Ugh stupid work... Retirees, what do you do all day?

[Zeze]

1. How old are you (or a general range)
2. How long have you been retired?
3. What do you do all day? Did you move or make drastic changes after quitting work?
4. What are you looking forward to?
5. What do you dislike about your retirement?

 

[dullard]

3. What do you do all day? Did you move or make drastic changes after quitting work?

One of the worst mistakes someone can do in retirement years is to simply retire. You need to retire TO something. Otherwise, they so often drift out of the world spending their last miserable years as a useless lump on the couch cushion.

Retire to traveling the world. Retire to seeing friends and family. Retire to starting up your dreams that you never had time for. Retire to charity work. Decide what you are retiring TO before you retire.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

One of the worst mistakes someone can do in retirement years is to simply retire. You need to retire TO something. Otherwise, they so often drift out of the world spending their last miserable years as a useless lump on the couch cushion.

Retire to traveling the world. Retire to seeing friends and family. Retire to starting up your dreams that you never had time for. Retire to charity work. Decide what you are retiring TO before you retire.

Do people not have hobbies during the 40 years they're working? I could easily retire today and have a billion things to do without leaving my property, and I'm not even 40 yet.

 

[Zeze]

One of the worst mistakes someone can do in retirement years is to simply retire. You need to retire TO something. Otherwise, they so often drift out of the world spending their last miserable years as a useless lump on the couch cushion.

Retire to traveling the world. Retire to seeing friends and family. Retire to starting up your dreams that you never had time for. Retire to charity work. Decide what you are retiring TO before you retire.

Just not be at work. That alone should open up my mind to tons of others things I can do to occupy my time.

 

[Oyeve]

Hell, i'm 55 and actually don't plan on retiring any time soon. Sure, I can use the 10K I have spent on fishing gear alone til the day I die, or finally learn to play guitar as I own 13 of them, or watch the 2000 DVDs I bought in the late 90s, but no, I plan on working til I drop.

 

[dullard]

Do people not have hobbies during the 40 years they're working? I could easily retire today and have a billion things to do without leaving my property, and I'm not even 40 yet.

I've seen far too many people be thrilled with retirement--for 3 months. Then be miserable afterwards. Languishing into nothingness.

Surprise--Money Doesn't Guarantee a Happy Retirement. Here's What Does

Think big-picture about what you need for life after work.

www.inc.com

Transamerica's 2017 retirement study found that 97 percent of retirees with a strong sense of purpose were generally happy, compared with 76 percent without that sense. These retirees spent more time with family, traveling, doing volunteer work, and pursuing hobbies.

It isn't like you are guaranteed to be miserable without purpose. But, why set yourself up for that possibility?

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I've seen far too many people be thrilled with retirement--for 3 months. Then be miserable afterwards. Languishing into nothingness.

Surprise--Money Doesn't Guarantee a Happy Retirement. Here's What Does

Think big-picture about what you need for life after work.

www.inc.com

It isn't like you are guaranteed to be miserable without purpose. But, why set yourself up for that possibility?

Man, I don't define my purpose through my 9-5, how incredibly unhealthy that is.

 

[LikeLinus]

Do people not have hobbies during the 40 years they're working? I could easily retire today and have a billion things to do without leaving my property, and I'm not even 40 yet.

Says the guy on ATOT with no real world experience. I HIGHLY double you wouldn't get bored on your own property everyday. That's silly. Sounds very isolating and with minimal activities. Saying it and doing it are two different things. Everyone I've talked to say that you should keep active/working in some part-time compacity to interact with people and not just sit there doing the same thing.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Says the guy on ATOT with no real world experience. I HIGHLY double you wouldn't get bored on your own property everyday. That's silly. Sounds very isolating and with minimal activities. Saying it and doing it are two different things. Everyone I've talked to say that you should keep active/working in some part-time compacity to interact with people and not just sit there doing the same thing.

Buh? No real world experience? What exactly are you basing that on?

Sounds like you're projecting. How isolated do you feel on your property?

 

[dlerious]

Do people not have hobbies during the 40 years they're working? I could easily retire today and have a billion things to do without leaving my property, and I'm not even 40 yet.

One of my hobbies was tooling around on electronics projects. Love it, but age has brought failing eyesight and hands aren't as steady. It's hard enough trying to work with through-hole, I can just about forget working with SMD.

