Retirement Sea Legs

Retirement Sea Legs

That last day of work is really an emotional rollercoaster for most.  Their regimen for the past 40 years is no more, and there is a sense of freedom/anxiety that forms.  What are you going to do with your time?  Do you have enough money to live?  What is your new purpose in life?  These are the types of questions ruminating in many retirees’ heads.  For today’s thought, I’m going to focus on the first question: What am I going to do with all this time?

The most clichéd thing I hear from retirees (and that I relay to them as well) is that they don’t know how they ever had enough time to work.  It gets a chuckle every time, as it isn’t just a cliché, but rather it is gospel for most.  The funny thing is, people don’t retire one day, and then the next they have this robust schedule.  Rather, it takes time for most to figure out what their retirement lifestyle will look like, or as I like to say, for them to get their retirement sea legs.

Figuring It Out

The first year, for most, is a throwaway year.  This is the “figure it out” period where most people are getting those retirement sea legs.  There is a lot of trial and error, sewing one’s oats, and false starts.  For most people, they don’t even know how they want to spend their retirement years until they are securely in them.  Then the mad scramble starts as they search for structure.  I’m convinced that humans need and desire structure.

The funny thing is that as year two happens, that structure we all yearn for starts to present itself.  Every day starts with a walk, coffee, and your morning stretch.  You watch the grandkids on these days and work out on those days.  What will start to happen is you’ll fall into your new routine, and your day-to-day will resemble what your ideal lifestyle looks like.

What also starts to happen is that you’ll find bigger ticket items start to get standardized as well.  You’ll go to Florida for the month of January and February.  You’ll do your family vacation in June, and your annual cruise in March.  You see structure starts to happen at not just the day-to-day level, but also at the higher seasonal and vacation level as well.

What can you do now?

If not retired yet, or honestly not even close to retired, that is ok as well.  You can start to retirement date these concepts.  As you go through your travels, start thinking about how you want to spend your time in retirement.  Is it going to the same area, staying home, or moving altogether?  Is being near family important to you, or rather being in a place they’ll come to visit? 

Also, think through hobbies that you’d want to do more of if given the time.  I, for instance, would love to play tennis more often and work out all the time.  I’d have more lunches with friends, and I swear I would learn guitar or a language.  Point being, I’ve started to think through my retirement cadence, but still a while away, so still in the thinking and trying stage.

Finally, knowledge is power, and more importantly, it is peace of mind.  Knowing you are not alone when you get to retirement and that everyone takes some time to grow those sea legs should help you rest assured that you are not the only one who takes time to get there.  That said, you will, and once you do, we can better get a sense as to how your golden years will play out.

As always, stay wealthy, healthy, and happy.