An elderly couple sold their home without a plan. Now they’re spending retirement bouncing between Airbnbs

But with no real plans for long-term housing, they’ve now been living out of Airbnbs — bouncing around 15 different short-term rentals in different cities, even having to stay in one while Scaringi’s father recovered from open-heart surgery.

She said the situation has left her feeling “like their therapist, estate planner, realtor and case manager all in one.”

Scaringi notes that her parents’ situation is less about disorganization and more the result of avoidance and “a desire to sidestep the discomfort of planning for one’s golden years.”

Don’t be vague about your plan to downsize

Such avoidance is understandable. Retirement planning can be complicated and involves difficult discussions around illness and death. But failing to plan ahead can leave you and your loved ones in a messy, stressful situation.

Deciding where you want to live in retirement is an important step. If, like Scaringi’s parents, you want to downsize, decide when you’d like to make your move and research exactly where you want to relocate to.

Look at home prices in areas you think you’d like to live — would the difference in cost, factoring in all the associated costs of buying and selling, give you the financial cushion you were expecting?

Consider what type of home will work for you — such as a low-maintenance condo — as well as what services you need. Is the location walkable, or accessible by reliable transit? Will your health-care providers be easy to get to? Are family and friends close? Are there community and recreation centers close by?

Social connections are an important aspect of retirement (2) as well, and shouldn’t be overlooked. Loneliness can have real impacts on your health, so making a plan that includes a vibrant social life in retirement is a wise choice.

If you plan to move to a retirement community (3), research the costs of places you think you’d like to live, and check out whether you’d need to add yourself to a waitlist — if so, set a date at which you’ll evaluate whether it’s time to do so.

Saving for retirement, and potential health care costs

Of course, a big part of retirement planning is also making sure you have a financial plan as well.

When it comes to saving for retirement, not everyone will have the same goals, and the amount of money you’ll need depends on your lifestyle. However, many Americans don’t have a savings plan at all.

A 2024 survey by AARP (4) found one in five Americans over the age of 50 doesn’t have any retirement savings. And 2022 data from the Federal Reserve (5) found the median retirement savings for households aged 55 to 64 was $185,000. For all American families, the average nest egg was $334,000 (6), but the median savings (i.e. half of American families have less saved, half have more saved) was $86,900 (6).

When setting savings goals or benchmarks for retirement, there’s no shortage of formulas out there. Some experts recommend saving 15% of your income as retirement savings; you could also set a goal of what you think you will need, and then work backwards from that amount to calculate how much you’d need to save per year to get there.

But factoring in different scenarios for the performance of your investments, or different life scenarios, such as health issues, can become more complicated. You might seek the help of a financial adviser to put a plan in place that allows flexibility and offers peace of mind.