the spending decade
70%
of U.S. disposable income is controlled by the 55+ household
A media kit for advertisers
The best years aren't
behind them.
They're reading this.
Third Act is the print magazine for life after 55, reaching the most affluent, loyal, and attentive readers in the room. Here's why your brand belongs on the page.
- 312,000
- readers per issue
- $1.2M
- median reader net worth
- 84%
- read cover to cover
Third Act
LIFE · AFTER · FIFTY-FIVE
Issue 14 · Summer · $7.95
The cover story
The Rise of
Home-Sharing
Four women in Miami wrote the blueprint
Issue No. 14 · The Housing Issue
Who's on the other side of the page
The reader with time, means,
and a habit of finishing the article.
The 55+ reader isn't winding down. They're spending, travelling, renovating, gifting, and choosing brands for the next thirty years. They read slowly, trust print, and remember what they see in it. That's the audience advertising forgot. We built a magazine for it.
attention
18 min
average time spent with each printed issue
loyalty
84%
read every issue cover to cover
intent
3.4×
more likely to act on a print ad than a social one
The reader at a glance
One subscriber, drawn from the data.
Representative profile based on Third Act subscriber research. Full methodology in the media kit.
- Median age
- 63
- Median household net worth
- $1.2M
- Homeowners
- 88%
- Travelled internationally last year
- 61%
- Have grandchildren they shop for
- 74%
- Subscribe rather than newsstand
- 79%
Now playing · Issue No. 14
Turn the pages yourself.
A full 32-page sample issue with three complete features, plus eleven live advertiser placements in every unit we sell. Click a page to turn it, or jump straight to a story.
Third Act
LIFE · AFTER · FIFTY-FIVE
Issue 14 · Summer · $7.95
The cover story
The Rise of
Home-Sharing
Four women in Miami wrote the blueprint
Inside front cover · C2 The first page
your brand
The first page
they open.
Nobody flips past the inside cover.
C2 · Inside front coverPremium position, sold by the year. It faces the contents, the page every reader lands on.
Third ActSummer · No. 14
In this issue
The Housing
Issue
- 04Where we live is how we liveFrom the editor
- 06The Rise of Senior Home-SharingShelter
- 14Navigating the Senior Living LandscapeThe Report
- 24Reimagining Senior LivingPolicy
On the cover
Photographs by Lena Ruiz. Additional reporting by Daniel Hwang.
03THIRD ACT
From the editor
Where we live
is how we live.
This issue began with a number that wouldn't leave us alone: 11.7 million older households now spend more than half their income just to stay housed. That isn't a housing statistic. It's a life statistic.
So we went looking for what people are actually doing about it. We found four women in Miami who wrote the blueprint forty years ago, a tax credit in Virginia worth $6,500, and a city hall in Boston matching homeowners with graduate students.
None of it is charity. All of it is architecture: of policy, of buildings, of the ordinary rooms we intend to grow old in.
Margaret Ellison
Editor-in-Chief
04THIRD ACT
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to yourself.
No competing headline. No scroll. No next tab.
Full page · right-hand readRight-hand pages catch the eye first. The strongest single-page unit in the book.
Shelter
The Rise
of Senior
Home-Sharing
Long before skyrocketing assisted living costs triggered a modern housing crisis, four women in Miami unknowingly created the blueprint for the future of senior living.
Photographs by Lena Ruiz
06THIRD ACT
Just like the iconic roommates of The Golden Girls, today's older adults are trading isolation and high expenses for community and shared costs. This modern twist on an old classic, home-sharing, is fast becoming the ultimate strategy for seniors determined to age in place on their own terms.
This isn't the chaotic, word-of-mouth roommate search of your college years. The modern home-sharing landscape is powered by sophisticated, secure digital platforms designed specifically for older adults. By removing the guesswork and the anxiety, these tools make it safe and simple to monetize an empty nest, trade loneliness for companionship, and find a trusted partner to share the daily loads of running a home.
Three major players dominate this rapidly expanding landscape, each catering to distinct needs: the peer-matching HomeShare Online, Nesterly, which focuses on intergenerational living, and the non-profit National Shared Housing Resource Center.
