The Luxury Retirement Community of the Future
Here’s the message: don’t underestimate old people, they can do amazing things and will be healthier and live longer when they are working hard doing things they enjoy and find meaningful.
Yuichiro Miura, standing on top of Everest at 80 years old.
I give webinars and talks to people over 60, because I want to help them live longer. I also talk with people who run retirement communities, because I want to help their residents live longer. I look at a lot of websites of retirement communities. They all have some things in common: images of people drinking alcohol, dining, and engaging in leisurely fun. They show some yoga, shuffleboard, and “fitness” classes. What they don’t show is people getting stronger and more independent, because their models are based on dependence, not on antifragility.
It’s not their fault. It’s just the way it’s always been done. But that is going to change.
Antifragile, a term coined by Nassim Taleb,describes systems that gain from disorder, to distinguish them from things that are merely robust or resilient. Fragile things break under stress and robust things survive it unchanged, while antifragile things improve when stressed. The human body is antifragile: muscles grow stronger with resistance training, bones grow with stress, and the immune system strengthens through exposure to pathogens. Startups often thrive in volatile markets by adapting to shocks quickly. Evolution itself is antifragile—random mutations and environmental stressors lead to stronger species over time.
I talk about the top-seven things likely to kill you (Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, neurodegeneration, falls, etc.), but the more I look at those websites, the more I think these people are all dying from the same thing:
Boredom
It’s good they have community, because loneliness will shorten your life, but it seems to me that people over 65 or 70, no matter where they live, lose a sense of purpose and wanting to make a difference. The weeks are structured, but they all blend together. Holidays come and go. People celebrate by eating more. There is no hustle. Zero hustle. People read books, magazines, watch Netflix, have coffee with friends, and they wait for the next thing.
These retirement communities are like full-time cruise ships. Everything you need to develop full-blown diabetes and require assistance using the bathroom.
But humans are built to hustle. They thrive on it.
This is not limited to retirement communities, it’s a national public health emergency.
Handle with care
Recall the statistics: a measurable increase in deaths occurs on or around birthdays. In the U.S., a study of 25 million deaths showed a 6.7% increase in mortality on birthdays, with men aged 20–29 seeing a 25.4% spike. In Switzerland, birthday deaths rose by 13.8%, especially among those over 60. French data from 2004 to 2023 showed a 6% average increase, peaking at 24% for men aged 18–40 and 29% for centenarians. People can prevent themselves from dying if they have something to look forward to.
And yet most people seem content to play a bit of bridge and pickleball. Judging from the websites, they love to drink alcohol with friends and meals. And 73 percent of US adults are either overweight or obese.
If you have seen the movie Wall-E, you know where this is heading.
We die from disuse and atrophy, not from “saving our energy.” Older people are treated too gently. They are coddled and accommodated. They eat too much, they drink too much, and they need an “events schedule” to get them to come to a lecture or a game of cribbage. If you have read The Comfort Crisis, you’ve seen many examples.
People are overmedicated. People taking drugs for hypertension, osteoporosis, diabetes, or overweight are making themselves sicker. This is true for many other areas as well. They could just exercise and eat better. Furthermore, 95 percent of women over 50 are not on hormone-replacement therapy, which promotes osteoporosis, prevents building muscle, and shortens their lives.
And the current “longevity” fad is lots of fancy tests, scans, treatments, and drugs. Without exercise. Because exercise has low profit margins.
Please handle roughly
I remember once I was in Macedonia or Azerbaijan, I forget, but I ran into some older Americans who were there as election monitors. They didn’t have a lot of money. They worked with an organization that places them into a country for a few months before and during an election. I’ve met some amazingly talented woodworkers still in the shop creating at age 70. I know an 80-year-old author writing his 26th book. I know an 80-year-old ski instructor in Japan who skis 60 days a year. The world record for an 80-year-old running the 100m dash is 17 seconds (I can do 20). About 500 athletes over 80 compete every two years in the National Senior Games. The oldest man to climb Everest was 80 and the oldest woman was 73. The oldest woman to climb Mt Kilimanjaro was 89. I could go on and on.
They didn’t accomplish these things by taking it easy. They did it by putting their boots on day after day and working hard.
The future of retirement?
With that in mind, I want to re-imagine retirement communities for Gen-X. I’m assuming this is for high net-worth people who can afford it, though I think many of these ideas will trickle down. I’m also assuming this is for independent living more than assisted living, although I think assisted-living people are in far too much comfort and don’t have to struggle enough, which causes them to deteriorate further. I’m just putting ideas out here with the goal of stimulating conversations among people planning to build new communities or upgrade their existing facilities.
The goal is to make it so residents:
learn new skills.
have to struggle and stay at it.
have to work together to do new things.
have to rely on each other as team members.
discover a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
can measure and track progress and celebrate their wins.
have big things to look forward to.
have a full schedule of things to look forward to, so there’s always the next challenge.
