Retirement should be a happy time. It’s the time to kick up your feet and allow all those long hard working days to be just a memory.
There are some, however, that might be apprehensive of retirement. They fear that their life will become boring and uneventful, but that isn’t true at all!
Retirement should be a happy and exciting time when you are no longer held back by the need to dedicate most of your day to earning a living.
Are you looking for ways to make your retirement something to look forward to?
We’re sharing our favorite secrets to ensure your retirement is a happy one.
Plan Your Retirement with Your Spouse
When you get to thinking about retirement, don’t forget to clue in your significant other with your plans.
Most couples that retire together are happier. They can not only plan the timing of their retirement to correlate with each other but they can discuss what type of lifestyle they want to lead post-retirement.
Be ready to compromise to find a schedule that works for both of you. Some topics to discuss are how much time to spend together, where you want to live, and the things you want to experience.
Keep Your Body and Brain Active
When you transition from a full-time job to retirement, the last thing you should do is become a couch potato.
You might be tempted to take a week on the couch, and that’s understandable, but don’t unpack and take residence there.
A happy retirement includes a good dose of activity to keep your body and mind healthy.
Just think about it. You can’t enjoy your retirement when your body and mind have turned to mush.
Find a New Passion
When you were a part of the workforce, your family and job were the driving force behind your life. You were motivated to get up each day and slay the dragon and you felt accomplished doing so.
Now that you’re contemplating retirement, what will be your new motivation? Many new retirees struggle with a lack of purpose. How do you combat that?
Find a new passion that will get you excited to get up each day. Whether that be a pet project or volunteering for a cause you believe in, jump in full force.
Simplify Your Life
The last thing you want to do once you retire is worry about paying bills. The best way to ensure that you will have plenty of fun money is to simplify your life to keep your monthly living expenses as low as possible.
This might mean selling the family home and downsizing. You could find a nice senior community and settle in with fellow retirees.
Of course, it’s always helpful to be frugal.
Instead of taking that trip to Cabo when the prices are high, go in the offseason and pay as little as half as much for the same trip.
Consolidate your debt, cancel any unnecessary subscriptions, and spend wisely.
Do you have two cars? Do you really need them both? By selling a car, you not only make the money from the sale but you also save on insurance, registration, and gas.
You’d be surprised how low little you can live off of when you cut out frivolous expenses and live simple.
Go Places, Meet People, Do Things
Now is the time to experience things that you couldn’t before. You aren’t dead, just retired! You don’t even have to act your age, just the wisdom you’ve accumulated over the years to have fun the right way.
Try new things. Meet new people. Savor each moment. You’ve earned it!
Plan for the Inevitable
Sure, retirement is a sign that you’re getting older. But don’t spend the rest of your retirement worried about what’s going to happen when you finally kick the bucket.
Instead, take a couple of weeks to plan out your will, burial, and any other loose ends.
Once you have this taken care of, you can have peace of mind knowing that you aren’t leaving a mess for your family to take care of.
Conclusion
Retirement is a milestone that some people look forward to and some people dread. It can be hard to imagine a life so different, especially if you were lucky enough to have a job you enjoyed.
The ability to retire is something to be proud of. You put in your years and now you can relax and enjoy the fruitage of those years of work.
If you put these happy retirement tips to good use, you won’t have to worry about how yours will end up. You’ll be too busy enjoying it!