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Peer matching
HomeShare Online
For older adults looking for peers or stable, long-term roommates, HomeShare Online is a prominent entry point. Operating much like a secure matching website, it uses a compatibility scoring system that pairs homeowners and home-seekers on daily routines, work and sleep schedules, and core personal values.
The platform automates the safety procedures: identity verification, comprehensive background screening, customized lease creation, and direct digital rent collection.
Senior hosts generate an extra $830 to $850 a month, a buffer against rising property taxes and utility bills.
08THIRD ACT
Advertisement · Full page Right where
your brand
Right where
they stopped
reading.
Placed inside the story, not beside it.
Full page · in-bookRuns mid-feature, at the natural pause. Readers arrive already slowed down.
Intergenerational
Nesterly
Seniors interested in a younger dynamic are turning to Nesterly, built specifically to facilitate intergenerational living. The model connects older, fixed-income homeowners with graduate students or young professionals priced out of tight rental markets.
Its standout innovation is a structured "Task-for-Rent" discount: renters receive a $150 monthly rent reduction in exchange for two to three hours of household help a week: grocery shopping, light yard work, pet care, technical assistance.
The model has caught the attention of municipal leaders. State and local bodies, including the Maine Housing Authority and the City of Boston, have formed official public-private partnerships with Nesterly, funding it as a cost-effective way to expand affordable housing stock without building anything new.
- $150off, monthly
- 2–3 hrshelp, weekly
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Non-profit, human-led
National Shared Housing Resource Center
While digital apps offer convenience, technology can feel overwhelming. Seniors who prefer a high-touch approach can turn to the NSHRC, which is not a standalone app but a national directory of localized, regional non-profit home-sharing programs.
Participants are paired directly with professional housing counselors, who interview candidates, conduct home visits, verify references, and mediate disputes. Because these programs prioritize community stability over commercial profit, rents are typically kept below market, between $400 and $700 a month.
A collaborative future for aging
Home-sharing represents a profound cultural shift in how society approaches aging. By blending secure technology with human connection, these platforms give financial security to fixed-income homeowners while expanding affordable options for renters, and they directly combat the epidemic of senior isolation by fostering supportive households. As state agencies keep investing, home-sharing is evolving from a clever survival strategy into a cornerstone of age-friendly community planning.
Sources HomeShare Online · Nesterly Inc. · National Shared Housing Resource Center · AARP Public Policy Institute.
11THIRD ACT
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.
DPS · centre-bookThe largest unit we sell. One idea, two pages, no gutter to fight.
.
whole spread.
Seventeen inches of uninterrupted attention.
The Report
Navigating the
Senior Living
Landscape
Pressing challenges, and paths forward, for a generation that intends to stay put.
By Daniel Hwang
14THIRD ACT
The landscape of senior living is undergoing a profound transformation. As the population ages, older adults and their families face complex choices about where and how to live. While the desire for independence remains strong, systemic hurdles threaten the safety, financial security, and well-being of the aging population. According to extensive research from AARP, the most critical issues facing the sector center on affordability, access to long-term care, and the structural readiness of homes and communities. Understanding them is essential for families, policymakers, and providers alike.
The top challenges
1The soaring costs of care
For middle- and low-income families, formal senior living is increasingly out of reach. Inflation, labor shortages, and rising operational expenses have driven the cost of assisted living and nursing care to unprecedented heights.
15THIRD ACT
2The gap in aging-in-place infrastructure
The vast majority of adults aged 50 and older express a powerful preference to remain in their current homes as they age, rather than relocating to a formal facility. The physical reality of the housing stock creates a dangerous mismatch.
Most existing single-family homes are not structurally equipped for aging bodies. Essential accessibility features such as zero-step entrances, single-floor living, lever-style door handles, and hallways widened for wheelchairs are rare in standard housing, turning everyday environments into navigation hazards.
3Obstacles to modifications and smart tech
To maintain independence safely, older adults frequently need home modifications and supportive technology, from grab bars and ramped entryways to medical alert systems, fall-detection sensors, and automated security.
16THIRD ACT
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your brand
Quiet page.
Loud memory.
Print has no back button. It just stays on the table.
Full page · right-hand readAverage dwell time on a full page in this book: 18 minutes.
