The Best Post-Retirement Decisions I Have Made, Part 2

Today we’ll continue my list of the best post-retirement decisions I’ve made.

In case you missed it, you can read part one of this series in The Best Post-Retirement Decisions I Have Made.

So without further ado, let’s get into the details…

Sold Real Estate and Got into Syndications

One of my tasks post-retirement has been to decrease what I call the “hassle factors” in life.

These take the form of various tasks that are annoying and/or inconvenient and which most of us have to put up with (and I had to while growing my wealth). But once you retire (or at least for me), these hassles simply aren’t worth it and I have worked to either eliminate them or not even agree to them in the first place.

For example, I have several friends I know from pickleball games here and there who now play at 5 am every weekday morning. They have been trying to recruit me to join them. And while I appreciate their invitations, I don’t need that stuff in my retirement life. Who wants to get up at 4-4:30 am to be somewhere to play at 5 am? Not me! (And FYI, I don’t play at night either. After about 5 pm, I’m ready to call it a day.)

Another example is having too much scheduled. I like to have a free calendar so I can do what I want when I want. Too many commitments on my calendar is too much hassle for me in retirement (funny, but it was the opposite while I was working — I lived by appointments on my calendar.)

To be clear, I do schedule some things every week (like working out, pickleball, time to write, etc. — more on this below) but anything where I have to meet someone (for lunch/coffee, a doctor’s appointment, etc.) is greatly limited — if I can control it, once a week for something like this is more than enough. Most weeks have no added appointments of any kind.

But the biggest hassle factor elimination was selling my rental properties. The hassle was dealing with my property manager (which is less of a hassle than managing properties yourself, but still a hassle) — fighting with them about charges, dealing with their reactive mode and lack of common sense, and going over every expense each month. I was simply done with it.

One day I realized that dealing with them was the worst part of the month and I simply asked, “Why am I doing this to myself?” In the past the answer was “because they are a great investment that’s hard to replicate and the income is nice.” But once the Millionaire Money Mentors (MMM) introduced me to real estate syndications, I then had an alternative where I could earn almost as much on a percentage basis, much more on a total basis (since if I sold I would unlock a ton of funds from appreciation), and it would be completely passive.

So that’s the move I made — I sold all my properties and reinvested in real estate syndication deals, diversifying them by area of the country, type of real estate, and syndicator. (Thanks again to the MMM, this process was made much easier as I was able to learn about syndications, get insights into which syndicators people liked and which ones they didn’t, and so forth — reducing my investing start-up time from several years to a few months.)

We’ll see how they all perform over time, but so far it’s pretty nice — I sit back and watch the money roll in. And, since I unlocked the value in my real estate (which sold for way more than I had in it), I was able to invest in syndications, make more than I made owning my own places, have zero hassle, and have a few hundred thousand dollars left over (which I used to buy dividend stocks). Nice!

And in hindsight, it looks like the summer of 2021 was a good time to have sold. I don’t need to sell at the absolute height of a market to be happy (as if I or anyone else could know when that would occur), but just knowing I sold at a very good profit and don’t have to deal with rent increases, tenants, property managers, taxing authorities, and on and on is a very nice feeling indeed.

Got a Cat

This is a somewhat unexpected thing to find on a list like this, but getting our cat, Zeus, has absolutely been one of our best post-retirement decisions.

It’s because he impacts two of the five categories in a major way:

• Fun — Having him around is simply FUN. Whether it’s playing with him, carrying him around like a baby, having him sit and sleep with me while I work or watch TV, or anything else, he’s simply a blast to have around. (If you’ve seen my Instagram account you can see him in all his states of cuteness.)
• Social Interaction — I know having a cat (or dog) is not the same as having a social connection with a person, but Zeus does bring a lot of “life” to what would probably be a pretty quiet 3,500 square foot house with just me and my wife. He seems to be larger than life and his personality brings a socialization that’s similar in some respects to human relationships (and he’s not nearly as annoying as most people — haha).

Now there are issues with having a pet which are mostly travel related. If he goes with you, it’s a bit of a challenge (travel itself, lodging, etc.) If he stays at home, we need to arrange for a house sitter (though those come with added benefits like keeping the home secure so perhaps not that big of a deal).

