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July 24, 2025 12 mins

"Hey Mike. We are looking for a retirement community to enjoy. What are the differences between buy-in communities, co-ops, and other options?” Discover the differences between living at home, living in a co-op, and so on so that you can start to plan based on what is right for you.  

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Episode Transcript

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Mike (00:05):
Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers
your retirement questions. Myname is Mike Decker. I'm a
licensed financial adviser andfiduciary. And joining me here,
Mr. David Franson.
David, thanks for being here.

David (00:15):
Yep. Happy to be here.

Mike (00:15):
As always, we're gonna answer your questions. Text them
to (913) 363-1234. And remember,this is just a show, not
financial advice, so make sureto do your research and
follow-up with whatever we talkabout. David, let's begin.

David (00:29):
Hey, Mike. We are looking for a retirement community to
enjoy. What are the differencesbetween buy in communities, co
ops, and other options? I'mgonna interpret this question as
the I don't need health careamenities Okay.

Mike (00:43):
For this question. And the reason why is once you include a
hospice or nurse care or allthose other things, it gets more
complicated. So let's kinda keepthis question a little bit more
simple. Generally speaking,you've got about four options.
You've got the I wanna live inmy home until I die, and that's
an extremely common option.
And maybe it's not your homeright now. Maybe you buy a home

(01:04):
like a Rambler. It's all onefloor, really simple to get
around. And then the otherextreme is the, was it,
community living situation. It'sbasically like a cruise ship
community.
Everything's just kinda takencare of for you. There's
variations with that, but thoseare kind of the extremes. So one
is on one level, you can ownyour home, but it's all on you.

(01:25):
The lawn care, the maintenance,dealing with your HOA if you
have one, all of the above.

David (01:30):
Right. And so maybe there's multiple levels because
you've raised your kids in thehome, and it's just a big house,
lots of bedrooms, a basement.

Mike (01:37):
Yeah. It's common that people will retire in a
different home Mhmm. Becausethey want the flat home. It's
also common that some peoplewill just say, well, we live on
the 1 Floor, but when the kidsvisit, they just take the
upstairs. Sure.
I mean, when I when I visit myin laws in Southeast Kansas, we
just whenever we visit, we takethe upstairs. I don't think they
ever go out there. Mhmm. Like, Icould rearrange their furniture,

(01:58):
they'd have no clue. Right?
Because it's kind of for thekids when they come by. So
that's one option on the extremelevel, and then the other option
is you've got this kind of allinclusive resort like feeling
where you are the cruise shipanalogy is the best I can come
up with. There's activities.Right. There's clubs.

(02:19):
Foods are prepared for you. Nowthere's variation of how much is
prepared. Maybe it's justlunches prepared. Maybe it's
lunch and dinner. Maybe it's allof the above.
Maybe they've got plannedactivities. Maybe they don't.
But it is a resort like feel forthe rest of your life.

David (02:32):
Yeah. Like fitness club, game room, social clubs Yeah.
Pools.

Mike (02:37):
Yeah. And you know that the advertisements for these
because you'll see them whenyou're watching the golf tent or
whatever. Uh-huh. You'll see thecommunities where they're
they're driving around theirgolf carts all laughing and
stuff, and then they got thebridge table. It's it's kind of
a funny thing on how theyposition those commercials.
Yeah. Kinda mixed reviews. Somepeople say it's offensive, some
people say that's exactly what Iwant. So I guess they're

(02:57):
marketing towards their targetaudience, but that's kind of the
other side of it. Now before Italk about the two middle ones,
I wanna be very open about theresort like feeling.
If you want that livingcommunity kind of all inclusive
thing, do your due diligence,because if you want the nice
stuff, you've got to pay up forit. It is the more expensive

(03:19):
option.

David (03:19):
Yes.

Mike (03:20):
Everything's taken care of for you, but someone's gonna pay
for the food, someone's gonnapay for the workers, someone's
gonna pay for all of the thingsthat are going on here, and
those can be very expensive.Remember the movie Happy
Gilmore?

David (03:30):
Yeah. I remember seeing that.

