An Arlington Model Train Enthusiast Plans for the Future

When visitors step into Brad Stanford’s Arlington, Va., basement, another world comes to life. What they see is a miniaturized version of Cowan, Tenn., circa 1944. True to form, his version of Cowan has model trains that loop through the town, just as they do in the real Cowan, which is between Nashville and Chattanooga.

Stanford picked Cowan to emulate as it’s near the vacation home of his late wife, Elizabeth, who died of a sudden heart attack. Stanford, now 85, has remarried and keeps adding elements to his Cowan model.

He admits to always being a planner and tinkerer, never content to sit still. That’s especially true in his senior years. His first step many years ago was to take out long-term care insurance.

Stanford’s financial expertise is an outgrowth of his professional life. He retired as a financial manager for the U.S. Navy’s basic research program in 2014.

“Before Elizabeth died, she and I had done more thinking and searching around. What we realized is that long-term care insurance has some drawbacks. It’s not available right away, for instance. You have to wait for it to kick in.”

Stanford and his wife were the first people to sign up for Goodwin House at Home; it’s a unique way to combine long-term care insurance benefits with care coordination and personalized plans, offered by the nonprofit Goodwin House.

There are only 33 programs like this in the U.S., and their popularity is growing, with a large increase in the last five years. A recent survey found “3 out of 4 adults age 50 and older want to stay in their homes and communities as they age—yet many don’t see that happening for them.”

What Stanford also likes is that Goodwin House is close to where he lives. He’s familiar with the senior living community because he and his late wife explored many such operations when they were looking for a suitable environment for the final years of his mother’s life.

Most of all, he realizes retirement communities would have no room for his Cowan train set-up. “Working on it keeps me going. I have no desire nor intention of leaving my home. Yes, I want to age in place.”