Should You Downsize In Retirement?

Emotionally, it's hard to let go of a home filled with memories. Moving is a hassle, and downsizing to a smaller home isn't always the cash bonanza some might expect.

When entering your golden years of retirement, what is the ideal living arrangement for your new stage of life? Do you stay in your home where you've made life-long memories? Or do you downsize to something else in hopes of saving on expenses and maintenance?

Even if you have yet to confront these fundamental retirement questions, you ought to consult a recent article in The Wall Street Journal titled “When Should Retirees Downsize Homes?” The Journal asks, “when” not “if,” but that does not mean there is not another side of the story. Enter the DailyFinance with an article providing yet additional reasons to stay put. In fact, that article is aptly titled “7 Reasons Not to Move in Retirement.”

While you will want to read both articles, here are the seven reasons to stay:

·         Save Money

·         Services You Like

·         A Social Network

·         Proximity to Family

·         Memories

·         An Advance Plan for Your Later Years

·         You Like It

What place does your home occupy in your life and in the lives of your loved ones? To some families a house is an asset, to others it is a home, and to others it is an anchor (whether wanted or not).

Whether you are planning for retirement or already in retirement, there is much at stake and the home can be a divisive issue.

So, again, what is the house to you and yours? How are you planning for it?

Also don’t forget, in California if you are over 55 and downsizing in the same county or a reciprocal county you may be able to keep your existing property tax basis.

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Reference: The Wall Street Journal (January 25, 2014) “When Should Retirees Downsize Homes?”

                  DailyFinance (January 22, 2014) “7 Reasons Not to Move in Retirement”