Tag Archives: Retirement Happiness

Happily Living With Ambiguous Purpose In Retirement

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We’ve all heard it before. One of the tricks to having a happy retirement comes down to feeling purposeful. Great! However, feeling a sense of purpose requires understanding what that even means. That’s where we are left on our own to figure it out. It did take me a little time to land on what it meant to me. I chose living happily with an ambiguous purpose in retirement. It’s just fine not having a finely tuned definition. I do however always know it when I feel it and when I don’t feel it. The best part is, my retirement happiness doesn’t require that the rest of the world understands it.   

Happily Living With Ambiguous Purpose In Retirement

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The Way I See Having An Ambiguous Purpose In Retirement

There’s all kinds of advice on how to find purpose in retirement. Mostly it comes down to intentional actions that are aligned with our values. I feel that my base defined intentional retirement is commonly shared with many who retire: 

  • Living an active and healthier lifestyle, both physically and mentally 
  • Concentrating on and prioritising family relationships
  • Staying on top of our finances so that it lasts as long as we do 
  • Having an active and expanding social life
  • Volunteering to assist causes that matter to me and my community 

When it comes to thoughts about living with purpose, there can come a time when base retirement intentions don’t feel like enough. 

I believe that’s because of the decades of systematic conditioning. It was pounded into us from the time we were in school and then throughout our jobs. We were conditioned to always be productive and measurably graded or ranked to earn any feeling of accomplishment. Comfort and happiness is nothing but slacking-off and we must push harder. No wonder we end up feeling like we must be purposeful to have a happy retirement.

Then there are those super promoters who showcase their elaborate lifestyles and doings that can cause us to compare with ours. It can sometimes be difficult with everything that is flaunted today. But we have to step back and just be happy with the blessings we do have and what we can intend to do as enough to consider ourselves purposeful. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

Living with an ambiguous purpose in retirement means that it doesn’t have to be noble, just intentional.

I did have to convince myself that there’s more to purposeful living than splashy accomplishments beyond my base retirement lifestyle intentions. When I first retired early at the age of 51, I did purposely pursue and accomplish what I considered impressive retirement opportunities and some volunteering that was too physical for my youngish low 50s age. Although they were driven by interest and passion, I soon learned that the feeling of purpose can be fleeting. Once done, it doesn’t provide the continued mental comfort of purposeful living. It caused me to question whether I should be looking for something more and perhaps that my retirement is lacking. 

Here’s the thing- It’s easy to make retirement more complicated than it needs to be. 

As I found out after a few years into this retirement ride, we are constantly evolving. My interests and passions have changed right along in that evolution. So should our thoughts about purpose. Any plans of intention should be based on now. It should change when conditions change. What it takes to support my base retirement intentions needs to evolve to remain meaningful.

Aside from base defined intentions for living a happy retirement, number one is enjoying the freedom and time that retirement provides. Everything else about having a big purpose brings dubious results. All big accomplishments soon become only memories. Misguided intentions may even result in unintended consequences. Consequence is something that must always be considered. In the end, it’s our overall retirement lifestyle purpose that brings meaning that matters.

I’ve found that aside from my base retirement intentions, following my values and using my skills to support them is a worthy purpose. The beauty of having an ambiguous purpose in retirement is that even intentionally sitting something out can meet purposeful living when knowing the reasons why. 

Striving to fill my curiosity is another intention that meets a purposeful retirement. The more I learn, the more I understand how much I don’t know or what I can and cannot do. Some curiosities burn-out after digging just far enough to see it isn’t of interest or value to me. Others can lead to a deeper dive into different branches and improve my understanding of myself, the world, and life. 

Warning, the concept of having purpose in retirement is a worthy pursuit but can lead to discouragement. 

The way I see it, the key is figuring out what it is we value, both big and small. Then forming the intention to purposely support it. The fun part is that there are no rules to having a purposeful retirement. We get to define what it is. If there’s a feeling that our retirement life isn’t purposeful enough, then there should never be feelings of shame or defeat. We can just purposely pledge to act with intention to make it better and do what it takes to make it happen.

Ditching The Rat Race 14 Year Anniversary, Early Retirement To Retirement 

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My ditching the rat race 14 year anniversary is just days away. This was a transition year for me as I aged into Medicare eligibility and what a great year it has been. I find myself both celebrating and reflecting on the early retirement to retirement ride. The obstacles to employment liberation are well documented and loudly shared. So are a lot of successful FIRE stories. 

I can count my early retirement to retirement journey as a success while understanding that others may not exactly see it that way. The great thing about financial freedom is that it doesn’t matter what others think. We get to decide the life we want to live, how to live it, and work towards honoring OUR goals and what we value. Here’s a walk through my approach and experience.

Ditching The Rat Race 14 Year Anniversary, Early Retirement To Retirement 
Here’s to 14 Years, CHEERS!

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My Ditching The Rat Race 14 Year Anniversary Tips For The FIRE Bound 

First off, I wasn’t blessed with a mega salaried position. As a telecom engineer It was decent, but not one where I could squirrel away a million dollars plus before I was an old man, if ever. But that’s OK. I created an enjoyable lifestyle that many would call frugal. I also know many people wouldn’t consider my lifestyle at all frugal. It doesn’t matter what others think. What matters is we need to create an enjoyable and sustainable life we want to live. 

By embracing a purposeful spending lifestyle we can reach our financial goals. It also lets us know what it takes to support it once we give the middle finger to the machine feeding employment system. 

Of course on this ditching the rat race 14 year anniversary there are aspects that aided in the success of my early retirement to full retirement ride. There were times I took on opportunities to retire early and often, made sure we had a viable healthcare strategy, built a vibrant social life, and always strived to stay active both physically and intellectually.

Here are a couple of my retirement experiences that come to mind as being important in making my early retirement and today’s lifestyle possible and successful.

The amount of money needed

I never succumbed to the common ramblings of the million dollar minimum for an early retirement crowd. It could be true if that’s what’s needed to support your lifestyle and if so, then go for it. We had a known lifestyle and budget. With that actual number plugged into a trusted retirement calculator we found our real early retirement portfolio number to shoot for. 

When mentally transitioning from paychecks to portfolio distributions, the ups and downs of the markets did cause some stress. But I can say as time goes, trust in the plan is subconsciously earned and worry subsides. That’s even for someone like me who wasn’t blessed with a massive portfolio. After 14 years of IRA distributions through various market gyrations, the numbers still hold up. I can still pull 100% success on the retirement calculator when plugging in the latest variables.