 

[dlerious]

1. How old are you (or a general range)
2. How long have you been retired?
3. What do you do all day? Did you move or make drastic changes after quitting work?
4. What are you looking forward to?
5. What do you dislike about your retirement?

Been retired for a few years. The biggest pluses are I can sleep and get up whenever I want. I can do whatever I want within reason (age, finances). The bad is the pay cut (50%) which limits the amount of hookers and blow I can do . What I'm looking forward to - my ashes being spread.

 

[nakedfrog]

Do people not have hobbies during the 40 years they're working? I could easily retire today and have a billion things to do without leaving my property, and I'm not even 40 yet.

That's my plan, looking forward to knowing every path in the forest near my house by heart, and expanding further out as necessary. Fuck tons of trails around here (and I'm past the halfway point to retirement)

I've seen far too many people be thrilled with retirement--for 3 months. Then be miserable afterwards. Languishing into nothingness.

Surprise--Money Doesn't Guarantee a Happy Retirement. Here's What Does

Think big-picture about what you need for life after work.

www.inc.com

It isn't like you are guaranteed to be miserable without purpose. But, why set yourself up for that possibility?

I mean... he specifically mentioned hobbies?

Transamerica's 2017 retirement study found that 97 percent of retirees with a strong sense of purpose were generally happy, compared with 76 percent without that sense. These retirees spent more time with family, traveling, doing volunteer work, and pursuing hobbies.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not retired but I'd like to retire early so I'm not a slave to the system all my life. Right now I basically work so I can pay my bills so I can afford to stay close to work. It's a never ending cycle where I'm not really getting anywhere. Typical retirement age is 67, I don't want to wait until that point to retire, so I'd like to do it before.

Bought off grid land with very low taxes and plan to eventually move off grid and basically eliminate most if all of my bills and spend more time on myself. Going to start building this summer hopefully. Once I have the infrastructure I need and feel confident to live there year round I will start looking into alternate sources of income, stuff that does not require me to be at a certain place for a certain time, then make the move. I'm thinking I could get away with doing seasonal work. Going to/from the property is going to be easy in summer when there's no snow, so I can use summers to do work like mow lawns or something and that will earn me more than enough money given my life expenses will be very low. Highest expense might be Starlink since I'll want decent internet.

I imagine the biggest shock to people who retire is the sudden realization that you have all this spare time to yourself, that you never had before. So I can see how people may not have a way to fill that void and maybe get miserable if they don't actually do something they like. Me personally I would love to get into hobbies like building stuff, working on cars etc. So that's probably what I will end up doing. The off grid homestead life would keep me fairly busy too especially if I decide to get livestock, but even without I'd be building things for around the property.

I remember when I graduated from college and it took me months for the realization to set in that I'm free from that stress. No more homework, no more studying, no more worrying about tests or projects etc... I imagine retiring feels the same way.

 

[ponyo]

1. In my 40s.
2. 2 years although I pretty much checked out of work year earlier. So really about 3 years.
3. I do same thing you do on weekends when you're not working. I still live my life but everyday is a weekend. I haven't made drastic change in my lifestyle other than to focus more on my health, diet, and exercise.
4. Traveling and learning about the world. Enjoying being here and spending time with my family.
5. Nothing. Retirement does take some getting used to but I can't imagine trading my time for money again. Never again. Not voluntary. That's a horrible trade and something I hope I never have to make again. Being a wage slave is modern day slavery. Time is the ultimate currency and most valuable commodity. It's unfortunate most of us have to make this unfair trade of giving up our time for money to survive.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

1 Nunnaya beeswax.

2. Nunnaya beeswax.

3. Whatever the hail I feel like.

4. Earth crashing into the Sun.

5. That I don't know when #4 will happen.

 

[BoomerD]

i'm old...not as old as some here...but older than most of youse kiddies. I wasn't planning to retire when I did...but got hurt at work and the doctors retired me before I turned 50.
Nowadays, my days are filled with watching crap tv with my wife, (HGTV and Cooking channel) or I play on my PC, or I work on projects around the house or yard, or go to the beach, or travel around the region...or basically, do whatever the hell I want...even if it's nothing.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

And a lot of days that's exactly what I want to do ... nothing.