People need projects. Think about that. What projects do they do in a retirement community? Their week is filled with “activities,” but no projects. It gets routine. Projects have schedules, mini-deadlines, sprints, reviews, you have to buy stuff and bring it in and coordinate. You need to develop skills and improvise when things go wrong. Then there’s the sense of accomplishment after it’s over. Why are retirement communities so quiet? Why aren’t they bustling hubs of people working on things and waiting impatiently for the Amazon truck to arrive and making videos and uploading them to the YouTube channel and sharing it with everyone they know?
People need outside stimulation. I visited my mom at her assisted-living facility in Denver. She had lunch with the same three women every single day. I sat down with them, opened my laptop, asked one of the “girls” her childhood address, and showed her her old neighborhood on Google maps. She was entranced. She saw the homes of her neighbors, and memories came flooding in — people and things she hadn’t thought about in decades. She marveled at the new shopping center and the changes to the local park. Soon, I had a line of people saying “Do me next!”
People need responsibility. You know what they don’t have? Responsibility. No one’s counting on them. No one’s waiting for them. No one needs them to do something. This might be fine for many people, but it’s counter to our nature. People like to work. They like to have something that needs to be done. They like to have the satisfaction that comes when they serve others. Why can’t the residents be responsible for cooking dinner for the entire facility — including the staff — once a week? That would put some responsibility on some shoulders, and they would quickly form groups and systems to do it creatively. I once lived on a kibbutz in Israel with about 1,000 residents and cooked American-style pancakes for everyone one Sunday morning — plenty of people pitched in to help.
People need connection. Why aren’t seniors connected across the globe? There are already hundreds of online communities. Could those be boosted? Could there be annual awards and recognition? Could there be useful networks to help solve real-world problems? Could they help coordinate disaster relief or expeditions? Could they purchase time on telescopes and explore the cosmos? People from retirement communities should be able to find each other, collaborate, and create new things together without needing any “adult supervision” from staff. Some of the things I propose don’t have enough people in any one community to get lift. But across many communities, “birds of a feather” can find each other and start collaborating.
People need purpose. Even rich people who go on luxury around-the-world cruises eventually get tired of it. People feel better when they are doing something they feel is meaningful to others. This drive helps them live longer and stay in better shape for the future.
Family activities with goals. Most family visits are calm, sit-down, food-oriented visits where grandchildren are forced to give up their screens and game time to pretend to be interested in what’s going on with grandparents and to report on school, friends, life, etc. It’s more like a board meeting and not something to look forward to. What if the kids were there to work on setting a new world record or building a Rube Goldberg machine to make a YouTube video? What if they were shooting a movie or designing a new game? What if they were doing experiments with big magnets? What if they were using AI to solve a problem someone had at the community? What if they came to work with grandparents on making gifts for their friends or a project for school or needed some modifications to their skateboard?
If you think what I propose here is dangerous and people can get hurt, keep in mind that probably the most dangerous thing you can do is sitting around, reading, playing games, drinking alcohol, and gaining weight.
Here are some suggestions.
Health and fitness
Gym: most “gyms” in retirement communities are toys. If you want to see a real gym for people in their 60s and up, look at Greysteel. It’s a very different place, where old people are doing extreme things safely. In fact, I have a complete business plan for what this gym would look like and how it would be different from other gyms, and it would attract members from the entire community, not just residents. And the residents can run it! You don’t need staff except for cleaning and a few other things the residents don’t want to do. What about bodybuilding competitions? Don’t underestimate old people.
The gym experience should be hard. Old people are capable of handling a lot more weight and stress in the gym than you think. The goal for every senior should not be to become superman or woman but to be stronger a year from now than they are today. No matter who they are, that yearly goal adds to independence and creates many years of quality life. I have a program for doing this safely.
This is Steve Taylor. He’s 69. Don’t underestimate old people.
Weight loss: If retirement communities know how to get residents to lose weight, they are holding back their secrets. I’d be surprised if very much actual weight loss is going on. I’m willing to bet that the average person gains weight over the years at these facilities.
We know a lot about weight loss now, and my view is that most “registered and licensed” dieticians don’t know any of it. Their textbooks are full of 30-year-old, low-fat dogma. It’s not their job to force anyone to lose weight, but it should be their job to give people the option of enrolling in a weight-loss program that actually causes people to lose weight. The proof of their competency is in the numbers — how good are they at helping motivated people lose weight and keep it off?
We need better programs. Most people are insulin resistant, and those people should be in ketosis. The harder you work out, the better your cardiovascular system gets, but too many facilities are gentle and don’t push residents. If they want the results, they must be willing to put in the work. No sugar. No alcohol. No cheating. It takes a good strategy for each person, structure, hormones, and many hours in the gym, but they will be very happy when they see the results. This is true for most people at any age. Everyone has pre-existing conditions, but most people can get far better results than they are getting now.
