I turned off busy Northwest Highway in Dallas, then drove through an elegant gateway to a tree-covered island of calm. I had arrived at Edgemere, a luxury continuing care community in the heart of the most affluent area of the city.
If you’ve never heard of continuing care communities, they are all-in-one residences for old folks. They provide, in the one community, facilities for independent living, assisted living, nursing care and memory care.
There is a finality about moving to such places. They are, most likely, the last address you will ever have. Even the modest ones are expensive. Edgemere isn’t one of the modest ones. It’s like disappearing from this world and finding yourself in another.
I’ve come to visit a friend who has just moved here. She’s a woman my wife and I have known for decades. Jane (not her real name) didn’t take the move lightly. But she thought it best. Her charming house was expensive to maintain. It had been a “lot value” house for years because of its treasured location and age. She was also having problems with balance. She wanted to be independent and avoid being a burden to her adult children.
Jane gave me a quick tour of the meeting rooms, the library and different exercise rooms. Then a variety of facilities for casual to fine dining. Along the way, she introduced me to people she had already met. Done in Tuscan style, Edgemere is elegant and quiet. Stone and plaster. Umber tones. Vaulted ceilings. Like suddenly being transported to a country estate in Sienna. The bustle of Northwest Highway had vanished.
Later, she took me down a long, carpeted hallway to her apartment. Doors on the right were plain and white for service. Doors on the left were inset and wide.
Dark varnished wood with brass fittings. For a moment I had a hysterical flash, remembering Keir Dullea at the end of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” I wasn’t going to mention it, but Greg Melvin, my longtime editor and good friend, had the same reaction when I described it. He should know — he edited Roger Ebert for years.
The apartments here – which vary from snug to very spacious — have high ceilings, wood floors, lovely bathrooms, ample storage and good kitchens. Most striking is their views of sunlit green spaces, sometimes from a balcony overlooking a manicured garden of pathways shaded by enormous trees. Ducks waddled on one of the paths, not far from a small pond.
Jane, at 84, will be happy here. And could be for a long time.
How’s that, you ask? Easy. Many people here are in their 90s. A few are over 100. Some have lived here for nearly two decades. While many population studies stop at age 75 or 80, it turns out that a significant portion of our population will live very long lives. Another portion will live much shorter lives.
The long and short of it
According to the most recent U.S. Life Tables, for instance, the life expectancy of a typical man at age 65 is now 17.5 years. The same figure for a typical woman is 20.2 years. Either way, it appears that life is pretty much over in our early 80s.
That notion, however, is wrong for two reasons. The first reason is actuarial. Life expectancy is defined as the age at which half of a larger group has died, and the other half is still alive. It’s not a drop-dead date for you or me personally.
The second reason is also actuarial. The life expectancy of all American men or women can be examined more closely. There are life expectancy differences between races, between education and income levels, between people of different weights, not to mention different eating and drinking habits. (I’ve written a lot about this. You can explore by going to my website and hitting the “life expectancy” category button.)
Fine tuning
The most useful tool I’ve found for exploring this is the “Healthy Life Expectancy Calculator” at the Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research at the University of Connecticut. Enter only 15 bits of information about yourself, hit “calculate,” and it will estimate the life expectancy of a group of people like you. Better still, it will estimate “future healthy years” and “future unhealthy years.”
As an experiment, I created a moderately healthy profile for a man and a woman. Both were slightly overweight and had college educations but had moderate incomes ($50,000-$75,000). They did some exercise, considered their health “very good,” didn’t have diabetes, ate a “very good” but not excellent diet, slept eight hours a night, were non-smokers, and had a clean driving history. They also drank moderately, three to seven drinks a week.
What their future looks like
A man living to that description could expect 26.7 years of healthy life and 3.3 years of unhealthy life. That’s a total of 30 years, giving him a life expectancy of age 95. That’s an additional 12.5 years of life. With a 50/50 shot at living still longer.
A woman living to that description could expect 26.8 years of healthy life and 4.7 years of unhealthy life. That’s a total of 31.5 years and a life expectancy of age 96.5. That’s an additional 11.3 years of life. Also with a 50/50 shot at living still longer.
The figures would be still better if they had earned more or had more than a college education. They would also benefit from more exercise, paying more attention to their diet and drinking less.
But the main point here is simple. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re closer to my invented group than to the entire U.S. population. That means it would be a good idea to start anticipating the long, and largely unexamined, second stage of retirement.
Related past columns:
Scott Burns, “The Many Stages of Retirement,” 10/4/2025: https://scottburns.com/the-many-stages-of-retirement/
Scott Burns on “life expectancy”: https://scottburns.com/category/life-expectancy/
Scott Burns, “Longevity of the Nerds,” 1/24/2016: https://scottburns.com/longevity-of-the-nerds/
Scott Burns, “Longevity of the Nerds (Continued),” 6/4/2022: https://scottburns.com/nerds-are-living-longer-witness-the-mit-class-of-1962/
Sources and References:
Healthy Life Expectancy Calculator at the Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research at the University of Connecticut: https://apps.goldensoncenter.uconn.edu/HLEC/
National Vital Statistics Report: United States Life Tables, 2022: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK614547/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20Hispanic%20population,Table%20A%2C%20Figure%202).
Edgemere website: https://edgemerelife.com
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo with thanks to Luzmaria Guillen Antonini, Angel Falls, Venezuela 2025
(c) Scott Burns, 2025
how expensive is Edgemere in terms of lump sum upfront payment plus monthly charges? pls write one or more columns on how much net worth one (Riley) would need to have to be able to afford Edgemere.
Hi JP,
Monthly expenses at Edgemere vary with the size of the unit you choose. Units range in size from quite small to very generous. Most CCRCs are very guarded with their monthly expenses, providing them during or after a visit. In any case, Edgemere wasn’t the real subject of the column. The subject was the notion that a significant number of people face an entirely uncharted second retirement of 15 to 20 years AFTER age 80. In December, for instance, I will be flying to Florida to celebrate the 100th birthday of a friend who retired in his 50s. About three years ago his doctor told him it would be a good idea if he gave up playing tennis…