Locking in secure housing

My ditching the rat race 14 year anniversary has me more convinced about this issue than ever. Making sure the roof over your head is secure, is as financially important as the portfolio for overall early retirement success. We bought a modest home when I was forced into a corporate relocation and still had a mortgage when I jumped into early retirement. We had cleared all other debt long before and have never allowed that back into our lives. 

Once I decided it was time to leap, I quickly refinanced the mortgage while still on the job. It was only for a slightly lower interest rate at the time. We kept the same balance and redid it for 30 years to drop the monthly obligation. We had been making extra mortgage principal payments for years, but I wasn’t willing to delay retirement to wait out the mortgage. Setting a minimum payment obligation was a retirement budget booster. A couple of years later after accepting a retirement gig opportunity, I used all of its income to pay off the mortgage over an 18 month period. 

As housing costs increase everywhere, securing and locking in our preferred housing is now even more important. I have always considered our home ownership as a hedge against inflation, not an investment. Although that aspect is welcome. 

The reality of our finite time should loom as a positive influence

My unknown lifespan was an ultimate motivator for me to stop wasting time. Our time shouldn’t ever be dictated by others. Sadly we spend a lot of our life powerless to object to that. 

Everyone should be interested in changing the way they can improve their personal finances to gain freedom and how they can improve how they spend their finite time on the planet. 

It was key in getting me to early retirement. As I age it’s key in motivating me to keep moving forward, living for and making the best of today and an unknown future.

Cheers!

Living The Life I Used To Envy- Create A Retirement Lifestyle Uniquely All Our Own

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I was recently reminded that I am truly living the life I used to envy. A lifestyle I longed for way back when I was a struggling rat racer. There was also a reminder that what is considered a desired lifestyle, retired or otherwise, is unique to each of us. It’s important to understand how we want to live. It impacts what it will take to reach and support it. It’s another non financial aspect of personal finance that’s necessary to lock down our financial independence and ultimate lifestyle goals. 

Living The Life I Used To Envy- Create A Retirement Lifestyle Uniquely All Our Own

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Why and how I used my flavor of envy as another tool to escape the rat race to a better life

Envy isn’t normally considered a positive emotion. Especially when it turns against other people for our perceived view of their good fortune. I never held ill will towards anyone living the life I used to envy. I directed any negative emotions towards myself for not doing better to fix all the crap I was living with. Because of that self-blame, I’ve always had trouble entirely flipping my whole perspective by ditching envy to only embracing desire. Even though in my case they were one in the same. 

My flavor of envy motivated me to create goals and identify ways to recognize and then circumvent obstacles. Obstacles both of my own poor habits and those systematically placed that we’re all conditioned to accept. Acceptance due to dangled rewards for our sacrifice or as in most cases, punishment for being disloyal to the system’s demands.

From Early Retirement To Now Full Retirement, Living The Life I Used To Envy

The life I used to envy was only the highlight film version of other people’s lives that I saw as attractive and preferable to what I was living. It’s what I call the Hallmark Channel version of what that lifestyle fully entails. I wasn’t blind to the fact that it wasn’t a fully accurate or complete representation. It was the high bar vision that I strived for.

What I did was use that scrubbed clean version to base my planned future lifestyle on. Understanding it would be the best part of living. There will always be challenges to deal with in life. Every minute of our existence can’t be exciting or perfect Hallmark movie moments. The goal was to create a lifestyle that would provide as many of those moments that I could have and lessen any opportunity for life’s dirty stressors to take hold and be long lasting. Figuring out our uniquely desired life that we want to retire to is part of the long process to get to early retirement.

My Recent Reminder That Our Preferred Retirement Lifestyle Is Unique And All Our Own

I recently  accepted an invitation to a reunion lunch with ex-coworkers from my first long career. People I had worked with from the mid 90s until I retired young at the end of 2009. We had come together back then under strenuous circumstances and created a successful long-lasting work organization. Although I’ve had no contact with them since retiring, I thought it might be fun to see some of these folks again. Especially those who I respected and enjoyed working with. Only about a dozen people showed up. Half had aged into retirement and the other half were still working for the remnants of the same company. 

One person who I had happily worked with and who was still working for the megacorp asked me what I do in retirement. My response was simple, whatever I want to do. She then pressed for an example of my routine day. After running through a typical day I could see that she was less than impressed. 

I had no urge to explain all of the non-routine stuff like our travel, my free-time hobby pursuits, community connection, volunteering, time freedom, my work in different careers and subsequent retirements since leaving the megacorp, etc. I love my retirement lifestyle and don’t need to dress it up or verbally create an attention seeking social media look-at-me highlight moment to satisfy anyone. What we find as an attractive lifestyle is unique to each of us and that’s all that matters. 

The Hypothetical Lifestyle I Envied And Was Driven To Reach

My young adult life’s story was one of constant work obligations, debt, zero time for any kind of personal life balance, and many hard years of unfulfilled needs for myself and growing family. There were many long periods where I went to night school and/or worked 2 jobs from early morning to late night 5 and sometimes 6 days a week. Our socioeconomic status was one that everyone we knew were also part of. We all shared a similar lifestyle of financial struggle and employment servitude. 

The life I used to envy and wanted to have for us wasn’t based on anyone I knew. It was the glimpse of a simpler and less hectic life that I would sometimes see in movies and on television. A life of community, balance, family, friends, and mostly just having time to enjoy living. It was more Mayberry and none of what was depicted on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. 

I was attracted to characters who had close to home non glamorous jobs and non glamorous lives. They were part of a community with time to be involved in good causes and people that they cared about. That’s exactly what I was driven to strive for and have successfully created. 

The Importance Of Knowing What We Want To Retire To 

I wish that it wouldn’t take a retirement to fully live this better life. Maybe it’s easier now for people to pull it off while still in the grind. But for me there was always the never ending and always growing work demands from a ruthless megacorp system. A system that was many times controlled by hardline authoritarian and sometimes incompetent management. 

My early retirement motivation was enhanced by focusing not only on financial independence, but on being able to live the kind of life I used to envy. It’s the life I wanted to retire to. By figuring out what that desired lifestyle is we can then figure out all of the financial necessities and other personal efforts required to reach it.

What each of us puts priority on or values is uniquely subjective. However, there are common things we can all benefit from working towards.

Basic things that will create the desired lifestyle we want to live.
  • Concentrate on building strengthened close relationshionships with friends and family.  
  • Having both the time and will to pursue meaningful and fulfilling projects of interests and passion. 
  • Having and taking the time to maintain our mental and physical health by prioritizing self-care. 
  • Find worthy opportunities to give back to the community through volunteerism to help make a positive impact. 
  • Being curiously open to and learning about life’s full spectrum of difference and unknowns, from opportunities to cultures. 
  • Enjoy the lifestyle we’re creating by finding fun in all the moments between life’s highlights.