Research teams: People should not rely solely on their doctors for advice. Too often, they resort to Facebook groups or Google searches. But some people know how to do scientific research, literature reviews, and look at data. And there are many good experts publishing on many topics.
Residents could take some initiative and put together teams to help figure out how to solve medical problems. They probably wouldn’t be much worse than the doctors they’re seeing now. Why wait around for “experts” to tell them what’s best? At the very least, they should be well educated. They don’t have to be doctors, but they can help put things in perspective and get a second opinion from another doctor. They can learn how statistics are used and misused in medicine and science in general. A good example is osteoporosis medicines, which no one should be on. If your doctor prescribes Fosamax or Boniva, you should find another doctor. Research groups can help make better educated guesses than many doctors do, and ask pertinent questions. Sure, they may need a guide, but ChatGPT is a pretty good one.
Indoor activities with purpose
Activities should require very minimal staff, because most communities have residents who are capable and can be trained to be the staff. Being a staff member is another purposeful job that gets you out of bed and serving others, plus they often have to move heavy equipment around, which helps keep them strong.
Most of these can be run as clubs, where people pay a membership fee and get a locker. Can be open to the public as well. Don’t underestimate what the residents can do — more and more will be fully digital and online. There will be fewer and fewer AOL email addresses.
Woodshop: most people think a woodshop is a noisy, dangerous place with lots of high-speed spinning blades and common injuries. This is not the case. Today’s woodshops are very carefully ventilated with full dust collection, the machines have lots of safety guards, and woodworkers make sleds and carriers to keep their cuts straight and their fingers away from the action. Injuries are now quite rare. Don’t underestimate old people — they are capable of running, using, and maintaining a wood shop with all kinds of machines. And it lets them produce things they are proud of and give to their families or make for their community. Need cutting boards or serving platters? Want a ping pong table, a foosball table, a lamp, or a chess board? A puzzle or a sculpture? Don’t order one. Build one.
Metalshop: Same as above, but there’s more computer-driven equipment.
3D printing: Supplies are fairly cheap. There’s always something new to learn.
Performance space: I’m sure there are some retirement communities where people volunteer, participate, and create exciting cultural events, where the residents are the performers and entertainers. This should be the norm, but it takes residents to volunteer and build up a great program and produce great performances. I’m sure some of the better ones also involve groups in the community. There’s huge potential here.
Juggling: Anyone can get into juggling, and the sky is the limit. There are thousands of levels, tons of videos, and teams can compete against each other online. There are camps and competitions around the world. Juggling is one of the best ways to preserve motor skills and coordination.
Climbing wall: People think climbing walls are dangerous, but they aren’t. A well designed and run climbing wall is a fantastic way for people in their 70s and even 80s to develop muscle and fitness. This is functional muscle. It combines balance, coordination, and movement. It improves grip strength and builds skills people can be proud of. People pair up and support each other. And it will draw grandchildren in to spend time with their grandparents.
Magic camp: Anyone can learn magic tricks. Good magicians can put together an act and go around town performing. They can perform at hospitals, schools, community centers, and festivals. Grandchildren will show up for lessons.
Learning lab: learn a new language together. Study physics or chemistry. Focus on one particular time in history, like the Diet of Wurms or how the pyramids were built, and make a video explaining it. Learn what causes strokes. Take the free video classes at MIT and Stanford. Learn to speed read. Compete in brain games. Do it as a group project and help each other. Have meetings. Divide up the work. Set deadlines. Deliver deliverables. Teach others.
VR: Using VR, people can go on all kinds of adventures. Have you tried exploring the space station or climbing a mountain? You can visit places around the world and interact with others. Why not have a network of people in retirement communities all having online adventures and events together? You can even play team games and put on performances.
Lego lab: Lego enthusiasts have come up with the Great Ball Contraption contests. They are held all over the world. They design mechanisms for moving balls along a conveyor line, and they are wild. See 2012, 2016, 2022. Do you think a lego lab might attract a few grandchildren to come visit?
Run a store: In Washington DC, there’s a “Made in DC” store, where everything is locally made. Why not have a store that the seniors can run all by themselves? It doesn’t have to be on campus, it can be in town, pay rent, pay for staff and services, and break even as a nonprofit. Residents can do the books, buy products, run checkout, do marketing, events, and more. Or run an online store and use the profits to support good causes. Strange as it may sound, people will stay alive longer simply because others are counting on them to do their job.
Make products: Seniors can make everything from chocolates to guitars to t-shirts to cutting boards to iPhone cases and much more. They could set up a small factory, make products, sell them online, do marketing, PR, and much more. Why not? A successful factory can hire local teens or others and help grow the economy.