 

[dullard]

I mean... he specifically mentioned hobbies?

Yes, which is why I was agreeing with [DHT]Osiris. Just because you quote someone does not mean you disagree with their point. Retiring to a bunch of hobbies is retiring TO something. The problem is far too many people don't even have that plan. Or, they plan to do it and can't physically accomplish it any more (See dlerious's post).

 

[nakedfrog]

Yes, which is why I was agreeing with [DHT]Osiris. Just because you quote someone does not mean you disagree with their point.

Yes, that's true, but that wasn't really the sense I got from your post.

 

[deustroop]

i'm old...not as old as some here...but older than most of youse kiddies. I wasn't planning to retire when I did...but got hurt at work and the doctors retired me before I turned 50.
Nowadays, my days are filled with watching crap tv with my wife, (HGTV and Cooking channel) or I play on my PC, or I work on projects around the house or yard, or go to the beach, or travel around the region...or basically, do whatever the hell I want...even if it's nothing.

In my words, "I got nothing to do and lots of time to do it in."

Retirement has been a series of Saturdays-some time for "work", like regular chores, some for play, but all on my terms.
Sure there are times of boredom but compare that to the frequent burn-out of full employment . I'll take it.

And so unencumbered, I have accomplished several very important healthy-like things that I never had time for when employed.

 

[repoman0]

My life wouldn’t really change much if I retired tomorrow. I’d probably keep doing what I do at work but without meetings and spending a lot more of my own money. I get paid to play with toys essentially and make them fly, drive, swim etc on their own depending on the application. Get a better more interesting job if work makes you hate your life. I’ve refused to go into any sort of boring management role or menial nonsense like business ownership because I’ve watched it make a lot of people miserable. Perfectly happy to build cool toys and software in the corner with someone else’s money and expensive parts and have turned down a lot more money to keep doing so in a nice work environment.

Don’t wait until you retire to get some hobbies or get in shape or live how you want … easier said than done I know.

 

[nakedfrog]

My life wouldn’t really change much if I retired tomorrow. I’d probably keep doing what I do at work but without meetings and spending a lot more of my own money. I get paid to play with toys essentially and make them fly, drive, swim etc on their own depending on the application. Get a better more interesting job if work makes you hate your life. I’ve refused to go into any sort of boring management role or menial nonsense like business ownership because I’ve watched it make a lot of people miserable. Perfectly happy to build cool toys and software in the corner with someone else’s money and expensive parts and have turned down a lot more money to keep doing so in a nice work environment.

Don’t wait until you retire to get some hobbies or get in shape or live how you want … easier said than done I know.

That's kinda how my mom treats it, she could have already retired if she wanted to, at this point she considers her job a hobby that pays well (she's a programmer). She's already got her retirement from 26 years in the military, too.

 

[Tweak155]

I up and quit my job a couple years back due to really not liking my new management. I never actively thought about or decided when I would go back to work, but I eventually became so bored that I looked for part time work (took like 4 or 5mos maybe?)... which eventually lead back to full time work.

Work isn't always amazing to wake up to, but for the most part it is much much preferrable to not working. I like having problems to solve that are not my own, and when it comes down to it I can always walk away and they will just stay someone else's problem lol. But ultimately I like contributing to something and helps remove the need for me to solve my own boredom problem (I still get bored, just a lot less frequently). As a bonus I get paid.

If you hate your work that much you're probably doing the wrong job. Find something enjoyable even if it means less compensation, the trade off for happiness is worth it.

 

[skyking]

I'm ~13 months away and in the planning stages.
The first year will be building a new house and shop in a different city. I'll do the bulk of the work myself, so effectively I will go from a 40 hour week to a 60 hour week, or more.
That counts as pretty drastic under item #3 on the list.
I look forward to international and domestic travel. We want to drive about the states with our truck and 5th wheel trailer, drive to Alaska, eastern Canada too.
I'll miss the good parts of commercial heavy construction, but every time it rains I will remind myself of those other parts, as we stay snugly inside our abode.

 

[ponyo]

I'm fortunate to have my wife with me. If she worked or if I was single, then I think I would be lonely or bored in retirement.

My stress level is so low now. Since I retired, my hair color on my head is almost back to fully black. I had lot of white hair that disappeared the past two years. I can only attribute that to dramatically reduced stress level.