BTW, when hotels say they are “pet friendly,” many mean they are “dog friendly.” So finding a hotel that will take a cat can be a challenge as we learned driving to The Villages in January 2022. FWIW, the IHG group of hotels seem more open to housing cats (at an extra fee, of course) though each hotel usually has its own (and different) policy.

Also a tip for those traveling with a cat: stuff towels in the small holes that are at the head of each bed on the floor. Otherwise a cat can get in them and good luck getting him out without a major effort. We were warned by a friend who had this happen to her, so we were sure to plug the holes each time we stopped.

Overall, my wife and I are in disagreement on the trade-off. For me, the cat more than makes up for any challenges. For her, not so much. She loves him but since he’s “my” cat, I get most of the benefits. Of course I do most of the cat-related work too (feeding him, cleaning the litter, etc.) which was a pre-condition I had to agree to in order to get him. Haha.

The other day she said, “If anything happens to Zeus, we are not getting another cat.”

To which I responded, “If anything happens to you, I’m getting a second cat.”

LOL!!!!

Getting out of Winter

One thing my wife has wanted in retirement is getting out of more winter (or even all of winter if possible).

This was the push behind us visiting The Villages for 2.5 months in the winter of 2022.

Since I liked it as well, we agreed to spend four months there in 2023.

Plus, since my dad now lives there and the kids like visiting too, it’s a no-brainer to return.

Once this year’s trip is over we’ll see where things take us (my guess is that we’ll return again in 2024 as renters and perhaps consider buying there in 2025). But I do think we have established that having less winter in our lives 1) has been a great post-retirement move and 2) something we’ll do for a while whether it’s snowbirding or moving to a warmer climate.

Time will tell what works best for us.

I’ll be writing a once-a-month update from The Villages, so stay tuned if you want to find out more about what’s going on there (I have a long list of things I want to see and do — probably too many to get done in four months!) You can also follow me on Instagram as I’ll be posting pictures from the Villages every week of our trip.

Keep Learning

Does anyone know people who last opened a book when they graduated high school/college?

Yep. In fact, most of the people I know are like that — they stopped learning (or learning much) when they left school.

In fact, I told one friend that I play pickleball with that I was just finishing an audio series on the Roman Empire.

He said, “Why would you ever listen to something like that? Something educational?”

I said, “Uhhhhh, because it’s interesting and I like learning?”

Hahahaha.

But seriously, I have kept learning since retiring and it’s been great.

Several ways I do this:

• Listen to audiobooks and podcasts while walking, driving, or doing yard work.
• Reading books. I read 7-8 while in Florida last winter. During the year it drops off a bit because…
• Online reading — Especially money/finance related. I read several posts every day, sharing the best ones with the MMM group (which we then discuss).
• Watching YouTube videos — My wife and I have started using YouTube for both education and entertainment. We’ve found some really good stuff there (though you do need to sort through a lot of junk sometimes.)

For me, it’s simply being curious about the world and what’s going on in it. It’s enjoyable and keeps my mind active/engaged.

Spending More and Giving More

As for spending more, the MMM mentors and members have an on-going discussion about enjoying ourselves and spending some of our hard-earned savings in retirement. Almost every week someone mentions something about ISE and what they are doing to enjoy the fruits of their efforts.

We are certainly on board with this line of thinking and are making some purchases that make our lives better/happier (why would you spend if it made things worse?) Examples include our extended winter time in Florida, some house remodeling projects, and paying for indoor pickleball courts in Colorado.

But spending money to increase happiness only goes so far. After all, how much can you spend on yourself — especially as others around the world are in such need?

This is why we have switched a good portion of our spending to giving — with a focus on charities with high bang-for-the-buck returns that work to help the poor around the world.

Both of these in their own ways make our lives better and are things we are doing more of post-retirement than what we thought we’d do, which is made possible by our income streams as well as asset growth (almost all of our giving is through our donor-advised fund which allows us to avoid capital gains taxes on long-held index funds).

Adding New Activities

I went into retirement thinking I’d spend my time doing X, Y, and Z, but life has a way of throwing you some curve balls. So when I found some new activities I enjoyed even more, I added them to my life.

My side hustles are examples of things I didn’t expect or plan for but when they came along I found time for them.