Mike (03:32):
So they're losing the house. The mom's going into a
facility that's supposed to bekind of like nice and happy and
wonderful or whatever. And thenyou see Ben Stiller's character,
like, forcing them to knit andstuff for his own profits or
whatever. That doesn't actuallyhappen. But there are some all
inclusive communities that arecheaper that really aren't as

(03:54):
happy or glamorous as they maysuggest.
So just be aware of that. Theeasiest understanding or easiest
way to measure it, in myopinion, is if you're paying
more, you're probably gonna getmore. If you think you're
getting a deal, I doubt you'reactually getting a deal because
they have to stay in business.They're not a charity. Someone's
gonna be paying for it.
So if you're getting a deal,maybe it's like a introductory

(04:17):
deal of, like, six months. Idon't know, whatever the deals
are, But your fees are gonna goup. Can you afford them? Is it
okay? Are you aware of what'sgoing on?
Where were the expectations? Ifyou live too long, what are the
clauses on there? Like, you needto understand that they're
running a business. And couldthings change? If prices could
change, what does that looklike?

(04:39):
Are they gonna raise rates insuch a way that you might have
to leave? Could they do that?Could they not do that? There
are so many ways that they couldbe structured. You've got to
dive into the details.
I mean, this is one of thosesituations where you really pump
the brakes and do your research.Now where are the middle two?

David (04:55):
Yeah.

Mike (04:57):
So on the less costly options, you've got the 55 plus
communities. In my mind, theseare kinda like the nicer
neighborhoods where you've got abeautiful neighborhood,
beautiful homes. The homes areappreciating value. You've still
got a lot of flexibility. Yeah.
The HOA is probably making youhave your lawn look a certain
way, and you've got somerestrictions there. But overall,
it's simple as expected, and theoverall experience is kinda

(05:19):
nice. And you've got a communitycenter. I think of this as kinda
like you've got your house, andmaybe there's a community
country club. You know, whetherit's a golf membership like
country club or tennis club orwhatever it is, but there
there's some sort of countryclub that you can use, and
you're all paying in to supportthat facility.
But it's not like that facilityis full of staff and servers and

(05:40):
whatever.

David (05:40):
And do some of these also have like maintenance, like
they'll change your light bulbor

Mike (05:44):
Yeah. Mean, kinda like a nicer version of an HOA. So
you're paying more for that, butthis one would be more in the
they take care of the outside,not the inside of your house.

David (05:54):
Mow your lawn, trim your hedges, whatever.

Mike (05:57):
Yeah. You you can have that paid for, but and there's a
lot of variations with this one.But it's the idea is that you're
not having 16 year old kidspumping loud music, going down
your street. Sure. They're kindof more secluded, a little bit
more private, a little bit morecalm, and you've got a closer
knit social community.
They're a lot of fun. But I willsay this. It's kinda like dating

(06:20):
when it comes to communities.Date the community if at all
possible. Maybe if you'relooking to buy a house in one of
these communities, talk to theneighbors, maybe go to lunch
with a couple of them.
Because if the community isclickish, you might end up in a
community that's just hellbecause you don't connect with
them.

David (06:41):
Well, it's like high school again or something.
Humans don't

Mike (06:44):
grow up. They just get older. So something to be aware
of that people don't reallythink about at the beginning.
Yeah. Okay?
And then you've got kind of thenext tier up, which is the co
op. Now the co op, you'rebasically you're not buying
necessarily real estate in thissituation, you're buying
fractional ownership of the coop. Okay? Okay. So you are

(07:06):
sharing the cost in most ofthese situations for the outside
maintenance, for some help hereand there, for the communities.
It's just it's a level up towhere you're trying to share
expenses, but also you're tryingto contribute to the community
as well. So very communityfriendly, but it just it kind of
increases the responsibility ofwhat you're giving in those. So

(07:28):
they're great for budgetfriendly individuals, but you
gotta put in some work. Yougotta be a part of it. You gotta
be active in the community,which I would say can actually
be a help to your healthoverall.
If you have to have a reason toget up in the morning, if you're
connecting with people, ifyou're serving other people,
which the co op does allow, it'snot about self indulgence. You
are helping other people, andthat's that's good for your

(07:50):
health. That's good for thesoul. But that yeah. The co op
is one that a lot of peopleenjoy.
It's not about which one's rightfor retirees. It's about which
one's right for you. So don'twalk into this thinking, well,
this is the best bang for mybuck. They all offer different
benefits and detriments, andeach within their own sleeve,
there are a lot of variability.There's a lot of variations with

(08:13):
it.
So I don't know. This I feellike it's a cop out answer. It's
not intended to be a cop outanswer. It's just what's your
budget? What's your plan looklike?
Which can you afford? And whatfeatures do you want? And what
features do you not want? Don'tpay for features that you don't
want.