The life I used to envy and saw examples of from afar were ones I thought would provide time to have a sense of direction and purpose. A life of more than the constant demand from the system of career and consumer servitude to obediently sacrifice all of our time to unrewarding obligation. Our desired lifestyle and what we value is truly unique to each of us and nobody else’s validation is required.   

Snowbird Living: The Art of Seasonal Retirement Relocations

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This article was contributed to Leisure Freak by logistics expert and travel enthusiast Lorelei Hawthorne. 

Embracing the art of seasonal retirement relocations entails a unique approach to the golden years, transcending traditional notions of settling into a single retirement location. Becoming a snowbird offers an enticing alternative for those seeking adventure and variety. After all, this presents retirees with the opportunity to escape the rigidity of a single domicile and, instead, savor the best of multiple worlds by strategically relocating with the changing seasons!

An older couple enjoying seasonal retirement relocations

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The appeal of snowbird living

The appeal of snowbird living lies in its ability to help retirees truly enjoy their retirement years. Many seniors dream of escaping harsh winter weather, and seasonal retirement relocations allow them to do just that. Retirees can bask in pleasant climates by spending the winter months in warmer destinations, indulging in outdoor activities, and soaking up the sun. This seasonal escape offers a welcome change of scenery and a break from routine, making retirement more exciting and fulfilling. This kind of living also gives retirees the opportunity to explore various destinations, from sunny beaches to charming mountain towns, enriching their retirement experiences. 

Choosing your snowbird destination

Choosing your snowbird destination is a crucial decision. So, you need to decide what you value in a destination. Do you want a relaxing garden where you can unwind amid lush greenery? Or perhaps a place with many nature walk trails to stay active and explore the outdoors? Your preferences play a significant role in this decision-making process.

Moreover, consider factors like climate, local amenities, and proximity to healthcare facilities. Research each potential destination thoroughly to ensure it aligns with your needs and interests! Additionally, consider the social aspects – are you looking for a bustling community or a quieter, serene environment? You can find the perfect destination that suits your desires by carefully evaluating these aspects.

Preparing for your first snowbird season

Preparing for your first snowbird season is crucial in ensuring a smooth and enjoyable experience. To start, creating a detailed budget is essential. Calculate your accommodations, travel, and daily living expenses, factoring in any unforeseen costs. Next, finding suitable accommodations is key. So, research and book your lodging well in advance to secure the best deals. Lastly, consider downsizing and storage options if needed. Adequate preparation will make your first snowbird season enjoyable and stress-free, allowing you to relish the benefits of seasonal retirement relocation.

Navigating the legalities

Navigating the legalities of snowbird living is crucial for a hassle-free retirement adventure. To begin, understanding residency requirements is essential. Different states or countries may have varying rules regarding the duration and criteria for residency, impacting your taxes and benefits. Tax implications also need your attention. Consult with a tax professional to comprehend your tax obligations in your home and snowbird destination.

Furthermore, consider insurance aspects. Ensure your health, auto, and property insurance are valid across locations, or seek policies tailored to your snowbird lifestyle. It’s vital to have the right legal and financial documents, such as wills, powers of attorney, and property titles, to avoid complications in emergencies. By proactively addressing these legalities, you can confidently enjoy your snowbird living experience.

Packing essentials for snowbird living

Packing essentials for snowbird living requires careful planning to adapt to varying climates. Firstly, consider clothing versatile enough for different weather conditions, from warm beach days to chilly mountain evenings. Don’t forget essential documents, like identification, medical records, and insurance information, stored securely. Travel light, especially if you’ll be moving between locations frequently, and opt for compact, space-saving packing solutions. Think about specialized gear for activities you plan to pursue, such as hiking or golfing. Downsizing is an opportunity, so donate or store items you won’t need during your snowbird season. Lastly, ensure you have necessary items for daily living, like kitchen supplies and toiletries, but buy perishables locally to save space. With smart packing, you can optimize your snowbird experience, having everything you need while staying light and mobile.

Managing finances during snowbird living

Managing finances during snowbird living is crucial for worry-free retirement relocation. First, establish a clear financial plan that includes banking and financial services accessible in your home and snowbird destinations. Carefully manage bills and expenses to avoid surprises and maintain a comfortable lifestyle. Considering investments and retirement income sources is also essential for long-term financial stability. Moreover, embracing digital tools and online banking can simplify financial management, allowing you to monitor your accounts regardless of location. Of course, you can enjoy the benefits of becoming a digital nomad after retirement, as many financial transactions and investments can be managed remotely. By staying vigilant and organized with your finances, you can ensure a financially secure retirement.

Dealing with seasonal healthcare

Dealing with seasonal healthcare is a vital aspect. Accessing medical care in your snowbird destination should be a top priority, so research local healthcare facilities and find a reliable healthcare provider. Maintaining your health insurance coverage while understanding potential limitations when you’re away from your primary residence is also wise. Additionally, consider purchasing travel insurance to bridge any gaps in coverage. Staying healthy through preventive measures is equally essential, too. So, prioritize regular check-ups and vaccinations, especially if traveling to different countries with varying health risks.

Furthermore, keeping an up-to-date medical record and a list of emergency contacts is invaluable. And finally, know the nearest hospitals and clinics in case of medical emergencies. With proper planning and awareness, you can ensure that your healthcare needs are well-managed during your seasonal relocations.

Final Thoughts on Seasonal Retirement Relocations

In the end, mastering the art of seasonal retirement relocations allows individuals to redefine their retirement experience, trading monotony for adventure and embracing a diverse life. The journey of seasonal relocation unveils a world of possibilities, proving that retirement is not a destination but a journey made all the more fulfilling.

Much thanks to Lorelei Hawthorne for sharing these useful tips for seasonal retirement relocations. 

seasonal retirement relocations Author Bio:

Lorelei Hawthorne, a passionate travel enthusiast and logistics expert at Ryder Relocations NJ, brings a unique blend of wanderlust and meticulous planning to her writing. With years of experience orchestrating seamless relocations, Lorelei has an innate talent for turning every travel tale into an adventure. Her ability to uncover hidden gems in well-trodden and offbeat paths has made her a trusted source for those seeking unforgettable journeys!

I Wondered, Could We Live On Social Security Alone? 

