Why do you have to plan where to live?

As we get closer and closer to retirement age, we suddenly realize that our lifestyle will have to be pared way back. Changing lifestyles isn’t easy because we’ve grown accustomed to living a particular lifestyle. These thoughts can create panic as to what to do. Usually, the first reaction is to convince yourself to sell the house, move someplace more cost-effective, and reduce expenses as much as possible. Rationalizing that “The house is too big,” “I’m not what I used to be!”, “The kids are gone”, etc. So you plan your move to a community away from your family and hope it’s acceptable to your needs.

Upon further examination, we start understanding that that move is quite impractical. Affordable communities might not be in the neighborhoods that we like or are familiar with, and other structures like buying a home and renting land do not truly control our costs. This leaves us with a mediocre, bad, and worse choice that we all seem to settle. This could feel like we are approaching a “cliff” of the unknown! We call this the Financial Chasm.

The financial chasm is a chasm one must get across to survive. We felt this chasm when we graduated from high school, and we had to cross our first chasm. Purchasing that first car and affording fuel and insurance to run that car we thought was impossible to do at the time, and we had to use our resources around us to get over that chasm and purchase that car. We may have reached out to our parents or grandparents to assist us with that first purchase to cross that financial chasm. Once we bought our first car, the second or third car didn’t seem that bad. The next colossal chasm was that first house scrimping and saving for the down money feeling that it’s impossible to get there. Again, we may have reached out to our parents, grandparents, employers, friends, and uncles to assist us in getting us into that home. We may have worked extra hard, but we crossed that financial chasm and got into our first home. Once we developed equity, the second and third homes didn’t seem that bad.

People in their 50s and 60s are racing towards another chasm. We did not acknowledge this chasm we were facing, which is a financial chasm to pay for our retirement. Many of us lived very well and enjoyed a hectic and wild lifestyle of having cash on hand to buy things we wanted when we wanted. Taking on vast amounts of debt simply because we knew that paycheck was coming, but those days are over.

Once we retire, whether we retire at 62, 65, or even 70, we have to start thinking about reducing expenses and living within the means of our retirement funds. Some of us have amassed significant wealth to live the same lifestyle we were always living straight until the end of our lives. How awesome is that? However, most seniors realize that what they accumulated and amassed, either through lack of planning or no-fault, is not enough to live their lives out. They will rely on government Social Security and try to preserve their little nest egg for rainy days. How many rainy days can your nest egg endure if your property needs a roof, clogged septic, rising property taxes, or general maintenance? It can erode that nest egg very quickly. If you plan to move to a rental in 2022 with the cost of rental properties being extremely high, that can also erode that nest egg significantly quicker than expected. Can health issues deteriorate the nest egg to the point where one needs to decide whether you maintain your property or your health?

What if you could lock in your expenses to just food and utilities? That nest egg can go as long as you expect it. Locking in your cost is a footpath to cross that chasm and get to the other side to live out your years in peace.

To solve this problem is a simple business equation, increase income, lower expenses, or both.

By changing stewardship from yourself to Four Corner Society, you now have the freedom to stay in your home and enjoy it, knowing that care and upkeep are in competent hands. Plainly stated, Four Corners of Society address anything full maintenance of the property and locks your expenses.