Talkin’ ‘bout my generation: 5 top tips for finding the perfect baby boomer pad

by Charlotte Ashton United Kingdom

Millions now in their 50s and 60s will be familiar with iconic British band, The Who, and their hit My Generation. Little did they know that the lyrics they were singing as teenagers in bedrooms up and down the land would aptly describe the baby boomer generation and the challenges they face today.

Since 1965, when this record was first released, life expectancy has increased by almost a decade from 71 years to 80 years today and subsequently shifted the structure of British society. Indeed when The Queen ascended the throne 60 years ago, there were a mere 300 centenarians, now there are 13,120 resulting in Her Majesty having sent an astonishing 111,000 telegrams and messages to those who have reached their 100th year to date in her reign.
A growing ageing population and an inversion of the traditional demographic pyramid can no longer be ignored. The latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) predicts that by 2034, 23% of the population will be aged 65 and over compared to just 18% aged under 16.
And as people live longer they will undoubtedly need a support structure to ensure quality of life in those latter years with many looking towards their children for help as the role of care giver is reversed.
If you are in this situation as Jane Slade, Founder of over 50s website Retiremove.co.uk found herself, and are helping your parents plan their future accommodation needs then check out these 5 Top Tips for finding the perfect pad for your baby boomer:
1.     Search for retirement accommodation that is available locally to where your parents are living; most older people don’t want to move far from family and friends.
2.    Check out any single level properties which are walking distance from shops and local transport; you have to think ahead to the day when your parents won’t be able to drive or one of them is left on their own.
3.     Depending on budgets, see if there is a nice retirement village with lots of facilities on site that your parents would enjoy. Specially designed villages are great if you worry about your parents’ safety, are stimulating environments for making new friends and ideal if your parents want somewhere they can lock up and leave because they want to spend more time travelling or staying with family and friends.
4.      If your parents want to move abroad or further away in the UK from where they are living now, make sure there are good medical facilities nearby and an active social environment for them to make friends and groups to join such as the University of the Third Age.
5.     Try to meet some of the people who already live in a retirement community locally so you can see what it is like from a resident’s perspective, and also to see if your parents would fit in.
Indeed, both practical and emotional considerations play a role in how you can help your parents prepare for retirement, but having these measures in place can give parents peace of mind and the comfort of knowing that their children have a plan in place.
Jane further comments,
“From a personal level, from helping my own parents, that there are so many issues and complexities involved as people get older and that it can be a very difficult exercise trying to fathom what to do.
“The process can also be incredibly emotional. When I was researching nursing homes for my father after he had become immobile through Parkinson´s Disease I nearly gave up until I found one that had a library, conservatory and a bar where he could entertain his friends – I literally cried with joy. There are options out there, you just have to look in the right places and ask the right questions.”
Retiremove.co.uk offers a roundup of useful information and anecdotal interviews of retirees that have made the move, to provide inspiration and encouragement for people helping loved ones make their next move.
For more information visit www.retiremove.co.uk or contact Jane Slade on jane.slade@retiremove.co.uk.

Notes to Editors
Retiremove is dedicated to providing articles and information about property and lifestyle issues for the over 50s.
If you are seeking independent advice about downsizing, moving into a retirement village or investing in a property that will generate income for your grandchildren you have come to the right place.
You won’t find the words ‘old age’, ‘elderly’ or ‘infirm’ on our site as we are either children looking to help our parents make the next move; influencers and advisers such as solicitors, accountants or GPs wanting to assist our older clients and patients or simply retirees looking for a new life and adventure.
With a third of the population destined to be over 55 by 2025 retirement property is already a hot topic; so it is important to have up-to-date information sourced by the best journalists in the country at your fingertips to help you make that next exciting move.

Father’s Day Gift Guide: Top 5 gadgets for your out-of-touch Dad who is now dangerously in-touch

by Charlotte Ashton United Kingdom

Once upon a time if you didn’t want your Father to embarrass you with his choice of clothing, his lame Dad jokes, moustache or his social-life-ruining stories about that one time you wet yourself on the monorail at Disneyland, you would just slam the car door and run into school.