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I take great pride in the way we chose to live a frugal life so that we could retire early. It not only allowed us to save a higher percentage of our income when we were still working, but also resulted in needing a smaller portfolio capable of supporting us. I wondered at this time when many people have little to no retirement savings, even with our frugality, whether we could retire and live on Social Security alone.

Of course frugality is subjective and personal. It is also unique to all kinds of parameters. Frugal living in Colorado is different than it is in California. I was a little surprised at where we stood with what many say is impossible to do without severe lifestyle deprivation. I agree it seems challenging. But many people find a way to pull it off out of necessity and unfortunately for some it’s done with a dose of desperation.

I Wondered, Could We Live On Social Security Alone? 

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Can We Live On Social Security Alone?

The first obvious requirement to meet before answering this question is knowing exactly how much our retirement lifestyle costs. Since I retired early over 13 years ago, our retirement budget is clearly known. 

As I will soon hit age 65 and Medicare eligibility, we will see significant healthcare cost reductions. We do have to make some assumptions as to the advanced cautioned property tax, homeowners insurance, and auto insurance increases coming on the next renewal. That said, we can come close to setting a realistic retirement lifestyle budget going forward. We do have many years of retirement budget history behind us.

OK frugal retirement lifestyle, where do you stand against our ability to live on Social Security alone? Close but no cigars. 

Starting With Our Numbers

Neither my wife or I are yet at full retirement age. When looking at  Social Security estimates for age 65, we could expect a combined yearly benefit of $50,100. Is it enough? It could be in many parts of the country, but we live in a beautiful but higher cost area. 

Even with our own flavor of frugality, based on our well honed retirement lifestyle and anticipated budgetary changes we do come up short. About $9,600 a year short. That’s without cutting anything from our already defined frugal lifestyle. An enjoyable lifestyle that happens to come in below half the local median household income for where we live.

Based on this shortfall and a commonly followed 4% withdrawal rate, the down and dirty calculation for our portfolio needs to close the gap on this Social Security alone challenge is $9,600 X 25 = $240,000. Still a tidy sum for many to attempt reaching, but that portfolio savings amount is in line with what a 2022 Vanguard study found for people today between the age of 55 and 64 regarding retirement savings. Their study came in at an average savings of roughly $256,000. That amount can provide $10,240 a year of available retirement funding based on a 4% withdrawal rate.

Fortunately our Social Security Alone failure isn’t detrimental. 

I did this exercise out of curiosity. Our portfolio has things covered if we didn’t want to make any retirement lifestyle changes to line up closer to living on just Social Security. 

That doesn’t mean we won’t cut back. We’ve already begun to see budgetary places where we won’t spend as much going forward very much longer anyway. We’ve constantly experienced changes in our attitudes about things over the years of our retirement. 

We only come this close to being able to consider living on Social Security alone because we paid off our mortgage over an 18 year period several years ago. We bought our modest older home when I was corporately forced to relocate to remain employed midway during my primary career. It was a bad job market so we bit the bullet. Having mortgage obligations in retirement would certainly make this task far more challenging if not impossible. 

Prior to retiring we did a lot of necessary things to get this close to living on Social Security alone. We paid off all debt and stayed out of debt. We also created a frugal yet rewarding lifestyle by cutting all spending waste while prioritizing what is important to us. 

A few more tweaks and possibly our consideration of some other moves could get us to living on Social Security alone without any reliance on savings or feeling like we are living a deprived life.

A few retirement budget and income strategies come to mind that are worth considering  –

Delay Starting Social Security 

This exercise I just did is based on claiming my Social Security at age 65, not FRA or age 70. Social Security would be higher by holding off. Any increase in received Social Security payments not only narrows any retirement budget shortfall but also for someone who is still employed there’s added time to increase retirement savings. 

Being that I’m already retired, delaying Social Security would mean relying on my portfolio to carry the load a little longer and possibly having less to work with later. It’s all the things that need to be considered. It is always best to run the different scenarios against a good retirement calculator. 

Move Somewhere Cheaper

Where we live plays a big role in our retirement cost. Being open to moving to a different town, city, state, or even country can play a role in reducing retirement costs. We do love where we live. Being close to our children and grandkids is important to us. However, we would consider moving somewhere different if staying here meant not being able to afford our desired retirement lifestyle.

Tap Home Equity

We’ve all seen the commercials on TV about Reverse Mortgages. It’s a way to use home equity to help fund retirement. It isn’t high on my list because of the high costs associated with doing this. That and the restrictive rules that can jam you up if you run afoul of them. But it’s something that can be considered if the worst financially happened to us.

Rent Out A Room

We are like many retirees who now have empty bedrooms that have been converted to exercise rooms, offices, and storage that can be changed back. It provides the option to rent out a room or two for retirement income in this high rental cost housing market. 

Apply For Senior Benefits

Aside from getting discounts at restaurants and hotels, there are some senior discounts that we have to apply to get. For example, we did apply to receive a senior property tax break. We meet the age and requirement of living in our home at least 10 years. This is a regional type benefit that is worth looking into to find out what the benefit is and what rules must be met. Our savings are yet to be determined since the huge jump in property tax appraisals over the last couple of years also takes effect this year. 

Cut Transportation Related Costs

I have a problem, a car problem. I just love cars and have been active in the hobby for most of my life. I’d consider cutting back on my automotive hobby and shave down auto insurance costs. That and bank the money received in a sale of one of my babies. 

We do see our world shrinking. There are far more opportunities to use our bicycles to get to town venues, cafes, and shopping. Although it is limited to weather and seasonal conditions. Aside from that, there’s always a way to become a single car household if we need to cut expenses.

Start A Retirement Gig

One of things many retirees find themselves doing is returning to a little retirement gig for the social aspects and earning a little extra to get by. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve had some rewarding paid retirement adventures during my retirement. Picking the right opportunity can be the ticket for closing the loop. 

If you’re collecting Social Security before reaching full retirement age and decide to work, just keep monthly income under $1,770 ($21,240 a year) to avoid bumping into the Social Security pre-FRA earnings limit. Unless of course you find a cool gig doing something that makes a ton of money and you don’t need to worry about the Social Security benefit clawback.

What does this all mean?

Well, what we need is nowhere near the routinely hyped million dollar retirement portfolio. Having no or little retirement savings isn’t necessarily a guaranteed doomed situation. Everyone will have their own unique needs based on where they live, how they spend, the amount of their Social Security benefit, and whether they have room for and are open to making more cuts or generating new income if necessary. 

