It seems like just yesterday that I was graduating from university with a bright future ahead of me, standing at the alter about to marry my wife Francis, welcoming my second child into the world, buying our first home and managing our first mortgage…

Time moves so quickly. For me, the exhilaration of youthful independence was followed by the responsibilities of family and career, moving home and ultimately, moving province. And as time passed, so my lifestyle changed to suit my circumstances.

When we’re young, we seem to make these shifts from one life stage to the next with relative ease. However, transition becomes more difficult as we age, we start to lose things – our working life and identity, our health and vitality, and ultimately, close friends and family members. In the beginning, life is about accumulation. As the years pass, it becomes about decumulation. This is the rhythm of life.

Life maintains this same rhythm in retirement and we need to keep adapting our lifestyle to our life stage. This applies to everything, just as it used to when we were young – our finances, our health, our activities, our relationships, and our retirement location.

Matching lifestyle to life stage is key in retirement planning. Unfortunately, one of the mistakes that seniors make when choosing retirement accommodation in particular, is scaling down to an inflexible solution that fails to meet their needs as they grow older and their assets diminish. For example, opting for a residential or retirement estate that does not offer the necessary support, could mean that they are forced to relocate when healthcare becomes necessary. This often happens at a time in life when a physical move is difficult and traumatic.

At Evergreen Lifestyle, we’ve coined the phrase ‘matching lifestyle to life stage’ and  all our retirement villages are designed with this principle in mind. It enables our residents to choose a lock up and go lifestyle in a beautiful home for as long as it suits them and then move into an apartment if the burden of a house and garden becomes too much. They also have access to home-based care, with the option to move into our world class Care Centres at the same location, when required. And because we use the Life Right occupation model, these moves can be made seamlessly without our residents having to sell their homes or invest additional capital.

If you’re interested in exploring our flexible retirement living options and finding out more about our Partnership for Life promise, please call Sharon on 087 808 7000 or email us at info@evergreenlifestyle.co.za.