Downsizing on the rise
By Laura Hipshire
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
More and more, “downsizing,” another term for economizing or “scaling back,” is becoming a viable option and sometimes a necessity for many retirees. Jack Quick, who moved to Henry Ford Village from Dearborn, had no trouble downsizing eight years ago.
“It wasn’t difficult for me,” Quick says. “My four daughters were all married; my wife died 15 years ago. I was living alone in a huge house with my puppy Annie. After a couple of years, I got fed up.”
“We don’t have any systematic data on how many people are downsizing,” says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. While some people decide to downsize after the death of a spouse, others consider the economical benefits. “Today, financial factors may be a more powerful motivator,” Munnell says.
Going smaller offers benefits
“Downsizing can offer financial and lifestyle benefits,” says Brent Kessel, a certified financial planner and president of Abacus Wealth Partners, in Pacific Palisades, Calif. “Some people are living in a home that’s just too expensive to maintain. Sometimes it turns out that if they stay in their house and keep spending the same way, they’ll run out of money. So, then, we look at alternative scenarios involving downsizing.”
“It was a big, beautiful house,” Quick says. “But I kept getting more lonesome and tired of it.” Quick, a former General Motors employee, worked overseas and traveled the world. When he finally decided to downsize, he says he immediately honed in on Henry Ford Village.
“This was it. I looked all over the United States for the best place,” Quick says. “This was by far the best one; I didn’t have to look any further.”
Stuff, stuff, and more stuff. . .
A move from such a sprawling home inevitably begged the question—where was all the stuff going to go? “My daughters came and picked out what they wanted,” Quick explains. “Then I picked all the things I wanted, like keepsakes from my travels.”