FUN THINGS TO
DO
WHEN YOU
RETIRE

Just cause you're
old doesn't mean you can't get up and do
something different.
— Jodina (at 61 year old, a lead vocalist
in the California punk band One Foot in the
Grave)
If
you look at the retirement activities that most American
retirees pursue, they are boring, boring, boring. To be
sure, the leisure activities in my retirement living plan
will be different from that of the typical
American's.
According to a recent national survey of 800
American adults age 60 to 74 conducted for Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans, taking care of the yard and
spending time with grandchildren were statistically tied for
top billing among married/partnered men while spending time
with grandchildren was the clear favorite among
married/partnered women.
Main Retirement Activities for
American Male Retirees
-
Taking care of things
around the house and yard (28 percent)
-
Spending time with
grandchildren or other family members (26
percent)
-
Enjoying things like
playing golf, shopping, going out with friends
(18 percent)
-
Pursuing hobbies (12
percent)
-
Volunteering in the
community (seven percent)
-
Watching where your money
goes, clipping grocery coupons, etc. (six
percent)
Main
Retirement Activities for American Female
Retirees
-
Spending time with
grandchildren or other family members (36
percent)
-
Taking care of things
around the house and yard (25 percent)
-
Enjoying things like
playing golf, shopping, going out with friends
(16 percent)
-
Pursuing hobbies (eight
percent)
-
Watching where your money
goes, clipping grocery coupons, etc. (seven
percent)
-
Volunteering in the
community (three percent)
If this is all that
there is to retirement living, then let me go back to work
until I die. But wait! This is why I wrote
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and
Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get
from Your Financial Advisor:
I also wrote another retirement book called
1001 Ways to Enjoy Your
Retirement, which was published in Spanish,
French, and Korean but not in English. An article from
the book follows after this item about Bingo Games.
Bingo
Games
Another way to enjoy your retirement is
to do communal activities like playing some
bingo
games or bridge or even volunteer
and be active in your local community.
The idea is to be active and social and
not sit around the house in front of the TV and become a
couch potato or pumpkin or any kind of vegetable.
15 Fun Things That
Agatha Christie Enjoyed Which Make Great Retirement
Activities
When the majority
of people get my age, once they retire and get
Social Security they lay on the couch and do
nothing. The next thing you know, they're not
with us any more.
— 77-year-old Retiree August
Gonsoulin
Retirees have two choices: choose the
couch — or choose life.
— Jane McBride
If you can't think of any retirement
activities to enjoy, you haven't spent enough time getting to
know yourself. It is never too late for you to develop a new
interest, or learn a new sport or skill. What you should do
first is create your own Get-a-Life Tree which is discussed in
great detail in
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and
Free:
Incidentally the Get-a-Life Tree is a copyrighted
retirement tool and only available
in
The World's Best Retirement
Book and
in
The World's Second Best Retirement
Book.
If you still haven't constructed
your Get-a-Life
Tree, start by writing down the things that you
would like to pursue in your life before you die. Like the list
anyone generates with the Get-a-Life Tree, your list may be
based on things you like doing now, things you loved doing in
the past but have quit doing, and things you thought about
doing but have never tried.
All intellectual
improvement arises from leisure.
— Samuel Johnson
The wisdom of a learned man cometh by
opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little
business shall become wise.
— Bible
Think of all the things in life that you
love; then, in some way relate them to retirement activities
that you can pursue. Following is a list of
activities created by the British writer Agatha Christie
(1890-1976) as included in the book Agatha Christie: An
Autobiography (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1977).
- Sunshine
- Apples
- Almost any kind of music
- Railway trains
- Numerical puzzles and anything to do with
numbers
- Going to the sea
- Bathing and swimming
- Silence
- Sleeping
- Dreaming
- Eating
- The smell of coffee
- Lilies of the valley
- Most dogs
- Going to the theatre
This list of activities and things that
Christie loved may trigger some of the stuff that turns
you on. In fact, you may learn to enjoy all 15 things that
Agatha Christie enjoyed if you impliment them into your
retirement activities. This will go a long ways towards
conquering retirement boredom.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 by
Ernie J.
Zelinski Author of
The World's Best Retirement
Book
All Rights
Reserved
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