And, of course, pickleball has been the big add-on. It was happenstance that they built courts near our house, my wife and I ordered a beginner set of paddles and balls, and we tried it out. Soon thereafter playing pickleball was a standard part of our lives and it just grew from there. What a nice surprise!

While I LOVE our activities now, I’m not so set in my ways to think 1) I will always love them and/or 2) there aren’t things I might love even more. So I’ve created a list of things I’d like to try and have been adding some here and there to my life.

I have an especially long list of things to try at The Villages since their 3,000+ clubs offer a perfect way to experience a lot and see what I do and do not enjoy.

Time will tell what I keep and what goes, but whatever the future holds, I have been rewarded by keeping an open mind and trying new things on a regular basis.

Having a Routine

It may seem as if “having a routine” (or schedule if you prefer) in retirement would lead to a very BORING existence, not to mention it would kinda go against the “having a free calendar” guideline I noted above.

But I’m not talking about having every hour of every day planned out — I mean just having a general idea of what you want to do each day so you live the life you want to live (versus just letting life come at you and reacting all the time.)

I have a general flow to each day which goes something like this:

• Up at 6 am
• Feed cat, check news, foam roll, and get ready for the gym
• Leave home at 7 am and walk to gym
• Workout, stretch, walk the long way home (sometimes I skip the long way home walk and play pickleball at my gym). I arrive home around 9 am with 8-10k steps in (if no pickleball) or around 11 am with 12k steps if pickleball.
• Eat breakfast and drink a cup of coffee.
• At this point I either work a bit (ESI/MMM) or get ready for pickleball and then play (if I didn’t play at the gym). If I work, I usually play pickleball within a couple hours. If I play pickleball right after breakfast I work when I get home.
• If it’s cooler weather, my wife and I take our long walk of the day around 2 pm. In the summer we take it later (after dinner).
• We eat around 4 pm while watching TV.
• We either then take the long walk or do a few household tasks before showering and heading to bed around 9:45 pm.

As you can see, it’s a general routine (and I would say 5-6 days a week play out like this), but there’s also flexibility built in.

For instance, Saturday is my non-workout day so I play pickleball early (7 am) or take a long walk, work a good part of the day, and then my daughter and son-in-law come over for dinner (when we are in Colorado) and we watch a movie.

On Friday nights, we go to church (also when in Colorado).

And, of course, if I have an appointment of some kind, go see a movie, etc. then that gets shoved into the mix and something else moves out.

But in general, it’s a regular routine.

Turns out, having a routine in retirement is a good idea. Google around a bit and you’ll find several articles on the subject. The summary: they say pretty much what I just said above. Hahahaha.

One Glaring Omission

Now all that said, there is one thing that is obvious in its absence from this list: volunteering.

Read any book or article on retirement and volunteering will be recommended, will pop up as one of the most common ways retirees spend their time, and will be noted as having so many benefits to creating a great retirement that you’d have to be a fool not to do it.

Well, I might be a fool. Or maybe not.

I did spend many of my working years as a volunteer, the highlight of which was serving on boards and even being the president of a non-profit for seven years.

But there are a few reasons I haven’t yet volunteered in retirement:

• I haven’t found anything that fits my skills and interests. Yes, I could be an usher at church or something similar, but that’s not an activity I’m interested in. I’d be willing to go back to board work if the right opportunity came along, but it would really need to be a good fit.
• Volunteering often comes with a regular calendar commitment (be at a certain place at a certain time on a certain day). That does not fit with what I want in my retirement.
• ESI Money is kind of a volunteer effort. I provide solid financial teachings week in and week out for free. Hopefully people benefit from reading this site and I’m sure it’s more than the impact I’d have as an usher.
• I can have a greater impact by spending my time working and creating extra income and then giving. For example, I could go down and serve meals to homeless people for 3-4 hours and maybe impact 20-30 people. Or I could spend that time writing/working on my sites and earn enough to feed a few hundred people. It seems like a bigger bang for the buck to do the latter.

I’m not opposed to volunteering and suspect someday I’ll add it to the list. I just haven’t done it so far.

Anyway, that’s my list. Anyone want to add decisions they made after retiring that have gone well?