 

But now that your Dad’s increasingly connected on social media and has time on his hands since retiring, the game has completely changed. It all started when you bought him an iPod for his birthday a few years ago. You dragged him into the 21st century and the now-constant stream of text messages (signed “Love, Dad”—every single one of them) and the all-caps posts on your Facebook wall are all your own fault.
Father of two, Neil Mackichan, in-house gadget expert and technology editor of leading website for the over 50’s Retiremove.co.uk, recommends his top 5 tried and tested gadgets for the retired Dad this Father’s Day:
1.Eye-Fi Wireless memory card from £22.00 http://www.eye.fi/ 
Now that your Dad has full access to your online life with embarrassing photos at his fingertips why not check out the Eye-Fi Card. In an effort to get him to focus on posting new photos rather than awful old ones of you sitting in a flower pot as a child, this card has Wi-Fi capabilities allowing him to take a photo of his new ride-on lawnmower and upload it wirelessly and automatically from digital cameras and smartphones to online, in-home and retail destinations. That’s the type of parental sharing you can get behind.
2.Olloclip from £64.95 http://olloclip.com/
For the streamlined Dads out there without a man bag and only his pockets for his belongings, why not check out these clip-on iPhone camera lenses with Olloclip.
A new and innovative 3-in-1 photo lens which includes Fisheye, Wide-Angle and Macro lenses, simply slip on the specially designed adapter over your iPhone 4, 4S, 5 or iPod touch.  All three lenses are small enough to fit in your pocket –and lighter than a car key.
3.Netatmo  from £139.00 http://shop.netatmo.com/gbp_en
If your Dad sees himself as the next Michael Fish, make sure he’s accurate with a Netatmo, the Personal Weather Station with Air Quality sensors, for iPhone & Android.  With this Wi-Fi connected device, geography loving Dad’s across the globe will also be able to measure CO2 and noise levels as well as indoor and outdoor temperature/humidity.
4.HomeMonitor  from £149.99 https://hm-secure.y-cam.com/
This gadget allows the Dad that wants to have eyes in the back of his head, to watch what’s going on in the house – even when he is not there! Watch live or see recorded events from a strategically placed video camera to an internet-enabled computer or smartphone, keeping you in touch with goings on in the home. The downloadable free mobile app will help you keep tabs on what your camera is viewing even when you aren’t at home or at a desktop computer. Mobile alerts and email will keep you in touch with any abnormal motion in front of your custom-designated alert zones, great news for Dad’s peace of mind in his latter years.
5.Remote Heating Control TM from £199 (including professional installation by a British Gas engineer) http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/remote-heating-control.html
For the eco savvy Dad that is in constant battle with his children to get out of their underpants, put on a jumper and turn the central heating down, this Remote Heating Control system gives you the upper hand, helping you to save money on your energy bills. The system can be accessed anytime and from anywhere via your smartphone, tablet device, computer and via text message. The organised Dad can use Remote Heating Control to turn the heating on and off, set heating schedules and adjust the temperature on the move.
For more information on these products and reviews of the latest top gadgets for the over 50s visit http://www.retiremove.co.uk/lifestyle/technology/ today.

Four Minutes with Jane Slade, the founder of www.retiremove.co.uk home and lifestyle website for the over 50s

by Charlotte Ashton United Kingdom

What was the vision behind the website?
My vision was to create a website to help cut a swathe through some of the psychological problems older people face, such as loneliness, disability and finding love in later life. But also for people who want to grow old disgracefully and to discover that ageing is not all downhill; the Mick Jagger generation is now 70 plus and there are all those baby boomers who want a different retirement from their parents.

