Big Ideas For What To Do In Retirement
Kathleen Coxwell
Youve probably spent at least a little time thinking about what to do in retirement. How will you fill your days? Where will you go? What will you do? With whom will you spend time?
In retirement, you likely have more options for how to spend your time than ever before. And, you certainly dont have to settle on only one goal, hobby or pursuit.Maybe youll pursue painting. Or perhaps skydiving is more up your alley. Think thats crazy? Geraldine Watson did her first skydive at the age of 85, and loved it! Did she want to do it again? No. She had other dreams to pursue.
Whether it is dare devil parachuting, travel, spending time with grandchildren or something else, however you choose to spend your golden years is bound to be excitingRetirees dont live a static life. Things change, and interests may evolve. Retirement is a time when you get to make the rules and adapt to them as you see fit. What you dream about today might be radically different from what you want a few years into retirement. And, with Americans living longer now than ever before, its time to start dreaming bigger.
Here are 25 relaxing, exciting, rewarding, simple and challenging ways you could find a perfect retirement life balance. And if you are overwhelmed by your choices, skip to the bottom of this article for tips to help you figure out what to do after retirement.
Don’t Panic If Retirement Isn’t Close
If you’re years away from retirement, then a down portfolio actually shouldn’t throw you too much. Sure, it can be unsettling to see the value of your investments plunge. But if you’re not retiring for another 20 years, then the events of 2022 could end up being totally insignificant in the grand scheme of your investing window.
Support Reconciliation With Indigenous Peoples
If youre a descendant from settlers or immigrants to Canada, consider investing time during retirement to further reconciliation with Indigenous people. Your journey could include learning about the true history of Canada and unlearning any biases you may have developed over the years. You could read the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and find Indigenous organizations to support that are working to address the impacts of intergenerational trauma in Indigenous communities. Consider writing letters to elected officials to urge them to implement the TRC calls to action.
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Attend Your 35th 40th Or Any High School Reunion
There is nothing like a high school or college reunion to get you thinking about what you have accomplished and where you might be going.
Taking stock of our lives and setting new goals is exactly what we need to do as we consider retirement.
A reunion can be an excellent way to connect with old friends and maybe be reminded of what we are passionate about which can help remind us of how we might want to spend part of retirement.
Tip #1: Spend Time On Your Hobbies And Pastimes
While this is one of the most common solutions to filling your time in after retirement, spend time on hobbies that will help you grow. Watching television and tons of movies doesnt count and, of course, can lead to a sedentary unhealthy life.
Get physical. Challenge your brain.
And unleash your creativity .
Bonus Tip: Get in touch with your musical side.
Coming from a musician whos played violin since I was 10, I fully understand that playing an instrument isnt for everyone. However, I also understand that musical memory is the last part of your brain that Alzheimers touches. I also know that when youre playing an instrument, your brain activity behaves like a full-body brain workout with long-term positive effects.
If not learning or playing a musical instrument, consider watching live music. It can be way more energizing than listening to a recording. Plus, its a social event.
Theres so much power and many additional benefits behind the universal language of music simply because of the impact on the brain. Scientists discovered that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human function. This means it works wonders for building your neuroplasticity.
It can also help patients with neurological deficits. For instance, if you had a stroke, music therapies can help bring your verbal functions back.
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Become Your Own Financial Guru
While youre in the active saving and investing stage before retirement, you might look to an expert to help guide you in the right direction. But the time will come when you glide into maintenance mode. From there, you can probably manage it on your own as long as you keep learning and stay in touch with whats happening in the financial world.
Its entirely possible to become a self-made financial expert. Read everything that you can, including good blogs. And start watching TV shows about finance. Soon youll know what disintermediation, econometrics and other terms mean without calling a financial planning expert, because youll be the expert.
Using the NewRetirement Planner will help you!
Do Some Home Improvement Projects
Whether its to make your home more beautiful, or more convenient for you as you age, home improvement projects can be a fun way to pass time. They can be small, like painting a wall, gardening, or updating décor, or large, like installing new floors or cabinets, adding shutters, or converting a room into something else.
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Tip 1: Experiment And Explore New Things
The only way to figure out if you like something or not is to do it. Experimenting with all sorts of activities and exploring new avenues is a great way to figure out what you like and dont like.