What’s evident is that all of us had better know our expenses. We have to take control of our spending, have little or no debt, save something for retirement, and prioritize what’s important in our lifestyle. We should also be prepared for necessary changes to meet the inevitable retirement funding challenges. 

This also points out the importance of setting up a low lifestyle cost before retiring. If saving a huge portfolio is unattainable, then we best take care of where and how we want to live at the lowest cost we can joyfully do it. 

If you’re thinking, great, this exercise to see if we can live on Social Security alone only matters if it stays somewhat funded as promised. Well, I think we’ll all have bigger problems to deal with if Social Security collapses. That said, it is always better to save more than you will need based on whether everything else goes great. You know, just in case.

Making Your Garden the Perfect Place to Relax in Retirement

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The act of spending time in a garden has the power to decrease an individual’s risk of developing dementia, reduce stress and anxiety, increase vitamin D levels, and provide a source of aerobic exercise (when actively gardening). If you’ve decided to retire, and are still on the lookout for meaningful new hobbies, gardening could be exactly what you are in search of. In addition to planting flowers and produce, and providing daily care to your plants, your garden can serve as a wonderful spot to nap, read a book, and to entertain guests. Learn more about some of the best ways to make your the perfect place, a garden to relax in retirement.

Making Your Garden the Perfect Place to Relax in Retirement

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How To Have A Garden to Relax in Retirement

Create a comfortable and purposeful patio area

Of nearly any area in or outside of the home, patios often have the most unrealized potential and the easy choice when trying to create a garden to relax in retirement. Even if you have a relatively small patio space, you can quickly and easily turn a boring outdoor space into a stunning retreat. To do this, first decide how you would like to use your patio. Do you only want it to be reserved for time alone, or time with your family? Will your pets join you on the patio regularly? Do you want to host frequent dinner parties outside?

When you’ve established the various uses of this space, you can make the best choices for adding furniture, decorative elements, and functional features. For example, if you know that your patio gets a lot of sun, but you want to spend time entertaining or relaxing, the use of retractable awnings can provide much-needed shade and protection from experiencing an interrupting rain event.

Other low cost alternatives like shade sails or patio umbrellas paired with patio lights can add both atmosphere and shade. Considering the needs of yourself, your family, and your guests in advance (such as keeping out of the sun) can guide you toward making the best choices for your patio design. 

Use your garden for learning

In addition to creating a relaxing and functional patio area, it is also beneficial to maximize the use of your actual garden as well. As mentioned earlier, engaging with your garden carries with it tremendous health advantages. On top of these benefits, you can transform your garden into a daily learning opportunity. Whether you’re an advanced gardener or a complete novice, there is always something new to learn about nature. 

Set goals for yourself, such as learning how to care for specific crops, or learning about the care of plants and flowers that you are not yet familiar with. Stretch yourself beyond the patio to learn about garden water features like ponds and fountains. If you have an interest, learn how garden lighting and water pumps can utilize solar powered options. 

Let your curiosity take you places you may not have considered before. Who knows, you might end up joining the needed and growing number of honey bee advocates in your garden plan’s pest control decisions and plant selection. 

Establish your educational goals on a monthly basis (or on a schedule that works well for you), and track what you’ve learned throughout the year. Then, by the time the next year rolls around, you can review every new skill and fact that you’ve learned thanks to your home garden.

Add plants and flowers that appeal to you

It’s important to recognize that creating a beautiful garden environment is highly subjective. The plants featured in a popular home and garden magazine may not match with your home’s style and/or your own personal preferences. When choosing the plants and flowers that will adorn your gorgeous outdoor oasis, select only those that you most enjoy. 

Since you will be the one who spends the most time in your patio/garden space, fill it with the plants that appeal to your sense of beauty. But don’t lose track of what is native or survivable in your climate. The key motivation is creating a perfect place to relax in retirement. Avoid over-tasking yourself in labor and/or resources trying to force beautiful but unsuitable plants to thrive.

 

Whether you desire a retirement full of activity or rest, your patio/garden area can provide both. By establishing your goals and desires for the space, and making it suit your needs, you can make the most out of this often underutilized outdoor area.

Embrace A Realistic Lifespan, Live A Happier Retirement

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We’ve all heard it before. Your retirement plan should cover the possibility of living to a very old age. I instead embrace a realistic lifespan which has allowed for not only an earlier retirement but also a happier one. There has been both a financial and lifestyle bump to this mindset. It’s a “live life to the fullest” flavor of mortality salience without the anxiety or fear of what we all know as inevitable. It’s all about coming to terms with a lifespan based on our own unique metrics and maximizing the time we most likely have left. 

Embrace A Realistic Lifespan, Live A Happier Retirement

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When It Comes To Optimistic Planning, I Prefer To Embrace A Realistic Lifespan 

The cautions to plan on funding retirement for extreme old age just never really worked for me. I’ve always been resistant to some common financial advice of calculating retirement planning out to an age over 90 to 100. Certainly everyone’s genetic and genealogical history is unique. In my circle I’ve come across nobody in that age bracket. 

Our unknown longevity is partly what motivated me to retire early. I chose to retire at a younger age instead of holding off with retirement. It’s quite simple to understand the draw. The earlier I retire, then the sooner I can live the life I want. A sooner retirement also means having more time to live a happier retirement. 

How much time we have is the issue that plagues all of us when completing our financial planning. 

Settling on a realistic age to accomplish what we want in life and to financially plan for

Longevity Comes At A Price That Must Be Considered

Obviously when running numbers through a retirement calculator we must plug in the number of years or an end age the portfolio needs to do its thing. Nobody wants to start retirement worrying about long-term financial shortcomings. I’d hear about it being best to set the calculator with enough years to reach age 100. That’s great if you have a portfolio that can support your preferred retirement budget for that long with 100% calculated success results. If you have the bucks, go ahead and plan to live to age 100. My portfolio, not so much.

On the other side, I didn’t want to recklessly cut myself short with an estimated early demise.

My father passed at age 70, his two  brothers both at 45, and his father (my grandfather) at age 32. All had different health related causes that came and took them quickly. I have lived my adult life knowing about the possibilities of an early death. Although I never blindly considered setting myself that short. I know people who had similar family early death dynamic and planned to die young, but I still wanted to concentrate on planning for a realistic lifespan.

As someone who didn’t have a 7-figure portfolio to retire on, I chose a more realistic lifespan for us to calculate against. My 100% retirement calculator success limit was around age 88 and then the percentage of success trailed off after that. I felt reaching even that age was pretty optimistic. It played a part in making my decision to retire earlier than waiting to cover another 10 years of hopeful thinking. I also came to the conclusion that age 85 was a more realistic goal and 90 was more or less padding. It was also easier to retire young believing that this snapshot in time can change with market swings, any additional earned income, or health changes over the decades ahead of me. Now when running numbers my retirement calculator results actually do show 100% success past age 90. But that doesn’t change my actual lifespan.