What makes retiremove.co.uk, different to other retirement sites?
 The website is updated daily so users are the first to know about new property launches, exclusive deals and analysis from industry experts. We employ top-flight journalists and experts to provide up-to-the-minute information, exclusive tips and lots more photographic imagery than newspapers and magazines can provide. As well as property issues a wide spectrum of lifestyle issues are also featured including finance, gardening, health, travel and technology – not to mention a What´s On page of upcoming events and free ticket offers.
What is your personal favourite section of the website?
I love the celebrity interviews as it is great to find out what our much loved famous faces are planning for later on in life and inspirational stories, giving us the get up and go to follow in their footsteps! My husband however, is obsessed with the technology side of the website and enjoys both writing reviews and trying out the latest gadgets for the silver surfer generation.
What do you think makes the ideal retirement property/location? 
It really depends on what you want from your retirement. This is the beauty of Retiremove.co.uk; we explore a number of different options such as retirement villages across the UK to Italian fractional ownership and golf resorts in the Caribbean – also offering inspirational stories from retirees themselves from all walks of life that have made the move!
For more information visit www.retiremove.co.uk or contact Jane Slade on jane.slade@retiremove.co.uk .
Notes to the Editor
Jane Slade is the founder and editor of Retiremove.co.uk; a property and lifestyle website for the over 50s. Before that she was for eight years the property editor of the Sunday Express. She began her career as a trainee journalist on the Bexhill Observer; the birthplace of British Motor racing and home to the largest community of retirees in Europe!
She has worked as a gossip columnist on The Daily Express, the Sunday Telegraph’s Mandrake Column and for Adam Helliker’s column on the Mail on Sunday. She wrote a media column for The Times in the 1980s and is a former showbiz writer for the Daily Mirror.
Her career has taken her all over the world; she covered the handover of Hong Kong back in 1997 for the Express; was one of the last people to interview Rudolf Nureyev after a performance in Sweden in 1992 (he died in 1993) and has stayed in an igloo on the Arctic circle. She also worked as a news reporter for television programme Thames News and appeared as a guest on numerous radio shows.
She is also the former editor of Whisky Magazine, the NADFAS Review (the membership magazine for the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies) and the magazine for the Ski Club of Great Britain.

New online property magazine for the over 50s, Retiremove.co.uk launches

by Charlotte Ashton United Kingdom

A new free-to-use property and lifestyle website called Retiremove.co.uk has been launched for the over 50s.

Jane Slade, the former property editor of the Sunday Express, founded the site as a result of struggling to find up-to-date information and well-researched advice for her mother when she was seeking to downsize from her home on the south coast last year.
Jane also found that many of her time-poor friends were in the same position with older parents looking for quality accommodation that would see them through the third stage of their lives; but having nowhere to go to for impartial advice.
It is for them and her own parents that she established www.retiremove.co.uk as a free-to-access helpful haven offering information and case-study based articles on all aspects of retirement living including retirement villages, second homes, moving overseas, choosing a care home and investment property.
Retiremove is also for influencers like doctors, lawyers and religious preachers who want to offer well-informed advice to their clients, patients and parishioners.
“As we are an aging population it is more important than ever that we are well-informed about our options when it comes to how and where we want to live when we retire,” says Retiremove editor Jane Slade.
“Retiremove can be a huge benefit to people as it provides so much useful information in one place accessed by the click of a mouse; and while the special subject is property it covers many other related subjects too.
“I know from helping my own parents that there are so many issues and complexities involved as people get older and that it can be a very depressing exercise trying to fathom what to do. The process can also be incredibly emotional. When I was researching nursing homes for my father after he had become immobile through Parkinson’s Disease I nearly gave up until I found one that had a library, conservatory and a bar where he could entertain his friends – I literally cried with joy.”
Retiremove.co.uk helps to cut a swathe through some of the psychological problems older people face too such as loneliness, disability and finding love in later life. But it is also for people who want to grow old disgracefully and to discover that ageing is not all downhill;  the Mick Jagger generation is now 70 plus and there are all those baby boomers who want a different retirement from their parents. And with more and more silver surfers discovering the joys of the Internet an easy-to-navigate website means it is accessible to everyone 24 hours a day.
Retiremove is updated daily so users are the first to know about new property launches, exclusive deals and analysis from industry experts. Retiremove employs top-flight journalists and experts to provide up-to-the-minute information, exclusive tips and lots more photographic imagery than newspapers and magazines can provide. As well as property issues a wide spectrum of lifestyle issues are also featured including finance, gardening, travel and technology – not to mention a What’s On page of upcoming events and free ticket offers.
For more information about the site or to arrange an interview with the Editor contact Jane Slade on jane.slade@retiremove.co.uk.