The landscape of senior living is evolving rapidly. With an aging population and advances in technology, the way we think about aging and senior care is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses these latest trends with Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
This morning on BRN, seven trends that will define senior living in 2025. Joining me now is Dr. Michelle Halloran of D’Armant Consulting. Dr. Halloran, great to see you. Thanks for joining us in the program this morning. Thank you for having me, Jeff. Yeah, it’s a pleasure talking with you and we’re going to talk about senior living and some major trends.
But let me take a step back and ask you just some basic questions. What is senior living and how has it evolved over the past several decades?
Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Well, you know, senior living is a broad range of offerings. Senior living could be nursing homes. Senior living is aging in place through various kind of naturally occurring retirement communities that are in people’s backyard and neighborhood.
And somewhere in the middle is the group that I work with most extensively, which are called life plan communities. These are communities that have campuses that serve adults, 55 plus. And their focus is to try to create community on these campuses and to allow folks to age in place, meaning that if they need higher levels of care later on in life, that’s available to them all on the same campus.
And so these life plan communities, Jeff, used to be called continuing care retirement communities. And often you’ll hear those terms, you know, synonymously.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And Dr. Michelle, has there been an evolution? Because you know, I think my grandparents who are now deceased, they kind of towards the end of their lives, they went into a care facility. It sounds like where you work and where we are headed is in these planned campuses.
And people, I think the profession has recognized that we need to alleviate isolation, foster community. I mean, it really sounds like it’s evolved.
Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Well, it has, although continuing care retirement communities aren’t new. They’re over 30 years old. And this movement started actually in Pennsylvania, where I’m from.
And so I kind of grew up with this field. And I feel like the continuing care retirement communities or life plan communities, as they’re known now, have evolved in terms of being much more person directed. It used to be back in the day that, you know, the administrator would decide, along with the leadership team, you know, kind of what offerings, what activities, what the campus would look like.
And now it’s much more democratic in terms of involving residents. And these residents are even serving on the boards of these organizations, and are much more involved in directing what campus life looks like. So in that respect, they have very much evolved.
But the concept isn’t all that new.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
One of the trends you talked about in your piece was solo aging. I’m assuming you didn’t mean Han Solo from Star Wars. I had to be a little corny.
I’m sorry. It’s the morning. But what is a solo ager, and why is this a trend we need to be prepared for?
Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Well, you know, more and more folks don’t have any children or spouses as they age. And so their needs become much more important to look at if you are a retirement organization. They need help with financial planning, many of them, you know, whether you like it or not, a lot of older women have not been involved in the financial picture before their husbands have passed away.
And of course, women live longer than men typically. And so this whole notion of financial planning and budgeting is something that they may not be as familiar with as they need to be. And there’s all kinds of things, you know, if you want to stay in your home, as an example, a solo ager has to prepare their home to make sure that they don’t fall, to make sure that, you know, as maybe they cognitively have challenges, that there are support systems in place.
Some people, you know, lose their eyesight and can’t drive anymore. So solo agers are folks who don’t have those kinds of support systems built in either through their children, their spouse, or a family that lives close by. And so they’re out there by their own, hence the name solo.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. And, you know, I think we completely agree of the fact that women may be underprepared for their financial futures. And I know that there are organizations that are certainly working to improve upon that.
Michelle, another trend you reference is longevity and well-being. Why is this an important trend? I mean, we all want to live, I don’t want to live forever, but I want to live better and longer and better.
Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Right. Well, longevity typically, as at least the way that it’s thought of today, it’s not just about length of life. It’s also, as you mentioned, quality of life.
And as people are having longer lives, and that’s just the way it is, and it’s going to continue, they want to figure out how to be more independent, how to be more proactive in managing their health, how to be more savvy in terms of the resources that are available to them. Many people want to continue their careers. There’s a big movement now to have employers look at folks who are in their 60s and 70s as prospective employees.
So this whole longevity idea is really encompassing a number of those types of things. And it’s important because we don’t want to just, you know, wither away as older adults. We want to make sure that our lives are vibrant.
We want to make sure that we’re not isolated. And so it’s important for us to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves. And so the longevity movement is really about predicting illness so that we can manage it.
Scientific wellness is all the rage now. And there are lots of organizations like the Buck Institute that are focused on helping people live longer, better lives and doing the research around that.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, it’s really, to your point, it’s really defining. As I told you, I come from the retirement industry. I think retirement, the definition of retirement, what it was, you know, sitting on a rocket chair, it’s completely blown away.
And I think I actually think that’s a good thing. The last one I want to cover with you, Michelle, I thought this was so interesting, intergenerational living. And look, when you look back at America, I don’t know, at the beginning of the 20th century, families lived together.
You had your grandparents, you had your parents, you had your, you know, maybe your aunts and uncles. How is that a, why is that an important trend? Are we kind of reverting back to that potentially?
Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Well, it’s been long known that when the generations have a chance to interact with one another in a positive environment, they can teach each other a lot. You know, certainly elders have a lot to teach younger folks and younger folks have things to teach older. So this intergenerational movement is really born out of that more than anything else.
And the fact that we have such a distance from our families. So we have to kind of put surrogate families in place. So a lot of organizations are doing intergenerational programming, whether that mean they have childcare on campuses that serve elders, or they have adopt-a-grandparent programs, or they create spaces so that people can come together of different generations.
And that that rich interaction is something that benefits everyone.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
I mean, Michelle, it’s just, it’s a tremendous, the trends are very important. It’s a tremendous amount of information. Just last question, what do we need to do as a country?
It’s kind of a, I know, you know, we’ve got a short amount of time, but are we prepared for all the things we’re talking about this morning? What can we do to better prepare ourselves for longevity, well-being, all the things we talked about this morning?
Michele Holleran, PhD, DeArment Consulting
Well, we can all live seven years longer if we embrace our aging. Becca Levy from Yale discovered this, and a lot of people dread it. You know, I’m going to be 70 soon, and I am very excited about aging.
And yet, I see so many younger people who dread it and feel like, you know, once they hit 50, it’s all downhill from there. Well, I think it’s about having a healthy attitude, and I think if each of us can embrace our own aging, that contributes to the decrease in ageism, which is so rampant in our society. So I think it starts with our attitude first, and certainly there are a lot of other things that need to be fixed.
You know, we have to deal with how we’re going to finance things in the future. We have to deal with declining health, and the fact that we really don’t have enough caregivers for all the people who are going to need care in the future. So I don’t want to minimalize any of that, but I also think that as an individual, if you can look at your own age process in a positive way, as opposed to dreading it, that that’s a good start.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, really, really well said, Michelle. Michelle, thank you so much for joining us. Great work, as always.
Continue it, and we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon. It was a pleasure, Jeff. And don’t forget to subscribe to our daily newsletter, The Morning Pulse, for all the news in one place.
Details, of course, at our website. And we’re back again tomorrow for another edition of BRN. Until then, I’m Jeff Snyder.
Stay safe, keep on saving, and don’t forget, roll with the changes.
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