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- [00:09]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. We have spent the November, the month of November reading. And now it is time to discuss our Get Lit with all of It Book club event is happening tomorrow evening at 6pm at the New York Public Library. We'll be in conversation with Susan Choi, the author of Flashlight. The event had been sold out, but the library has just released a few more free tickets. So grab yours now@wnyc.org get lit. That's also where you can find links to borrow your E copy. Again, that's wnyc.org getlit flash stories. It begins with the story of a mysterious night. A girl named Louisa and her father head out to the beach at night, but her father can't swim. Later, Louisa is found on the beach alone and her father has disappeared. What's happened? How does it affect the family? You have to read to find out. And after we speak to Susan at the library, we'll hear a special live performance from mutual guest Sarah Kinsley that's coming up tomorrow. Now let's get this hour started with a conversation about how to live your best retired life in New York City.
- [01:22]
As of 2023, according to city data, more than a million and a half people were living in New York City and they are over the age of 62 years old. That's about 19% of the population. And it's fair to assume that a good chunk are considering retirement or may have retired. Those who can afford to retire go through a major life transition. Suddenly you have a lot more time on your hands. So we want to discuss how to successfully retire in New York instead of.
- [01:51]
B
Say, moving to Florida, how you can.
- [01:53]
A
Stay put in the city and maybe even move here and live your best retired life. And if you've retired a New Yorker or you're soon to be retired. And we want your ideas and your advice and your stories. Also with us in studio now is a guide, Beth Finkel. She's AARP's New York State director. Hi, Beth.
- [02:12]
B
Hey, it's great to be here, Allison.
- [02:14]
A
So, listeners, this is for you. First of all, are you retired? How do you enjoy retirement in New York city? Our numbers 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC, what are some of your favorite activities or suggestions you have for other retired New Yorkers? What's your argument for people to retire here? 2124-3396-9221-2433-WNYC or if you have a Question about preparing for retirement in New York City. 212-433-9692. You know, for people who are going to retire or the recent retirees, it's really a big life transition. Why can it be hard?
- [02:58]
B
Well, first of all, I just want to say something about the nomenclature because we're not retiring from life. Right? Right. And a lot of people think about it as I'm retiring from rather than I'm retiring too. We kind of like to think about it as aging forward right to your next best life.
- [03:20]
A
Matter of fact, my sister always says that.
- [03:22]
B
And just recently on the news, talk about retiring in New York or coming to new in your later years. The age has gone up in New York. It's well over 80 now. So we're a healthy place for you to come in age also. So I want to get that in.
- [03:40]
A
Why should someone consider retiring to New York?
- [03:42]
B
Well, first of all, all you have to do is walk down the streets of any place in New York and hear all these foreigners who come and see the city because it is such a great place to, to travel to. And guess what? We live here, so we get to take advantage of it all the time.
- [03:59]
A
I've always thought of the phrase naturally occurring retirement communities. It's sort of a casual label. Tell us a little bit about them.
- [04:07]
B
Well, yes, the shortened form is norc, you're right. And those are where people come together in a community.
- [04:14]
Penn south is a good example. Right in your neighborhood here, that's actually a norc, and that's you can age in place and they have all these social services right there in the.
- [04:26]
Amazing.
- [04:26]
A
Yeah. What makes certain city neighborhoods especially good for people who are retirees?
- [04:33]
B
Well, I guess part of it is, first of all, I don't know if you know this, but New York is actually New York City is designated as an age friendly city. We were one of the first in the country. And there are eight areas that make it age friendly. One of them is you can walk around cultural opportunities, educational opportunities, work opportunities, because not everybody can afford to stop working. And many people, even if they can afford to stop working honestly, can't figure out what next is so they don't move on, they're having too much fun still at work, or they need that extra money to pay the bills in these harder times.
- [05:13]
A
And the stereotype about New Yorkers is that they move to Florida. Now, considering if you aren't in the 1%, you want the tax breaks, what are the pros and what are the cons of retiring to Florida, as opposed to staying put in New York.
- [05:26]
B
Oh, I don't want my relatives in Florida to resent my answers here. But honestly, there is no place that's going to be more stimulating than New York. And every way that you possibly can think of. Again, just walking down the street is so stimulating. There's something new every moment. There's the liveliness. And when you go other places and you come back here, I think you're just really struck by it.
- [05:51]
A
Take a couple of calls. Eleanor has called in from Manhattan. Thanks, Eleanor, for calling.