Three barriers
4Escalating caregiver strain
As formal care becomes unaffordable and homes remain unmodified, the burden falls squarely on informal networks. Millions of seniors rely entirely on unpaid family caregivers, often adult children or spouses.
Many are forced to cut their working hours or leave the workforce entirely, sacrificing their own retirement security. They are also frequently expected to perform complex nursing tasks without formal training or workplace support.
18THIRD ACT
5Widespread Medicare misconceptions
A severe lack of financial literacy around healthcare infrastructure leaves millions of older adults exposed to sudden financial ruin. There is a deep, persistent misunderstanding about what public insurance actually covers.
6Deficits in community readiness
Senior living does not exist in a vacuum. Surveyed, older adults consistently cite safe, walkable streets, reliable public transit, community connectivity, and proximity to quality healthcare as top priorities.
19THIRD ACT
A majority of seniors feel their communities are inadequately equipped for their changing needs. Subdivisions without sidewalks, car-dependent planning, and suburban food and medical deserts contribute heavily to premature institutionalization and social isolation.
The path forward
Providers must innovate by creating diverse, middle-market options rather than focusing solely on luxury communities. Local governments must update zoning to allow accessory dwelling units and invest in age-friendly infrastructure. Only through policy reform, financial education, and community-wide accessibility can society ensure that growing older is met with dignity and security.
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your brand here
A half-page sits directly under the last paragraph they read.
½ page horizontal The entry unit: same page, half the rate.
20THIRD ACT
Advertisement · Full page The page after
your brand
The page after
the point.
Where the article ends and the mind wanders.
Full page · end of featureCloses a story. Nothing after it competes for the page.
Advertisement · Double-page spread
your brand
Room to
.
DPS · between featuresRuns at the seam between two stories, where readers pause to reset.
.
say it properly.
Two facing pages, one uninterrupted idea.
Policy
Reimagining
Senior Living
State policy, tax credits, and the fight for affordable aging.
Photographs by Lena Ruiz
24THIRD ACT
The intersection of aging and affordability has reached a critical bottleneck in the United States. Driven by escalating costs and stalled development pipelines, national senior housing occupancy has climbed to 89.5%, nearly twenty consecutive quarters of increase, severely limiting the options available to older adults.
This supply-demand imbalance is projected to leave a deficit of 370,000 senior living units by 2030. At the same time, the strain on individuals is immense: over two decades, the number of senior households spending more than half their income on housing has nearly doubled.
- 89.5%National occupancy
- 370kUnit deficit by 2030
- 11.7mCost-burdened households
Staying put: the cheapest senior housing policy is usually the house someone already owns.
25THIRD ACT
Because building new brick-and-mortar facilities is slow and heavily delayed by capital constraints, state housing finance agencies, legislators, and municipal leaders are pioneering policies that use financial incentives and digital platforms to optimize the infrastructure that already exists.
State tax credits
Financial incentives for autonomy
The most cost-effective way to preserve affordable senior housing is helping older adults stay right where they are. To offset the burden of modifying a home for independent living, several states offer targeted tax credits that reduce state income tax liability for seniors or their caregivers, preventing premature, costly moves into assisted care.
Virginia. The Livable Home Tax Credit offers up to $6,500 for retrofitting an existing residence or buying a new accessible home. The state allocates $2m annually, split between new construction and retrofits, focused on universal design: zero-step entrances, widened doorways, roll-in showers.
26THIRD ACT
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your brand
Read slowly,
on purpose.
A magazine nobody is trying to get through quickly.
Full page · right-hand readSits inside the policy feature, the most-clipped pages in the issue.
- Maryland The Independent Living Tax Credit offers a buffer equal to 50% of qualified accessibility renovation expenses, capped at $5,000 per individual.
- Colorado Recognizing that fixed incomes make sudden renovations impossible, the Home Modification Tax Credit lets residents with documented illnesses, impairments, or disabilities claim up to $5,000 to retrofit a primary home.
