In addition to having been retired for over five years now, I’ve currently read more than 50 retirement books.
Combining my actual experience with the learnings and thoughts from others has left me convinced more than ever that creating an awesome retirement comes down to having two areas covered: money and life (time).
You need to have enough money to retire, to provide for your needs, at least some wants, and hopefully a few desires.
But just as important you must have plans for what you’re going to do with your time. How are you going to spend your life in retirement?
In fact, not having a plan for the life side is the most common reason I’ve seen for people “failing” at retirement — they become “bored” once they quit work since they haven’t given any thought on or planned how to spend their time.
After extensive reading, talking to retirees (in person), interviewing retirees, and living in retirement myself, I have created five categories that I believe make up the best retirement life for most people.
These are:
- Health and Fitness — Getting and keeping your body in good and healthy shape.
- Fun — Entertainment and enjoyment and relaxing.
- Work and Work-Like Activities — Work itself or activities that resemble work in form and function.
- Social Interaction — Regular connection with others.
- Mental Stimulation — Keeping our minds engaged and sharp.
Successful retirees will select activities from all of these categories to create an awesome retirement life.
A few things to note:
- These are general principles and don’t apply to different people in exactly the same way.
- They are guidelines based on past experiences. You don’t have to have all of these in any given way. You create your own wonderful retirement.
- Many of the activities cover several categories. For example, pickleball has elements of health and fitness, fun, and social interaction. I have placed each activity in the category that most defines it IMO, but know that any given activity might cover the needs of more than one category. In other words, activities are subjectively placed so YMMV from what I have listed.
- You can simultaneously do multiple activities to address multiple categories. For instance walking and talking to your mom on the phone addresses health and fitness and social interaction.
- Some are repeatable and some are one-time efforts.
We are starting with several hundred ideas. I’m inviting everyone who reads this to add their own activity ideas in the comments below.
With that said, here we go…
Health and Fitness
Exercise
- Bodybuilding
- Cardio
- CrossFit
- Cycling
- Go to a gym class
- Go to the gym
- Jogging
- Learn a New Sport
- Pilates
- Rowing
- Run
- Stair Stepper
- Swim
- Water aerobics
- Yoga
- Zumba
Sports
- Archery
- Badminton
- Baseball/Softball
- Basketball
- Bocce
- Bowling
- Boxing
- Dodgeball
- Flag Football
- Fencing
- Golf
- Handball
- Hockey
- Horseshoes
- Martial arts
- Pickleball
- Racquetball
- Run a marathon
- Senior rodeo
- Shuffleboard
- Skiing
- Soccer
- Squash
- Surfing
- Tennis
- Track and field
- Triathlons
- Volleyball
- Water polo
Active Pursuits
- Buy a drone
- Climb a 14er
- Fishing
- Four wheeling
- Hike
- Hunting
- Learn how to dance
- Learn how to yo-yo
- Line dancing
- Orienteering
- Pan for gold
- Pick flowers
- Ride a horse
- Ride a hot air balloon
- Square dancing
- Take more walks
- Take on the seven summits
- Tai chi
- Try a boomerang
- Tubing
Nutrition
- Cook (more often)
- Learn to cook healthy meals
- Start a diet
Sleep and Stress
- Get a massage
- Make a daily routine and stick to it
- Meditate
- Practice gratitude
- Take a sleep survey
- Take more baths
- Take more naps
Fun
Travel
- Become a local travel guide
- Camper road trips
- College Football Games
- Go on a cruise
- Go on a solo trip
- Go on a train ride
- Go RVing
- Go to a hot springs
- Go to a safari
- Go to Disney
- River cruises
- Stay in unique Airbnbs
- Take a road trip
- Take day trips
- Take longer vacations
- Travel the world
Active Fun
- Animal adoption
- Be a clown
- Billiards
- Build with Legos
- Car Racing
- Clean up the environment
- Climb a tree
- Create a bucket list and go do it
- Croquet
- Darts
- Declutter your house
