Making the Best of Your Retirement

Updated on September 21st, 2022

Enjoy Your Retirement

At Retirement you still have at least 20 to 35 years (considering increasing life expectancy) which is a significant period in one’s life. Retirement gives you an opportunity to work for yourself. It is the time to do things which you always wanted but had no time to do it. So make the best use of this time and enjoy the ‘Joys of Retirement‘. Transition to the retired life from an active life is a challenge that you need to be prepared for. With your physical and mental faculties diminishing  gradually and availability of support reducing, you have to keep  your spirits high to keep you going. With little efforts, you can live your life well and meaningfully after retirement.

Health is your most important Asset

Remember that after retirement, health is your most important asset and prioritise it accordingly. With depleting energy levels, playing golf everyday,  partying and  touring very frequently may not be sustainable unless you take care of your health. Take special care of nutrition and physical work out. Make it a point to get your medical check up at least once every year. Apart from physical health, exercise your mental faculties, maintain emotional balance and work towards your spiritual growth. If you are careful and meticulous in your health and wellness plan, you can even Reverse your Biological Age.

Live Life meaningfully

Initially, the retirement appears like a long vacation where you have freedom to do whatever you like.  After a while, a feeling comes in that spending time in passive activities like watching TV  or listening to music is OK for a while, but what is important is to spend time meaningfully and constructively. Whatever you do must give you a feeling of accomplishment. Feeling of fulfilment and purposeful engagement is important to keep you going in your retired life. There has to be a balance in the activities which give you pleasure, fulfillment, purpose, feeling of being wanted and doing something worthwhile.

Define the Purpose of your Life

Ask Yourself ‘What is the Purpose of my Life?’ Understand and Define your Purpose of Life, if not already done. Having a purpose will help you in focussing your energies and give significance to your life. Your purpose will act like a tonic which will give you adequate strength to live a satisfied and engaged life after retirement. It will help you in achieving true ‘Happiness after Retirement‘

Keep Learning Something New

Remember, ‘It is never too late and You are never too old to Learn.‘ Doing courses in your area of interest is a good pastime and investment of time. Online courses(many of which are free) offer a good opportunity to undertake these courses in your home comfort without any pressure of time or money.

Reading is another good constructive pass time. I would recommend every retiree to invest in a e-Book reader. The advantage of eBook reader is its easy access to millions of books some of which may be free. Using an E-book reader you can even start reading a number of books simultaneously on a time sharing basis. At the same time you carry your entire library with you wherever you go.

Watching knowledge enhancing and thought provoking documentaries  is another constructive way of passing time. These programs can  be streamed from programs like Netflix, Prime, Youtube etc.

Subscribing and listening to useful podcasts is another option. There are a variety of are thought provoking talks which add to your knowledge base without straining your eyes.

Learn to Meditate

You also need to devote time for mind stilling/controlling exercises like meditation and mindfulness, may be for 15-30 minutes a day. Time devoted may be increased gradually. Time spent on meditation is an investment. The returns are in the form of increased energy level, reduced stress level and improved concentration. If you are a beginner, you may go through the post ‘Learn the Meditate: My Experience and Lessons’.

Formulate your Life-Style and Activity Plan

Define your life-style plan in consultation with your partner and follow it. Your plan needs to have activities which  contribute to your overall health and wellness, give you pleasure,  foster social interactions and make your life relevant.

At the beginning of each day, make a broad  activity plan as to what you intend to do for the day and at the end to the day take a stock of all that you could achieve. In the beginning, it may be disappointing as you may miss out many of your targets. The exercise is still worth as it forces you to plan and review your achievements.

Accomplish your Bucket List

A Bucket List is simply a list of things that you wish to accomplish in your lifetime. It  is good to have a Bucket List is it forces you to  plan and track your goals for accomplishing activities which you have been always wanting to do before you hit the bucket. It gives you a focus and motivation to achieve your dreams. Go through your Bucket List periodically and make an all out effort to accomplish your list as early as possible.

Spend more time with your family

Spend more time with Family. Once you retire, you’ll have plenty of time. No, you can’t go back and make up for the time you didn’t have earlier in life. But now you can resolve to spend more time with family. Spend time with your grandchildren.

After Retirement you are available to your spouse 24x7x365 (presuming that your spouse is not working) which your spouse is not used to. In fact your spouse is getting double of you you with half (or even less) of your income. Therefore it is important to get along well with your spouse at home. One aspect which you must remember that your retirement means more load on your spouse and it is your moral responsibility to share the load. Now you have no excuse for not doing it.

Travel More

Travelling makes life exciting and energises you. It adds value to your life and rejuvenates you. The memories of your best holidays makes you feel good and positive. Plan a trip at least once in six months and make the best use of this time. Plan your distant and adventurous travels early after retirement as health becomes a major issue later and there is no guarantee that you will live that long.

Exploit Technology to your advantage

Use technology to your advantage. Most of the retirees today have a working knowledge of computers and most of the mobile based applications. If you lack the basic knowledge, it would be a good idea to take up a basic course on computer applications. It would enable you to exploit the technology to the maximum thus easing your life. Smart phones are a boon to Fifty Plus, if exploited well.

Plan your retirement corpus/accumulated savings.   Invest them in a manner that you take a balanced and calculated risk to maximize your returns. It is always better to seek professional advice so that you get a better return after catering for the inflation. In addition, you must have a Viable Withdrawal Plan  to enjoy the fruits of your savings and investment to the maximum in your lifetime. Remember, expenditure on health care in the later years can be heavy. Therefore, take an appropriate Insurance Plan that covers you and your spouse adequately.

Consider Volunteering/Part time job

If you get an opportunity, volunteer for social service or for non-profit organizations for the benefit of the community with the aim to give back to the society. Taking up a part time/ full time job after retirement is not mandatory unless you need money and want to supplement your income to maintain your lifestyle. However, if you do not have adequate hobbies and pastimes to keep you busy, you may take it up as an occupation, even if you are financially sound. Always make sure that you leave enough time for your rest and recreation.

Balance your leisure with productive engagements

Thus your Post-Retirement Basket needs to have a balanced mix of some work, hobbies, ongoing learning, recreation, travel, reconnecting with family and friends and giving back. The goal should be to expand social connectivity, purposeful activity, self esteem through productive engagements and overall enjoyment of life.