Retirement can be a daunting time for many, and with it, comes many challenges. Our recent webinar focused on the challenges of retirement and how we, as developers, are working to overcome these by removing the negative stigma attached to this phase of life to offer the best retirement lifestyle in KZN. Having such a diverse panel of experts give their insight is really crucial in helping people to embrace their future, and we want to share some of these with you.
Brigitte Richardson, Registered Psychological Counsellor
“When someone makes their own decision regarding their retirement is when we begin to remove the fear surrounding this phase of life. A positive mindset comes from taking an active role in the decision-making and carefully considering what you want – is it privacy and peace? Is it to keep active? Perhaps you’d like to continue with your hobbies and passion projects? MERV allows people to create the lifestyle they want. Long-term research has shown that, across the world, later adulthood and the retirement years are the happiest time of your life. The earlier you can start planning for what your retirement life will look like, the less fear there will be when it comes time to making the transition. Despite people wating to retain their independence, there is still a need to connect. Grandparents want to be involved in their grandkids’ lives, and many still are. Research shows that the closer your friends and family are from a geographical perspective, the better it is for your wellbeing.”
Geoff Perkins, Director of Residential Projects, Collins Residential
“When we got involved with the Mount Edgecombe Care Centre, it was all new to us, but we wanted to ensure that we did it well and that people could ‘live the dream’ and have fun here. Having a care centre in a retirement village is crucial, and we have invested R115 million into the Mount Edgecombe Care Centre to ensure it is the best there is. We had to make sure that we found the best care operator in the country, hence we brought TotalCare on board. Our vision was always to create an estate where we bring many elements together – we wanted it to be multi-generational and we wanted it to have access to the Mount Edgecombe Country Club facilities. As developers, we are here until the end- currently we have 70 homes built, with more coming on stream; we are developing our own community centre which will have a pool. The nuts and bolts of MERV are in but as you can see there are more facilities to come.”
Cornel Nieuwenhuizen, Director, TotalCare
“The sooner you start planning your retirement the better. Nowadays even 70 is still considered quite young, but it all depends on where you are at in life -adaptation becomes much more challenging and traumatic as you get older. I would say around 60 is a good time to start transitioning into a more retirement-focused environment that can cater for all stages of retirement.
You’re planning for what is effectively, your last move in life and here you will be in the right setting with the right kind of support when you need it. We have a village nurse service who checks on each and every resident every day to ensure that if there is a problem, we know about it before it becomes serious.
I think by having a welcoming and accessible café at the care centre dispels the myth that frail care facilities are dark and dreary – come to our care centre and you’ll see how wonderful it is. Also, what more do you want than being able to walk from your home in Kindlewood, up to the care centre to see granny? That’s what really counts. “
David Cameron, Head of Sales, Mount Edgecombe Retirement Village
The MERV community is what really adds that special something – I know every resident and they know they are able to chat to me at any time about anything. The care centre café is really special – it’s the place that brings our community together – this is where you’ll see people from both the care centre and the village interacting, socialising and sharing. MERV is built on a couple of key principles – active retirement, modern home design and space planning, co-housing and multi-generational living and socialisation and interaction. These are the principles which have guided us, and which have created the amazing community we have here.
MERV has several tiers in its offering: you can live independently in your own home in the village, you can have home-based care, you can rent a home in the village or you can pay a monthly fee to live in the care centre. The important thing we want people to know is, these options are available to absolutely anyone at any time. We want to help people and make this transition as smooth as possible, and so we work closely with interested buyers and the banks to come up with the best solution to help people move into this space.”
Seelan Naidoo, Kindlewood Estate Resident and Board Member
“I feel that the sense of connection is what’s missing from society right now but living in a common estate can help to bridge this gap.
Mindsets are changing, the older and the younger generations want their independence and their own space, but they also want to remain connected. Being part of Kindlewood makes MERV ideal – the younger family can live independently while mom and dad can still be nearby but in their own home. Older people need to be near their kids and grandkids -this is important for them.”