- Do DIY projects
- Downsize your home
- Fly a kite
- Get a tattoo
- Get or foster a new pet
- Go boating
- Go on a picnic
- Go parasailing
- Go roller skating
- Go shopping
- Go snorkeling
- Go storm chasing
- Go thrift shopping
- Go to a festival/concert/play
- Go to a flea market
- Go to a haunted house
- Go to an amusement park
- Go to the beach
- Go to the casino
- Go to the zoo
- Have a party or bonfire
- Hunting
- Judge a competition
- Lawn bowling
- Learn to bake
- Make a movie or a video
- Move somewhere new
- Organize your home
- Paintball
- Ping pong
- Play a prank on someone
- Poker
- Rearrange your house
- Renovate your home
- Ride in canoes or kayaks
- Train a guide dog
- Trap shooting
- Try a scavenger hunt
- Try extreme sports
- Try metal detecting at a beach
- Try skydiving
- Try some arts & crafts
- War Reenactments
Relaxing Fun
- Be outdoors more
- Camping (or glamping)
- Drive a remote control car
- Get a pen pal
- Go for a drive
- Go on dates with your S/O
- Go stargazing
- Have more leisure time
- Join a film club
- Just relax
- Look into your genealogy
- Mahjong
- Pinochle
- Play board games
- Play bridge
- Play video and computer games
- Read some fiction books
- Ride a submarine
- Ride a train
- Sunbathe
- Take it easy
- Trade homes with someone
- Try new restaurants
- Watch a movie or tv show
- Watch a new show
- Watch a sporting event
- Watch the sunrise
Hobbies
- Acting
- Animal training
- Become a performer
- Become a sommelier
- Birding/Birdwatching
- Blacksmithing
- Bonsai
- Build a robot or AI
- Candle Making
- Car collecting
- Carpentry
- Classic car restoration
- Collect antiques
- Collect models (trains, houses, etc.)
- Competitive dancing with dog
- Decoupage
- Do a restaurant crawl
- Do street art
- Draw Cartoons
- Drawing
- Farming
- Finish a Rubix cube
- Flower arranging
- Gambling
- Geology
- Glassblowing
- Go scuba diving
- Grow a garden
- Historical ship model building
- Home brewing
- Interior decorating
- Join a choir
- Join a community garden
- Knitting/crocheting/quilting
- Learn about cars
- Learn an instrument
- Learn how to play a song you love
- Learn photography
- Learn to DJ
- Learn to paint
- Leather work
- Listen to the radio
- Make Jewelry
- Make wine
- Make wine or beer
- Mixology
- Model
- Mosaics
- Needle point
- Origami
- Paint with watercolors
- People watch
- Piloting
- Play piano
- Play the violin
- Pottery
- Practice calligraphy
- Printmaking
- Raise Chickens
- Ride a motorcycle
- Sailing
- Scrapbooking
- Sculpt
- Sewing
- Shooting range
- Soap making
- Stained glass
- Start a collection of something
- Start a newsletter
- Start a vlog
- Take up beekeeping
- Try an open mic night
- Try glassblowing
- Try Topiary
- Try wine tasting
- Upcycle
- Whittle
- Woodworking
- Write poetry
Cultured Fun
- Go to museums
- See an aquarium
- Try local theatre
- Visit a zoos
- Visit historical sites
- Visit national parks
- Watch a symphony
Work or Work-Like Activities
Work
- Board service
- Continue present work
- Get a new job in a field you’ve always dreamed about
- Get a part time job (could combine with hobby/interests)
- Private equity/VC
- Publicly traded company
- School bus driver
- Small/mid-size but established Startup
- Tour guiding
Side Hustles
- Act as an extra for tv or movies
- Babysit
- Become a critic
- Become a landlord
- Become a secret shopper
- Become an entrepreneur
- Become an event planner
- Coach a sport
- Consult on something you know a lot about
- Create a new board game
- Create and sell art
- Do online surveys
- Have a yard sale
- Invent something
- Invest in someone’s business
- Invest your money
- Make and sell something
- Record audio books
- Referee
- Refinish and sell furniture
- Sell stuff on eBay
- Sell your old stuff
- Start a blog
- Start a new business
- Start a podcast
- Start a radio show
- Start your own business
- Teach a subject you know a lot about
- Travel with a band
- Work at a camp
Work-Like
- Become a foster parent
- Become an activist or lobbyist
- Build something
- Care for the environment
- Church/synagogue work
- Citizen patrol/Fire-fighter
- Connect with a cause
- Feed the homeless
- Fight crime
