What do you do in retirement? (besides travel)

[PigsDad]

We retired at 56 (3 years ago), and started snowbirding between Colorado and Florida at the same time. Our summers in Colorado are filled more with interacting with longtime friends whereas we are still building up a friend base in Florida. While I have occasionally golfed and enjoyed it, I have never seen the value proposition in it. I'm probably just too cheap in that respect.

We have definitely increased our travel. This fall will be our fourth trip to Europe since we retired. We have also been on many cruises, including a 28-day Amazon cruise. Other than that, we fill our days with what we want to do. In Florida, there are more neighborhood activities we can join, such as bocce, various card game clubs, entertainment events, etc. I also have spent more time on home improvements, doing some of the work myself, and coordinating the rest. I haven't felt the need or desire to get into any structured activities yet, such as volunteering, being on boards, etc., even though I have been asked. At this early point in my retirement, I just want to focus on being free to do what I want, when I want. For now, that is making me happy.

Kurt

 

[rapmarks]

I'm also older and slower and now use an electric bike

I bought a three wheeler but have not used it yet.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

My retirement is a bit different. Gardening (roses and other flowering perennials), tropical fish, and reading molecular biology papers. (I'm a frustrated scientist )

i had rosarians over for a garden party Saturday. . .

 

[Rjbeach2003]

We are retired in that we both have SS and State Retirement. However I still am in sales, but only at 5-6 trade shows a year. Several times my wife has joined me and we have traveled to Zion, San Antonio and Central Florida along with a business trip. My wife loves to garden and I like to bike though not as much as my riding partners have quit. We both like to travel and have done 5 bike trips to Europe. 4 have been bike and barge, 24 passengers in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourgh and one in the Alps, staying in hotels. Switzerland, Austria and Italy. With each trip we have added time in Italy-4 times, as well as The Netherlands, Germany and France. The most recent was in June. I am 79 and my wife is 74. We go to Hawaii at least every other year, usually for at least 2 weeks. More trips are planned as long as we can. Otherwise it's time with family. Three kids, four grands all within 30 miles so we see them a lot.

 

[artringwald]

We are retired in that we both have SS and State Retirement. However I still am in sales, but only at 5-6 trade shows a year. Several times my wife has joined me and we have traveled to Zion, San Antonio and Central Florida along with a business trip. My wife loves to garden and I like to bike though not as much as my riding partners have quit. We both like to travel and have done 5 bike trips to Europe. 4 have been bike and barge, 24 passengers in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourgh and one in the Alps, staying in hotels. Switzerland, Austria and Italy. With each trip we have added time in Italy-4 times, as well as The Netherlands, Germany and France. The most recent was in June. I am 79 and my wife is 74. We go to Hawaii at least every other year, usually for at least 2 weeks. More trips are planned as long as we can. Otherwise it's time with family. Three kids, four grands all within 30 miles so we see them a lot.

How exciting to bike in so many places! Almost all my rides have been in the Twin Cities, although I have down downhill coasting rides in Kauai and Alaska.

 

[clifffaith]

Since we moved to the Old Folks Home (continuing care retirement community) four years ago we have more friends and acquaintances and are more social than at any other times in our lives. I (70 at the end of the year) play pony canasta, Italian canasta, Spite & Malice, Rummikube and/or Mexican train five days a week. Cliff (88 on his next birthday) plays all of the above and adds bridge, chess and poker — he plays something six days a week. I cherish my Tuesday afternoons at home alone at my desk after walking him to bridge (otherwise he sits down to read the paper, forgetting he’s on his way to cards). In spite of not knowing what day of the week it is or which drawer his underwear is in these days, he still plays and often wins his games even though he usually has a slow start with lots of questions about what he needs to meld.

I am involved with organizing the other cat ladies for lunch, cat sitting and helping to find new homes for kitties when my neighbors die or move to memory care or assisted living. Cliff gave up his garden plot this year (meaning I stopped organizing planting and harvesting) and is content to read or sleep when he’s not “gaming”. I always figured we’d continue to travel, but didn’t plan anything for our 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday because Cliff doesn’t have much stamina for walking, although he’d tell you that’s not true!