How I landed on a realistic end age

Family History

There are going to be some people who feel compelled to plan for the long-game because they’ve experienced a rare family member who reached the centenarian milestone. For my wife and I it isn’t a favorable longevity consideration. My wife’s side has a couple who reached 90 and 91. But for the majority of our genealogy, time on the planet is much shorter. If we had family history saying otherwise we would be more inclined to look farther into the age 90 range. We just don’t have any genetic longevity bump in our family history to hang onto.

We can always say we live healthier as a longevity consideration, but should we? I think we’ve also had and have a lot more environmental challenges. Not to mention there are new risks that go with that to offset healthier lifestyle choices. 

Our end date odds- What the professional actuaries tell us 

There are a lot of things that come into longevity play: Environment, where you’ve lived and live, genetics, occupation, income, health habits, healthcare access, risky behaviors, social engagement, social status, etc. Overall, the actuary’s jobs are to weigh an overall mortality value so that their clients, who are insurance companies, the government, pension funds, etc., don’t lose money. Talk about motivation to get something right. Billions of dollars are involved. What else in this world other than big bucks compels as much attention to detail and tested methods? The answer, not much. 

Projected mortality factors also change as we age. When looking at actuarial mortality tables I have an older age actuarial demise than someone younger than I am today. So much for the argument that young people today will live longer than their parents and grandparents. What are these “raise the retirement age to 70” politicians looking at? Apparently living healthier and all of the medical advances isn’t actuarially a positive for longevity vs. today’s new life risks. 

Running our life through a longevity prediction calculator

A closer look at our mortality can be done using a life expectancy calculator. You can plug in your unique lifestyle and yours along with family member medical values to see what your odds are from a medical perspective. We then can weigh its results against the broader high level actuary mortality results found. 

My life expectancy calculation does come out higher than what the actuary mortality tables predict. However, they never ask all the uniquely relevant health questions. Although some of our family members’ deaths have cancer involved because they were smokers, other genetically passed health issues that caused early deaths are not included in the calculator questions. That’s why my wife and I backward pad these results. 

Practicalities of having a realistic lifespan to improve retirement

No matter how we slice it, our longevity never comes close to an age in the upper 90s to 100. Having a delusional fear of realistically contemplating our eventual death or soaking up what financial planners, influencers, or politicians try to tell us doesn’t magically add to one’s true longevity. 

Obviously some of the places that having a reality based lifespan comes into play are financial. The other is evaluating how much time we have because we all want a life with meaningful purpose. It’s clear things can’t continually be put off because our time is fleeting and unknown. 

Financial relief for less retirement stress

Plugging my gender and birthdate into the Social Security life expectancy calculator gives me age 84.

The Livingto100.com medically oriented life expectancy calculator resulted in age 92 when answering the questions that it offered. But as I mentioned before, I think it doesn’t ask all of the necessary and unique family mortality questions. An issue that killed an uncle of mine when he was age 45 almost killed me a few years ago at age 61. It wasn’t a medical question included in its calculation. Even though it’s something that I’m now being treated for, it can still come knocking again. That’s why I feel I need to pad back a bit on its results.

Once deciding on a realistic lifespan figure, which I’ve landed on my best case age being 85 to a very optimistic 90, I can feel more confident in using that in my retirement calculations for portfolio funding. 

Another big personal and mortality based decision that must be made is when to start claiming Social Security. 

We pay into the Social Security system our entire working life and can claim our earned retirement benefit as early as age 62, full retirement age which for me is 66.8, a maximized benefit payment at age 70, or any time in between. It basically comes down to this. We can get more monthly smaller checks in life by claiming early, or less overall monthly checks but with a bigger payment amount if we wait. Payment amounts are tied to the actuarial results. The bet by Social Security is we will live to the actuary calculated mortality age. Die earlier and they save money. 

If we die later, depending on how earlier in age we started collecting our benefit we will soar past the break even point and can be left receiving less Social Security payouts overall had we waited to begin payments at age 70. Delaying our benefit start date is betting that we can beat the actuarial table. 

The Social Security break even point is only one side of it. There are other considerations that need to be factored. The amount of our portfolio distribution savings by claiming Social Security earlier and the resulting compounding portfolio gains over the years, the possible later reduction in Social Security payments due to congressional inaction to the projected shortcomings by year 2033, survivor benefit considerations, or some Social Security hating political Jackholes getting their way to end it all together. 

A happier retirement can come with financial relief. 

Using a realistic lifespan may result in seeing that with adjusted reality based financial inputs there’s more room in retirement portfolio distributions to live a little more richly in our senior years. Not to blow it, but share before we pass. My wife and I got to early retirement through frugal living and it’s a lifestyle that works for our happiness. Having room to bring a little happiness to some others we care about who are still in the game is a meaningful win. Which brings us to the second part.

Living a retirement life of purpose

I think many more people are starting to value experiences, family, friends, and living a life of purpose and meaning over just simply a life of accumulating more stuff. For myself, it has been amplified as I age. I prioritize celebrating the accomplishments of my children and grandkids, trying to do things that support my values and my community, looking at issues that unfairly challenged my life and aligning myself to make it easier for others to be victorious who are still oppressed by them today. 

We want to be remembered by our grandkids for what we do with them and for them while we’re still here. Not blindly spoil them, but show them we support their talents and encourage their aspirations. Applying a realistic lifespan approach to the remainder of our retirement allows us to freely do that more than if we were trying to overpreserve funds for a fictitious old age. 

It also lights a fire under our keisters because time is ever shrinking. We know to avoid holding back and not over preserve living, activities, and socially engaging with those we care about for a later or perceived better time. One that we should know is never promised. 

We now make a point to pay more attention to even smaller achievements by living in the moment instead of waiting until something grander that may not ever come. My family knows full well how it can end in an instant. Years ago we suddenly lost our son who passed away at the age of 21 from an unknown health issue. It was a time when we all believed there was all the time in the world to set aside our busy lives to celebrate what we have together. 

What if we beat all the odds and do live to 100?

Nobody wants to run dry of funds before they leave the planet. Once settled on a realistic lifespan we can’t just live on autopilot. Portfolio and budget management still needs to occur. Any shortcomings should be identified before it becomes a critical issue and then make necessary adjustments. 