It can be helpful to plan a period of a couple of months or weeks after retirement to try out new things. These experiences will give you tangible answers.
Following all sorts of classes is an excellent way to experiment and explore. And a great platform for that is Masterclass, where you can follow 100+ different classes from the Worlds Best Teachers in their field.
Watch thousands of lessons from the best as they share their stories, skills, shortcuts, failures, and successes. Just to drop a few names that offer a class on Masterclass: Gordon Ramsey, Aaron Franklin, Martin Scorsese, Dr. Jane Goodall, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Hans Zimmer, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Curry, Carlos Santana, Ron Finley, Jimmy Chin, Serena Williams, Dan Brown, and many more. New classes are added every month!
Write Even If Youre The Only One Who Reads Your Work
Finally, there is time to write that book you always wanted to, or to set up and manage a blog, write articles to be published in magazines or elsewhere, poems or your memoirs.
If writing a book sounds a step too far, why not start a gratitude journal! It is a great way to stay mindful and in the moment. It is the place where you can write down your reflections about whats positive in your life and what you are grateful for every day.
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Common Challenges Of Retirement Include:
- Struggling to switch off from work mode and relax, especially in the early weeks or months of retirement.
- Feeling anxious at having more time on your hands, but less money to spend.
- Finding it difficult to fill the extra hours you now have with meaningful activity.
- Losing your identity. If youre no longer a doctor, teacher, designer, sales person, electrician, or driver, for example, who are you?
- Feeling isolated without the social interaction of being around your coworkers.
- Experiencing a decline in how useful, important, or self-confident you feel.
- Adjusting your routine or maintaining your independence now youre at home with your spouse during the day.
- Some retirees even feel guilty about receiving money from a pension without directly working for it.
Whatever challenges you face as you prepare for this new chapter in life, the following tips can help you ease the transition, reduce stress and anxiety, and find new meaning and purpose in life.
Iv Characteristics Of Post
The preceding analyses point to a similarity between partial retirement and unretirement in terms of the characteristics and motivation of people who choose these retirement paths. In this final section, I examine the extent to which the jobs themselves are similar. Table 7 presents a comparison of the characteristics of pre-retirement, partial retirement and unretirement jobs, where unretirement jobs are split by part time or full time. Recall that by definition, partial retirement jobs are part-time jobs. The table is based on the hours/self-report definition of retirement, but the figures produced under the hours-only definition are similar, except as noted.
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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.
Tip : Manage Stress Anxiety And Depression
After retirement, the commute, the deadlines, the demanding boss, and the nine-to-five monotony may be over, but that doesnt mean your life will automatically be stress- and anxiety-free. While workplace stress can take a serious toll on your health, especially if you lack job satisfaction, damaging stressors can also follow you into retirement.
You may worry about managing financially on a fixed income, coping with declining health, or adapting to a different relationship with your spouse now that youre at home all day. The loss of identity, routine, and goals can impact your sense of self-worth, leave you feeling rudderless, or even lead to depression.
Whatever challenges youre facing, though, there are healthy ways to ease stress and anxiety, better cope with change, and improve your mood, outlook, and overall well-being.
Adopt a relaxation practice. Regularly practicing a relaxation technique such as meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, yoga, or tai chi can help ease anxiety and stress, lower your blood pressure, and improve your overall sense of well-being.
Get active. Physical exercise is a very effective way to boost your mood, relieve tension and stress, and help you feel more relaxed and positive as you get older. No matter your age or limitations in mobility, there are still ways for you to reap the benefits of regular exercise. Aim for 30 minutes of activity on most days.
But dont take it too easy
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Surprisingly Valuable Assets For A Happy Retirement
A long and happy retirement takes more than just money. Here are seven things happy retirees do besides dutifully saving the money theyll need to quit the 9-to-5 grind.
Retirement planning is all about numbers. It centers around one question: Do my financial assets pension, 401s/IRAs, Social Security, property, sale of a business, etc. provide enough income to fund my desired retirement lifestyle?