David (08:27):
Probably a big sticker right there. Like, don't pay for
what you don't want. You mightsort of feel like you have to,
or maybe you're hey. What ifyour kids try and talk you into
something higher? Like, oh, butmom, this would be, wouldn't you
like this?

Mike (08:40):
Yeah. And maybe you include the kids in the
conversation. Hey. When I'mgetting older, like, what are my
options? What what's expected?
Some people will say, well,we're gonna go down this route
so my kids don't have to takecare of me. Mhmm. Some people
just save up extra money so theycan afford to live in their
house and bring in skillednursing or whatever it is into
their house so they don't haveto leave. So you can solve this
problem in a number of differentways, and they all are right.

(09:04):
It's like, what's the best car?

David (09:06):
Mhmm.

Mike (09:07):
I don't know. Do you want a small car? Do you want a big
car? Do you want a fast car?Maybe you want safety features.
Maybe you want different safetyfeatures than there are other
safety features. Maybe you wantthe cheapest car possible.
Everyone drives a different carfor a reason. So all of these
options, even within their owncategory, are gonna offer
different benefits anddetriments. Now because this
also is a podcast, which by theway, everyone listening, you can

(09:27):
catch it on YouTube if you'renot or wherever you get your
podcast, but people listen tothis all over the country.
There are some shortcuts to beaware of in this. When I say
shortcuts, deals. There arecertain states that are more
expensive than other states.There are certain communities
that are more expensive thanother communities. If you're

(09:47):
trying to go to the nicestneighborhoods in Florida, you're
gonna pay a premium.
If you're going to certaincommunities, let's say in the
Midwest, you're probably gonnapay a lot less. So these are
also things if your kids are allover the country, there's no
home base anymore, and you'retrying to figure out a more
budget friendly way, maybe youpick a different state with a
different climate, with adifferent living situation, but

(10:10):
you still get the the activitiesthat you want. I know a lot of
people that have moved to Texasfor retirement. Know I a lot of
people that have moved to theMidwest for retirement. I know a
lot of people that have moved tothe coast for various reasons.
It is very common to see peoplerelocate when they get to an
older age, or even when theydon't get like, when they first
retire just to kind of get moreestablished, knowing their next

(10:33):
step and the other steps pastthat. So step one, two, and
three. These are conversationsthat should be included in your
planning process to justunderstand how to budget for
them. And another one of thereasons why I have heartburn
over putting all of your assetsinto an annuity with guaranteed
income for life, maybe you wantthat for a part of your income.

(10:54):
But what if you you have a plan,you wanna eventually go to a co
op, you eventually wanna go to aliving community situation, and
all of the prices increase, andyou're on all fixed income.
You don't want inflation toerode your future options. You
wanna have enough dynamicflexibility in your plan so that
as you plan for these things,that you're able to dynamically

(11:15):
adjust things along the way tomaintain the reality of the
future that you want. That's whywe talk about your lifestyle and
legacy potential, your future,what do you want, how do we
maintain the flexibility toadapt to the ever changing
environment, especially when itcomes to health care and living
communities. I mean, 10 to12,000 people retire every

(11:36):
single day in America. It takesa lot of time and effort to
build these communities.
I believe that as demandincreases and supply doesn't
keep up with it, these pricesare gonna go up. Are you
prepared for that? Are youplanning for that? Things to
consider. But overall, it's notjust income planning for you

(11:58):
today.
It's income planning for yourfuture, including the options
that maybe you do or you don'twant some of these things, but
it's nice to have the optionavailable to you. That's all the
time we've got for the showtoday. If you enjoyed the show,
consider subscribing to itwherever you get your podcast.
Just search for how to retire ontime. Discover if your portfolio
is built to weather flat marketcycles or if you're missing tax

(12:22):
minimization opportunities thatyou may not even know exist.
Explore strategies that may beable to help you lower your
overall risk while potentiallyincreasing your overall growth
and lifestyle flexibility. Thisis not your ordinary financial
analysis. Learn more about YourWealth Analysis and what it
could do for you regardless ofyour age, asset, or target
retirement date. Go towww.yourwealthanalysis.com today

(12:47):
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