I also happen to never count our home as part of our overall retirement portfolio. We do have to live somewhere. At some point it won’t meet our needs and we will then enter into that phase of late life planning. So much can and will change over the short and long-term so I am Ok with not having all the answers now. 

The older someone gets, the likelihood of requiring long-term care increases. So far that hasn’t been a big issue in our families as we seem to go earlier or any time in care is very brief. But as I tell my CFP whenever he brings it up, I have a $40 plan for that. A deep hot bathtub and a full bottle of decent bourbon. I know it’s a deflection based on how I feel about quality of life. Our family history has me less concerned about that now. Maybe my feelings will also change on the subject as I grow older and I will pin it down then. Like I mentioned, much can and will change and I’m Ok with not having all the answers about an unknown future. There’s too much to live for today.

Hello Retirement! Calling It A Leisure Freak Pivot

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I just can’t just walk away. A couple of months ago I said goodbye and left early retirement blogging behind. I’ve since come to terms with my change of status from aging out of early retirement to just regular retirement and realized I’m simply in the middle of a Leisure Freak pivot. My wife said she never believed I could completely walk away. When it comes to retirement, I just never seem to do things like most people do.

During my break it was easier in my quiet period to realize I’m still fully who I’ve always been. A Leisure Freak who beat the employment to old age system and wants to continue awakening others to the possibilities. Possibilities of something more than the standard conditioning that drives a lifelong narrative of success measured through employment grind productivity and consumption. 

Hello Retirement! Calling It A Leisure Freak Pivot

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The Leisure Freak Pivot, It’s a 2.0 Thing: An Evolved View

It Didn’t Take Long To Realize I Left Sharing On Leisure Freak In Haste

I called posting quits because after 13 years passing since my early retirement, the new world changes people need to take to reach FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) were outside of my own personal experience. Sharing real life success actions was what Leisure Freak was always about. 

I had pulled it off, ditching the rat race at the age of 51. But after over a decade of early retirement freedom I had aged into retirement with the mandatory and welcome application for Medicare. It admittingly messed with my brain a bit. Let’s say it’s another of life’s turning points. Needless to say, I didn’t take it as the positive and winning life event it really is.

Youthfully Starting Early Retirement
LF Tommy- Early Retirement Start 2009
Aging out of early retirement status into standard retirement
LF Tommy- Retirement Start 2023

 

I had to get used to considering that no matter how young I feel inside, that on paper by age or looking at my side-by-side then and now photos I’ve stepped into elderly status. Yikes! It still mentally stings to come out saying it. Early elderly maybe? Ya, that takes away some of the sting.

 

I decided to step away from blogging based on the feeling that although my FIRE story could still be inspirational, there are younger people right now in the FIRE zone pulling it off within today’s unique challenges.

Some of the things I did to be successful in my career and to retire early doesn’t even exist anymore.

For perspective, I was in my upper 30s when the internet became widely used and had hit the milestone of over 100,000 websites. For many, the mid to late 1990s seems like ancient times. My personal finance and early retirement research was done through reading books. The term “FIRE” for personal finance wasn’t used yet. I’m constantly reminded how things have gone through accelerated change since I decided to retire early and began my FIRE in 10 years plan in 1998 at the age of 40. 

A lot of the cutting edge tech I worked on to develop as an engineer is now common must-haves with today’s young adults who can’t remember a time in their lives without it. I certainly recognize that life today and the mechanics of reaching financial independence have evolved. So I decided to pass the torch and bow out. 

Something Happened Since My Saying Goodbye

In my time away from blog life I realized I’m too much of a FIRE aficionado and fan to just walk away. FIRE burns strong inside me. It’s such a positive force in my life and I truly believe it is worthy of everyone to work towards. Living in financial desperation as the same old consumerist and career dominated path dictates is no way to live. Living a full and enjoyable life while reaching employment liberation is still attainable.

During my transition period the past couple of months I would read great early retirement and personal finance articles and feel the power of the FIRE movement. Something I’m proudly a member of. I now see that it’s for life, not something that we simply age out of. 

It’s a belief system. One that comes with knowledge and a realization that there are systematic challenges that must be overcome. Along with a little contempt toward that system while leveraging a heavy dose of audacity. We can hate the game but need to play it smart to win. Even with all that has changed in the world over the past 25 years, the required tenets of reaching financial independence remain solidly the same as when I completed the early retirement journey. Thus here I am again, making this Leisure Freak pivot. 

In order for us to be content in retirement, it’s important to stay fully engaged in our world. In my case my world includes a large dose of FIRE. 

What Gets Us To FIRE Is Still Required In The Retirement Zone, It’s Just A Little Different

Age is a number that’s factored in like everything else in personal finance. Numbers that are relevant to our having a solid retirement plan. This age related number and retirement status change just happened to mess with my brain. 

What it takes to reach and then stay in the FIRE zone follows the same principles of budgeting, purposeful spending, investing, and mindset. Some of what I am personally seeing is changing for the better, while other changes add retirement challenges or just disappear.

Planning for your own aging out of early retirement status will happen to all of the FIRE successful. It’s another non-financial aspect when suddenly we get to see our created world of freedom from the otherside of youth. We all participate in the reality that time horizons continually condense. How we want to live through it all is up to us to shape.

It didn’t sneak up on me, I saw this age-related bugaboo coming and I think I kind of welcomed its messing with my brain. Sometimes I just need to force myself to feel things to fully understand them.

So what does Leisure Freak post-pivot look like?

More of the same, but I’ll try to share something useful from the other side of early retirement. My early retirement experience was never exactly in lockstep with a lot of FIRE websites anyway. What I hope is that I can share some different, useful, maybe even interesting perspectives. I actually feel more personally free about where and what Leisure Freak’s place is in all of this. 

 

I’m not really that surprised by my Leisure Freak pivot. I want to thank my bride for just keeping to herself what she already knew, that I was fooling myself and I was still fully in this. Thus allowing me the time to figure it out on my own. 

I’m looking forward to experiencing and sharing what comes next and a perspective from the other side of a successful early retirement. It’s all about trying to enjoy the journey and making the destination as great as our expectations.

I’m Aging Out Of Early Retirement So It’s Time For Full Retirement And Goodbye

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It has been a great ride, but I’m now aging out of early retirement. I’ll hit the official retirement age of 65 in a couple of months and have already done the mandatory signup for Medicare. While that little retirement benefit will save me a lot of money in my budget, it also depressingly makes it clear that I’ll officially be considered by governmental definitions as elderly. YIKES! 

