On Wednesday, March 18, at 1:30 p.m., Louise Schroeder will present a program on helping retirees making residential choices in “What to Consider When Deciding Where to Live.” The class is part of the OSU Emeriti Association’s monthly retirement series, “Making the Most of Retirement,” which meets each month at Stillwater Public Library.
The program will cover what retirees should look for when choosing a new home or facility, as well as what changes may need to be made if retirees choose to stay in their current homes. Schroeder will also discuss different types of living facilities including retirement communities, assisted living facilities and independent living options.
Making a permanent choice involves investigating many factors. Schroeder encourages retirees to consider a myriad of details when looking at a residence including things like the width of doorways and the accommodations available in bathrooms and kitchens.
According to Schroeder, the factor retirees most often fail to consider is how their current health issues might impact their later housing needs.
“We often think about design, layout and maybe even the needs associated with our present health problems,” said Schroeder. “But it is important to try to foresee how those health issues might worsen or change and whether the home we choose will function in a way that meets those needs.”
Schroeder, a certified financial planner and a part of the Garrett Planning Network, has been in private practice since leaving OSU in 1998, where she served as the Assistant Director of Planned Giving for the OSU Foundation.
Schroeder is particularly interested in serving retirees and has worked with many organizations throughout the area to make retirement more beneficial. She served on Stillwater’s Certified Retirement Community committee, which promotes Stillwater as an attractive retirement community and assesses the needs of Stillwater retirees and works with Oklahoma Independent Living Resources, which focuses on educating the public and professionals about aging in place at home. Schroeder also completed the Oklahoma Aging Advocacy Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Area Agencies on Aging and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Aging Division.
