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Word of the Day: Downsize
Downsizing has become a trend over the past 15-20 years.
It used to be that a couple got married, purchased a house, raised their family and then lived out their retirement in the same home.
Now, the family home is seen as an investment for the future.
The house you raise your family in becomes your retirement nest egg the day you become empty nesters.
I think it makes perfect sense to do things this way.
When the kids are gone, the house is empty and far too big for two people.
Often people purchased their family home in a suburb somewhere.
When they downsize, they either move into a smaller stand-alone house or a much smaller condominium in the city.
There has been a significant revitalization of cities during the 2000s.
It’s often more convenient to live in a city, and with minimalism’s increased popularity, moving to smaller homes in the city makes perfect sense.
Another perceived benefit of downsizing for empty nesters is that smaller homes require less maintenance.
This frees up both time and money, which can be used for other pursuits such as travel or enjoying the finer things in life.
Also, by downsizing, parents solve the boomerang kid problem.
Especially after the financial crisis in 2008, many young adults returned to live in their parent’s homes after losing their jobs.
Of course, parents took their kids back.
I mean, what are you going to do, right?
Many did it very reluctantly, though.
By downsizing, kids have no place to return to.
Someone else has their bedroom now, and condos don’t have basements.
The whole situation turns out to be a win-win-win for the parents.
So, are you planning to downsize once the kids have flown the coop?
You have to give it some careful thought.
If you do, you may be liberalizing yourself in more ways than one.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 70.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.