Become An Expert At Anything
Youve probably had a lot of life experiences and dreamed about others that never happened. Did you ever think about becoming a brilliant chef but didnt have the time to go after it? Or did you once think about developing your mechanic skills but couldnt follow through?
Retirement is the perfect time to turn an interest into something that you master. You could create the next great thing in pottery, or fine-tune your woodworking skills. Whatever you pursue, plan to become an expert. And then pass that knowledge on.
What Are Some Of The Very First Things You Should Do When You Retire
The important thing to remember is that its common for people, within the first few days and weeks of retirement, to feel lost. When youve been working for decades and then suddenly stop that routine, its jarring. But the great thing about retirement is you can finally do all those things youve wanted to do that you didnt have time for previously. Here are some of our ideas for what to do when you are first retired:
Get Involved In Your Community
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Early retirement is a perfect time to get involved with charity and community organizations. Many of the most rewarding hobbies for retirees involve giving back. Spend time prepping meals at a soup kitchen, walk dogs at a humane society, or drive cancer patients to treatment. If youre not sure where your skills can be best utilized, Senior Corps can connect adults 55 and over with volunteer opportunities in their community, as well as abroad!
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‘you Think Retirement Is Nirvana’
Jay explains how she felt in the lead up to retirement: I think like most people of any age, you think retirement is nirvana, you think its going to be fantastic. And I had worked in the exhibition business which meant I worked weekends, evenings, and long hours. It was a fantastic job, really interesting, but I suppose in a way I was quite exhausted. And I was thinking, Oh wouldnt it be fantastic to not get up early in the morning, not to be working in the evenings.”‘
But when retirement materialised, it wasnt the dream that Jay expected, I think emotionally I was dying to do it. But after 3 or 4 weeks it hit me that I could sit here looking at these 4 walls unless I personally took charge, took responsibility and did something.
Just Move By James P Owen
Owens inspiring book reminds the reader that retirement-time exercise isnt the same for every retiree. Some retirees will be running marathons.
But others will reap big wellness benefits just from subtle movements each day. Just Move! will inspire you to make movement part of your retirement plan from the beginning.
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Don’t Be Afraid To Try New Things
Turn an avocation into a new career, get a part-time job, volunteer, go back to school, or take a class. Try new things! It’s never too late to exercise your entrepreneurial spirit or to learn something new, and any of these can add some needed structure to your life, quiet any restlessness and open up new channels of socialization.
You’ll have fun and meet new people of all ages who share your interests, plus, your soul, mind, and spirit will love the experience. Who knows, you just might find a passion that will give meaning and purpose to your retirement years.
Retirement Books For Exploring And Enjoying Life After A Career
Give these books a try. It could be you want some funny jokes to share at a retirement party. Or youre looking for practical advice about retiring with enough money saved. Whatever the reason, these retirement books will deliver. You also might consider subscribing to a magazine for retirees. A lot of them deliver practical and interesting advice relevant to the current world. Try reading books on finding happiness, as well, to enrich your retired life even more.
Regardless of which book you read, or how you prepare, youve already taken an important step. Preparing ahead of time and considering what you want from retirement is key. Doing so will reduce your stress as your time to retire approaches. And it will help you start your retirement off on the right foot.
Looking for more ways to be prepared in old age? Read our guide on how to prepare for old age and being childless.
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‘you Face A Lot Of Emotional Crises’
‘I think its really important for older people to make the most of their circumstances. You face a lot of emotional crises, but the important thing for me is facing up to them and finding a way out of them.
Jay found that there was one vital consideration missing in her retirement planning. I found that when you plan for retirement, you plan financially, you plan where youre going to live, whether you want to upsize, downsize, move to a different country, move to the sea. But the one thing you dont plan for – I didnt and many of my friends said the same is what youre going to do with all the free time youll have on your hands.
‘I was used to running my house, doing my shopping, cleaning, washing, and ironing. But after about 3 weeks of being retired, I remember sitting having a cup of coffee about 10 oclock in the morning and I thought, “Gosh is this it?” But then I thought: “I could live for another 30 years, which is almost half my lifetime.”‘
Don’t Immediately Downsize Your Home
When you retire, it’s tempting to sell your home and move to smaller digs, especially if you need cash and have equity in your home. However, you might want to hit the pause button on this, especially if your payments are low, or you’ve paid off your mortgage.
