I’m not retired but I’m taking an online course on AI from Coursera. Good thus far.
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I do take courses related to my profession now. When I retire I want to learn about other stuff. 
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I’m in a great win-win situation. I’m a retired digital graphics professional. Now I provide pro bono services to local nonprofits that otherwise would not have the budget to hire a pro. I’m selective on who I work with and have connected with some amazing organizations. Went on to sit on some BODs, others it’s just specific projects.
As technology marches on, this requires training to keep up with advances. I do this online. It’s a good thing to keep that part of my brain working!
@oldfort – H (also retired) has no interest in consulting in his prior profession. He knows every cheap/free enrichment program or performance in our area and attends several every week.
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When I retire I wouldn’t mind coaching a little league baseball team or taking on a few kids to help them at golf. Or running a program probably through a library to give personal financial/budgeting advice.
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@gpo613, my son attended an elite LAC which prided itself on admitting lower SES kids. A number of his friends really did not get advice about the financial issues related to both career choice and personal finance after they graduated. Based on what I saw with his friends, teaching personal finance for college (or HS) students who are not getting solid PF advice or career advice at home. That would be a great service.
I tend to do the career advice for kids of ShawWife’s friends, who are what we call “failure to launch” kids, but tend to be from more middle to upper middle class backgrounds. But, I don’t do it in an organized way (and don’t really expect to).
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I give to various charities, much with supporting various missionary work in the US and around the globe - not big amounts but spread out a lot. Financially support seminarians in our Diocese and other religious orders regularly. I pray for them, and they pray for us. I leave Thursday for a month with DD1/SIL/grandkids as the 5th child is due March 25th. The older 2 kids have spring break and DD1 will work half days that week - to do some fun things with the older two kids to have their spring break be special. DD1 has to have another adult along for Costco trips because she can no longer lift the boxes of purchases.
As soon as we return (DH will fly in for baptism and we will fly back together), we are home for a week and then go to DD2 in FL for Easter - driving and spending time with DD2/BF and his family.
I will deal with outdoor plants when I get back. DH is mowing our lawn today - it is 67 degrees, and he had winter grass overseeded so that we have green lawn year-round.
Handling all I can handle w/o feeling overwhelmed. I have an OLLI trip through Road Scholars to Pittsburg the end of May - had a meeting on Friday so I got to know some of the folks going.
Then I will find out the dates my friend in Switzerland (CH) is coming to N IL and other parts of the US (probably most in that area) - and meet up with her for some time in that geographical area. She grew up in the US (she has Swiss parents like me), went to Marquette with a degree in Dental Hygiene (those BS degrees are no longer - different training paradigm), and initially only planned to work in CH for a few years. DH and I went to college in Milwaukee but are older than she is, so we did not overlap time in Milwaukee. At the time she went to CH, in the early 1980’s, there were 200 US trained dental hygienists (DH) working in CH - many just stayed for a year or two, and then CH progressively had their own DH training programs. My friend decided to stay working one day a week - she is single, with an older partner (they each have their own place), and she has no children. Travel has been big in her life - in CH she had a minimum of 5 weeks paid vacation a year. But the Swiss (probably like Germans and others) have very compressed/higher stress in some areas of their lives that is different than we generally have in the US.
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There is a little crossover here with Fitness and Bragging thread. Retirement allows me great flexibility on fitness endeavors. Yesterday I got up early to take advantage of indoor pickleball 7am early bird pickleball courts ($10/court instead of the usual $40). Later, admittedly after some reading/napping time, I went out for a lovely run in 64degrees/sunny weather.
(It’s investment in my wellbeing, not finance)
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Beautiful photo.
Things are calming down on the home front. We sign all the paperwork Monday to sell our old house. It was nice to own 2 houses while doing work on one and moving but now it’s simply an expense. Taxes, utilities, insurance, maintenance…
H is almost at his halfway point with treatment. I’m back to spending more time at the gym - exercise really helps me keep my sanity. I think I’m close to the point I can figure out what real retirement looks like!
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Beautiful picture, @Colorado_mom!
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Sounds fantastic @SOSConcern. Enjoy your travels.
Wonderful view @Colorado_mom.