- [05:57]
C
Thank you for taking my call. I actually grew up in the suburbs, and it wasn't until I retired that I moved into New York and realized this is the best decision I have ever made. Everything is so convenient. I'm at a point now in my life where I no longer drive. I don't need a car anymore to do whatever I want. Go to a play, go to a concert, go grocery shopping. It's just. It's an amazing city. And when I moved in, I didn't know anyone other than some family members. But within a few years, three of my best friends also moved into the city, and we've been able to do so many things together. I love the diversity of ages, the amount of activities. It's just a great place to retire.
- [06:51]
A
Eleanor, living your best life. Thanks for calling in. It's interesting that she says she doesn't drive anymore. There's great transportation in New York City. How much of a difference can it make for a person, in terms of their. The longevity of their life, to keep walking?
- [07:08]
B
I was just gonna say that, yes, all you have to do is go out and walk on any avenue and see everybody out there walking. But again, we have to look at the parks that we. And yes, Central Park's fabulous, but Prospect Park, Forest Park, I mean, you name the parks all over New York City, there are such treasures. And there are park rangers in almost all of those parks that will give you walking tours and will help you if you want to be a birder one day. I mean, there's just so much opportunity with that. But, yes, just the walking alone. Whether you're just walking for leisure or as Eleanor is saying, she walks to the grocery store, she walks here or there. Those extra steps in your life. We know what that means to. To your health.
- [07:51]
A
Let's talk to Alan, who is calling in. Alan is a regular on this show. Alan called us from a cruise. Where. Alan, where were you when you called us from this crew, from your cruise?
- [08:03]
C
I was in Bora Bora Polynesia, Tahiti.
- [08:08]
A
Very nice to talk to you.
- [08:11]
C
Yes. Totally different subject. But I could go on that cruise because I was retired. It's a huge change in your life, the bigger change than anything you've ever done since you started working. And most people aren't prepared for it. They think, oh, I'll work on my golf game or I'll catch up on my TV shows. Those are fine. But it takes so much more than that in any given day to really have challenges. So I have a blog. It's called hello Tension. Goodbye Tension. And I hit it out. It's free. Anybody can subscribe to it. And one of the things that I've done that I found especially challenging, I mean, I was in the C suite at work. I knew what work felt like from that level, but I wanted to see what work felt like from the driver's seat. So I became an Uber driver.
- [09:08]
And I did that for a number of months. I became a doordash delivery guy.
- [09:17]
I currently have my application into Trader Joe's, and I want to. Want to do that for a little while. It's not for the money. You know, I, you know, I try to do things that I can do on my own schedule and just see, you know, how work feels from a completely different perspective.
- [09:34]
A
There's a book in there, Alan. I'm telling you, literary agents. Call us. We'll give you Alan's number. Alan, thank you so much for calling in. We really appreciate you taking the time. What are your thoughts on what Alan had to say?
- [09:46]
B
I think that's absolutely right. I mean, losing that role that you were used to. I love the way Alan turned it around and made it so positive. It's really brilliant. But a lot of people take that time and energy and put it into volunteering. You know, you don't have to go anywhere in the city and look at the Y's or churches or synagogues or any place you look. And who are the volunteers? It's older people. And that's one of the ways that New York City leverages that human capital, because people have so many talents and so much experience. So actually, if people are interested, NYC Service is the New York City portal to finding great opportunities to volunteer. So they might want to consider that.
- [10:29]
A
You know, a lot of people consider their jobs, who they are. It's been what they've done for so long. Do you have any advice for people who are like, okay, I'm ready for my next step. I'm just not sure what my next step is?
- [10:43]
B
Well, I hesitate to say this, but I will be one of them very in the near future. And honestly, that's what puts me off because I work for aarp. I mean, I know retirement. Nobody knows retirement like AARP does. And here I am sitting here saying to you, I don't know what I would do. So I'm still having too good a time at work.
- [11:06]
A
Let's talk to Eileen and Ditmas. Hi, Eileen, thanks for calling.
- [11:09]
B
Calling all of it.
- [11:11]
C
Thanks for taking my call. Yes, I told the screener that I'm a recent retiree and In January, after 20 years in public service. And I'm loving it. I gotta say, in the city we have access to, to so many things, so many cultural museums, transportation, and like your person from AARP fed volunteering. I volunteer with at least two different organizations and I started to volunteer more and then I was like, whoa, wait a minute, this is starting to feel like work again. So I backed off a little, but I find it extremely fulfilling. And my husband is home, so I try to get out of the house a bit too.
- [11:55]
A
Thank you so much for calling in. Rebecca is calling in from Dumbo. Hi, Rebecca, thank you for making the time to call is.