At least, that is what most people think. But ask any retiree, and they will likely tell you that it is only half the story. Youll need enough money to get by, of course, but you dont have to be super wealthy to be happy. In fact, life satisfaction tops out at an annual salary of $95,000, on average, according to a study by psychologists from Purdue University . Enough money to never have to worry about going broke or paying for medical care is important. But money is not the only or even the most important piece of a fulfilling retirement.
So, once you have a retirement plan in place, it is essential to focus on all those things money cannot buy. Here are seven happy habits that studies show can improve life satisfaction in retirement.
This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.
Tip : Radiate Positive Energy
Everything is energy. Everything material and physical is energy, and everything we dont see with our naked eye is energy. It all has its own unique vibrational frequency. And the laws of the universe work in a way that similar vibrational frequencies attract each other. When youre positive the majority of the day, you have a higher vibration and youll attract similar vibrational frequencies.
And here is where Albert Einstein comes in.
When you want to have a happy retirement, you need to radiate positive energy. You can positively influence this by doing gratitude and positive affirmation exercises every day and doing things that bring you joy.
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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.
Tip #1: Track Your Progress
Regularly check in on your progress toward your goals. You can monitor how far you are from reaching your goals. And you can also understand whats been working and what hasnt.
- Whats been driving the bulk of my results?
- What have I been doing to make progress?
- Whats been holding me back?
Double down on the efforts, skills, and activities that work for you. And lay off the stuff thats distracting you and simply adding noise.
Tracking your progress also allows you to constantly reflect on your goals and your roadmap to success. You can be nimble with your tactics as you continue to grow your confidence and develop yourself.
Bonus Tip: read your vision daily and make it a part of your morning routine. This will help you find and keep your clarity and also stay focused on reaching your ideal state in life after retirement.
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Start A Small Business
If youve got a hobby or skill that has the potential to earn you some money, why not turn it into a business? For example, if youre skilled in arts and crafts, you could make items to sell at marketplaces or online. If you love animals, you could become a dog walker, dog groomer or pet sitter. If youre an ace at baking, you could start your own cupcake business. Get some top tips by checking out the Governments expert advice on starting a business.
Tip 1: Know Your Goal
Knowing the goal of what you want to do can help you figure out in which direction you should be looking for things you want to do in retirement. Perhaps you have the desire to relax, learn something new, be creative or be active in retirement. Below are some examples.
Relaxing Hobby Ideas are reading, meditation, yoga, gardening, listening to music, etc.
Active Hobby Ideas are fitness, hiking, a team sport, dancing, cycling, etc.
New Skills Hobby Ideas: play a musical instrument, acting, learn a new language
Expressing Yourself Hobby Ideas can be painting, journaling, creating music, writing, etc.
Escape Reality Hobby Ideas are puzzling, board games, watching a film, and gaming.
Money Earning Hobby Ideas are selling arts and crafts on Etsy, blogging, freelance gardener/ accountant/ handyman.
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The Challenges Of Retirement
Whatever your circumstances, ending your working life changes thingssome for the better, others in unexpected or even difficult ways. If your job was physically draining, unfulfilling, or left you feeling burned out, for example, retiring can feel like a great burden has been lifted. But if you enjoyed your work, found it gratifying, and built your social life around your career, retirement can present sterner challenges. Things can be especially tough if you made sacrifices in your personal or family life for the sake of your job, were forced to retire before you felt ready, or have health issues that limit what youre now able to do.
Similarly, your outlook on life can also influence how well you handle the transition from work to retirement. If you tend to have a positive, optimistic viewpoint, youll likely handle the change better than if youre prone to worrying or struggle to cope with uncertainty in life.
Find Meaning Through Relationships
Finding meaning in retirement often involves going beyond yourself, contributing to the broader community, servicing society, or taking care of others. Getting a pet, volunteering at a hospital, or babysitting grandchildren are all ways to fulfill that basic human need to connect with and show compassion toward others. A Center for National and Community Service study found that 70% of retirees who were prone to depression experienced fewer symptoms one year after beginning to volunteer.
Keeping relationships alive during a more unstructured phase of life can present its own challenges, and it often takes a combination of proactive scheduling and internal motivation to carve out the time and energy needed to serve others. Many individuals find purpose in life by engaging in their community or a purpose beyond themselves.
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