24/7 Wall Street Insights

• Retirement can be a time when you live in luxury and comfort.
• High-end retirement communities throughout the country require a healthy monthly budget.
• Americans should start saving for retirement early.

Retirement comes before you know it, and if you’ve prepared yourself to live luxuriously, there are hundreds of options out there. Most require an entrance fee or an initial purchase fee along with a monthly fee for amenities and care.

Communities can be great places for retirees to get away from the busyness of life and still enjoy basic comfort and extravagance. We’ve put together a list of not only the top 7 luxurious communities but also the most expensive ones we could find. We searched Reddit threads, senior blogs and each residence’s website to find information about what the community offers, and we’ve listed them here in no particular order.

Why Do We Care About This?

At 24/7 Wall Street, we’re focused on the best ways to increase personal wealth. Retirement savings are one of the most important plans you can have, and many of those funds are tied up in the stock market. As you prepare to retire, we want you to know how much money you need to live luxuriously after working hard your whole life.

1. Del Webb

• Entrance Fee: start at low $400,000
• Monthly Fees: Not listed
• Location: Greensboro, Georgia

Del Webb is one of the only properties we reviewed that offers financing options for those who want to move in. The facility has properties throughout the country, but we focused on the one located in Greensboro, Georgia. One benefit of choosing this retirement center is that resale values on homes remain high, so you can sell your home if you choose to relocate.

Although there’s a hefty price tag on a home in the Del Webb community, residents enjoy a more peaceful living experience because the facility requires that residents be at least 55. Homes start at 1,400 square feet and can be as big as 3,000 square feet. Amenities include a full-time lifestyle director, a large clubhouse, a fitness facility and large lap pools.

2. Sarasota Bay Club

• Entrance Fee: Not listed
• Monthly Fees: start at $8,600
• Location: Sarasota, Florida

Marketed as a full-service retirement community located right on Sarasota Bay, the Sarasota Bay Club offers one to three-bedroom condominiums. The facility also offers purchase and refund plans to protect your investment. With the initial investment, the community offers secure assisted living, skilled nursing, home health and in-home care, a wellness center and outpatient rehab.

Your monthly fee includes amenities like a library, concierge, valet parking, a nurse on site, a 24-hour EMT service, fine dining rooms, fitness rooms, hot tubs and pools. While the direct fee isn’t listed on the facility’s main site, we searched other senior websites to find the average monthly price starts at $8,300 and can be as high as $20,000. The entrance fee is not listed on the website.

3. The Variel

• Entrance Fee: Not listed
• Monthly Fees: start at $7,500
• Location: Woodland Hills, California

If you’re wondering what you get with the high monthly fee associated with The Variel, the facility offers a tour to anyone who’s considering it. There are apartments with one bedroom and one bath, two bedrooms and two baths or studio options. If you’ve got the cash for it, you can even live in the penthouse, with views of the residence’s courtyard.

The Variel’s website doesn’t offer exact pricing and only asks interested parties to contact them for a quote. So we checked senior review sites and discovered that pricing starts at $7,500 a month. The Variel offers independent living, memory care and assisted living. Health care services include assistance with dressing and bathing, assistance with daily living, 24-hour supervision, medication management and mild cognitive impairment. Any of these could affect your overall price.

4. The Watermark

• Entrance Fee: Not listed
• Monthly Fees: start at $6,795
• Location: Beverly Hills, California

California is home to 18 different Watermark communities, so you have your choice of locations throughout the state. For the purpose of this article, we focused on the Beverly Hills location. The facility only offers alcove apartments and one-bedroom floor plans but was recently renovated and updated to improve the living experience. You’ll need at least $7,000 a month to take advantage of either the short-term stays or long-term living options.

The Watermark doesn’t have an entrance fee listed, so you’ll have to contact them for a customized plan based on your needs. The good news is that the facility focuses on beauty, safety and freedom to provide joy to retirees, and living choices include rehabilitation and skills nursing, short-term stays, assisted living, independent living and active adult living.

5. Sunrise at East 56th

• Entrance Fee: Not listed
• Monthly Fees: start at $13,732
• Location: New York City, New York

Sunrise at East 56th is an upscale retirement community located in the heart of Manhattan. The facility offers a dedicated care team so you receive Individualized Service Plans and customized care rates based on your specific needs. You can choose from an assisted living studio, a one-bedroom assisted living apartment, a two-bedroom assisted living apartment, a studio memory care, or a two-bedroom memory care apartment. The assisted living monthly rates are higher because they are for residents who need additional medical care.

Because the facility is essentially an apartment building, there is no entrance fee listed on the website, but the monthly rates are considerably higher than other facilities. We believe this is because the monthly fees cover rent and additional care.

6. Winchester Gardens

• Entrance Fee: start at $317,000
• Monthly Fees: start at $3,106
• Location: Maplewood, New Jersey

Winchester Gardens offers several apartment floor plans and villa floor plans. You can choose from one or two-bedroom homes, and you can add apartment upgrade packages to your home depending on your budget. Winchester offers transitional, traditional and contemporary styles and options like wood grain vinyl flooring or marbleized ceramic stone floors.

As with most communities, the monthly maintenance fees are determined by the size of your home. One-bedroom homes pay a monthly service fee of $3,106, two-bedroom homes have a fee of $4,885 and villa homes cost $6,339 each month. The initial entrance fee provides access to healthcare services and secures your spot in the community.

Winchester offers a long list of amenities like fine dining, a beauty salon, an art studio and a variety of fitness classes.

7. The Villages

• Entrance Fee: start at low $200,000
• Monthly Fees: start around $1,000, but the website only provides an average
• Location: Sumter County, Florida

The Villages is open to those 55 and older and is home to around 80,000 people. The community boasts a perfect environment for those who want an active lifestyle as they age. Community members enjoy golf, recreation, trails and parks, and shopping and dining. New members can choose from apartment living, pre-owned homes, brand-new homes or custom-built homes. The Villages offers designer, premier, veranda or courtyard villa homes, cottages and patio based on the space requirements of the buyer.

You can buy a home with as many as four bedrooms if you need them, and the least expensive options start in the low $200,000 range. Monthly fees are based on the type of home you own, but range from just over $800 to approximately $1,400. The monthly payment covers amenities, trash collection, water, sewer, gas and electric, insurance, taxes and assessment.

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