- Get involved with local politics
- Host a neighborhood cleanup
- Increase my community involvement
- Join the peace corps
- Lecture/speaking opportunities
- Mentor others
- Missionary work
- Organize a charity drive
- Serve on a non-profit board
- Sponsor a child in another country
- Take a volunteer trip abroad
- Tutor young people
- Volunteer with local charities
- Work with charities
- Write a book
Social Interaction
- Be a caregiver to others
- Connect with family
- Connect with friends
- Dinner murder mystery clubs
- Entertains friends (more often)
- Find local events to attend at a community center/library
- Get in contact with an old friend
- Get involved in your community
- Get to know your neighbors
- Go to church
- Go to the senior center
- Go to weddings
- Hang out with retired friends
- Have an accountability partner
- Help out with grandkids
- Hold a charity event
- Host a party/watch event
- Join a book club
- Join a Facebook group
- Join a league
- Join a small group
- Make new friends
- Mentor someone younger than you
- Play bingo
- Reconnect with an old friend
- Social club
- Spend time with spouse
- Spend time with your kids and grandkids
- Start a local club
- Try a group travel trip
- Try geocaching
- Visit nursing homes
- Write a letter to someone
- WWII club
Mental Stimulation
Try Challenges
- Chess puzzles
- Do a puzzle
- Do sudoku puzzles
- Strategy games like Stratego, Risk, and Monopoly
- Take quizzes
- Trivia game
- Try crosswords
Brainy Tasks
- Find new music to listen to
- Join a debate club
- Keep a journal
- Keep up with the latest technology
- Play a card game
- Play memory games
- Read non-fiction
- Write (about your retirement experience/educate on retirement)
Learn New Things
- Astronomy
- Become an expert at a subject you’re passionate about
- Become CPR certified
- Create a recipe
- Deepen your faith
- Design a piece of clothing
- Dust off old dreams
- Get a different degree
- Get a license in something
- Go back to school
- Invent a board game
- Join a band
- Learn a new language
- Learn new skill
- Learn sign language
- Learn some magic
- Learn to code
- Learn to play chess
- Learn to use a computer
- Set a new goal
- Study a new subject
- Take a free class
- Take night classes
- Teach an instrument
- Teach others
- Write a biography for someone
- Write a screenplay
- Write a song
- Zoology
An impressive listing of activities that should consume more time, less stress, and create the level of happiness desired by all retirees. I especially wanted something to give back to my community while fulfilling my desire for more outdoor activities, so I volunteered to the local Adopt-a-Highway program, maintaining a section of street’s by litter cleanups. This allows for physical activity, interaction with others, improves the environment and helps the community. STAY active, stay young, be happy.
Another combo activity my wife and I just did is a bicycle trip. We rode the Great Allegheny Passage http://www.gaptrail.org for 4 days 150 miles. Met wonderful people in new towns, on the trails, etc. so social, adventure, and physical fitness all in one. Many of the riders we met were all retired.
I retired a few months after you did and your mindset and approach to retirement instantly resonated with me. I’ve been reading your newsletters ever since!
Thank you!
Great topic and very thought provoking, I’ve got some new ideas to add into my retirement life. I’ve taken the approach to take things out of my life I did not need any more and add new things into my life to help define who I am now.
I do a lot of giving back and volunteerism, Local food bank, church, Golden retriever rescue. I also wanted to do more outside and in nature, I walk our dogs every day, do yoga and joined a garden club. I also have had more time to enjoy our 9 grandkids and get to cheer them on in their sports and dance activities.
Active retirement is fulfilling!
This is a great list and not just for retirees!
We all know that it’s better to have several hobbies heading into retirement, but also could be useful for my wife who has been a stay at home mom for 6 years and now has some much deserved down time. I am going to shoot this her way.
