Residents and Industry Watchers Point to Key Indicators of Financial Health for CCRCs

The New York Times has a good overview on 7 Ways to Judge a Retirement Community’s Financial Health, by Peter Finch, published on March 9, 2018.  Many of the tips come from savvy residents at Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs, also called LifePlan Communities) around the country, as well as from actuaries and industry experts.

As consumers grow more aware of risk at all levels of financial markets, senior living providers are facing good questions about how upfront entrance payments and monthly fees are used.  Other topics include appropriate occupancy levels, the history of rate increases, debt ratings that can affect cost of operations and loans, capital improvements, reserves and the right of residents to be engaged on governance issues.  

From the article: 

Retirement community managers will not be shocked by these sorts of questions, promised Stephen Maag, director of residential communities at LeadingAge, an association of aging-service providers. “As we get the people born in the late ’30s and the baby boomers, they’re much more thorough in their research” than their parents and grandparents were, he said.

My thanks to my colleague Laurel Terry, for sending me this article. I especially enjoyed seeing two friends highlighted in the article, Jack and Valerie Cumming, residents of a CCRC in Carlsbad, California.  When I visited with them a few years ago, I was happily amused to realize their lovely CCRC was once the hotel where my own parents spent their honeymoon.  How about that for a sign of the times – –  honeymoon spots that become retirement villages!