The best thing about retirement living is the community you’ll have access to within the retirement facility. Nothing could be better than being surrounded by a built-in network of potential friends and compatriots that you can choose to spend as much time with as you like. Being able to live and socialise with others provides a strong buffer to the problems of loneliness and isolation often faced by ageing people – and given the health and wellbeing problems that arise from loneliness, this is of huge importance. Lonely older people are more prone to physical health problems, mental health problems, lower quality of life and earlier deaths. It’s a sobering thought – but retirement living does away with this problem by providing an easily accessible community to socialise with.