If you are a senior and looking for love, or at least companionship, you can join the millions of people who are online. You may feel like everyone is under 25 but there are at least 19 million unmarried US residents age 65 and older.
You won’t be alone and out of the more than 2500 online website date sites, there are sites dedicated to seniors (and every other interest you can think of).
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Looking for a Good Site
When you are searching for a good online dating site, decide what you want from dipping into the dating pool. You can tailor your profile to your wants and hopefully find a perfect match.
When you are researching sites, look for the following:
- A detailed questionnaire
- Profile and photo required
- Multiple communication method like emojis, personal messages or email, and app or text messages
- Reasonable costs from free to $30/month subscriptions or up to $90 for one-time costs
- Safety features including encryptions, fraud detection and sex offender checks
- Demographics of site users
Staying Safe
The internet seems to bring out the worst in people. And here is a secret… Not Everyone Online is Who They Say They Are. You haven’t gotten to 55+ by being stupid, so keep your wits around you when you are online dating. Here are some things to watch out for:
- Declarations of strong feelings with a few days or weeks of meeting you
- The photos don’t match the profile. You can reverse google search images easily by right clicking and selecting search image
- Their English skills are not up to par, but they claim English is their first language
- They don’t want to talk on the phone or video chat
- Their life involves drama and no money to pay for the drama (and if they ask for money)
Dos and Don’ts
- Don’t give out personal information (full name, addresses, children’s names, etc.) and use a second email for online dating
- Internet search for the person using their internet name or phone number and eventually full name
- Ask questions to confirm they are local if they claim they are, or why they are long-distance dating
- Listen to your friends and family. Hormones can blind you to reality
Decent Sites for Seniors
Here are three sites that have been chosen after a lot of research by Retirement Living.
Ourtime.com
This site matching locals and even organizes events in specific cities. Ourtime is easy to set up a profile and answer preset questions. You describe yourself and your desired partner. Once it is set up, choose up to four people to interact with.
- Basic – Free
- Mobile Access – $29.96 for one month
- Standard – $59.95 for six months. Includes full mobile access for six months
SilverSingles.com
SilverSingles offers a far more in-depth profile with over 100 questions. For the free plan, you can see and send a message but not see if the person responds. Photos and personal information were hidden behind a paywall.
- Basic – free for limited access and communication
- Premium – $59.95/month for intelligent matchmaking and full access
SeniorMatch.com
SeniorMatch is very easy to set up and use. You can easy search for matches but only have parameters of gender, age and country/state to use for narrowing searches. Membership adds more search options. If you want to communicate, one of you must be a Gold Member.
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- Basic – free
- Gold – $29.95 for 1 month
- Gold – $59.95 for 3 month
- Gold – %95.95 for 6 months
Final Word
These aren’t the only senior friendly website out there, so you maybe able to find more sites with a quick internet search. Online dating opens up a new world beyond church, clubs and even bars. And seniors can take advantage of these features. Just use our guidelines to locate a safe site and be very careful out there. And start your internet search today for a new companion.
Sources:
1. retirementliving.com, Best Senior Dating Sites
2. retirementliving.com, Senior Dating Scams to Avoid
3. ourtime.com
4. silversingles.com
5. seniormatch.com
