Cover of On Your Own Terms: Taking Charge of Aging in Place by Paul Wilczynski
On Your Own Terms helps adults 55+ and their adult children decide how to stay at home before a crisis decides for them
ASHEVILLE, NC, UNITED STATES, October 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — TheSeniorTechie Press today announced the release of On Your Own Terms: Taking Charge of Aging in Place by Paul Wilczynski. The book is written for adults 55 and older who want to stay in their homes, and for the adult children who want to help without taking over. It is available now in print for $19.95 and as an ebook for $9.95.
Roughly three-quarters of Americans over 50 say they want to stay in their own homes, according to AARP. Wilczynski argues that wanting to stay is not a plan. When older adults don’t make the key decisions themselves, those decisions tend to get made for them. That can happen in a hospital discharge meeting, through a family member’s well-meant intervention, or through a product’s default settings.
The book opens with Frank, a retired electrician who comes home from knee surgery to find cameras his daughter had installed. Nobody asked him, and nobody explained what the cameras record or who can see the footage. His daughter acted out of love. Frank lost his say in his own house.
From there, the book’s 13 chapters walk readers through the practical questions of staying home:
Taking stock of your situation
Preparing the house
Preventing falls
Managing your health
Staying connected
Protecting your money from scams
Getting around when driving becomes harder
Understanding what it costs and what pays for it
Choosing help
Recognizing when staying put no longer works
Each chapter ends with a checklist readers can use again as things change.
The cost of waiting is real. The CDC reports that one in four older adults falls every year. According to the FTC, reported fraud losses among adults 60 and older rose from about $600 million in 2020 to $2.4 billion in 2024.
“Staying in your own home is a strategy, not a default,” writes Wilczynski. “It can work, for many of us, for a long time, wonderfully.”
For adult children, the book offers a different kind of reassurance. Wilczynski writes that a parent who is visibly and competently running their own plan gives their children something no device can: genuine relief.
Wilczynski, 78, is a retired systems developer who lives in Asheville and is aging in place himself. He says the book is partly a report from inside that experience. The book uses a three-part test for any decision about home, health, money, or help: it should be informed, deliberate, and the reader’s own.
About the Book
On Your Own Terms: Taking Charge of Aging in Place by Paul Wilczynski. TheSeniorTechie Press, 2026. Paperback $19.95 (ISBN 979-8-9955017-4-9). Ebook $9.95 (ISBN 979-8-9955017-5-6). Available at TheSeniorTechiePress.com.
About the Author
Paul Wilczynski is a retired systems developer and the publisher of TheSeniorTechie.com, a newsletter on aging, independence, and practical technology for older adults with about 2,400 subscribers. His other books are Who Gets Your Passwords? The SeniorTechie Guide to Digital Estate Planning, The SeniorTechie Guide to AI for Seniors, and Don’t Move to Asheville.
Media Contact
Paul Wilczynski
TheSeniorTechie Press
Paul@TheSeniorTechiePress.com
TheSeniorTechiePress.com
Paul Wilczynski
TheSeniorTechie Press
+1 8286765846
Paul@TheSeniorTechie.com
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