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by steveBK123 52 days ago
Saw similar with my grandmothers. One had a busy social live and volunteer schedule for 20+ years, the other.. did not.

A reminder that you cannot simply retire FROM something (work, commuting, etc) but must retire TO something (hobbies, social life, second career, volunteering, etc).

There's always more opportunities in the community than there are volunteers, so look around.

1 comments

>A reminder that you cannot simply retire FROM something (work, commuting, etc) but must retire TO something (hobbies, social life, second career, volunteering, etc).

Yeah, my guess is that someone retiring early to pursue their hobbies and interests is going to be much better off than a blue collar worker made redundant or disabled in his 50's. I always see these sort of studies used to slam the idea of FIRE, but I very much have my doubts that these findings apply equally to everyone.

Retiring TO something is important, but ideally it needs to involve a lot of in-person socializing, which many hobbies do not have. Golfing, for example, is pretty much the platonic ideal of a hobby that involves both socialization and old-person-friendly exercise.
Just adding to this. Consider that if you retire to golfing, will you be golfing in the same golf field 5 days a week for 20 years?
Not the one who suggested golf but.. if you live in the right area, you could have access to a handful of courses I'd imagine.

And/Or in your younger retirement years do a bit of travel for golf?

I'm of two minds re: travel in retirement though. Certainly it's good and fun, but I just don't see it as something you should structure as a primary "hobby" in retirement.

Maybe do more travel than during your working life, maybe even 2x more.. but it's Just too expensive for normal retirees and not something you can do daily/weekly like.. woodworking, writing, music, photography, book club, bowling, volunteering, gardening, golfing, swimming.

Or the marginal happiness return on dollars is not as good. I'd rather have a life I like every day, not a life I enjoy for my 1-2 weeks of travel per quarter/half year.

yeah, I agree with this. Also, traveling can be stressfull too.