RETIREMENT VILLAGES are becoming more popular these days with the amount of baby boomers retiring. It is critical to distinguish involving a few terms applied to this model.

Wikipedia describes a retirement habitat as a multi-residence housing facility that is planned for older people. The customary pattern scenario is that person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. And supplementary facilities are provided within the building. Often times this includes facilities for meals, gathering, amusement, and some type of health or hospice care. The level of care these facilities varies enormously. Accommodation in retirement homes can be paid for on a rental basis, comparable to an apartment, or can be paid for in perpetuity on the same basis in the same way as a condominium.

Really, a retirement habitat differs from a nursing home first and foremost in the extent of medical care provided. On the other hand, retirement villages and retirement communities, unlike retirement homes, offer separate and independent homes for residents and more.

A retirement community or retirement villages, is an incredibly broad, generic term that covers many varieties of housing for retirees and seniors. They are especially designed or geared for people who no longer work,or restricted to those over a certain age. A retirement Village differs from a retirement home which is often a single building or small complex where no "common areas" for socializing is present.

Countless retirement villages are planned for that purpose, and have special amenities catering to the desires and desires of retirees, including wide-ranging services like clubhouses, swimming pools, arts and crafts, boating, trails, golf courses, active adult retail and on-site medical conveniences.

Other facilities have no or dreadfully few common services. An Age-restricted community normally requires at least one household occupier to be 55 plus years of age or older (occasionally 50+ or 60+ years of age).


There are if truth be told three general categories of retirement communities

1. ACTIVE communities (the entire residential units, no long-term healthcare facilities - also known as "independent living communities"

2. ACTIVE/SUPPORTIVE communities (a blend of residential and healthcare facilities - also recognized as "continuing care retirement communities" - CCRC)

3. SUPPORTIVE communities (all long term healthcare units, like assisted living facilities or nursing homes)

Because more and more healthier and younger people are retiring currently the chief focus I believe is on the active communities or independent living.

Retirement Villages are frequently built in temperate climates, and are common in loads of countries.

A number of publishers have produced lists of the 100 best retirement communities or 100 best places (or towns) to retire. Nevertheless, these lists are not complete and repeatedly obsolete. Moreover, most of these lists are focused on exact Retirement Villages in their prospective countries. Moreover, allot of these retirement villages are geared towards high income earners (the elderly and the rich).

The majority of countries are experiencing the same phenomena with the elderly at the present time. Take for instance, New Zealand with approximately half a million people over the age of 65 in a 2001 census. I would picture today in 2010 there are like over a million people in excess of the age of 65. Insert this number to worldwide consensus and you have an enormous sum of people in this age category. This is principally due to the baby boomer period and healthy lifestyles.

The increase in retirement villages as an accommodation
Lifestyle and care option is unquestionably a reaction to this shifting demographic profile. The village component is unmistakably a pursuit for an alternative to old age homes of the past.
Community and affordable accommodation within fundamentals of security rank well amongst people's aspirations.

For example in the United Kingdom retirement villages are becoming more and more prevalent. According to a recent BBC account (Aug 2009) there are more or less 25,000 people across the UK at the moment living inside a retirement village model

Nurses, caregivers and visiting doctors are an primary ingredient of various village operations, while community centers, bowling greens, a swimming pool and billiard tables are a common recreational feature.

I have done some extensive travel looking for a satisfactory location for me to retire. My main concern was regarding expenses because I have a small pension to live on. Initially, I was interersted in the region in the vicinity of Lake Chapala situated 45 km southeast of Guadalajara, Mexico. Perfect weather and great culture nevertheless because of the flood of foreigners the cost to live there is approximately the equivalent as it is my own country. I passed on this option.

I also thought of Arizona and Florida as I was a snow bird for a some years. I passed on this option because of the cost issue also.

In the end, I decided on Colombia. I traveled to Colombia to try my retirement there. I went to Bogotá, Medellin and Cali. I found that my pension went a long way there. I loved the country and its people, nevertheless I had difficulty learning Spanish and this made it awkward to get on with my every day errands.

Subsequently one day I was talking to man who talked about the Philippines. He mentioned the low cost of living in the Philippines and the fact that most Philippinos spoke English. He went on to say that the English language was on all signs, menus and legal documents. In Colombia I had a difficult time just opening up my cable account.

Afterwards, soon after meeting this man I made up my mind, sold all my possessions and trotted off to the Philippines. At the end of the day, I found my home where life is laid-back and inexpensive.

Here is a sample budget of my cost of living in the Philippines:


Housing (rental of a luxury three-bedroom apartment): $250 monthly
Utilities (including, phone, Internet, and cable television): $100 montly
Maid (twice a week): $10
Cook (twice a week): $10
Groceries: $150
Water $12 a month
I rent a new Yamaha scooter for $125 a month. Gas is around $20 a month.
A beer is around 60 cents in the store and $1 in the bar.
1 kilo Italian style tomatoes in the market 12 cents
1 kilo fresh water fish in the market $140 1 kilo
Clothing: $20 a month. No need to wear shoes or slacks here.
Most of us wear shorts and sandals.

Entertainment (two people dining out eight times a month at top restaurants or other activity): $200. I take my girlfriend out to a place she likes and it costs me $4 for the two of us. I take her to an upscale restaurant and she doesn't like it. My costs for dinning out is around $30 total.

Health care (four $30 visits to a doctor per year for two people, divided by 12 months): $20

Will Irwin, author who is presently writing his next book 'The Coming Real Estate Boom in the Philippines' says one of the most reasonable places to retire is the Philippines.

Irwin goes further stating that there are a few 'secret' locations in the Philippines which are on the rise with new retirement villages for expats.

According to Mr. Irwin one of the best places to retire overseas has to be the Philippines since it is developing fast at this moment. For this reason opportunities are plentiful for expats, particularly in Samar and Tablas (Romblon). This is the one of the best places to retire overseas because of the low cost of living while the environment are as beautiful as Boracay which has 1 million visitors per year.



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