When to Move to a Senior Living Community — How I Used Claude AI to Decide and Plan

Thinking about a move to a senior living community — or just wondering if you should? In this episode, Ginny Deerin shares one of her most personal AI projects yet: using  AI to research, decide, and plan her move to The Peninsula, a new senior living community being built in Charleston, South Carolina.

She walks you through every step — how she used AI to compare communities, think through whether it was the right move, figure out if she could afford it, review a fifty-page contract, choose her actual apartment, and start planning her space. AI was her researcher, counselor, financial sounding board, contract reviewer, and interior design consultant. All in one.

Also in this episode: the jaw-dropping story of a man who built a $1.8 billion company with just his brother and a lot of AI — and a warning about AI voice cloning scams that you'll want to share with your whole family today. Plus two recommendations, a listener question that taught even Ginny something new about YouTube, and a homework assignment that involves a pen, some paper, and the people you love most.

Whether you're thinking about a move like this or simply want to see what AI can do when you give it a big, meaty, real-life project — this episode is for you.

SHOW LINKS

📰 NYT Medvi story: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/technology/ai-startup-medvi-matthew-gallagher.html 

📰 Journal of Accountancy elder fraud story: https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2026/apr/elder-fraud-rises-as-scammers-use-ai/ 

🎟️ Charleston Library Society — Deepak Srivastava talk: https://charlestonlibrarysociety.org/event/bond-street-reit-speaker-series-deepak-srivastava/ 

🎙️ KIDSTaiLES on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kidstailes/id1877547450

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Welcome to aiGED
01:33 AI in the News: The $1.8 Billion Two-Man Company
03:44 AI Voice Cloning Scams — And the Safe Word Fix
06:04 Why I Started Planning for Senior Living
08:35 Part 1: Researching My Options
10:47 Part 2: Is This Really What I Want?
12:46 Part 3: Can I Afford It?
16:23 Part 4: Making the Decision and Reviewing the Contract
18:49 Part 5: Designing My New Space
22:25 Recommendations
25:56 Listener Question: Hindi Translation on YouTube
26:59 Homework and Wrap Up

