Retirement Homes

One of the hot GD topics making rounds in final selection process in MBA colleges in India is ‘Retirement Homes’. The topic can be placed in any form and style to have the effective opinion of the participants in the GD round. Since top MBA colleges emphasize that a management graduate has to be socially sensitive, this GD topic becomes all the more important and is one of the probable GD topics in the forthcoming Group Discussion round.  

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A Retirement home: Place the key facts first
A retirement home is a privately owned facility designed to accommodate individuals in their senior years.These housing projects are not similar to run-down old-age homes, where the elderly and abandoned live in a deplorable state. These retirement homes are vibrant spaces that take care of food, housekeeping, health care and security, allowing senior citizens to enjoy their old age. 

Retirement Homes are good: Advantages

• Due to the changing demographics, migration of children for work to metropolitan cities or to other countries becomes inevitable. Under such circumstances retirement homes become effective solutions to a carefree life for elderly.
• Isolation can be detrimental for a person's health and can push him/her into depression. Living in a residential complex, where neighbors are in constant touch, can be enriching. The residents in a retirement complex may not exactly be family, but they provide the much-needed company that seniors look for.
• Safety and security is also important concern, especially because of the rising crime against senior citizens in cities. Many retirement homes provide 24-hour security and some even have the CCTV facility.
• One of the main advantages of a retirement community is that residents do not have to worry about maintenance, cleaning and other related work. These types of services are typically included in the cost of living in a retirement community.
• Retirement home provides a chance to elderly to remain as independent as possible.

Retirement homes may not be so good: Disadvantages

• Retirement communities are not found in every neighborhood. Their presence is limited to specific areas which may be far away from the places of relatives or friends.
• Moving out of own home to an independent living facility can be emotionally stressful. At such an age people usually get attached to the places where they have lived for years, moving out to a completely new locality becomes difficult.
• Old age parents always see for love and care from their children. Though retirement homes provide basic amenities required for old people yet they may feel lonely and dejected there.
• Retirement homes are not for everyone. Their   affordability is a huge factor to consider. The cost of the services will rise every year and since old people have only their savings with them to invest so many of them cannot afford retirement homes.
• A lot of developers rebrand their project, claiming these are for senior citizens just because the land is situated in a far-off location and is not selling. So such type of projects lacks the facilities that seniors need. 

With the life expectancy increasing in India, the country's overall population is growing at 1.8% annually, but the number of senior citizens is growing at a much faster rate at 3.8% every year. Sensing the opportunity, several large corporate groups, such as the Tatas, LIC Housing Finance and the Max Group have forayed into the development of these complexes.  These apartments are built for mass catering. Many prefer these Retirement homes for a peaceful and independent life but many old aged people look for individual care and attention.

Accordingly, the Indian society is not like the western social structure where old aged people live a retired life enjoying on their own with all the social security available still there are many retired people in India who prefer retirement home living. So despite all the amenities available, Retirement Home living is more a matter of choice than a compulsion.

Tips to improve your participation
It is a hot social topic and is more concerned with emerging areas of management education. This topic in GD round is one of the probable topics and has been carefully chosen and solved with the sole aim to help you succeed in GD round. If you follow the few key tips, you can improve your chances to get through the GD round

• If you are clear and know the topic well, it is good to be the first to start the Group Discussion
• If you are not well versed with the topic and fee a bit confused on it, try to gather information from first 1-2 speakers and then place your view point.
• Use the quote and data, if you are sure of the source else leave it.
• Take the opportunity to speak multiple times.
• It is more an opinion based topic, so be careful in your approach
• Speak in a firm and audible voice. Don’t shout as it wouldn’t do any good.

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