[USER]

Question for folks who are either already retired or planning to retire soon, how are you planning to spend your time once you are no longer working in corporate?

Good bad or ugly the job takes a significant amount of your day so how do you structure your day?

Appreciate your candid feedback.

TIA.

[Jennifer]

I retired in my early 40s and the first 6 months were decompressing/introvert recovery.

I fed the dogs, walked the dogs, snuggled the dogs while reading or watching TV, napped, and worked on setting up the house (we moved cross-country the day after I left).

We might get together with friends monthly, but that was about it.

Four years later and I have a pretty consistent schedule: 3 days/week go to the gym, 2 days/week volunteer at the animal shelter, dedicated chore day, monthly knitting and book clubs (4 total), walks with the dogs (not quite daily, depending on weather), cooking dinner together nightly, monthly wine dinners at a local restaurant, help our niece with her schoolwork depending on the subjects she’s learning each quarter.

I seasonally work part time for the county elections office, which throws my schedule off and reminds me why I don’t work 5 full days in a row any more.

We are making plans for long-term slow international travel, but aren’t going to implement until our dogs have passed.

[Kathy]

I am planning to retire. I want to become a master gardener, start swimming again, continue to lift weights/workout, take extension classes through our university, travel, spend more time with family and friends, and volunteer at a non-profit.

As the Tom Petty song goes, you never slow down, you never grow old.

[William]

After 6 years of semi-retirement (retired from corporate world then joined ChooseFI part time), I transitioned to full early retirement in November.

I now spend more time cooking- breakfast, lunch and dinner. I do gym every MWF for a couple of hours.

I did my first yoga class ever last week I’ve hit some local museums that I had never been to in 17 years of living in my city. Hiked some new to me state parks.

Caught up on a lot of errands. Picking up new hobbies and continuing old ones. Been going on more dates.

Attending more interesting meetup and Facebook events. Reading at least a chapter a day. Listening to podcasts making some diy repairs on the house.

So far my time is mostly unstructured (other than my gym time) but definitely not bored.

[Angelo]

I sold my house and am currently traveling the US in an RV. Doing a lot of mountain biking, hiking, sightseeing., etc…

[Jasmine]

We retired at 49 in July last year. We timed it to coincide with our 20th wedding anniversary and kicked it off with a 9-wk trip where we spent 5 weeks hosting family & friends at a villa in Bali.

It was such a wonderful way to start the next season of our life.

Currently, we spend mid-Nov through Feb in sunny Southern California to not only escape some of the east coast winters but to also spend quality time with my almost 88 yrs young mom.

We have traveled roughly 12 additional weeks of the year in Europe (Italy, France, Greenland, Iceland, Netherlands, so far) or visiting family & friends wherever they may be.

The balance of our time we spend at home being tourists in our own town and exploring all that we never had time for when we were grinding away.

While I certainly didn’t love my corporate job, I recognize that it helped us achieve the life we have now. But one thing was very clear to me….

I was not running AWAY from work, I was running TO a life filled with more time with my mom, more time with friends & family and with a body that is able to do more now at 50 than some far off day in the future when most others retire.

Think about all the things you said you’d work on “someday” or “when I retire.” The list is longer than you may think.

Good luck!

[Rick]

Slow international travel. So many things to do, experience, explore, and more that boredom isn’t a thing. And the low cost lifestyle doesn’t hurt either.

[Jenny]

Do something that you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the time or money.

[Troy]

I don’t have the answer but everybody I know who has retired at any age is busier in retirement than when they worked full time. But smart to think about this for sure.

[Sarah]

I followed the Miracle Morning routine before and after retiring. It’s helped me to stay focused on my personal goals and interests now that I’m not working.

I thought I’d be bored, but I made a list of things I wanted to learn/do/try, and soon I was quite busy!

You won’t regret retiring. You’ll only regret that you didn’t do it sooner!

[Cris]

I did the CoastFI route so I had a nice slow transition into retirement. I ended up working 5-10 hours per month for 2 years.

During that transition, I filled my new found time with my favorite hobbies.

I was already a nomad, traveling the world full time too, so I could really focus on exploring my new surroundings every few months when I moved countries.

I spend a lot of time making new friends and enjoying local events with them.

And I do a fair amount of mentoring other aspiring nomads too. When I decided to stop working altogether, it was no problem filling the rest of time.

I love not opening my laptop much at all anymore.

[Dion]

Retired in 2022.
I wonder how I had time to work.
There is so much to do. It’s easier to list what I don’t have to do:
I don’t have an alarm.
I’m never tired.

I don’t worry about the cost of doing things. (I didn’t retire to be frugal)

I don’t have to stay in one place.
I don’t have a return date when traveling.

I don’t have to wait for weekends to do things. So many things I want to do aren’t swarmed with people trying to fit fun into their only two days off each week.

Just the short list of what I’ve done since retiring:
Paddle board

Scuba
Alaskan cruise.
Mediterranean cruise.
A few months in Portugal.

A few months in Florida.
Headed to Thailand for the winter.
Vegas.

Drive across the US. A couple times. No specific destination.

Just weeks or a month to go see places I haven’t.

The idea is to build a life where work is in the way.

[Author]

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