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Not retired yet, but H and I are living like we are retired traveling at least 6 or more weeks a year. Currently in Park City skiing 3 days. Skied 3 days in Tahoe before and heading to Colorado tomorrow chasing snow. D2 joined us yesterday and today we met some guys at lunch who were buying the drinks and the DJ was spinning tunes. One of the guys insisted D2 take a picture of me with him. We are enjoying our time in the mountains!
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@Marilyn, I ran across this audio interview and thought it might be of interest.
Seems like this is part of a series on loneliness:
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Rode up the lift at Vail today with two women who were 80 and 81 living their best lives. I told them they are my inspiration to keep skiing and having fun. They both looked great going down the run.
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@showmom858, you and @Colorado_mom (and your 80 year old lift partners!) are inspiring me to keep with the skiing hobby I picked up again this year (last time I skied I was 12! lol). Way to go!
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Years ago Dad and I drove to Utah for a few days of skiing (some of his ski club buddies were there) and take advanatage of aged 75 discount. Turns out the free skiing was for age 80 and up, with 75 year olds getting cheap/$15 tickets. We chatted with soem 80+ skiers at a big corner table in the lodge, and when we left later they waved a said, “see ya in 5 years”…. fully expecting to still be skiing themselves.
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I’ll also mention that Dad (now 97) continued to ski into his 80s. Many of his younger retirement years were spent as volunteer instructor in Adaptive ski program. I was really proud of him doing that. These days I realize that all of his training to teach handicapped skiers probably made him a good listening student in PT after he broke his hip.
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Those are awesome stories about your skiing dad (and his buddies!) Colorado_mom!!
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I’ve been retired since last June. I always said I’d go when our youngest graduated from college. My husband retired in '22 but still does consulting 5-8 hours a week. I walk and play pickleball 3 times a week with friends and I have time for more activities. I’m intrigued by @conmama’s reselling gig!
DH and I go on 2 long trips a year. I’m into traveling on credit card points and am always looking for a good deal. Other trips are quick getaways close to home around southern CA.
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I would have to look at my email history (for more skiing details), but my friend who is a dental hygienist in Switzerland ‘retired’ for the most part at age 64 (recently) - she still works one day a week for the dental office/dental practice she has worked at for 40 years. She never married and has no children; her two siblings and their children are in the US but have close ties to their relatives in Switzerland and have the means to go back often. She grew up and trained in US and thought she would only stay in Switzerland a few years. She actually had split time between two dental practices in two cities, one in her town and one in Zurich, a one train commute. Skiing on very clear days has become very expensive (prices change accordingly) - but then on clear days skiing also becomes very crowded; it is hit or miss on the slopes there due to low cloud cover being a less optimal ski day. They are also concerned about risk of injury primarily for her older partner who is stage IV brain cancer - who has been doing OK after infusions and some oral chemo. She is fairly petite and also concerned about injury. He previously had the brain tumor site be dormant (benign) until there was cancerous growth - and they were able to surgically resect some of it. What lead to find the original brain tumor was he had a seizure and sought medical follow up to that.
Her partner and she do a fair amount of biking and hiking - before his active cancer issue. She just posted this “First bike tour of the season 35 Km down to Bodensee”. They have some ‘gems’ not too far from them like this one. “We were on this boat Sat eve with sailing club 2 hr ride around Romanshorn along lake with dinner.” Her partner has a sailboat sharing boat and costs with another guy, so of course a sailing club. I have two Swiss cousins that both own a boat slip - one rents his slip out as he no longer sails (but continues ownership for a variety of reasons - in case his sons do want to sail for example and boat slips are in great demand), while the other does continue to sail. My brother who lives in Switzerland says economy seems to be stable and he has not seen recent inflation - but Switzerland is expensive overall to live in and travel in.
This web site has a translator on the details.
MS Säntis by Susanne Fritz Architekten | Restaurant interiors
At Sunshine Village and Lake Louise, they have Ambassadors or something like that. Good skiers, largely retired, will ski with folks for free for a morning or afternoon. They will take you to appropriate parts of the mountains and to trails you haven’t been to. If I recall correctly, the Ambassadors did one day a week of “work” leading with other folks and, in return, they got season passes.
One of our friends, whose skiing looks like the kind of instructional videos they show in sports bars (including going over cliffs), has been doing this since he retired as an ER doc.
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