What To Do In Retirement: 3 Simple Things To Think About Before You Stop Working

Terry retired four years ago and I did not, and somehow he is just as busy as he was when he was working. But it did not start out that way. When I ask people what their plans are, many times they tell me they do not really know yet what to do in retirement, or they will say something like spend time with my grandkids or take up golfing. Yet when you retire, your whole life and purpose changes.

Terry was catering at bars in San Francisco and cooking part time at a hotel near our house, and then Covid hit. The hotel laid him off and the catering just stopped. He remembers standing in our kitchen thinking, what do I do now. And he did not have an answer. If you would like to see the video we did on this topic, you can watch it right here.

Retirement Doesn’t Have To Be All Or Nothing]

Why What To Do In Retirement Is a Bigger Question

The money part we could work out, and we get into the timing of all that in our next video. What Terry could not see was what he would do today. Or tomorrow. Or even the rest of his life.

If you are looking at retiring, you have probably been running the numbers, but that is just part of it. What are you going to do with your days? Deciding what to do in retirement is a bigger question than it sounds. Retirement is a whole new season, a different life, not just the same one without a job. Whatever used to fill your week is gone, and now you get to decide what goes there.

What To Do In Retirement: What Our Week Looks Like Now

When it comes to what to do in retirement, here is what Terry fills his week with:

• Taking care of the property
• Walking the dog and entertaining the cat
• The laundry
• A lot of the cooking, which he did for thirty years, so he is not exactly suffering
• Rebuild With Clarity: the filming, the editing, and the ledger
• Getting out on the bike a few times a week

We do most of it together. I make breakfast, we take our fur babies to their vet appointments, and we train the dog every day. I am out there for some of the dog walks too, and I get out on the bike when I can. I help with the yard work as well, since the weeds never do seem to end.

My week does look a little different, though. I work part time and I love my job, and I love working with Terry on Rebuild With Clarity. I keep busy.

Then in the winter our property is all under snow, and there is nothing to do out there at all other than the shoveling. So we go skiing instead.

It is worth thinking about what to do in retirement and what you would want it to look like. The grandkids, the trips, the skiing, the garden, whatever it is you never had time for.

Do that thinking before you stop working, if you get the chance. Terry did not. Covid hit hospitality hard and we were already looking at moving, so those two things turned into one decision, and it got made faster than he would have picked. What saved him was that there was plenty that needed doing, and after thinking about it, plenty he wanted to do. So he focused on those things.

This is what often happens. People stop working, nothing comes in to take its place, and a year later there is not much they are getting up for. Terry has seen a lot of it in the recovery rooms. Guys with forty years sober, and the biggest thing in their week is how the coffee’s getting made at the meeting. That is not a knock on them. It is what happens when the thing that filled your days goes away and there is nothing to fill them.

That is why it is worth thinking about ahead of time. Not all of it, though. Some of it only works itself out afterward, and that is normal. You do not need the whole thing mapped out before you retire, and you do not need a five-year plan. Just name one thing you would want to do in retirement, one thing you would want in your week.

You do not have to stop working all at once. You can work fewer hours a week, or work part of the year and take the rest off. I am doing a version of that right now. It does not have to be working or not working. There is a lot of room in between, and if that sounds like something you would want, it is worth finding out what it would take.

You can also change it later, in either direction. Terry could pick up something part time tomorrow if he wanted to, but he does not, and I could cut my hours. Neither of us is locked into what we picked, and knowing that makes the whole decision easier to make.

3 Things To Remember About What To Do In Retirement

Retirement is a whole new season, not just the same life without a job.
Envision what you want it to look like before you stop working.
You do not have to stop all at once, because working fewer hours is a real answer too.

You Have Time To Figure Out What To Do In Retirement

Four years ago Terry stood in our kitchen with no idea what he was going to do. Now his days are full, and none of it is on anybody else’s schedule. The great thing about retirement is you get to decide what fills your days. Some days that means doing nothing at all, and that is allowed too. So if you are coming up on this and you have not got it figured out, that is alright. You have time.

If you would like a free seven step guide to help you work out whether you can afford the life you want, you can get it here: Can You Afford The Life You Want? That is what we do at Rebuild With Clarity. We help people over 50 create a life they love and can afford, with peace of mind.

In our next video, we get into when you can actually afford to stop, including how Social Security fits in.

Donna Marie, Co-Founder