Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The idea of switching from home ownership to a rental can carry a lot of stigma for retirees. Adam Chapman, a certified financial planner in London, Ont., said people who are retiring today likely generated an enormous portion of their wealth through home ownership. That can create a mental block when he advises his clients on how to approach downsizing. “This idea of not being engaged in something that has created a lot of wealth makes them nervous about the future, and that they’ll run out of money because they don’t own a house,” Mr. Chapman said………Continue reading…
By: Salmaan Farooqui
Source: The Globe and Mail
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Critics:
There are multiple reasons why a buyer may want to downsize, such as having less inhabitants in the home, a higher cost in bills or wanting a change of location. An analysis of Finnish households found that downsizing was more appealing to lower income, single-person households.Downsizers valued the presence of services that would enable aging in place.
A survey of older Australian families that chose to downsize identified four primary factors contributing to the choice to downsize: a desire for a change in lifestyle, an inability to maintain the home, children moving out of the household, and retirement. Many people downsizing from a larger property to a smaller one will find their current possessions, appliances and furnishings will be unable to fit in the new smaller home.
Some people will find it especially difficult to accept the need to dispose of possessions, and this will cause some considerable anxiety. Following a disposal methodology can be a useful approach if the task seems impossible: One approach is to determine what furniture, displayed items and commonly used items are suitable for and will fit in the new home: remaining belongings will need to be sorted into what is to be kept and what is to be disposed of.
The long-term effect of downshifting can include an escape from what has been described as economic materialism, as well as reduce the “stress and psychological expense that may accompany economic materialism”. This social trend emphasizes finding an improved balance between leisure and work, while also focusing life goals on personal fulfillment, as well as building personal relationships instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success.
Downshifting differs from simple living in its focus on moderate change and concentration on an individual comfort level and a gradual approach to living.[1] In the 1990s, this form of simple living began appearing in the mainstream media, and has continually grown in popularity among populations living in industrial societies, especially the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, as well as Russia.
“Down-shifters” refers to people who adopt long-term voluntary simplicity in their lives. A few of the main practices of down-shifters include accepting less money for fewer hours worked, while placing an emphasis on consuming less in order to reduce their ecological footprint. One of the main results of these practices is being able to enjoy more leisure time in the company of others, especially loved ones.
The primary motivations for downshifting are gaining leisure time, escaping from work-and-spend cycle, and removing the clutter of unnecessary possessions. The goal might be to achieve a holistic self-understanding and satisfying meaning in life. Because of its personalized nature and emphasis on many minor changes, rather than complete lifestyle overhaul, downshifting attracts participants from across the socioeconomic spectrum.
An intrinsic consequence of downshifting is increased time for non-work-related activities, which, combined with the diverse demographics of downshifters, cultivates higher levels of civic engagement and social interaction. The scope of participation is limitless, because all members of society—adults, children, businesses, institutions, organizations, and governments—are able to downshift even if many demographic strata do not start “high” enough to “down”-shift.
In practice, down-shifting involves a variety of behavioral and lifestyle changes. The majority of these down-shifts are voluntary choices. Natural life course events, such as the loss of a job, or birth of a child can prompt involuntary down-shifting. There is also a temporal dimension, because a down-shift could be either temporary or permanent.
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