 

[rapmarks]

When I am up north, I mostly spend time with my grandsons.
I drive them and their friends everywhere, I take them out to restaurants and field trips. I take them golfing, and to driving ranges, and to school functions. I go to parent conferences, chaperone, church,whatever is needed. I also taught my oldest grandson to drive. I drive a 7 passenger van, and I need all those seats.
I play in the ladies golf league too, and the local book club., but the bridge group is kaput.

In Florida, I lead a book club, and a ladies social group. I play in two golf leagues, and in bocce league. I play duplicate bridge, social bridge, and attend a lot of functions at our club.
I still read about two books a week, play an ACBL bridge tournament daily, and try to do all the NYT puzzles. Try to get a walk in daily.

And then there is the ongoing relationship with at least a dozen doctors which takes an inordinate amount of my time.

 

[TolmiePeak]

Yes! At age 54.

Yep retired at 56. No reason not to. You never know when you are going to check out. Enjoy it while you can.

 

[TolmiePeak]

It did take me 17 years. Phileas Fog went around the world in only 80 days. I didn't ride much the first several years. I was spending time with the grandkids. But then they grew up, and more of my coworkers retired, so we started riding together. I did 2,700 miles in 2020 because there wasn't much else to do. Now I'm older and slower, so the mileage keeps going down. It's still fun though. I use RideWithGPS for tracking the miles. I often take pictures and RideWithGPS lets you paste them into the ride and shows where they were taken. This was my ride Saturday.

Wisconsin

30.2 mi, +959 ft. Bike ride in Oakdale, MN

ridewithgps.com

Nice app. If I lived in Oakdale I would be riding to Cossettas and back every day so I could burn off those pizza calories.

 

[artringwald]

Nice app. If I lived in Oakdale I would be riding to Cossettas and back every day so I could burn off those pizza calories.

I love Cossettas pizza and their cannoli. However, the group prefers places with outdoor seating for the sweaty bikers. In St. Paul our favorite lunch stop Is Obb's. In Minneapolis, it's Sea Salt, but you have to get there early to avoid the lines. My favorite place is Tally's Dockside, on the scenic White Bear Lake.

 

[Talent312]

No doubt about that. We keep adding more doctors. After my 3rd joint replacement, I made a fake loyalty card and asked them to give me another punch. DW has also had 3 joint replacements.

Read somewhere...
When you're young and in school, you look forward to having a job.
When you're middle-aged and working, you look forward to retiring,
When you're old and retired, you look forward to your doctor's appointments.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

retired at 56. No reason not to. You never know when you are going to check out.

Absolutely. Both of my parents died of cancer right around 50. By the time I was late 20s, I swore I would retire before 50, and I beat that by a good margin.

 

[AnnaS]

I babysit two days a week (for grandson/s), attend a gym class two days a week. After my husband passed last year, I recently joined The Friendship Club in my area (there are a few/it's for anyone age 60 and up). I go once a week, sometimes twice. This has helped me a lot. They do so much at the club and outside of the club. There is always a luncheon, dinner (in and outside of the center), celebration, party and trips. You can do as much or as little as you want (I am just not available for many of these things/maybe next year when my grandson starts pre-school).

I also walk close to 6 miles on the weekends with my two lady neighbors - 6 am - as long as the weather is 45 degrees and above .

 

[WinniWoman]

Yep retired at 56. No reason not to. You never know when you are going to check out. Enjoy it while you can.

That’s wonderful! You are very lucky if you can retire in your 50’s. Not possible for a majority of people sadly.

I wanted to retire at 16! Lol!

 

[Timeshare Von]

Absolutely. Both of my parents died of cancer right around 50. By the time I was late 20s, I swore I would retire before 50, and I beat that by a good margin.

It's difficult losing your parents young, isn't it. I can empathize with you, as my Dad died at the age of 46 (I was just 21) and my Mom was only 56 (I was 36). With 2 younger sisters, all 3 of us are in uncharted territory as we're now in our 60's. I've been fully retired for 18 months (at my full retirement age of 66 1/2), my middle sister will be retiring next month (she's 64) and our youngest sister never really did work out of the home and is living her best life on a remote ranch in New Mexico.

