I don't want to downsize at all in terms of square metres. Our house is 3 bed plus loft conversion, 2 bathrooms, decent kitchen, two receptions.

However I am conscious that it's location down a private road and 3 floors isn't ideal as you get older so whilst I am very open to moving to a bungalow, I do not want any less space than we have now. Financially it would actually mean upsizing in property value.

In reality getting a detached three bed plus study with nice layout in our current area and a bungalow to boot is next to zero, like waiting for dead men's shoes.

I guess it's all relative. And 60 is very different from a later point in your 70s when it comes to housing.

Downsizing at 60 is great if you want to free up some money to travel or otherwise have some fun in life. It's too young an age to choose to move to single storey living otherwise as you will lose physical fitness without stairs unless you replace that natural exercise with something else .

By late 70s you need to be living somewhere which can accommodate possible immobility and the need for more health intervention, possible care if needed.

Finding the optimum time to move, if necessary, is the problem .

It's all relative. When I was 20, I thought 30 was ancient.

Most active MNetters are under 60, based on what they say in their posts. I think you will find that, when you get to 60, you do not consider it old. Many of you will have 30+ years of life ahead of you, based on current trends in life expectancy (there has been a dip around Covid, but the over-all trend since WW2 is upwards).

As a GP, I'd say that most people start to slow down significantly between 75-80, but there is huge variation. And even people who have slowed down, compared to when they were younger, are still usually able to care for themselves and to enjoy a good quality of life.

I would also say that people who do best in older age tend to be people in mild denial about their age! There is a balance to be struck - you don't want to be the nutters who move 15 miles down an isolated track at the age of 75, but you also want to keep active and enjoying new challenges. The PP who mentioned that her mother aged rapidly after moving to a one storey flat is a good example of this. Truly, you use it or lose it.

I have a 96 relative still living independently in a bungalow.

They do their own cleaning and cooking. They go to the local shops. This is only achievable because the property is manageable.

Well subjectively, anything is relative. But objectively 60/70 is old. As you correctly say, life expectancy is failing, but so is healthy life expectancy - around 63 on average until you develop a serious condition/disability.

Ideally I would like to move to a small terraced house or flat with a garden, within 10 minutes' walk of my favourite town centre (a beautiful university city).

I would need a lot more money than my three bed semi is currently worth 😂but that's the dream. I would want to keep a garden, at all costs.

My mum is 77 with arthritis and still spends most of her days gardening - she's stronger than me with a pruning saw! She would be miserable in a retirement flat. They have a fairly big house with enough space downstairs to accommodate moving a bedroom to the study, if they needed to. I suspect that's what they'll do, in the end.

How old are you?

I intend to downsize before I hit 70, not because I think that's old but more because I want to do it before I get old!

But what does 'average' mean? I would have thought that includes all the people who have life changing illnesses and disabilities brought on at a much younger age - 50s, 40s, 30s. I don't think there is any suggestion that someone who is healthy at 61 will develop any serious condition at age 63. I understood that if you made it to that age with your health intact, it was far more likely you would remain healthy until much older age.

Healthy life expectancy is also affected by earlier diagnosis. It is a marker of whether people feel they are in good health, so is subjective.

One of the downsides of getting better at detecting pre-diabetes, hypertension, chronic renal disease etc, is that we give people a label that can make them perceive themselves as unhealthy. But, by controlling or preventing chronic disease, we are making them objectively healthier.

I don't know anyone of 63 who's developed a 'serious condition'.

63, honestly. My Dad's 80 and is still rock-climbing and cross-country skiing, he can do a headstand. My Mum is not so fit at 81 but still goes to ceilidhs.

My oldest sister is 61 and deadlifts more than I weigh many times over.

We'll all just shuffle off though...

However as someone who works in community healthcare can I plead that, if we all get old and grey in wherever we're living - and need people to visit us.... can we please stick a house number on our houses?!

I'm glad that your family members are healthy.

However, they are still old.

Older than you, sure.

61 isn't subjectively or objectively 'old'.

You silly sausage.

It's middle aged.

I hope @Ursulla is book-marking this thread, for when she's 59 😆

Non of my family are on any kind of drug regime, no hypertension, no diabetes, nothing.

We're older. We're not 'old'.

How old are you @Ursulla?

😂

She'll be dead by then.

From the old.

Thats the thing, every age is 'old'....until you start creeping up on it!!😅

TBH I havent thought that far ahead. Im 50 and want to spend the next 10yrs sorting out my house as it needs alot done. But the mortgage is paid and its just me in a 3 bedroom house so I dont need this much space.
I do know that when I get old Id love to move into a nice modern flat rather then the 120yr old terraced I have now!

@JeysusH I’m hoping that I’ll be similar to your parents, but I’m not banking on it as my mum sadly developed one of those pesky chronic conditions and died when I was in my 20’s. They can hit anyone, including the previously fit and well, like my Mum was. At 86, my Dad is very different to when he was 80, now he needs a walker to get around, but he’s still lively and sociable. His body’s letting him down but he can talk for England. 🤣

@JeysusH

I do think your family is a bit unusual though .

Whilst I'm saying I don't consider 60 to be 'old', when I'm talking about healthy I mean not having any conditions that are stopping you leading a normal life, being able to do your housework and gardening without assistance, not getting out of puff walking and being able to do gentle exercise such as swimming.

I don't know anyone of 60 that's suffering 'conditions of age'.

We obviously never know. DH's parents died at 34 and 52 from breast and pancreatic cancer respectively.

My sister's husband died very suddenly and unexpectedly from a cardiac event last October.

My husband's best friend and our best man died at 42 from a cardiac event.

None of us know the hour.

None of them were old people though. They all died prematurely.

DH's grandmother lived in fine heath independently until she was 96 and then died after a short illness. She didn't seem 'old' until the last four weeks of her life when she suddenly deteriorated.

My parents, although in their 80s are not 'old' or 'elderly'. They're just older. Still functioning brilliantly. Still enjoying their lives. They know they've got more good life behind them than ahead but they don't seem old to me or anyone around them.

Here's a photo of my dad, climbing in his 70s.

Fuck me. You can be old and healthy. You can be old and unhealthy. You can be young and healthy. You can be young and unhealthy. But you can't be 70 and young. Or 61 and young. Or 70 and middle aged. Or 61 and middle aged.