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, hello everybody. It is Jenny Darren, and I want to welcome everybody to the Aged Podcast, the one, the only podcast that is all about AI for the 65 Plus crowd. I'm your host, and we've got a really great episode for you today, and it is a lovely day in Charleston. I've got my door open so you might hear some dogs barking and laughing kids. So I hope you can enjoy that background noise. So anyway, I bought into a senior living community, and I'm pretty excited about it. It's called the Peninsula. It's being built right here in Charleston, South Carolina. And I've been using AI to help me think through every single step of this decision. My researcher, my counselor, my financial sounding board, my contract reviewer, and more. Now, whether you're thinking about a move like this or simply want to see what AI can do when you give it a real meaty project, you're in the right place today. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas. We've also got two great AI in the news stories, a couple of recommendations, a listener question that taught me something new, and a little homework assignment that involves a pen, some paper, and the people you love most. So let's get into AI in the news. There's a piece in the New York Times this week by Aaron Griffith titled How AI Helped One Man and His Brother Build a $1.8 billion company. I just had to share the story. Michael Gallagher, 41, started a company from his house in Los Angeles, basically by himself, using AI to write the code, build the website, create the ads, handle customer service. His company, MedV, is a telehealth provider for GLP1 weight loss drugs. In its first full year, MedVee generated $401 million in sales. This year, they're on track for $1.8 billion. Total staff, him and his brother. Now, we all remember the days of people creating Dell computer business in their garages, but those like started and then it took them a while to build up, and they had lots and lots of staff. So this is a story about two guys and building a company in a very short period of time to $8 billion. And he used tools you've heard of right here on AJ, whether it's ChatGPT, Claude, and others, to build almost every part of that business. And here's the line that stopped me cold. When asked if he planned to hire more people, he said, and I quote, I kind of want to hire people because I'm lonely. Well, that's the AI economy, I think, in one sentence. It's a real complicated situation. This story isn't telling you to go build a billion-dollar company. It is telling you that AI is changing what one determined person can actually do with a very large dose of AI. And I think it's worth paying attention to. The Journal of Accountancy, which I only get because I get an alert about AI. I normally am not a reader of the Journal of Accountancy. It's the publication of the American Institute of CPAs. And it just ran a piece this month on AI-powered elder fraud. And the numbers are just startling. In 2024, losses from elder fraud rose 43%. Total damages nearly five billion dollars. Whoa. Here's how the newest scam works: a fraudster finds a few seconds of your grandchild's voice, maybe from a video on social media, a voicemail, anywhere. They feed it into an AI voice cloning tool, readily available. Minutes later, they have a near-perfect copy of that voice. Then they call you. Grandma, it's me. I've been in an accident and I really need money. Please don't tell mom and dad. It sounds exactly like them because AI made it sound exactly like them. An 86-year-old grandmother in Philly got that call last year. She handed over $6,000 in cash before she realized it was not her granddaughter. Now, if you've been listening to Aged for a while, you've already heard my tip about creating a family safe word. This story is a reminder to actually do it. If you haven't set one up yet, this is the week. Pick a random word or phrase, share it with the people you'd call in an emergency, and write it down somewhere safe. One tip, one conversation, could save your family thousands of dollars. So if somebody clones my voice and says, I'm in trouble, you need to send me money, my daughter can say, What's a safe word? And if I can't give her my safe word, she knows it's a scam, right? That's how that's going to work. Okay, enough about that. Let's get on to my main topic, which is when to move to a senior living community. How I use AI to decide and plan. Let me begin with a personal story that really prompted me to start seriously thinking about moving into a senior living community, or at least getting on a reservation list. So a couple of years ago, I was probably 72, I spent time on my family vacation. My extended family goes to the beach every year, and there are about 40 of us. It's a lot of fun. It's also very tiring. Fortunately, we rent several houses, so we spread out. The spouse of one of my siblings had been ill for many years, but she kept coming year after year, even though she didn't feel very well, and it was always a highlight to have her there. This particular summer was around the time when this person had to move into an assisted living community. Her needs were such that this is what she needed, but she was not happy about it and made that perfectly clear to all of us. She didn't feel that she had been a significant part of the conversation. Actually, I think she and my brother had numerous conversations about this, but that didn't matter. She felt like she was not in control. I left that vacation with a personal commitment to make my own plan for when my needs would require me to move beyond independent living. I didn't want to put my kids in the position of making decisions for me, which would be very difficult for them. And I certainly didn't want to be angry with them for doing this to me. Whatever I was going to do, I wanted to be in control of the decision. So I'd like to talk you through the journey I've taken so far using my AI to understand my options, consider the pros and cons, go back and forth about all that's involved in a decision like this, review some very detailed documents, figure out if I could afford it, select my actual space, and start planning for the move. The good news is I've got two years. I just have to live that long. I'm pretty sure I will. Because the place that I'm moving to is not going to be open for two years. So to help me organize my thoughts, I've divided this into six parts. Part one, research. I began my research by thinking about what my options were in Charleston and learning more about each of them. This happened right around the time I started using AI. I was definitely a newbie to using it, but I thought this would be a great research project to get some real AI experience. I was using the free version of ChatGPT. This was two years ago, and it did a pretty good job of getting me started. For me, it came down to two communities here in Charleston. Both have very distinctive vibes. One a bit country club. The other one was the opposite end of the spectrum, more of a what I'd call nuts and granola crowd. Both were in the suburbs of Charleston. The first job I gave AI was to create a comparison table. The basics are the apartments for sale, or is it more of a buy-in to the community deal? What housing options did they have available? How long were the waiting lists? What were the estimated costs? What were the amenities? I remember thinking, what a great job ChatGPT did pulling all of that together. The ball was now in my court to think