Getting older with older health stuff to deal with is weird because we didn't get to experience that transition with our parents. We're taking it one day at a time, and sharing experiences and asking questions of those we're close to . . . but nothing takes the place of your parents. What I wouldn't give to have them back!!

 

[pedro47]

It's difficult losing your parents young, isn't it. I can empathize with you, as my Dad died at the age of 46 (I was just 21) and my Mom was only 56 (I was 36). With 2 younger sisters, all 3 of us are in uncharted territory as we're now in our 60's. I've been fully retired for 18 months (at my full retirement age of 66 1/2), my middle sister will be retiring next month (she's 64) and our youngest sister never really did work out of the home and is living her best life on a remote ranch in New Mexico.

Getting older with older health stuff to deal with is weird because we didn't get to experience that transition with our parents. We're taking it one day at a time, and sharing experiences and asking questions of those we're close to . . . but nothing takes the place of your parents. What I wouldn't give to have them back!!

View attachment 117087

Please enjoy every day and minute with your siblings and take plenty of photos to passed down to your children and grandchildren.

 

[TolmiePeak]

That’s wonderful! You are very lucky if you can retire in your 50’s. Not possible for a majority of people sadly.

I wanted to retire at 16! Lol!

Finding this board helped me take more vacations to NYC than I would have been able to afford otherwise.

 

[pedro47]

I'm also older and slower and now use an electric bike

A pair of her/his (lol) electric bikes may be a good Christmas gift for someone . Thank for the idea Brett.

 

[HitchHiker71]

My DH still works full-time but works mostly at home. This enables us to travel while he works. I am in "mini-retirement" I teach university level courses. 6 months on campus when I need to be in town and 6 months off to travel and catch up on house chores.

I already work out 6 days a week. When I fully retire I could envision volunteering at a rescue or shelter to dog walk or care for cats. My problem would be to not get attached and bring them all home. :-( I already have 2 cats and 1 dog so we have a houseful. So I don't know if I can do this.

We dream about retirement, does that count LOL? I also WFH full time but do travel on business roughly once every other month for about a week on average, or six times per year at least. My wife however, is a full-time nurse at a local care facility so that limits our ability to travel, however she just recently switch from five eights to three 12s per week, as the facility is experimenting with moving to 12 hour shifts. The nice thing about the three 12s is she goes from working every other weekend to only one weekend a month basically (every 3rd weekend), which gives us more weekend time together for church, travel, etc. We're both coming up on 54 years of age and while I could in theory cash out and retire as early as next year (the year in which I turn 55), claiming early retirement, we're still both happy and healthy and therefore will continue to work and save more for retirement while we are able. We are both targeting around age 62 for retirement, all things being equal, with the clear recognition that rarely are all things actually equal over time, so we'll see what the future has in store for us.

We've been timesharing since 2018 and are currently using roughly 1.4mm Wyndham points on roughly 45 days of vacation per year including a mix of 1-2 week family vacations and weekend getaways, along with hosting a few vacations for family and friends. We may add either another set of timeshare ownerships and/or add to our Wyndham timeshare ownership as we approach retirement assuming we want to and are able to travel more at that point in time.

In so far as non-travel plans, essentially we plan to give back. What exact form that takes outside of church activities and outreach remains to be seen since we are still many years out from retirement at present. We will hopefully have grandchildren by that point in time as well and will be able to spend time with our grandkids.

 

[Timeshare Von]

Please enjoy every day and minute with your siblings and take plenty of photos to passed down to your children and grandchildren.

David (DH) & I have no kids/grandkids . . . and sadly, my sisters each have 1 child each and neither have much of an interest in family heirlooms and photos. But I do believe in taking A LOT of photos for my own memories, especially if I become that old woman in The Notebook . . . or even Rose in Titanic

 

[jp10558]

Not retired, no where close. I hope to "work" "from home" as long as they'll let me - build up the retirement account. On the other hand I'm also now doing Youtube (can do via travel YAY) and trying to start up a side business (which I can't really do as much while travelling) so I'm probably keeping busy one way or another for a while.

