The Golden Years – Relocation

One of the major issues that about-to-retire or recently-retired persons face is the issue of relocation. At retirement, some people opt to remain where they have worked or conducted their businesses for a significant part of their lives. Other persons might opt to relocate to another city or town for one reason or another. The decision to remain or relocate is a very important one and there are several factors that should be considered. Some of these include:

Desired lifestyle in retirement: The first factor to consider is the lifestyle you want to have after your retirement. For some people, they plan to remain reasonably active for more years of their lives. Exactly what they will do will shape the choice of where they can be. If, for instance, they have been in clearing and logistics from Lagos ports and want to continue the same business in some modified form, then they may need to remain in the Lagos area for the few more years they want to continue. If, on the other hand, they want to take things a little easier, probably spend more time connecting with people in their home communities and providing some voluntary service, then they may need a relocation to Gombe to be with close and extended family members and childhood friends.

Property ownership: For us Africans, our preferred choice is always to own our property as it is considered an asset which forms part of our wealth rather than renting even if the latter is technically a more cost-effective choice. Owned property is also seen as giving a ‘peace of mind’ that renting property doesn’t give us. As long we accept this, then it is important we choose to live in retirement where we own a property. If we opt to relocate where we don’t own a property, then it might make sense to sell our property where we currently are and buy or build another where we wish to move to. The only issue with owned property, quite often, is that we bought or built it when our families were ‘large’ and perhaps still growing. But with most of the children out of the nest by the time we retire, the homes get larger than our needs with a corresponding increase in avoidable maintenance costs. If we can trade our larger homes for smaller, more manageable ones that meet our retirement and location requirements, this can be wise.

Cost of living: The decision to remain or relocate elsewhere should also factor in the comparative costs of living between the options being considered. An average of 20% lower costs of what we buy on a day-to-day basis in Kano than in Abuja can add up to substantial amounts over a period of thirty years, especially when you further factor in inflation. Hence, it is important to take into consideration living costs in deciding whether to remain where you already may be or relocate elsewhere. It is equally important to make this decision early enough so that you are not forced to relocate much later when you suddenly realise and accept that where you opted to remain is too expensive for what you can afford. By then much financial losses would have already been suffered.

Availability of required medical services: The availability of required medical services should be taken into consideration when making the decision as to where you opt to live in retirement. Obviously, those with underlying health conditions presently have a more pressing need to take this seriously. But even those in a reasonably good state of health should take this factor into consideration because as we age medical issues can arise even when we least expect them. However, particularly for those without difficult health issues at the moment, it is also possible to consider a location to live in retirement on the basis of reasonable proximity to medical services rather than absolute nearness.

The children: Sometimes, a retiree might still have school-aged children attending either a day or boarding school. The decision to remain or relocate can only be made wisely by thinking around several issues such as; Does the family need to relocate at all or not? Do the children need ongoing supervision (for day/junior students) or less (for boarding/senior students)? Can the family remain where it is now for a session or a few more to look after the children before relocating or can the children be relocated also without disrupting or hurting their education? The answers to these and maybe more personal questions would help in making a wise decision one way or the other.

Relationship with others: Recall that we mentioned competence, relatedness and autonomy as factors that we need to consider in choosing retirement activities. I think they are also a good guide in choosing where we want to live. Hence, we can easily see that our need to be close to those people who are important to us can influence our choice of where we live. Our religious beliefs, in addition to our Africanness, make us particularly attached to our parents, uncles, aunties, cousins, etc. Beyond that circle, we also tend to be close to our childhood friends. These are factors we may need to also consider when deciding where we wish to live in retirement.

Security: Of recent, an important factor that has sprouted up as being crucial in deciding where a retiree should live is security. This is not even about deciding whether to live in town A rather than B, but also about deciding what area of town A a retiree should live in rather than another. Security of our honour, property, lives, and the opportunity to continue to pursue our legitimate activities should be taken seriously into consideration in making the ultimate decision of where to live in retirement.