- [12:01]
C
Hi, thanks for taking my call. So I was, I guess, kind of like forced into retirement. I didn't, I didn't. I wasn't expecting to retire. I'm young, I'm only 56, and I was doing production, counting for years, and then I was suddenly laid off last December and I was, you know, anxious and thought, oh God, I've got to find a job, gotta find job. But I am lucky enough and privileged enough that my husband made enough. So. And we were really enjoying me not working. I was teaching myself how to cook, kind of living my best life, doing tons of volunteer. And I just, you know, decided like, yeah, maybe I'm not going to go back. It's like one creative side gig I do, helping, like doing professional organizing in people's homes. And, you know, the volunteer work has just been so fulfilling. And we had a bunch of health problems in our family. My husband just lots of like autoimmune stuff. And I just, you know, was able to take care of people the way I wanted to, you know, had time to go to doctor's appointments with them and hospitals and all the things. So it's really been incredible. It just to have time and space. I've just been reading a lot, doing, you know, kind of living my best life.
- [13:23]
A
Thanks so much for calling in. I'm speaking with aarp New York director Beth Finkel. We're discussing how to live your best life in retirement in New York City. We want to hear from you. If you're retired, how do you enjoy life in New York? What are your, some of your favorite activities or suggestions for other New Yorkers? Or maybe you're about to retire or you've moved to New York for retirement. We want to hear from you as well. 212-433-969-2212, wnyc. Okay, I am going to bring up, I'm going to throw the skunk on the table. It is expensive to live here.
- [13:56]
B
Oh yeah.
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A
For anybody who's thinking about retirement, what should they be thinking about financially?
- [14:03]
B
Well, I actually, you're right. But let's just think about New York again. Right. You get your Metro card. Right. If you're over, I think it's 65. You also with your library card, I heard you talk about the library before. With your library card, you can get free admission to innumerable museums in the city of New York. Amazing. And, and also you can get theater tickets for half price. I know Broadway Week is coming up with NYC and Co, which is the New York City tourist. You can keep track of that because. And then you've got Restaurant week coming up. So you've got this all the time. And here's a little secret for folks. Did you know very many art galleries do free openings on Thursday nights and you can go and enjoy that. Right. You're shaking your head. So you've taken advantage of.
- [14:55]
A
Oh yes, I've done it. Yes, I have.
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B
Yep.
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So there's just so many opportunities to enjoy yourself. I mean, even when you were talking about your get lit. Right.
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A
Free tickets.
- [15:06]
B
Yep. And get to be with such stimulating literature experts. I mean, that's just. And that also takes us back to schools. You know, you can audit classes at CUNY and suny. You don't pay anything for it or a negligible fee. So contact your local SUNY or cuny. Find out maybe all of your life. You said, geez, I've always wanted to delve into literature or history or whatever. And there's another piece to this too, because it can be a little isolating once you retire. Right. And as a matter of fact, AARP just put out a study today that four in 10Americans, older Americans, are feeling isolated. Four in 10, that's a big number. So when you think about participating in all these things that we were talking about, volunteer work or going to take classes, whatever, it is you're gonna get thrown in with people who have similar interests to you. It kind of reminds me of when I became a mother, right? And I was like, oh, my God, I don't have all my work friends around me. What do I do? And my mother gave me two pieces of advice. She said, go sit on the park bench. There'll be other mothers there or fathers today. In that era, it was more just mothers or. Here's the one. I know your generation will kick me, but she told me, go to the laundry room, because everybody's gotta do laundry when they have a little. So you've got to find that world of where your tribe is, you know, and then that can be so stimulating and fun. And it might just be the local coffee shop.
- [16:37]
A
Let's talk to Lee. Hey, Lee. She's calling in from the Upper west side. Hi, Lee.
- [16:42]
C
Hi. Thank you for taking my call.
- [16:46]
So I wanted to make a suggestion that's worked really well for me. I'm a retired librarian who moved from New Jersey into New York for retirement. So I belong to three outdoors walking clubs. They're the Outdoors Club, Shore Walkers, and the Appalachian Mountain Club. So for people who like to be outdoors and like to walk and are able to walk, all these organizations offer great walks both in the city and beyond the city, in the suburbs, in places like Harriman State park, and like the Outdoors club is only $10 a year for a senior. And once you're a member, the walks are free. And the other clubs also don't charge you once you become a member. And it's a great way to meet other people while you're walking from spot to spot, you can chat with people. And I've met so many wonderful new friends through the walks. If you want to actually lead walks, you can become a Big Apple greeter, which I did, and then you can do, in effect, tour guiding with visitors, most of them international. And my story is that being a Big Apple greeter was so appealing to me that I became a licensed New York City tour guide. And now I've done hundreds of tours in the city for people from all over the world, both as a Big Apple greeter and a licensed New York City tour guide.