I still feel like I am an early retiree. I used to feel like I was always 35 inside my head. Then that switched to a still youthful 55 as the years passed by and has held steady there. Feeling younger than our birthday dictates is one thing, reality the other. I’m more proud of being an early retiree than I am about my past career. A career is what we are conditioned to believe we need or have to do. Early retirement is what I decided I wanted to accomplish regardless of what the system demands. 

I’m Aging Out Of Early Retirement So It’s Time For Full Retirement And Goodbye

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I’m Aging Out Of Early Retirement, Time To Say Goodbye

The world moves quickly and we all change with it. After 13 years of early retirement and 9 years since starting Leisure Freak sharing what I did and any other tips to help others wanting to walk the path of FIRE, Leisure Freak will retire with me. It’s aging out of early retirement too.  In a way an early retirement of its own by a few months. I knew this day would come but until today it was always a tomorrow thing. But now is the right time.

Although my story and what I did to retire early is based on valid personal finance principles that still hold true today, much of my experience likely seems ancient with today’s challenges. It was painfully evident as I struggled to personally offer new relevant content. I have pretty much said all there is for me to say without sounding like an out of touch old coot. 

I happily accomplished much of my early retirement bucket list. There were some rewarding retirement gigs, lots of recreation, increased my social network in my community, and volunteer work. I’ve enjoyed learning all there was to having a website and sharing my early retirement story. I’ve been touched by all those who contacted me or commented that I helped them in their own journey or provided inspiration to create their own plan. I appreciate all of my Leisure Freak readers and all of the support I’ve received from my online friends and partners.

I still plan on following my favorite sites and staying in touch with my closest associates. I’ll remain reachable at my leisurefreaktommy gmail account. I’m looking forward to what comes next in retirement or I suppose what will be FIR instead of FIRE. I’m just now leaving the very worthy FIRE quest talking points to those who may offer more current experiences to meet today’s personal financial freedom challenges. 

Once again, thank you all

Leisure Freak Tommy

Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Working After Retirement

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Older man sitting at a desk.

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This article was contributed to Leisure Freak by freelance writer Olivia Farrell.

Did you ever notice that people seem to show signs of aging much more quickly once they retire? It’s as if they become old overnight. And there is a reason for this. While there are many good sides to retirement, like more free time, there are also downsides. Once people retire, they have no more everyday work to keep them mentally and physically active. We decided to tell you about some of the health benefits of working after retirement, especially early retirement, so that it might change your mind on this issue. However, you must keep in mind that this does not apply to every job. Some jobs are highly stressful, such as police officer or firefighter. Those and any other similarly stressful job you shouldn’t continue after retirement. Also, you don’t have to keep working the same job or work full-time. It’s all about balance.

Less likely to get a serious disease

Research has shown that people who keep working after retirement are less likely to get serious health issues. This is connected to the fact that you are active and have less downtime when you are working. Often when people retire, they let themselves go a little. They indulge in unhealthy foods, sleep more, and are overall less active. That can lead to diabetes, higher blood pressure, etc. Better health is a great incentive to keep working. As we said before, you don’t have to work full-time. Just a few hours daily are enough to keep you healthier and give you some structure and balance.

Working After Retirement-Older woman smiling.
One of the health benefits of working after retirement is an improved mood and mental health.

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You will be happier

There is a big difference between working because you have to and working because you want to. One of the main reasons people start to dislike their job and get frustrated is because it has become a necessity. They have to work because they need financial security. That can take the joy out of almost any job. Many people start off loving their job, but over the years, it just becomes another obligation they have to do. All of that changes once you retire. Then you can do your job again, not because you have to make money but because you can enjoy doing it instead. It allows you to reconnect with the love and excitement you once had about your job. It also gives you a great sense of freedom you didn’t have before. This is exceptionally beneficial for a person’s mental health.

You are more likely to stay in shape

One of the benefits of working after retirement is that you are more likely to stay in shape. People who have to get up every day and go to work are more motivated and disciplined. These are fundamental traits for anyone who wants to work out regularly. Staying in shape is a lot harder when you are retired. There is a good reason for this. A lot of people, when they retire, stop taking care of themselves because they have so much time on their hands but zero structure. And that can be very damaging. Working out is essential not just for physical health and looking good but also really important for a person’s mental health. Working out gives us energy and makes us more focused and happier people.

Older woman doing yoga.
You are more likely to stay in shape if you continue working. Alt-tag: Older woman doing yoga.

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Gives us financial security

You may think that financial security has nothing to do with the health benefits of working after retirement but let us explain. Financial security is directly tied to a person’s mental health. According to experts, one of the leading causes of depression and anxiety in people is fear or financial insecurity. When people retire, their income becomes smaller. That can be a cause of many mental health issues and severely damage the quality of your life. If you keep working, even part-time, you will save yourself all this trouble, and you won’t have to worry about having enough money. Also, this money will be handy if you develop unexpected health issues because healthcare, even with the best insurance possible, can still be very expensive.

It will keep you sharp

The first thing that usually declines for people who retire is their brain. Once they stop working, they also stop actively working on solving problems, which your brain needs to stay sharp. You have probably heard a doctor recommend that you should do a crossword puzzle every day. As with any other muscle in our body, our brain also needs exercise. Otherwise, it will slowly decay. People who keep working are more focused. They notice things better and also have a better memory. However, you can simply switch if you are tired of doing a tedious office job every day and don’t want to keep doing it. Once you retire from that job, look for something else. It can be any other job. What is important is that it stimulates your brain and keeps you active.

It’s important to still have a healthy social life once you retire.

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One of the health benefits of working after retirement is a healthy social life

One of the things retirees often complain about is loneliness. And loneliness quite often leads to depression, sometimes in a very severe form. Once they retire, many people lose touch with their coworkers/friends, which can really damage their social life. People are social beings, and to be happy, and mentally well, they need to have friends and a healthy social life. It’s much better to keep working and stay in touch with other people; it can do wonders for your mental health.

 

In conclusion

As you can see, there is so much more to life after retirement. Just because you filled certain requirements and now can retire doesn’t mean you have to do it. You should pay attention to the many mental and physical benefits of working after retirement. And as we said previously, you don’t have to work full time or even stay at the same job. Find a job after retirement that will be fulfilling and keeps you active.

Much thanks to Olivia Farrell for sharing this informative post with Leisure Freak readers.

Author bio:

Olivia Farrell is a freelance writer from New York but has spent her life traveling around the world, learning about health and wellness. She has honed her craft writing for Personal Trainers Dubai and now focuses on giving people the best advice for their mental and physical health.