Finding and Choosing a Retirement Community

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Retirement Communities

Preparing for retirement requires plenty of decisions, including how to spend your newfound free time, whether to live in a retirement community and how to make your finances last as long as possible. With the help of this Web guide, you can find a great place to retire in style and reward yourself for your years of hard work.

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Types of Retirement Communities

Retirement communities are generally grouped by interest and activity level, while others are age ... read more »

Finding and Choosing a Place to Retire

Finding a place to retire that caters to your interests and future goals is a big decision, and not ... read more »

Finding and Choosing a Retirement Community

Choosing a retirement community requires careful consideration of many factors, including your personal interests and hobbies, your health needs, your financial situation and your feelings about a facility once you've seen it in person. The following Web sites can help you find a retirement facility online, evaluate some of these factors and ultimately help you decide whether you'd like to visit in person.

Dulcinea's Insight

For a hardcopy publication about selecting a retirement community, see “Worry-Free Retirement Living: Choosing a Full-Service Retirement Community.”

Message boards like those available at 50Plus.com can connect you to other seniors discussing retirement. If you chat online, remember that nearly anyone can post on a message board or other forum. Take any claims you read with a grain of salt and make sure to check them against a reputable source of information.

Dulcinea's Picks

To search for retirement communities …

Retirement Net places retirement communities into a more detailed list of categories than you're likely to find elsewhere. Search for active adult retirement communities, golf communities, RV communities, rental communities and many more. Choose the type of community and then the state in which you wish to search.

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SeniorOutlook.com lists independent living, continuing care and a variety of other adult living and care options. Search by city/state, distance from a particular location or facility name.

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55-Alive explores retirement facilities that cater to active adults. Search by categories such as state, type of community that you desire, the type of home you wish to live in or price of an average home. Glance at the "Community Index" page for additional profiles of featured communities.

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To check a facility's accreditation …

CARF (Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities) accredits retirement communities that meet its standards of quality. Search for CARF-accredited programs and continuing care retirement communities using the links provided.

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For tips on choosing a facility …

MSN Money offers an article on the "11 keys to choosing the right retirement community." Find helpful advice that offers some issues to consider and questions to ask as you review your options.

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The Seniors Resource Guide has a helpful checklist of questions you should ask and features you should look for when visiting a retirement community. This PDF form is printable and may be useful to take with you during your visits.

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