I’m Retiring With Friends To Save Money: 6 Ways You Can Do the Same

Most people hope to be able to age in place in retirement , staying in their own homes and near family for as long as possible — but that isn’t always realistic, health-wise or financially.

One couple, however, figured out a plan that will allow them to retire with friends; sharing the cost of buying land and other costs of living in a community-based situation that even takes into consideration how their health may fail in the future.

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The inkling of the idea was first planted for Erin J. of Missouri, who works in elder care and sees what it’s like for those who don’t have help in their old age. She and her husband have no children and don’t expect their nieces or other family to assist with their eventual care.

Further inspiration came from her younger sister and brother-in-law’s plan to build a multigenerational house with shared spaces that will allow them to care for their live-in parents without putting them in a residential facility.

“One of us happened across an article about ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could live next door to your best friends?'” Erin said. “So we came up with this idea of purchasing a large tract of land and building small homes that were all one level with a building in the center that would be a community hall. So everyone would have their own small home, but we would all be contained within a space of land, more kind of like a planned community .”

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Building a Multigenerational Community

Thinking even further ahead, Erin and her husband planned to invite a couple of younger families to join them to build in help for when the older members of the community need more assistance. “So when it becomes a situation in which you have a couple who cannot go to the grocery store, then the younger couple would do the grocery shopping for the couple that can’t go, and the other couples would then pitch in terms of making sure personal care got taken care of and drive them to their appointments, that type of thing,” she explained.

In other words, the community will be built around the idea of everyone having their own space but always helping each other out during times of stress or need.

For this to work, they determined they would need at least 10 couples, with two younger couples. At this moment, they have two single men on board and eight of their 10 couples locked in.

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Sharing the Financial Burden

The plan is for everyone to contribute 10% of the purchase of the land price, with each couple or person owning 10% of the land, she explained. One of their friends is an architect who is leading the charge on the size of land they’ll need. However, the group will be assuming the costs for one couple who can’t afford it, but whom they want to include.

“They don’t have the money to do this but they also do deserve it, they’ve worked hard all their lives and it’s not by any fault of their own that they don’t have a whole lot of money to set aside to be able to have a retirement,” she said.

The group is now in the process of planning to purchase the land in the next year. They’re researching cities that allow this sort of planned community in a variety of states.

“So one of the things we’re looking at is purchasing land in an unincorporated part, outside of different cities or towns, in areas of Colorado, Kentucky, Oregon and South Dakota,” she shared.

Accounting for Healthcare

They’ve also thought ahead to their future healthcare situation. Some unincorporated areas may only have one healthcare facility or a limited number of doctors nearby.

“If you’re going to be moving someplace to spend the rest of your life there, it has to be someplace that you can age well in and know that you can be taken care of,” Erin said. “So medical facilities are incredibly important that can address those issues and availability of doctors because even though there may be medical facilities, if it’s a town that only has two doctors, then you’re adding a significant amount of people to their patient load.”

Reducing Isolation

Another benefit of this kind of jointly planned retirement community, Erin said, is that it can combat some of the isolation that is prone to happen as people age. They anticipate doing communal things together such as gardening, cooking and other forms of gathering.

Designing Space To Age in Place

Since they will be building their homes from the ground up, they will also have the benefit of building them with aging in mind.

“The biggest thing was that every home in this community will be a place for someone to age in place,” she stated. “So they’ll have wider hallways, they will have ADA-compliant bathrooms, they will be equipped in a way that makes it very easy to make adjustments for wheelchair living if that’s what needs to happen.”

The people who are 60 now should ideally be able to start building their homes in the next three years, Erin said. Others may retire at different times over the coming years. Erin and her husband plan to continue working for a few more years and hope to have their own home ready by the time they are 65, though they may not retire fully until age 70. If the home is done before, they could use it as a retreat for vacations until they’re ready to make the move.

Erin’s Advice: Think It Through

For others who might want to do a similar thing, Erin recommended you be really clear whether it’s feasible from a financial and legal standpoint, and that you can envision truly living in community with these people for the rest of your life.

“You need to be able to count on them like you would be counting on a family member. And just like in any family, realize that there’s going to be times where you’re not going to be 100% happy with each other, but because you are united together in this purpose of living together and aging well together, that unites you and keeps you bonded,” she said.

She added that it helps to think of it as not just creating a community but a chosen family.

In a time when costs of living are higher than ever, communal retirement might just become a more popular option.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : I’m Retiring With Friends To Save Money: 6 Ways You Can Do the Same