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Activities During Retirement
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What do people who retire at a young age do all day?
mayofish
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What do people who retire at a young age do all day?
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How about a serious answer? I’ve read a lot of the answers and as you can see, the responses are quite varied and, in some cases, ridiculous if you ask me. But therein perhaps is your answer: early retired individuals do what they want to do. As I’ve long said about early retirement, it allows you to be more of who you are as a person, or in becoming who you’d like to be. I early-retired as well, but waited until my early 50s. I could have retired sooner but unlike many others, I wanted to ensure I had my ducks in a row and everything planned well. I see many rushing into early retirement because they want out of the corporate rat-race. I’m also fearful of those much younger who call it quits because they may not have lived through a significant downturn in the economy or a bad market cycle like we had between 2000–2010. Just because you amass $1M or whatever you want as a threshold doesn’t mean it’s enough, especially if we encounter a bear market or a multi-year bear that can reduce investment balances by 30–50%. Once you add in no more income and withdrawals from the investments coupled with a significant % loss, you have a problem. For myself I had a minimum number and then took more time to ensure I had a good amount over that minimum. So young in your question is relative. I’m young for retirement but not young like many others. What do I do with my time? The cliche’ question of early retirement, at least for an active individual is: “How did I get everything done in a day before I retired?” and I found that question to be very true. Sometimes it’s amazing how busy I still am and how time flies. The reason for this is something I’ve nailed down as retirement time vs. employed time. That being when you don’t have an employer which takes up 8–10 hours a day including commute, sometimes more, you are free to do whatever you want and it’s very easy to get distracted for, sometimes, hours. Time can slip away very quickly due to simply a Google search followed by another 3–4 hours of research on the topic. When no one is scheduling your time or with nothing pressing, you are free to just let it pass … and it can very quickly. If you’re into gaming, combine that research with a game and now 6–7 hours can easily disappear very quickly. Not that much differently than when working. Activities, if you don’t limit them, can make time pass very quickly. I’ve found it’s best to break up the day to maximize it and slow down time. The key for me was in that I have multiple hobbies and multiple interests/passions which I apply much of my energy to. This includes market/investment research, financial planning, a side business that I’m a partner in which I can do as much or as little as I like and other hobbies such as guitar, photography, wealth coaching to help others, wine, streaming shows with my wife, etc. Mix in other interests such as economics, astrophysics, fantasy football, writing and other interests and I always have areas of engagement as possibilities. The key is that I try not to get over weighted in any one area and I’m not always successful. I also like to keep up on the house, garden, cleaning and general maintenance. Basically, I like my life in order and it takes care and feeding if I/you want to remain balanced. I’m an early riser, usually between 4:30–5:00 AM every morning. Weekends and week days are of no mind now and, in fact, if anything I prefer to stay indoors on the weekend as that is when more people are out. Though Covid sure changed that. I start each morning with a focus on being productive in some fashion and always by assessing the markets, my investments, identifying opportunities, etc. Then a little bit of time on the side business, looking at news, maybe researching some items of interest. I usually have a to-do list of items I’d like to get to, some shorter tasks and some much longer (project) based. The to do list helps guide me for the day to come so that I don’t forget what I need to do over items I want to do. That is how I stay balanced day in, day out. I’ve had to learn how to give myself grace when I don’t get as much done as I’d like but, I’ve also learned, and continuing to learn, how to redefine what productivity or unproductive time looks like. Mental health is important as well and priorities do change in retirement. Engagement is important in my mind and in reading some of the responses, I question how successful some of the early retirees will be especially in that they have not witnessed or experienced periods of wealth decrease. Time will tell. I like to exercise my mind and I’m taking more time to exercise my body along with it. Those avenues for engagement, whatever they may, allow me to stay sharp and ensure that the success I enjoyed previous to my early retirement is sustained through my retirement. In short, I use many of the same strategies and values I did before, but now I have the entire day to focus on MY life and new set of goals. Don’t think for a second that I have it all figured out. I have figured out what works for me, mostly, but I’m still fine tuning, trying to add more benefit each day and embracing my failures so that I might learn from them and adapt. I actually enjoy failing, laughing at myself and using it as a springboard for learning. That is key for me and something I like to preach to others when given the opportunity. Overall, early retirement is a different phase of life and each individual will have their own goals and aspirations. While I have my own path and variables in the equation which I feel are very important, others have their own. I do feel “engagement” is the key and that is a very personal process. Hope that answers the question.
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I retired at 45. Spent a couple of years traveling around Europe and Asia. Met a young lady while in Italy who stood there like a typical lost tourist, map open and a puzzled look on her face. Asked If I could help and, as it turned out, she was going to the same location I was. As we walked, we exchange a bit of our histories She was teaching English in a private school in China. That really interested me. We exchanged emails with her promising to let me know if there was ever an opening in any of the owners schools. A few months went by and I sort of forgot about it. Then I received an email from her telling me there was an opening in the school she taught in. Was I still interested? Long/short, I ended up heading off to China to live in the Northeast near Russia. I taught one class of four and five year olds, another six to ten years old. Had a blast! The kids were scared and yet fascinated by me as I’m a lot taller than most Chinese and have a full beard. I had decided to leave when my six month contract was up. A lot of tears were shed on both sides when the kids found out. Went back to the states for a bit until the travel bug bite again and headed off to Europe again. While in Switzerland I met a guy and we hit it off. Long/short again, I’m now 65 and living with my partner in a house we bought in a small Swiss village. He’s a doctor, splitting his time between his office and the clinic at a university hospital. I spend my days caring for the flowers and garden during the growing seasons, taking walks around the village and in the forest with my camera and our dog. I do all the cooking (he can burn water) as well as putzing around with housework. Winter will find me in my chair next to the fireplace reading. I’m still, all these years later, trying to learn Swiss/French but I think it’s a lost cause.