When we moved to our new 55+ retirement home in another state, it turned out we moved within a 10 miler radius of three (3!) earthquake faults (low risk, but still…) I chose to become involved in a local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). I wanted to be prepared to take care of myself and my wife. As I progressed, I became a trainer, involved in ham radio, and community preparation. It has proven to be a challenging activity. While I hope I’ll never need it, I find it interesting and it may someday be useful.
Pet sitting, house sitting, dog walking, get a pet of your own.
You forget, Go to the 🌙!!! and stay there for the duration of your retirement. Who knows you might leave forever.
Wonderful post! So many great ideas……………..
As I prepared for retirement my co-workers asked me if I thought I would be quickly bored. My response was that I had so much I wanted to do I needed two retirements. We moved to an amenity rich community 3 weeks before Covid shut things down and still managed to keep from getting bored despite things being restricted. Walking the trails in the community, participating in on-line genealogy meetings and seminars, various crafting activities, taking time to cook more and volunteering at an equine therapy center kept me and my husband busy. Things opened up and we were busier than ever. Now we are ready to get back to a favorite sport I did not see on your list – Curling! (Yes, that sport where you slide the stones on the ice and sweep like crazy in front of them) It’s great for fitness, fun and social interaction.
Nice! It’s like big shuffleboard on ice!!!! With brooms!!!!
That list was fun to read. We do many of those activities and sometimes I hesitant to tell other people what we do with our time. It is funny how often people who are working ask, “what do you do all day? aren’t you bored?” It is important to have hobbies, plans before you retire as you said and others commented. And it is fun to add activities that we learn about from others.
A train ride is something that I just added to our Grand Canyon trip for 2022. Actually the original trip was only 7 days in Sedona, AZ for hiking but then as we were looking at a paper map, we noticed how close the Grand Canyon was, so we added days for GC hiking. Then a train advertisement popped up and adding that now too. So the AZ trip has been extended (which was on your list for taking longer vacations). We like to go to AAA and pick up paper maps of different states and use those to help plan vacations. Yes, everything can be seen on the internet but sometimes, we don’t know what we are looking for until we spot something interesting!!!!
Thank you for mentioning Risk on iPhone in a previous blog and on this list. My husband was a huge fan of the board game so the iPhone version is now consuming him. He is so happy to be playing that again and beating the computer.
I engage in several activities listed. But, after a lifetime of being too busy, I take pains not to overdue it. I bristle when my fellow retirees claim that they are overworked. Perhaps these hard driving folks shouldn’t have retired in the 1st place.
I would say that I’m busier than ever, but it’s on things I like doing.
And, I have flexibility built in so when it gets to be too much, I dial it down.
On one of your recent articles you mentioned The Villages in FL. I just reviewed some of the 2020 Census summaries and it mentioned:
“The fastest-growing U.S. metro area between the 2010 Census and 2020 Census was The Villages, FL, which grew 39% from about 93,000 people to about 130,000 people.”
Great list! I’d also add actively flying or learning to fly as great and challenging activities. Classic Cars is another favorite and I’ve become a certified antique auto judge which is very interesting and takes me to different parts of the country for shows. I’ve found there are great people and friends in both the Aviation and Antique/Classic Car Community!
Volunteering at our Aviation Flying Museum, local political leadership, and local missionary/church service round out a full and rewarding retirement. Real Estate investing largely now in passive deals remains a side hustle.
Thanks for a great post!
OK, this is a huge list and I have not done many of these.
I remain baffled by “War Reenactments”. I guess it appeals to some.
Most often by those that have not actually been to war.
Great list!! Anyone have experience becoming a sommelier? How did you go about it? Like it, or not?
Cheers!
Great list, thanks for all the wonderful ideas! My wife and I do many of those, but always looking for inspiration.
We’ve been bucketing our FIRE activities into 4 categories: Projects, Health, Connecting, and Financial. We give ourselves us 3-4 goals for each bucket each year and then evaluate how we did at the end of the year. Rinse and repeat. Keeps us productive with long and short term goals!