What to Do When You Retire: How to Stay Busy

For most people, the key to a happy and fulfilling retirement is simple: staying busy. Unfortunately, when planning for retirement, a lot of folks focus only on retirement finances, and fail to think about, or plan for, how they'll spend their time.

Why worry about retirement activities now, if retirement is years away? Because, put bluntly, people who count on developing new interests and involvements after 65 often don't. And that can make for a bored, depressed old age.

What Activities Will You Do When You Retire?

Think about what you want your day-to-day life to look like when you retire. Keep in mind that participating in just one or two activities might not keep you interested in life and interesting to others. So if your list consists of occasional travel, golf, and adult education courses, you might need to do some more brainstorming. Here are some other activities to consider—and how to plan for them.

Working Part-Time

Many people who enjoy the bustle and creativity of the workplace find that working part-time after retirement offers the best opportunity to stay busily involved in life. And, of course, working a few extra years can go a long way toward helping solve money problems, especially if you can put off claiming Social Security benefits (and avoid getting penalized for working while collecting benefits).

You must plan ahead if you hope to establish a new career, turn a hobby into a business, or find a part-time job that's more challenging than flipping burgers. Investigate whether you'll need more education, experience, or skills to execute your plans. Then, take the time before you retire to develop the tools you'll need.

For example, if you'd like to convert your passion for gardening into a landscaping business, you may need to take courses in marketing and accounting, learn how and where to buy wholesale plants, and begin developing a customer base. This may mean cutting back on current work and making some short-term financial sacrifices.

Volunteering

Many older people gain satisfaction from an active involvement with good causes. Here's why:

• A chance to do interesting work. Many nonprofits are involved in work that's fascinating. For example, nonprofits preserve rainforests, record oral histories of elderly immigrants, and help low-income children learn to read. If you check around, you'll find an organization that piques your interest or passion.
• A way to add meaning to life. Knowing that you're doing good and needed work can make your life feel more meaningful. Working to improve the quality of others' lives helps some people cope with the inevitability of their own death.
• A way to pay one's karmic debts. Helping others gives many older people the opportunity to pass on the love and support they once received.
• An opportunity to meet interesting people. Regular workplaces are great places to make friends, too, but nonprofit groups tend to attract like-minded people (such as people interested in adult literacy or bilingual education or reptiles). Volunteering can help you form lasting friendships.

Planning ahead is key to succeeding as a volunteer. At first, you may think this is silly—after all, you're not asking to be paid, only to help out. Think again. Increasingly, bigger nonprofits rely on paid staff and technology to accomplish many day-to-day tasks, using only a small group of knowledgeable volunteers to staff the board of directors and advisory committees. People who know the field and have up-to-date skills are in great demand, but those who have little to offer beyond a desire to help may have a hard time finding satisfying work.

The lesson is the same as it is in the profit-making sector: explore your hoped-for nonprofit career well before you retire and actually need it.

Exploring Hobbies

Retirement is a great time to devote more time to your hobbies. But many people don't develop interests outside of work and family in their younger and middle years, thinking they'll do it after they retire.

If this is your plan, beware! Few people who have not cultivated authentic interests during their middle years are able to do so after age 65. Many of them end up bored and disappointed. So, take the time now to enjoy life, develop interests, and pursue hobbies. When you retire, you can devote more time to your existing activities and add a few others.

How to Love Life in Retirement

Why do some retirees cope with life so much better than others? Part of the answer is fairly obvious: things like getting lots of exercise, keeping busy, and creating strong friendships and family bonds.

But something else also seems to be at work. Since I can't quite describe it, I simply call it "love of life." Over and above—and sometimes even instead of—good living habits, love fo life really does seem to set zestful older people apart from so many other retirees who have lost their joie de vivre.

We put the question to some successful retirees: Why do some older people have the knack of living life fully, even though, by conventional measures, they might have plenty of reason to feel depressed, bored, or lonely? Here are some of the thoughtful answers I received.

Honor Your Eccentricity

Throughout our lives, most of us strive to fit in. Whether we are in fifth grade, high school, or at work, we want to be accepted by the people around us. Somewhat surprisingly, many of the most successful retirees I interviewed claimed to have often failed miserably at this and cheerfully described themselves as "odd," "wacky," or "a little nuts."

One friend, Afton Crooks, explained it like this: "I'm the first to admit that I have always been a little odd. You can't help but observe how you fit—or, in my case, often don't fit—into the world. I gained a sense of humility, or reduced expectations, about life that many conventionally popular people never achieve. Thus, I was better adapted to being old in America, a country where everyone over 60 is fundamentally considered to be weird."

Develop and Respect Toughness

Many happy retirees believe that they have lived harder lives than many of their contemporaries. Like our friend Gretchen, who calls herself a "tough old bird," they believe that coping with tough problems earlier in life makes them better equipped to cope with old age.

A common attitude seems to be, "Yes, getting old is rough. But so what? I learned years ago that life can be hard and that each day I have a choice—I can give up or I can overcome my obstacles as best I can and get on with living."

Welcome Animals

Although many studies have found that people who live with animals tend to be healthier and happier than those who don't, it's still surprising how many active, interested older people—especially those who live alone—have close relationships with animals.

Dogs figure prominently in the lives of many fulfilled oldsters. Not only is a dog a friend and companion, but it also helps the older person in several other important ways, including getting exercise, making friends, and feeling needed. For example, when we talked to one 80-year-old to talk, she put me off until later—she had a date to go dog-walking with a 38-year-old friend she had met when their dogs had run off together to chase a deer.

Stay Busy

Why do many women do better than men after retirement? One reason some of our women friends emphasize is that they have no trouble keeping busy outside of the workplace. They always have something to do. After retirement, homemaking such as baking, shopping, or cleaning out a closet, coupled with time spent helping children and grandchildren, not only give many women a reason to get up in the morning but also a way to express love and caring. (Of course, some women don't have grandchildren and aren't into homemaking; they may have to be more proactive in making connections and keeping busy.)

By contrast, many retired men have way too little to do. Some engage with their grandchildren or learn how to participate in what they grew up considering "women's work," learning finally that it can be a joy to provide basic needs, such as good food, a clean welcoming home, or care for a small child; too many don't. And the unfortunate consequences of being free of day-to-day chores might be depression and illness.

Start Planning Now

It's never too early to plan for what you will do in your golden years. To start, take a few minutes to write down the things you expect to be actively involved in. Don't count solo activities such as reading, watching TV, or jogging. While fine in themselves, they're not likely to keep you energized and interested for long.

Be as specific as you can. For example, if you plan to participate in charitable activities aimed at helping educate Third World children, with whom will you work and what will you do? What can you do now to be able to make your retirement dreams a reality?