My retirement plan will consist of a little more sleep every morning, a more leisurely morning getting ready for the day, some type of exercise or activity, reading for pleasure, maybe part time work, chores on my timeline, social visits.
I spend 10-12 hours a day between work and commuting on average so I need to figure how to fill those hours.
I’m thinking Proust will fill at least a few (never having taken him on yet.
I may take college courses but I do not want to take tests or do homework other than read. I want an interesting professor to listen to and a class of interesting people to hold discussions with.
I would take mostly history courses especially religious history. I am close enough to at least 5 colleges so I can see what is available.
PackMom, h and I love to do all the things on your list except the movie matinees. Will continue in retirement. Although I like antique/thrift stores and H loves to go in music stores.
abasket, come on down to the sunny south!
I have a friend that for many years has “swapped” his house for one month with people in France’s countryside. Very inexpensive way to stay someplace if you don’t count 1 month’s lost income or for teachers that get a whole summer off. We’ve never been able to do that because of work and children but when the time comes we’'ll consider it.
Packmom, you’re tempting me!!! 
We have family in the south of France so luckily our lodging will be in warm, welcoming family homes - we are fortunate. Actually, my brother who lives in NYC often does exactly what you mentioned with some of our French relatives - they switch homes for vacation -works fabulous for everyone. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a desirable place (like NYC) that anyone would want to switch with us! (I’ll be starting a “planning a trip to France on the cheap” thread soon!!!)
@VaBluebird…are you in nursing?>>>>>>>>>>
I am a hospital pharmacist.
Many colleges/universities allow local residents to audit classes free of charge. I may like to take advantage of that opportunity. I’m also thinking I’d like to work part-time in a field unrelated to my profession–ie: I’ve never worked retail. Maybe working in a little gift shop or kitchen store would be fun for me. Don’t believe I’d have a hard time occupying myself in retirement!
I’ve had adult students audit my class. Over a certain age, they do not have to pay anything at my school. I will not grade their HW or allow them to take exams.
I may do this myself in retirement. I would never want to go for another degree though. Why would you unless you retired at a young age? I have colleagues that got a degree later in life. But they were not in their sixties. And they can’t retire because they added debt to get the degree.
I’ve been avoiding this thread, because I dread retirement. I am mid-60’s now and feel that I would like to work forever. I’m wondering whether those of you who choose to retire early liked your jobs? I’m a scientist and, although I’d love to have more time for sleep, exercise, etc., there isn’t anything I find as interesting as my job.
Dad II, how do you build a dividend-generating portfolio? I like the idea, but I’ve never bought individual stocks. We have a number of retirement accounts in various funds (TIAA-CREF, Vanguard, Fidelity) and both retirement and non-retirement money with a portfolio manager (almost entirely in stocks). I’d like to get rid of the portfolio manager because the performance of those carefully chosen stocks has not been better than the mutual funds, and the costs are much higher.
My MIL has a dividend-generating portfolio. It takes a lot of discipline (plus, MIL is ridiculously smart). She invests in blue-chips, power companies, cutting edge tech, that sort of thing. Her portfolio has been amazing. The only problem is that she can’t sell any of the stock … the capital gains would be killer! That was a bit of an issue in the recent recession, when some of her companies cut dividends. Overall, though, it’s been great.
I, on the other hand, absolutely have no clue when it comes to the market … even with MIL trying to help me figure it out.
If you are in your mid-sixties and have your retirement funds “almost entirely in stocks.” I would certainly get some of your money out of the stock market, which can be very volatile and risky, and into something more stable. You can get advise from TIAA-CREF advisors for free, I believe.
Work forever as long as you are an asset to your choosen career. But please do get less risky in your retirement funds.
I just learned about the tragic passing of a colleague of mine who retired two years ago. She and her husband were killed in a car accident. She actually did what many aspire to do: she raised money on kickstarter and became a published author - of two beautiful children’s books, the second just a month ago. She certainly planned for and enjoyed her much too brief retirement, and I am sitting here thinking how precious time is at every stage.
@abasket …I want to retire in 5 years, so we can commiserate if still here. I really like this forum, so many to talk to.i think the first thing I will do is start resetting my inner clock. Right now I’m in bed at 9 and up at 5. I want 11 -7. Much more fun on the weekends to not want to go to bed so early. I love this thread because it gives me ideas, I’ve never had hobbies. Other than traveling, which could mean just short trips, I’m thinking I’d like to help kids with schoolwork at my kids old school.
I recently read a book about the happiest retired people. The author had conducted surveys and interviews with several thousand. The main theme was that the happiest had 3, preferably 4 interests. People who just read, went fishing, etc. we’re some of the unhappiest ones. I think because these are solitary emdesvors. Not that those things make for unhappy retirees, but they need to be in addition to the others. Very interesting. Found the book…You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think.
I agree - the key word here is SOME.
The correct strategy is to set your investment into three categories - for now, for short term and for long term. Because most of the current 65 years are expected to live to their 90s. Putting all their $$ in a conservative instrument will not service the needs well. my opinion is that you need to have at least part of your investment exposed to continuous growth from the stock market.
My personal approach is to use a small % of our investment to pursue income from dividends. The goal is to have at least $20K dividends a year from this part of the portfolio. Get some energy such as BP, some consumer such as MO, and some communication such as T. No matter what happens, human will need these three functions. They are paying 4 ~ 6% dividends now.
morrismm and Dad II - thank you for the good advice. We actually do have a substantial portion of our retirement funds in a safe investment, the TIAA traditional fund that can be either annuitized at any point or withdrawn (or transferred to another investment) over 10 years. The returns are quite good - they depend on when the money was invested, but are well over 3% even for recently invested money. We also have some retirement money in the liquid version of this fund, with lower but still good returns. I don’t think about these investments, they just sit there. My statement only pertained to the other investments, which we periodically make decisions about, and “almost entirely in stocks” meant as opposed to bonds. We have almost no money in bonds. The portfolio manager has invested some money in utility stocks, which he considers an alternative to bonds.
quote=Dad II How did we do it - you will just have to believe me.
[/quote]
Well therein lies the problem.