September 2025
It’s also about where and how you want to live. In this episode of THE FINANCIAL COMMUTE, host Chris Galeski sits down with retired Wealth Advisor Jason Naiman to discuss the pros and cons of different retirement living options, from staying in your own home to exploring new communities.
Tune in if you’re interested in…
Watch previous episodes here:
Ep. 156 Comparing Money Mindsets of Different Generations
Ep. 155 How to Upgrade Your Life and Still Build Wealth
Jason, I'm excited to have this conversation with you today because it's sort of a precursor to the symposium session that you and Stacey are going to do in a little less than a month away.
It's about retirement living options. I know that you personally have been doing a lot of research and are going to share your knowledge not only here today on the podcast, but also at the symposium in terms of what you've learned about the options that are available to you as it relates to retired living.
Before we get into that, I just noticed some stats that I believe Ian pulled for this, and 70% of us will need some kind of long-term care support after 65, and then 75% of adults over the age of 50 wished to remain in their current home. And 73% want to stay in their community. Obviously those stats are alarming and there's a want versus a need.
And being in the community, being in your community, and living in the Valley for as long as you have. That was a really important point.
Yeah, we were looking. We are still looking. We haven't made a determination yet. But what option was a young adult community in Camarillo? But we just don't want to leave the San Fernando Valley because we've been here for. I moved out to California in 1966 and have lived in the Valley since that period of time. My wife grew up in the San Fernando Valley.
So as attractive an option in Camarillo might be, it's just a deal breaker to leave our current community.
Definitely. And so when you think about the different options that people have, obviously staying at home, then there's independent living or assisted living and then if needed, there's memory care, skilled nursing, you know, and other emerging models kind of beyond that as you're as you've been doing some research and attending a number of the different options available to you.
Walk me through kind of what you've learned and sort of the pros and cons of each one, because you mentioned like a class A property. Standing out to you is, yes, I definitely want that. And I think that's something that, you know, people can benefit from learning.
You know, one of the differences that we've determined in a couple of different adult communities, the one at this point that we're leaning towards, which is in the Warner Center brand new complex not yet built, is deemed to be a class A, a facility, which means that included in your monthly fee, which it covers rent and food and utilities, etc..
Should either spouse get to a point where they require memory care or assisted living, and that spouse needs to move into a different unit, so that your costs do not increase, you're basically prepaying, as part of your monthly fee for that contingency. Advantages. Well, that's a lot of money you're going to save if it turns out it's necessary.
Disadvantages for both of you. Stay healthy until the day you pass. You pay an extra sum of money each and every month for a service that, isn't, going to be required. One of the other adult communities that we looked at, which was in class AA, basically, if your health deteriorated and you needed memory care or assisted living, they provided that.
But at that point, your costs would go up based on market costs at that time.
Got it. So, you know, you're basically buying insurance now to have the cost be a little bit cheaper than if it was needed later on.
And that's, I think, an appropriate assessment of that option. Yes.
So we talked a little bit, in sort of our prep call for this that you've run, you know, a financial projection with a number of these different, different options, staying in your current home, estimating some costs. Obviously there's some unknown amount around, you know, how much care will you need? How much does it cost? You're looking at creative options in terms of, you know, seeing there's a student that's going to college nearby that's in the nursing program, maybe they can assist.
You're also evaluating the large upfront cost of, you know, something like wisteria, where you pay a large upfront fee and then a monthly service fee for it. How much does cost matter to you when you're looking at some of these different options, and what does that cost look like?
All right. In the ballpark figures were... And, Sandy and I sat down yesterday to review them. I wanted her to be aware of the dollars and cents of this potential transaction. Just to share with you specifically, the cost for us to stay in our home, which we added up mortgage, which is medical expense, property taxes, pool service, gardener, utilities, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Costed us about $6,000 a month. The monthly fee, for Wisteria, for the unit that we have for the moment chosen cost 11,000 a month. So there's a $5,000 a month difference. Between staying in our home versus moving to my studio. So obviously we wanted to make sure that, okay, we can absorb that additional expense comfortably.
Certain costs go down when we move to our story. If we do, the monthly fee includes a meal allowance and includes your utilities, and certainly insurance costs will drop, etc., but, bottom line, the waste area option is going to cost us an additional 60 to $70,000 a year in alcohol. Plus, you have an upfront fee, which, based on the unit you choose, I think the smallest upfront fee was three quarters of $1 million, and the largest was 2 million.
And, basically, at your death, or if you move out after five years, they refund 75% of your entry fee. You don't earn interest on that. So, you know, you have the time value of money eating away at that refund, which is another factor. So there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle.