through the options. And just about that time, it was announced that a new senior living community was going to be built on the peninsula of Charleston, not too far from where I currently live. The project was going to be called the Peninsula. I was immediately interested because I consider myself a downtown girl. I love walking to places, riding my bikes, lots of interesting restaurants and cultural activities nearby, the civic buzz. That's what I like. So it was time to get AI back on the job. Since the peninsula was a brand new project, there wasn't a lot of information available, but as it did come available, I fed it into my AI and had it added to my comparison chart. I now had three senior living communities side by side. I can't tell you how helpful that was. Apples to apples. Part two. Figuring out if this is really what I want. At this point, I would say I was using AI as a counselor or maybe even a therapist. It was very helpful to have long back and forth conversations about the pros and cons. Some people in my life were encouraging me to just age in place. After all, I live in a condo building with an elevator. That's pretty good. Maybe I'd have to widen my bathroom doorway a bit or make a few changes, but I talked all of this through with my AI, and it was genuinely helpful. It asked good questions, it was supportive and encouraging and understanding. Which, yes, I know AI is trained to be that way, but even knowing that intellectually, it still feels really good to have that conversation, to feel like someone gets it. So we had long conversations about my concern that the peninsula might be a little too country club for me. Does it fit my style? And I really came around to thinking that, as with any place you move, there are people you fit with and people you don't fit with. It's not so much about the physical environment as it is the people. I'd been to a few events that the peninsula put on, and there was no question in my mind that there are plenty of people there with the kind of vibe I'm looking for in friendships and community. So after lots of conversations, I made the decision. Yes, I am ready to buy a condo at the peninsula. I have to say, it helps that it won't be ready for occupancy for a couple of years. So it gives me some time to continue my life, get used to the idea of making this move, and while I'm continuing to make the transition, I can live in a space that I love. All right, part three. Can I afford it? At this point, I needed my AI to take in a lot of information and get very analytical, asking me good questions and helping me think through the numbers, which I am not good at. The first thing I needed to figure out was whether I could afford to put down the $10,000 needed to get on the waiting list. This is fully refundable, so it seemed to me like a no-brainer. This payment, however, did trigger me having to provide some very basic financials to the peninsula. In their mind, they felt that this was affordable for me after looking at my financials. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted a second opinion from someone with a little more distance. After all, the peninsula's interest is in selling me a condo. So I turned to my AI. I uploaded the 50-page agreement and information packet the Peninsula had provided, along with the financial document I had filled out and returned to them. I felt perfectly comfortable uploading that information, and I knew my AI couldn't help me without it. Then I asked, what else do you need from me to figure out if I can afford this? Came back with a list of three or four additional documents that would be helpful. I felt comfortable uploading all of them. It also asked me probably a dozen questions. I could answer most of them without much trouble, and for the ones I needed help with, my AI walked me through how to come up with the correct answer. Now here's where it gets complicated. In this particular senior living community model, I buy my condominium, and as soon as I occupy it, which I have to do when it's built, I start paying a monthly fee. That monthly fee covers electricity, internet, housekeeping, parking, a dining allotment for the restaurant and bars in the building. Then, unless I drop dead in my condo, which would of course be my preference, when I get to a place where I can no longer live independently, I would move down to the dreaded second floor. I say dreaded jokingly, but it is dreaded because you don't go there until you can no longer live independently. They have a memory care unit and a physical care unit. At that point, the idea is that you sell your condo and the proceeds help cover the higher monthly fees for the second floor services. So there's a lot to think through. Can I afford to buy the condo? Can I afford the monthly fee? And if circumstances change, which they will, can I afford the second floor? That is a lot of complicated financial analysis, and I cannot tell you how helpful it was to work through all of it with my AI. I created a project within my AI, so all the documents I uploaded are saved, and my AI can continue to reference them as needed. This conversation took place over about three or four months. In the end, the peninsula determined, and my AI and I determined that yes, I can afford to buy a place at the peninsula, live on the second floor where my apartment is, and if I ever need to move to the second floor, I can afford that too. Job well done. On to part four. Part four, making the decision and nailing down the details. After about six months of conversation and research with my AI, I was ready to make that final decision. I met with the folks at the peninsula to get updated information, including current prices for the condos. I made it very easy for the salesperson because I said, I want to buy the smallest apartment in the building. So that was that. The nice thing is the apartment happens to be on the seventh floor, which is the top floor, generally considered a primo location. So, hey, look at me. The apartment I chose is almost the exact same size as my current apartment, which makes thinking about furniture and the move much easier. When I got home from that meeting, I uploaded all the documents and asked my AI to review them and flag any issues I needed to address. This is really helpful stuff. The cost of the apartment was straightforward, but the monthly fees, both for the main residence and the projected fees for the second floor, was less clear. So my AI gave me a few very specific questions to bring back to my contact at the peninsula. Basically, I was asking for clearer estimates on what those monthly fees might look like. I reviewed that information and talked it through with my AI. But between the two of us, and with my financials already on file in my project, we felt comfortable that this was definitely affordable. I asked my AI, what else do you think I need to do before I make this final decision and sign on the dotted line? Came back to me with two suggestions. Have a lawyer review the contract and talk with my family. On the lawyer front, my AI flagged a couple of issues in the contract worth addressing. Fortunately, my older brother is a lawyer. He reviewed the whole thing and appreciated having those issues flagged in advance. Saved him a good bit of time. Now on the family front, I did that too. My siblings were supportive. As for my kids, they are honestly so tired of hearing about my plans for my funeral, my retirement, my will, that they just laughed and said, We got it, Mom. It sounds like a great