- [18:07]
A
Well, Lee, you are a very busy person. Thank you so much for calling. We are talking about retiring in New York. AARP New York director Beth Finkel is our ride along. If you are retired, how do you enjoy life in New York? What are some of your favorite activities or suggestions do you have for other New yorkers? Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. We'll have more after a.
- [18:44]
You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is AARP New York Director Beth Finkel. We're discussing how to live your best life in retirement in New York City. This is an interesting question. It says, my husband and I would love to go back to the city in three and a half years when our daughter goes to college and wondered if it would be possible to share an apartment with friends, like a timeshare where we split the schedule with two other parties. Does your guest know of any such shenanigans? Is it legal with landlords? I guess if it's a condo, it wouldn't necessarily be a problem.
- [19:20]
B
I don't know. But there is a program for home sharing where older people who have big apartments, maybe you ended up with a big apartment on the Upper west side and you're rattling around there all by yourself. And those people, many of them are looking for home shares. And you can go to the New York foundation for Senior Citizens and they run a great home sharing program. It's all free, but they vet people very, very carefully. So that might be a resource for folks.
- [19:50]
A
Let's talk to Richard in Montclair. Hi, Richard. Thank you so much for calling, all of it.
- [19:55]
C
Thanks, Allison.
- [19:58]
This is a relevant conversation. I am retiring officially in two days.
- [20:04]
I'm not quite ready to be a senior citizen or retired, but I love the idea of leaning forward because I am very excited about all the things that I'm able to do. And there is some preparation to get ready. One of them is to have dates to make kind of new friends or, you know, enrich friendships that you just don't spend enough time with people. And the other thing is New Jersey is getting far too love here. I spent 30 years in the city. My wife and I raised our kids then in New Jersey. And our retirement tactic has been to send our young, recent college grads off to New York City and we go in and visit them and watch, you know, the plays that they're producing or, you know, the other things that they recommend. And that's actually been perfect. We get the joys of sailing and hiking, kayaking in New Jersey and, you know, still get to go in the city and take advantage of the, you know, the rich arts and cultural scene there.
- [20:57]
A
Thank you so much for calling. We got a text here that says everything about aging in New York City is truly Marvelous. The one caution or bit of advice I have is get into a building with an elevator.
- [21:10]
B
That's important.
- [21:11]
A
What are some things that people should think about when they're retiring, about where they live?
- [21:16]
B
Well, you want to make sure there's convenience, right? You want to make sure that it's easy to navigate. Absolutely right. You don't want stairs. There are so many older people in New York City that are now stuck in 6th floor walkups and they can't get down to go get their groceries. So I think that's a really important point. But you also want to make sure that there's mass transit for you, right? There are. Unfortunately, in the outer boroughs, there aren't always good buses or maybe it's a two transportation zone or three. You also want to make sure that the health care is convenient to you, that there's an emergency room nearby, that your doctors are nearby. So you need to think about all that. But back to the stimulation part, like you want to make, if that's what you're after. You need to look at the vibrancy of the community and sit and check it out. You know, try it out. Try out the local coffee shop, try out the local bar, and sit at the bar and have a beer and see what you think, or a glass of wine and say, oh, do I feel comfortable here? You know, it's the same thing when you're raising children, right, and you're looking for a home to raise your children and you look around at the neighborhood. In that case, you're looking at the schools or you're looking at the parks. But for older people, parks are relevant.
- [22:32]
A
Also, this says, I live in the Penn South Co Op in Chelsea. It's a Newark and it is a model for housing. I couldn't be happier in this community. Plenty to do in Midtown. It's home to all generations with a wonderful senior center. It contains more than 2,800 units with gardens, stores, restaurants, and a parking lot. Let's talk to Barbara, who is calling us from the Bronx. Hi, Barbara, thanks for making the time to call all of us. Oh, hi.
- [23:03]
C
Hi. Thank you for having this.
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I retired from a university library a while back, and then we moved to New Mexico and then I had a stroke.
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So my daughter said to me, you need to live in New York City.
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There's more doctors there. I think doctors go to Santa Fe to retire because mine retired the day after I had the stroke.
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A
And you're in and you're back in the city now?
- [23:39]
C
Yes, I'm in the City? Well, yeah, I'm in the North Bronx. I'm in Riverdale and my daughter, one of my daughters and one of my grandsons picked this place for us because first of all, we can sit on the balcony and look at the Palisades, which I love.
- [23:59]
A
That's really lovely. Thank you so much for calling Barbara. That's an interesting point that Barbara made is getting the people in your life involved. She said her son said, oh, I'm going to help you find the place to live. You don't have to do this by yourself if you're going to retire.