Things to consider:
- It is expensive to downsize.
- The actual move is a considerable expense and could be emotionally and physically taxing – even if you’re just moving to the retirement community on the other side of town.
- If you’re considering a long distance move to what’s said to be one of the best retirement areas in the country, consider that you would be leaving behind old friends, everything that’s familiar, and probably family.
- Postponing moving to a new house after you retire will give you fewer changes to adapt to all at once.
If your monthly housing costs are low and it’s just a matter of having more available money, there are less traumatic options for putting your equity to work than selling your home. You could get a reverse mortgage, rent a room out, or make the garage an income producing studio rental.
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The Retiring Mind By Robert P Delamontagne
The Retiring Mind focuses on an often overlooked aspect of retirement: the changing psychology of your new life.
Youre no longer working a job or raising children or whatever else you did before retirement. This transition can be more jarring than some people expect, so focusing on how to do it well is a smart effort.
The Best Hobbies And Activities To Try Out In Retirement
11th October 2018| Health and Lifestyle
Later life and retirement can be one of the most enjoyable periods of our lives were older and wiser, more aware of who we are, but most importantly weve now got the time to go out and do whatever it is weve always wanted to do.
More time for personal activities is often cited in polls of over 70 year olds as one of the biggest benefits of growing old, and the Office for National Statistics found that those aged 65+ spent an average of seven hours and ten minutes a day on leisure activities the most out of all age groups.
We now know that loneliness can be as harmful for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and that it is a key problem for older people in the UK, 3.6 million of whom live alone. On the other hand, the Age UK Index of Wellbeing in Later Life concluded that engaging with the world around us through social, creative, physical or community activities can contribute more than 20% to our wellbeing in later life. Not only can the right hobby help people of all ages make more friends and give our lives routine, colour and achievement, but it can also help to improve our mental and physical health, and our sense of wellbeing.
If youre interested in reaping the benefits of starting a hobby during retirement, here are some of the most popular hobbies and interests that people pick up in later life, to inspire you:
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Things To Do After Retirement
Download or Read online 300 Things to Do After Retirement full in PDF, ePub and kindle. This book written by Aaron Stark and published by Unknown which was released on 03 March 2020 with total pages 106. We cannot guarantee that 300 Things to Do After Retirement book is available in the library, click Get Book button to download or read online books. Join over 650.000 happy Readers and READ as many books as you like.
Hobbies That Will Help Me Meet People
Disappointingly, a study into quality of life indicators across the EU found that participation in recreational groups and organisations declined sharply in the 65+ group, compared with those aged 18-64. Joining a group is such a fantastic way to meet like-minded people and to get the most out of your interests, whilst also helping us to connect with our community. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:
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Downsize Your Home: Find The Best Place For You To Retire
Maybe remodeling isnt for you. Maybe your home isnt for you either!
Most of us live in homes that we bought with dreams of raising our children. Now, most of our children are grown and gone and we can think about where we want to live for retirement. Here are some lists of the best places to retire.
Moving when you retire can be great for your lifestyle, it can also be great for your finances. If you can buy a less expensive home, then you can lower your monthly expenses and maybe even use home equity for retirement expenses.
Use the NewRetirement Retirement Planner to model downsizing as part of your retirement plan.
Don’t Be Impatient And Go Easy On Yourself
It will take time to adjust to your new status. However, do your best not to get bored. Stay active, be social, try out new things, reassess your needs and recalculate. Like with any major life change, you’ll make some mistakes and false starts. However, if you have patience and go easy on yourself, everything will begin to fall into place and you’ll come to realize that you are now on your own time and can do whatever you want to do, when you want to do it, and have plenty time to correct any mistakes or false starts.
