Universal Design: More than Your House

Another area of self evaluation will be your economic forecast. Most simply, will there be enough financial resources for you to live the way you wish to live? Managing your assets always mattered, however, the retirement model you grew up with has little remaining practical value. To retire at age 65 and to have a nice life for the next 20 years requires a crazy amount of money – think millions (you might have less than $50,000.00 cash). Or, you’ll considerably scale back your lifestyle (about 60%). Neither are reasoned actions. When this retirement model was created, lifespan was 65; death and retirement happened about the same time. To survive a 20 year vacation, one needs a new model.

The old model was a rugged three-legged stool: savings/assets, social security and pension fund. Social security has not kept pace with inflation and will likely provide less as the wage earners that support it decrease and the dependents increase. Employers are moving out of pension savings to reduce expenses and compete in a global market. Statistically your savings have dropped. So what does a new model financial picture look like? It has four legs: savings/assets, post-retirement job, investments, and your own past contribution to a retirement plan such as an IRA. This is a productive aging society model. Universal design becomes essential for this model to thrive as it acknowledges and prepares for an older workforce.