- [24:15]
B
Absolutely not. But that's also a point about where is your family and do you want to be close to your children and if you have grandchildren to be more present in their lives. And that also gives you that opportunity.
- [24:29]
A
Let's talk to Hilda in Queens. Hi Hilda, thank you so much for calling all of it. You're on the air.
- [24:35]
C
Hi Allyson. I am retired. It wasn't voluntary initially, but it's turned out to be wonderful. And I get to explore the city that I lived in and didn't have the time or the energy to speak. So I do make use of the culture pass and have gone to several music festivals and museums. I've also gone now to the all lit evening and that was terrific and I'm looking forward to going to more of those. It's also allowed to walk leisurely and spend time with family and friends in a qualitatively different way. So part of it is I'm also we're lucky that we are able to be retired. But it's real, it's been good and the city is magnificent and I've been able to go to places that I've never been to before in Brooklyn. And we walked along the Brooklyn Bridge that we did years and years and years ago. But now it was different. So thanks. It's a great program. And I just have to say I love your get lit.
- [25:46]
A
Aw, thanks so much. We really appreciate that. We're gonna run out of time in a few minutes, so I wanted to ask you, is there anything specific that you wanted to talk about before we take more calls?
- [25:55]
B
Well, I guess I do wanna talk a little bit about finances. Cause you brought that up before. And so it's really important for people who maybe are not as comfortable or as comfortable as they expected to be in retirement because of inflation and the cost of goods. So obviously, and I'm sure all of your listeners do this looking at their budget, making sure that they write out a budget and kind of understand where their spending patterns are because maybe there are some mild corrections you can make that could make things better. But you also might want to look and see if you might be eligible for some benefits. Now, I know people work their whole lives and they always think, oh, that's not for me, that's for somebody else. But the truth is you paid into the system, you paid your taxes, and if you need help, it can ease things for you. You should look into that. So one of those things is snap, which used to be called food stamps. Another thing is the Medicare Savings Program. Particularly want people to take note of that because it's not for people on Medicaid. It's people who are on Medicare but might be on the lower level of income for Medicare. And if you are eligible, you will get $8,400 a year.
- [27:10]
Against your health costs. It gets put back into your Social Security check, over $8,000 a year if you're eligible. And right now is open enrollment for Medicare. So this could not be any more timely. It opened on October 15th. It closes on December 7th, folks. So this is really important. So you can go online and you can see if it's. If you're eligible, I also recommend you checking with the New York City Department for the Aging. They have great referral Systems. You just call 31 1. You can get info. But there's also the Medicare Rights center, which is a free, not for profit, who will also counsel you on Medicare benefits. So I hope that people look into that and.
- [27:58]
See if it could help you.
- [28:00]
A
Is there an issue about retirements or. For folks over 62, that AARP is hopeful that the city, the state will be adapting in a few years?
- [28:11]
B
Well, we're always looking for more money from both the state and the city for home and community based care and services. Because the bottom line is most of us want to live out our days in our own homes. I don't know anybody who raises their hand and says, oh, I want to go in a nursing home one day. No, if you, God forbid you have those health problems, you do. But otherwise you want to be in your own home. And it costs so much less to keep people in their own home, even if they need additional help from the state or from the city, getting Meals on Wheels delivered, getting transportation services to your doctor with accessoride or other things like that. If you might need to make some slight improvements in your home, you might need to put in a ramp into your home. There are all sorts of things that people need to do to keep their home safe. But it costs on the average about $10,000 a year for someone who gets this extra help from the state as opposed to ending up in a nursing home where Medicaid pays for the beds. And that's bas all of us paying for it. And we're talking about almost $150,000 a year that comes out of the Medicaid budget. So it makes sense for the state and for the city to be thinking about what's right for people's dignity, but also the fiduciary responsibility to our city and state budgets.
- [29:31]
A
Let's talk to Don. Don, you're our last caller.
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C
Oh, lucky me. Hi. Nice to hear all your suggestions. I'm just retired after 42 years as a high school teacher and coach and there are three credos I follow. If I was the kind to get tattoos, I put this on my arm. It's purpose, community and wellness. I try to follow those three things. I'm off to go swimming right now at the. Yeah. I mean, this is not unique to New York. We can do this anywhere. But it also affords me the time to call in radio shows like this.
- [30:14]
A
Don, thank you for calling. We really appreciate it. And thank you to Beth Finkel, ARP's New York director. Thank you for coming in and giving us such good advice.
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B
Thank you. Since WNYC's first broadcast in 1924, we've.
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A
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B
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A
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- [30:39]
B
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