Sharing accommodation over 60

Over 60, single and without an income? How on earth do you afford rent? You have two choices: apply for the pension if you are old enough or go out and find work. They say it is so easy to find work but often people have to change to an industry which accepts older people. Security and taxi drivers are known for the older workers, and quite often a number of people in the same industry will team together to rent a house to save on costs. So how difficult is it to share accommodation over 60?

Let us look at two taxi drivers who teamed up and helped each other out on numerous occasions and then decided it was cheaper to live together and add a border. The first one was a divorcee and very keen on his 60s music, keen to party, with a gambling addiction. The second one smoked and did not drink, also keen to party, so the rock and roll music was often blasting through the doors to the outside patio. They advertised for a younger person to move into the third bedroom.

And you never know what you have got until you get to know someone  The random younger person turned out to be on drugs and was promptly turned out on the street. Then the problem came when one of the room mates noticed that the other guy had been smoking in bed and putting his cigarette ash all round the sides of the mattress. Considered as fire risk he was asked to stop this, and his other flatmate made plans to move out.

So if you are single and in your 60s, what exactly does it take to find a suitable companion to live with? Do you really have to be a couple or choose to live on your own? Is it really worth teaming up with some other random people to share a house? I have a number of friends who live on their own and they are either well adapted or very lonely. Some are still trying to find a suitable partner with very poor results, and others are happy if they never see a partner again. Personally I would be very wary of teaming up with a new partner at my ripe old age of 64, however I am happy to say it is not a needed option.

I think the perfect scenario would be to have a unit downstairs for your partner and one upstairs for yourself or to live in a situation close to other friends. Not always are we able to afford the wonderful retirement village with its locked in walls, and regulations, but even my son manages to live in an area where his friends are all within a kilometre or so.

So what are your thoughts on the subject? Who would you be prepared to live with in your older years? My ultimate dream would be to live on my own yacht in the Whitsundays… and when I fell overboard that would be considered a great way to end the story. What is your dream?