Aging alone? A lit­tle lone­ly? Learn how sin­gles thrive at Smith Village

June 24, 2026

For a vari­ety of rea­sons, more peo­ple are aging solo than ever before – whether by choice or cir­cum­stance. Accord­ing to the U.S. Cen­sus Bureau, over 22 mil­lion adults over 55 live alone. What­ev­er the rea­son you’re enter­ing into your retire­ment era as a sin­gle per­son, it’s impor­tant to have a plan in place for your future. A Life Plan com­mu­ni­ty – with all lev­els of care on one cam­pus – can deliv­er every­thing you need. 


Sara geber headshot
Dr. Sara Zeff Geber

Com­bat loneliness

“I still believe that one of the biggest prob­lems of solo aging is iso­la­tion and lone­li­ness, and not hav­ing the social con­nec­tions that keeps peo­ple healthy. It keeps peo­ple mov­ing, it keeps peo­ple engaged, it keeps peo­ple from get­ting demen­tia ear­li­er than they should,” explains solo aging expert Sara Geber. 

A Life Plan com­mu­ni­ty offers a rich social net­work with plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties to get involved, learn new things and meet new peo­ple. It can give seniors a renewed sense of pur­pose and add years to their lives. 



Some­one to look out for you

One of the biggest wor­ries of solo agers is not hav­ing a sup­port sys­tem if some­thing hap­pens to them. ​“I have peo­ple tell me all the time, ​‘Well, I’m not a join­er,’ or ​‘I’m not a peo­ple per­son, I like my soli­tude,’” shares Geber. ​“That’s just great when you’re in your 50s and your 60s, but boy, when you get a lit­tle old­er and can’t dri­ve any­more, you can trap your­self in your own house.”

At a Life Plan com­mu­ni­ty, you’ll have access to all lev­els of care on one cam­pus, so even if your needs change, you’ll have the care you need, and peo­ple to care for you. A rich social life and the con­fi­dence in know­ing your care is secure for the future are a com­bi­na­tion you’ll only find at a Life Plan com­mu­ni­ty like Smith Village. 

If you want to learn more about solo aging and how Smith Vil­lage can be your answer to a safe, secure and mean­ing­ful future, call today at (773) 657‑9613.

For more tips on solo aging, check out Sara Geber’s book, ​“Essen­tial Retire­ment Planning.”


About Smith Village

Locat­ed in the his­toric Bev­er­ly neigh­bor­hood, Smith Vil­lage is Chicago’s lead­ing senior liv­ing com­mu­ni­ty. We’re com­mit­ted to help­ing Chica­go seniors max­i­mize their inde­pen­dence at every age. You’ll ben­e­fit from our excep­tion­al inde­pen­dent liv­ing lifestyle as well as life­time access to Chicago’s best assist­ed liv­ing, mem­o­ry care, skilled nurs­ing care, and Green­leaf short-term reha­bil­i­ta­tion. And you’ll know that we will con­tin­ue to pro­vide a home and the care you need – even if you should out­live your money.

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