- Maine & Ohio Maine's AccessMod credit helps low-income seniors meet universal safety rules. Ohio pairs localized grants with its Disability Access Tax Credit for chairlifts, exterior ramps, and grab bars.
| Virginia · Livable Home | up to $6,500 |
| Maryland · Independent Living | 50%, max $5,000 |
| Colorado · Home Modification | up to $5,000 |
| Maine · AccessMod / Ohio · DATC | varies |
28THIRD ACT
The new policy frontier
Digital home-sharing
While tax credits address physical infrastructure, municipal and state housing authorities increasingly view digital home-sharing platforms as a weapon against financial strain and epidemic-level social isolation. In Maine alone there are over 100,000 older-adult households heavily burdened by housing costs. Rather than breaking ground on new developments, governments are subsidizing platforms that scale up safe, intergenerational arrangements, turning existing housing stock into shared communities.
- Direct state procurement MaineHousing awarded Nesterly a $200,000 contract to establish the state's official Homeshare Pilot Program. Backed by the Governor's Cabinet on Aging and AARP Maine, the vetted portal pairs fixed-income owners who have empty bedrooms with students and young professionals, with no construction capital required.
29THIRD ACT
- Municipal innovation labs Boston integrated Nesterly into its Housing Innovation Lab with the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and the Age Strong Commission, pairing senior homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods with graduate students priced out of the rental market.
- County and non-profit extensions In Broward County, Florida, the county routes funding through the South Florida Institute on Aging alongside HomeShare Online. Subsidies cover background checks and matching, making the platform free or near-free for local seniors.
Conclusion
Government provides regulatory legitimacy, funding, and public trust; digital platforms deliver the secure infrastructure needed for scale, including background vetting and automated leasing. Combined with tax credits, these tools are turning home-sharing and retrofitting from individual survival strategies into permanent pillars of age-friendly planning.
Sources National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care · Virginia DHCD, Livable Home Tax Credit · Urban Institute, ACS senior housing burden analysis · MaineHousing Homeshare Pilot · Nesterly · NSHRC state and local policy toolkits.
30THIRD ACT
Inside back cover · C3 The page they
your brand
The page they
close on.
Facing the back cover: the last thing read, the first thing remembered.
C3 · Inside back coverGuaranteed right-hand position, sold with C4 as a pair.
Outside back cover · C4 The last page
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The last page
everyone sees.
The most-viewed placement in print, face-up on every coffee table, for a whole season.
C4 · Outside back coverOne per issue. Booked furthest ahead of any unit in the book.
Third Act · the back cover
Front cover Click a page to turn it · ← → arrow keys · swipe on touch
What's inside · every issue
Six departments. Every one an adjacency.
Third Act is organized into departments readers return to issue after issue, which means your placement sits beside content they already trust. Pick the room that fits your brand.
Second Acts
Reinvention, encore careers, and starting over on purpose.
Finance · Education · Tech
Passage
Travel for people with time to take it slowly.
Travel · Hospitality · Auto
Sound Body
Health, longevity, and aging without apology.
Health · Wellness · Pharma
The Long Table
Food, wine, and the pleasure of gathering again.
Food · Spirits · Home
Money & Meaning
Wealth, legacy, and what it's all for.
Finance · Insurance · Legal
The Reading Life
Books, film, and culture worth slowing down for.
Media · Arts · Retail
Rates & placements · 2026
Book a page in the best chapter.
Open rates below. Frequency and category-exclusive positions are available; the full media kit has specs, deadlines, and the issue calendar.
| Placement | Specification | Open rate |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter page A first toe in the water | 3.75 × 4.875 in | $400 |
| Half page Beside the feature well | Horizontal or vertical | $900 |
| Full page The 18-minute canvas | Bleed 8.625 × 11.125 in | $1,500 |
| Inside front (C2) First thing they open | Premium spread position | $2,100 |
| Outside back (C4) The coffee-table page | Full-bleed back cover | $2,300 |
| Advertorial In our voice, with your story | 1–2 pages, designed by us | $2,450 |
| Bound insert Tactile, unskippable | Card, sample, or booklet | Let's talk |
Open rates per issue. Net agency rates and multi-issue discounts on request.
We moved budget out of social and into Third Act on a hunch. Three issues later it's our highest-returning print buy. The readers actually call.
Patricia Vance VP Marketing, a national travel brand
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