I looked at another adult community, which does not require an upfront fee. Just first and last month's rent. It's called the variable on a very open, one-center area. Yeah. The rent, the monthly fee for, that option for a similar unit was 20,000 a month instead of 11. And I ran the numbers between wisteria and the variable so mean that you were able to then invest the entry fee that you didn't have to come up with at 6% return.
And basically after three years, the variable was really a more expensive option. So in spite of the large entry fee, moist areas still had some sound to be financially amore attractive alternative to the area was on a Class-A facility. So you had that piece of the puzzle as well.
So if since Variel is not a class A, if you needed memory care or some sort of assisted living, you're going to have to go to a different property.
You could say they have that those services available on site. But if the spouse at that point needed to that level of service and moved into a different part of the complex in a different residence, then you'd have to pick up the cost for that additional residence.
As we were also talking, you know, the community aspect is really important. And it's not just the location, but, you know, you're an avid pickleball player. You're active, you like to be around people. That's why I've enjoyed working with you for so many years here. Looking into this option now allows you to still have that sense of community and people to enjoy activities with, which is a big plus.
That for me is the biggest positive. I'm kind of a stay-at-home guy. And so I don't have a lot of initiative in going out and doing stuff.
Unless it's a cruise.
We go to Cabo a couple of times a year. But, I know that for my mental health, my emotional health, I would be better served being in a community with a lot of activities. Wisteria, like University Village and Thousand Oaks, it’s the same provider, ten in the morning till six in the evening, pretty much every day.
They’ve got activities every hour or two from, you know, bridge or mahjong or pickleball or lectures, painting etc., etc., So, that is again, the biggest positive for me is the knowledge that, if this is the move we make to, I'll have the opportunity to make a whole new batch of friends.
Well, and I found that interesting because oftentimes when I've thought about sort of retirement living options, it goes down this route of, you know, finding a community like what you're looking at to be able to move into. But then it reminded me of a couple client situations, even my parents, I've had clients that have moved to a new location, and so maybe they moved from LA to Santa Barbara or San Diego to Portland, Oregon or even to Chicago. And they have these newcomers clubs to where if you're new to that, that city or that location, you can participate in these newcomers groups where there's activities and things for you to do for a couple of years to meet that sense of community and those new friends. Then beyond that, my parents, when they moved from Chicago back to Southern California, they found in age 55 and up the community out there in Palm Springs, Palm Desert area.
And they've loved it. They made a lot of new friends. It was a brand new community. They got involved in pickleball and other games and activities, and that really helped them kind of get acclimated to living in a new place that they've been gone from for a long time.
Yeah, another plus for that. I don't get a piece of the action from Wisteria. So this is another testimonial, but, that's a brand new community. It's not yet built. Occupancy is projected to be good second, third quarter next year. So if that's the route we go, everybody will be new together. Whereas if you move into an existing community like the very old, you know, you're the new kid on the block.
And I think that would be obviously a little bit more difficult in terms of their transition. Another plus that we like. About wisteria. It's a large, large complex. There going to be 3 or 4 different restaurants on site. It's going to take up several blocks and would be like its own village, where the Verial is like a large apartment complex.
So it's, again, it has a little bit more of a community feel, than apartment living. And my wife has never lived in an apartment. And one of the issues that became an issue of relevance was, we were on vacation. We were staying at a lovely, room suite and it was about 2300 square feet. And my wife said to me, is the unit that we've got reserved at Wisteria about this size?
And I said, no, it's about 1300,400 square feet. She looked at me, said, I don't know that I want to live with you within a 1400 square foot area.
So, we again, the decision has not yet been made and it may, in fact, wind up being, we haven't seen a physical, unit yet. They're not built, they're not available. We've seen the floor plan, but, you know, if we walk into that apartment and it's just not going to work, that'll be the deal breaker.
We do have a reservation for a larger unit, but, we're on a waiting list for that. So, again, a lot of pieces to the puzzle.
It is pretty incredible, though. The new buildings today, there might be, you know, 13, 15, 1600 square feet. How much bigger they seem because of the open concept layout and how they're, you know, redesigning things today versus stuff that was 13, 1400 square feet, that was built in the 80s and 90s. Yeah, like the home I live in, I think it's 1500 square feet.
It was built in the late 80s. There are aspects of it where it feels very small, whereas if you go to some of these newer places, they feel a lot larger.
And Jason, I've enjoyed the conversation today. Again, this is just a precursor for the symposium session that you and Stacey are going to be doing here at our symposium on October 22nd. So if you're interested in learning more about the retirement living options that are available to you, the pros and cons, and what we've learned throughout this process, please come join us.