 

[SmithOp]

Golf, biking, casinos, doctor appointments.

 

[geekette]

So far, working on the place I bought last summer. This has been my first grow season here and I made a lot of progress. Actually not looking forward to everything dying with first freeze that could be any week now. Have atttracted lots of bees n butterflies so it’s working! Not much food grown, except tomatoes, but flowers galore. Next garden project is worm farm. Have some cast off pallets I’ll use. Neighbor gave me an old bed frame and we made a literal flower bed. Plan to get a rose in there, bed of roses, har har.

Been going to different festivals and events I probably wouldn’t if I were working. Last weekend went to Carter Fold in Virginia to see a bluegrass show, took a neighbor to a nearish winery for his birthday for flight of wine and front row for bluegrass band (I like all kinds of music, he prefers bluegrass, so, fine by me). In another week or so, going to a barn dance. Not sure I remember much square dancing so hope for a good caller. A few weeks ago went to a benefit event to restore a downtown ravaged by Helene.

I might be playing more than working but I don’t see that as a problem. I have spent a lot of time helping an older neighbor and we are planning to load up our best stuff for a flea market in a few weeks.

Also, I’ve been eating. There are huge benefits to having retired chef in the neighborhood. Today will be beef stew.

 

[DaveNV]

What do I do in retirement besides travel? Good question. I'm not really sure how I spend my days, but the time seems to be flying past.

I retired five (almost six) years ago in the Pacific Northwest, right as the Covid lockdown was starting. Hard to get motivated to do things then, when we couldn't even easily leave our house. So we sold everything and moved to the Nevada desert. Bought a fixer-upper house. Much home improvement ensued. Learned plenty about how dry, hot desert living is different than in the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest. Both are interesting and exciting, but in very different ways, and for very different reasons. Those of you who followed along with that whole moving adventure - yes, it's been almost five and a half years since that major move happened. I can't believe it either!

This coming Saturday will mark five years since we moved into this Nevada house. Now my days are as relaxed as I can make them, with minimal stress, and with the free time and freedom to do whatever, whenever the mood strikes me. I completely enjoy myself here. We have developed a large group of friends in this small town, and we spend a lot of time socializing and being active with those new friends. It's fascinating getting to know others in my age group who have led similar - or very different lives.

For those of you newer Tuggers who may not know me, I happen to be gay. My husband and I have been together 27 years. We lead a modest, peaceful life, with no drama, and no politics. We live a quiet life with minimal BS. My husband has some serious health issues, and I spend a fair amount of time taking care of him, and making sure he's getting the medical treatments he needs.

For mental exercise, I've started doing what I always wanted to do, and what many Tuggers suggested I do over the 20-odd years I've been on Tug: I write. Mostly creative stuff, and strictly for my own enjoyment. One genre I've been playing with is writing gay relationship stories, incorporating locations and people with personality types I've known over the years. It's quite fun. I like diving into my stories to learn what my characters have to tell me. It's kind of like visiting old friends. I'm often surprised by where the story plots take me - it's fun, sometimes exciting, and quite often kind of scary how close to reality these stories have developed. I may someday consider trying to publish them. I've always wanted to be a real-life published author, and I think I'd enjoy it quite a bit. (Any publishers out there?)

In between all of that, I'm learning how to grow cactus and other desert plants. it's a lot different here than it was north of Seattle.

Oh yeah - and we also now have a pool. There is tremendous satisfaction to be gained enjoying it, and just kicking back.

Retirement is shaping up to be a lot of fun.

Dave

 

[jp10558]

That and increasing doctor appointments!

I've been going through that since I was like 30 I think, started taking my Dad to Dr appts, then got some of my own (see a mole a couple times, now I have a yearly dermatologist appt - and expand across more preventative stuff), now my Mom is doing frequent appts. Luckily so far my sister and BIL can mostly take care of their own between the two of them, but they have too many for their age IMO. I don't know if my family is just unlucky, or if there's more stuff to do so they'll just keep adding appointments even to people in their late 30s . . . At the rate it seems to be going, by the time we're 60 we ought to just move into a cluster of Dr offices as we'll probably have 2 -4 appointments a day!