Host a TEDx event: Anyone can host a TEDx event. Get people from all the retirement communities in your city together and host one. Let them organize, prepare their talks, build the signs, run the event, and share the results with their families afterward.
Digital crafts: People can collaborate to design all kinds of things using online design tools. They can build 3D models, scenes, animations, simulations, games, apps, and use AI to create films. By working online, they can have mentors and collaborators around the world. Seniors should be able to come up with a good idea for an app or a website, launch it, and use the network of seniors connected online to promote it.
Publishing: People can write books, make videos, create online classes, share their photography, hold webinars, and much more. This could be done at scale, so someone who’s giving a lecture on the Bernoulli effect could find a wide audience of interested people around the world. No one at his local community is interested, but by connecting communities, new markets open up. You can even set up a letterpress print shop and make all the cards, signs, menus, booklets, and everything else everyone needs. They could write and record music. They could create a science channel and make videos. They could print things their grandchildren want, so they work with them on projects. Doing it by hand the old-fashioned way is fun, creative, and satisfying. Don’t underestimate old people!
Contests: Every month there are contests for all kinds of things: paper-airplane design and flight, puzzle boxes, origami, one-off bicycles, egg drops and catapults, houses of cards, domino falls, Geoguesser, building musical instruments from scrap, yoyo competitions, bodybuilding, and much more. Plan. Train. Compete. Win or lose doesn’t matter.
Outdoor activities with purpose
Don’t underestimate old people. The worst thing they can do is go on a cruise. On a cruise ship, everyone is overweight, everyone eats, lays down, and sleeps. Then there’s a bit of entertainment or losing money in the casino. This is not what today’s retirees want or deserve. They need to get moving.
Many seniors enjoy gardening, but they don’t work very hard at it. The average farmer is healthier and lives longer than the average person in a retirement community. Residents can grow food for their community. They can put in the long hours and hard work to raise vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other things that will benefit the people who live there. And take pride in what they have grown. This sounds like work for the staff, but it’s actually great for the residents. They can even set up a farmer’s market or go participate in one.
Want a bowling alley? Build one. Want a pickleball court? Learn to build one. Need a cart to carry things around? Build one. Weld up the frame and assemble the parts, then paint it and admire your handiwork. These kinds of things are so much more satisfying to do if you built it yourself and maintain it. No staff needed — building the thing is every bit as good an activity as using it, so who cares how long it takes? Forget the crossword puzzles and card games — build things.
Rucking is so beneficial for older people that it should be a standard activity. Rucking is walking and hiking carrying extra weight on your back. Everyone should be rucking 2-3 times a week. It helps build hip and spine bones and muscles. It’s far better than walking. Walking doesn’t help people lose weight or gain muscle and bone. Every community should have a rucking club. Why can’t seniors walk a few miles, get all their gardening supplies or groceries, put them into their backpacks, and walk back? Sound too difficult? Those people will outlive the others who don’t.
Hiking keeps you agile. Hiking with weight on your back keeps you stable and strong. Those who hike twice a week will be far stronger than those who don’t.
There are so many other opportunities. Community members can be referees at soccer games, umpires at baseball games, and otherwise contribute to children’s sports in the community. You think they wouldn’t jump at the chance? Don’t underestimate old people.
Transportation is definitely an issue. We don’t want most people over 80 driving cars. But there are so many other options now, I believe each community will find good ways to get their seniors where they need to go. As long as people want to do things in groups, the costs are usually reasonable.
Travel activities with purpose
I would like to create travel experiences that are the opposite of cruises. One proposal I have is to take grandparents and their grandchildren to East Africa, to climb Mt Kilimanjaro and then go on safari. Why climb the mountain first? Because it’s hard. To climb to the top of Africa, you need to spend a year getting ready. If you’re bringing your grandchildren on safari, then you need to spend that year with your grandchildren hiking, walking, rucking, preparing, learning about the route, minimizing risks, and — voila! — doing a project together with them. Because the prize is three weeks in Africa, a lot of kids will give up screen and game time to prepare with grandma and grandpa. And guess who’s going to carry most of the luggage?
There are big events every year where people get together to do very hard challenges and obstacle courses. Examples: Grit, Tough Mudder, Red Bull 400, Spartan race. Why don’t we create a series of events for seniors? They can train, prepare, pack, and go compete against people from around the country, similar to the National Senior Games. If you think this isn’t going to exist, you are underestimating old people.
Wouldn’t it be great to set up a senior travel agency to plan these kinds of trips around the world? It could be a virtual company with everyone working online. Guess who could work there?
These are just a few ideas showing how market trends may develop and how senior living may adapt. I’d like to see a senior living facility that pushes people and doesn’t underestimate them. It’s not for everyone, but it would attract its own clientele, and they would probably live to be far healthier and far longer than most people in most retirement communities.
To learn more about longevity and antifragility, explore this website and contact me with any questions.