Retirement Activities
Retirement Activities: So Many Choices
The great thing about retirement activities is that there are many choices that won’t affect your retirement budget. Your time will be your own and as long as you’re ready to be creative and flexible, you’ll find many retirement activities that will give you a fun and rewarding retirement.
Whether you’re looking forward to retirement travel, family reunions, pursuing and deepening your hobbies, getting hooked on learning, devoting yourself to volunteering or even a new part-time job, you’ll be able to find a retirement activity that fits your retirement budget.
Retirement activities that are fun may be the first thing on your mind, but it’s important to remember that a rewarding retirement requires more than just entertainment. You may be looking forward to having more time for the fun activities that made weekends and vacations such a refreshing break from your career work life. But golf, tennis, travel, movies, chess – whatever you did for fun during your time off – will only go so far.
Unless you’re planning on becoming a golf professional or a chess master, what was a refreshing break from your career probably won’t be enough to enrich all of your retirement.
Retirement Activities: Fun and Reward
Fun is the spice of life, but your retirement activities need to provide you a steady, rewarding, full diet. This is not to say it won’t be great to have more time for fun – of course it will be! But, however glad you’ll be to leave your career behind, it’s important to remember that the bustle and purpose of work life is also rewarding. To make the open time of retirement truly satisfying – and to keep your fun truly fun – you’ll want to put as much thought and commitment into your retirement activities as you did into your career.
Naps, lazy afternoons, a neighborhood tennis tournament, a couple weeks in Europe – each is a great retirement activity. But, if you put in the effort, there are many other possibilities that will make the open time of retirement rich and sustaining. Approach each retirement activity you’re considering with all the care you’d give to applying to a new job, or planning a long trip. Make lists, ask yourself questions, make sure that your interests and the activity you’re considering are really a good match.
Which Retirement Activities Bring the Greatest Rewards?
Having more time to connect with family is a retirement activity many people look forward to – but does that mean the occasional holiday visit? Babysitting every weekend? Taking a grandchild on a trip to Costa Rica or the zoo? What makes sense for both you and your family?
Volunteering is one of those retirement activities that can be as easy on the wallet as it is rich in rewards. Non-profit organizations make up about 10% of America’s economic activity, and ‘senior power’ is a driving force behind many non-profit successes. Once you choose a cause you’re interested in, volunteering will keep you busy, give you a sense of purpose, and connect you with a whole new community.
Hobbies can require a bit more financial investment, especially if what was an occasional past time during your career becomes a full blown passion during retirement. A hobby can also cross over into another retirement activity that many people find surprisingly rewarding – a part time job with retirement income. Combining the two – whether you set up an ebay account and start selling your knitted sweaters, or contract out as a consultant on home landscaping – can turn a potentially expensive passion into a source of retirement income. Make an honest assessment of things you like to do – teaching, baking, overseeing complicated projects (you may discover that life without deadlines is deadly dull) – and you may discover a retirement activity that’s a great part-time job.
Last, but not least, among retirement activities is the lure of learning. Think back on the subjects that caught your interest in high school or college, or a news article or broadcast that kept you fascinated. Learning can be as cheap as getting a library card or getting a good internet connection at home – and once you get hooked on learning, whether through reading, the occasional class, or online articles and podcasts, you’ll have opened up a passion you’ll never wear out.
Another great thing about learning is that, if you end up needing assisted living, it can be a retirement home activity that can make being in one place as much of an adventure as any round the world journey. A successful plan for your retirement activities will have as many layers and diversity as a successful retirement portfolio.
