How to Make the Most of Life in Retirement
If you’re approaching your golden years – or maybe you’re already there and trying to work out how to make them work best for you – then you might be wondering what you should do to make the most out of life in retirement.
With this in mind, here are the five steps you can follow to cultivate the best retirement lifestyle for you.
1. Sort out your finances.
Whether you’ve diligently prepared for your retirement or taken a more casual approach to finance your golden years, ensuring your financial situation is the best it can be is crucial to making the most out of your retirement.
If you haven’t already, you need to work out how much you can realistically afford to spend each year – making the most of your retirement without risking your future.
Then, making a budget is the next logical step.
Not only will this help you stay on track, so you don’t overspend, but it can also help you avoid living too frugally, which is just as common a mistake made by retirees, which may prevent you from making the most of it.
Additionally, it’s always a good idea to seek the advice of a financial professional – especially one with expertise in retirement financing – so they can offer information on aspects of your finances that you may not have considered, including potential financial events that could affect you in the future.
2. Prioritise your health.
When we’re in the world of work, it can be easy to make our health a second priority, eating what’s convenient and never finding time to do the recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week.
In contrast, you no longer have an excuse when you enter retirement.
Not only this but adopting a healthy lifestyle – comprised of regular exercise and a diet high in fruit and veg and low in processed sugar – can increase your longevity and improve your quality of life so that you can get more enjoyment out of your golden years for longer.
More than this, unfortunately, as we get older, we become more susceptible to health problems and illnesses.
As such, retirement is the perfect time to begin upping your trips to healthcare providers – including your doctor and dentist – to ensure you find any issues or risks early so that you’re in a better position to combat them.
3. Find purpose.
Many in retirement struggle with feeling as though their life has lost its meaning or like they no longer have a purpose; this is understandable. After all, most of us have spent eight hours per day, five days a week at work for years and years, working towards something outside ourselves.
The good news is that you can also have this feeling outside of employment.
As such, you should consider implementing goals or habits into your life that you find meaningful – this could include volunteering and giving back to the community, coaching or mentoring, getting a part-time job or even starting your own business.
Alternatively, part of adding more meaning to your life in retirement could mean taking up a new (or old) hobby that you love and striving to improve at it and helping to give your new life some direction, giving you many opportunities to feel a sense of accomplishment.
4. Travel.
A huge factor contributing to our sense of satisfaction in our retirement is being able to continue experiencing new things and seeking new experiences.
It’s no secret that variety is the spice of life – and there’s no better way to accomplish this than travel.
When we travel somewhere new, we experience different languages, foods, cultures, beliefs, architecture and knowledge, in addition to meeting lots of new people – many of whom you wouldn’t have had the chance to otherwise.
It’s a well-known fact that people – of all ages – who travel frequently are happier overall.
Of course, you might find that your budget doesn’t stretch to include multiple trips abroad per year (although there are tons of ways you can make foreign travel cheaper) – but don’t let this stop you.
There are likely abundant places to visit in the country you reside in, including many relatively local ones.
Leaving your immediate locale frequently will make you happier in your retirement wherever you travel.
5. Stay social.
As human beings, having a strong social network and plenty of opportunities to socialise is vital to our wellbeing, to the extent that loneliness is cited by doctors as a silent killer, especially among those in their later years.
Connecting with friends and family as often as possible is incredibly important.
More than this, since you’ll have more time on your hands – and no longer have the abundance of workplace social opportunities to sustain you – it’s a good idea to start building a new network of friends.
How about searching for meet-ups online? Or join a club based on your interests – such as a book or gardening club – to find like-minded people to share your time?
However, you go about it; staying social and feeling connected to others will make your golden years shine.