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Don’t Neglect Your Appearance
Ageism exists and especially for women, but ageism can also be an internal mindset. Yes, you’re retired and getting older, your body has changed, your hair’s gotten thinner and grayer, and you’ll never look like you did in your 30s, 40s, or 50s. However, just because you’re older and no longer have to look great for work is no reason to let yourself go.
Looking after of your hair, nails, and skin is essential, as is maintaining your exercise routine. Sure, it may be harder and take longer when you’re older, but the beauty is that when you’re retired, you have more time to spend on beauty and fitness routines.
In her book, I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephron says: “At 60 you have to spend at least eight hours a week on maintenance – just to keep you from looking like someone who no longer cares.” She also points out something about hair: “You no longer have to wash it every day” and claims there’s a correlation between how often you have sex and hair-washing. So, don’t neglect washing your hair.
Volunteer For As Long As Possible
There are diverse groups of organizations that need volunteers to help with their cause and program activities. You could select a cause that is important to you or go to one of many sites on the internet that will match your skills to organizations needing volunteers, like Volunteer Vacations for example.
Trips range from one to three weeks, and you choose where you want to go and how you want to volunteer. This is a rewarding experience that you can do anywhere in the world, so lets get out there and make a difference!
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Get What’s Yours: The Secrets To Maxing Out Your Social Security By Laurence J Kotlikoff Philip Moeller Et Al
Get What’s Yoursis a how-to book focused on when you should retire. It helps you figure out the best age to retire to maximize your Social Security payout.
It also talks about further maximizing your payout based on your retirement circumstances. When figuring out how much money youll need, this book is a helpful resource. Especially for those who have been working and living in the United States.
What To Do In Retirement Do What Makes You Happy
A lot of items on this list talk about doing something amazing. But that is not the real point. You dont have to be the best, the first, the oldest or the most.
Retirement is the time when it should not matter if you are keeping up with the Jones. Now is the time to do what makes YOU happy. You can enjoy the little things or you can swing for the fences. You can make a difference to your own loved ones or volunteer and change lives in your community. You might make a fortune doing what you love or you can make ends meet while pursuing your passion.
The scale of your endeavors should not matter.
Think hard and make sure that what you do after retirement matters to YOU.
Need some help? Many of us arent sure what one thing makes us happy. Here are a few books that might be useful.
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Create An Online Course:
Create an online video course and earn money by teaching people around the world. On Udemy, You decide what to teach, create the curriculum using their software, and they help students find you. Maybe your familys cooking is the best on Earth, or maybe youre an expert-level knitter. In whatever youre an expert, you can be a teacher.
Ultimate Vacation: The Definitive Guide To Living Well Today And Retiring Well Tomorrow By Randy Carver
Ultimate Vacationfocuses on vacation/living well before retirement, but Carvers point about balancing pleasures is an important one.
It can help you figure out how to have special moments in your first year of retirement as well as in your tenth or twentieth year. If youre thinking about how retirement luxuries might impact your budget give it a go.
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Have A Second Childhood
When we are children, the world is our oyster. We think that we can do anything. We ask for forgiveness, not for permission.
Then, as adults, the reality of life hits us. We are suddenly asked to conform to other peoples standards. We are surrounded by bosses, family members and other authority figures that are more than happy to tell us what we can and cant do.
Retirement, or semi-retirement, is an opportunity to become a kid again. It is an opportunity to pursue our passions without guilt or self-consciousness.
Think back to the early years of your life. Are there things that you always loved to do that you put on the back-burner as you built your career and supported your family? Maybe its time to start them up again.
For most of our lives, we carry so much weight on our shoulders. The happiest retired people I know have found ways to introduce a little silliness into their lives. They go to frivolous movies. They mentor kids. They draw, just for the fun of it.
Isnt it time that each of us remembered the simple joy of being a child?
Books On Retirement Planning
Not every book about retirement planning is about financial planning. But most of them incorporate some discussion about finances. Its impossible to talk about your plans for retirement without including some discussion of your financial activity. Its an important thing to consider especially if youve got a big retirement bucket list.
The good news is that most books offer a mix of tips and tricks. So you can determine how in-depth you want to get on most retirement topics. Here are just a few books to consider when youre starting your planning.
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