plan. So I signed on the dotted line and wrote my first check. Yikes! A new era of my life coming up in about two years. Part five, designing the space. Since I've got a couple of years, I didn't think I needed to be in much of a rush to design my space. However, the folks at the peninsula say they need many of our decisions made by the end of May. Why they need my refrigerator choice two years before I move in, I don't know, but rules are rules. I have two partners in designing my space. I've got my AI and my daughter, who is a gifted interior designer and free. It's an added bonus that she designed my current apartment, and my vision is that my new apartment will be very similar, so it should be a light lift. My AI was very helpful as I worked through the decisions that the peninsula needed from me. Let me give you a few examples. I knew I wanted a bidet. I have a friend who's been lecturing me on the benefits of a bidet for years, and I thought this might be the perfect time to try it out. It's one of the options the peninsula offers, but I wanted to learn more about the specific model they were offering and whether it was comparable to the one my friend is so in love with. My AI did the research and did a little comparison for me of the different models. Decision made. Then there was the kitchen package. They have a standard package, a mid-range package, and a high-end package. So many choices. I was inclined to go with the high-end package because I love to cook. But I did want to carefully study the pros and cons of each appliance. When you think about it, there's a lot involved. The refrigerator, the dishwasher, microwave, disposal, stovetop, the oven, and so on. My AI was very helpful in doing the research and presenting very clear comparisons. Gave me exactly what I needed to make all those decisions. Then there were some options in the bathroom and the question of whether I wanted additional electrical outlets. In that case, I simply uploaded the floor plan that Peninsula had provided, which showed where the outlets were. My AI reviewed it and made a couple of suggestions. Being able to upload the layout with all those details was really helpful. And again, that will live in this project. So as I go along, if I have other questions as I plan for furniture or whatever, that information will be there. I'm going to stop there, but I think this gives you a good sense of how helpful AI can be for this kind of planning. And even though my daughter has all the fancy software for furniture, layout, and placement, it's nice to have my AI there to help, as it makes sense. And I don't have to bug her quite as much. In the future, I've got more planning and decision making to do, and I will definitely call. On my AI to help, but for now I'll stop here. I hope this has been helpful. Maybe you're considering a move to a senior living community, or maybe it's not even on your radar yet. Either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're watching on YouTube, leave a comment below. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else, I'd love it if you'd share your thoughts in the review section. So let's move into a couple of recommendations. Here's something a little different for this week's recommendation. And it's local. If you are in or near Charleston, mark your calendar for April 16th. The Charleston Library Society is hosting a talk with Dr. Deepak Srivastava. Srivastava. He is president of the Gladstone Institutes in California and one of the country's leading researchers in stem cell science and congenital heart disease. He's working on something remarkable: engineering cells that can actually repair heart damage. Now here's why I'm mentioning it on Agid. His lab doesn't just use traditional research methods. Gladstone Institute is known for weaving AI and machine learning into the science, using it to analyze massive amounts of genetic data, spot patterns no human researcher could catch alone, and accelerate discoveries that used to take decades. So this presentation isn't just a science talk, it's a front row seat to where AI is going and what it might mean for how long and how well we live. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for general admission. I'll put the link in the show notes. My second recommendation this week is a little personal and a little unexpected for a podcast about AI, but stay with me. If you have a three or four-year-old in your life, a grandchild, a great grandchild, a neighbor kid, anyone, I want you to know about a podcast called Kids Tales. That's K-I-D-S-T-A-I-L-E-S. Get it? AI, Kids Tales. It's a podcast of original audio stories created just for the three to four-year-old set. Each episode is eight to ten minutes long, perfect for a car ride to school, quiet activity, or just winding down. No screens, just imaginative storytelling that little ones can actually sit still for. So here's the AI connection. And yes, there is one. Every story is written with the help of AI. So this is a real-world example of AI being used not to replace human creativity, but to support it in service of something that really matters. Each story in Kids Tales is designed to nurture kindness, confidence, empathy, and those big feelings that three and four-year-olds are just starting to figure out. Now here's my full disclosure moment. Kids Tales is created by the founder of Wings for Kids, a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to building social and emotional skills in kids. And I am that founder and very proud of that. So yes, I am recommending something I created informed by something I created. But I'm recommending it because it's good and because the AI angle makes it genuinely relevant to what we do here at Aged. If you've got little ones in your world, look up Kids Tales wherever you get your podcasts. It's also on YouTube. I'm going to just put the link in the show notes as usual. Now, a quick listener question that came in. Can you add language translation in Hindi so I can share the podcast with my parents? Wow, I like that idea. I had no idea how to do this, so of course I asked Claude, and he gave me three good options. The one I chose to recommend is to use a YouTube feature that is called auto-translation, and it's free. YouTube has built-in auto-translated subtitles. My listeners' parents can turn on Hindi captions themselves by clicking on the CC button. You know, the one many of us choose so we can get closed captions since we've got some hearing issues. Anyway, on any YouTube video, you just click the CC button, which will offer subtitles, auto-translate, and then you pick your language. In my listener's case, Hindi. I had no idea. Good for YouTube. Okay, your homework assignment. Give your family the gift of a safe word. I'm going to take this opportunity to write each person in my family, my close family, a note, giving them my safe word. Nice to think of communicating in a way that is not digital. Alright, it is time to wrap up, so let me close by reminding us that AI is both helpful and hazardous. We live on the helpful side at Agent, but be sure to protect your information, double check advice, and trust your judgment. If you love listening to this podcast, and I hope you do, please leave a review and or a rating, or if you're on YouTube, please subscribe and please share it, especially with your pals in the 65 plus crowd. Thanks for listening, and remember it is never too late to learn something new, especially something that might make life easier and especially more fun. Cheers.