What Retirees Want, What Retirees Do with Their Leisure Time

Today we continue our coverage of the great retirement book What Retirees Want. It is packed full of great information and statistics about the state of retirement today.

If you’ve missed any posts in this series, there are two ways to catch up. You can begin with the first post, which is an introduction and overview of the book, and click through to the next posts at the end of each one you read. Or you can check out my retirement category and scroll through the posts there.

Like with other books I’ve reviewed on ESI Money, I will share some key passages from this one and give my thoughts on their conclusions.

Today we’ll start unpacking the research on what retirees do with their leisure time.

Let’s get started…

The Baby Boom Leisure Boom

The book sets the stage for talking about retirement leisure activities with the following:

The age wave is creating a truly unprecedented leisure wave. The nearly 10,000 Boomers retiring each day find themselves shifting from time constrained to time affluent for the first time in their adult lives. The average American age 65+ now has 7.4 hours of leisure time per day, while those aged 35-44 are the most time constrained.

The book then lists average hours of leisure per person per day by age groups:

• 25-34 – 4.2
• 35-44 – 4.1
• 45-54 – 4.5
• 55-64 – 5.5
• 65+ – 7.4

FYI, when they say “leisure” here, they don’t mean time that’s purely spent on fun, recreational activities. They are talking about the amount of free time available. They define “leisure” as “non-work”, even if it’s doing things like mowing the grass, shoveling snow, etc.

It makes sense that the older a person is, the more free time they have (as a larger percentage of that groups retires and brings the average up).

That said, I don’t remember having 4 hours of free time a day while working! LOL.

The book continues:

That’s a lot of leisure time, and Boomer retirees want to fill it differently than previous generations who were inclined to be less active in retirement, had fewer options, and were far more frugal. Boomers want to stay active and explore their options, and they’re willing to spend. As one Boomer retiree told us, “I want to keep growing and trying new things. I don’t want to be as old as my parents were when they were this age.”

It’s a short passage but is packed with comments I want to weigh in on:

• Today’s retirees want to be more active. So true. Back in the day the most active thing retirees did was get up to change the TV channel (because no one had remotes back then! LOL.) Now there are hundreds of activities retirees choose from, many of which are very active.
• Past retirees had fewer options. One example: pickleball. How did people retire with no pickleball????????
• Past retirees were more frugal. Hahahaha. That’s probably true. Which is interesting because there were more pensions (i.e. guaranteed income) back then. I’m wondering if they were just frugal because that’s how they were raised and they couldn’t make the switch to ISE.
• “I want to keep growing and trying new things. I don’t want to be as old as my parents were when they were this age.” This summarizes the thoughts of most of the retirees I know personally and me in particular. I want to try/learn new things and keep getting better while I can — since one day I won’t be able to. Currently on my list: I’m learning about the titans (some call them robber barons) who became extremely wealthy in the 1800’s and early 1900’s in America — Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and J.P. Morgan. Very fascinating reading IMO (FYI, I actually listed via Audible.)

Moving from Work to Leisure

Next the book covers a topic that I see as similar to the “moving from a saver to a spender” discussion we have about retirement now and then.

This time it’s how do people give up working and move into a life of leisure.

Here’s how the book describes it:

Several years ago, we conducted a first-ever series of global studies on “The Future of Retirement” in partnership with London and Hong Kong headquartered HSBC Bank. We surveyed thousands of people in 20 countries, representing two thirds of the world’s population. We asked people all over the world if they saw retirement as “a time to wind down,” “a time for rest and relaxation,” “a whole new chapter in life,” or “the beginning of the end.” We were fascinated to see that “a whole new chapter in life” rose to the top of Boomers’ preferences in the United States, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Japan, and China. They view retirement as a new starting point, not a finish line. They want to rev up with new activities and adventures and are eager to have peak experiences in their newfound leisure time. But for this to happen, there’s an addiction to be overcome.

Most retirees are so unaccustomed to unhinging from work that they don’t know what to do with all their free time. Sadly, in America last year, the average American age 65+ spent close to 50 hours a week – more than a traditional work week – watching television. So there’s plenty of opportunity for community organizations, recreation in services providers, and family and friends to encourage more people to get off their couches and get involved in the myriad everyday leisure activities that are popping up in their communities and online.

My thoughts on this one:

• Hahaha. I love that the book calls working an “addiction”. It really is for a large portion of the U.S. The fact that so many people keep working in retirement because they would be bored without it, become depressed without a job, and/or lose their identities when they stop working show that it’s too big a part of life for far too many. So yes, there’s a transition to be made for many if people want great retirements.
• “Most retirees are so unaccustomed to unhinging from work that they don’t know what to do with all their free time.” They need to learn and to do so before they retire. They can start with my huge list of retirement activities, try out several before they retire, and identify at least a few they like well enough to take into retirement. Planning in advance is key. If they don’t, they are rolling the dice and risking the happiness of their retirement.
• “In America last year, the average American age 65+ spent close to 50 hours a week – more than a traditional work week – watching television.” Ugh. I can feel the life ebb from my body just thinking about this. 50 hours a week on TV? That is brutal. And a waste IMO. And this is AVERAGE. That means many more spent well over 50 hours per week. And even those towards the “low end” likely spend 30 or so. Yikes! We spend a couple hours every evening on average, watching TV while we eat. Once we’re done, we usually go for a walk for an hour or so.
• “Myriad everyday leisure activities that are popping up in their communities and online.” Have I mentioned my huge list of awesome retirement activities recently. 🙂

Let’s move on…

Retirement and Leisure Transform Each Other

The book’s next section is headlined “Retirement Transforms Leisure — and Leisure Transforms Retirement”.

Here’s what they share:

Leisure in retirement is far different from leisure before retirement in a variety of ways. Most of the changes are very positive: more choice, more purpose, more social connection, and, of course, more time. The exception is that health becomes more of a constraint on leisure for most of us as we age. While pre-retirees view free time as precious and scarce, eight in ten retirees tell us that they now have the amount of free time they desire – and they like it.

For the newly retired, organizing one’s time can be a real challenge. Most retirees want to stay busy but not too busy. They want a balance of structure to avoid boredom and non-structure to enjoy the freedom and spontaneity that retirement makes possible. One retrieve shared the feeling: “it is a little scary because you are so used to structure – for 35 years I got up every day to go to work. And then suddenly you have to put your days together and figure out where you are going to go and what you are going to do. It’s a little scary until you find your niche, and you find things that you like doing.”

We found that retirees’ freedom and enjoyment are not dependent on wealth. Eighty-six percent of all retirees say they find it relatively easy to find inexpensive leisure activities they enjoy. They take advantage of free or low-cost programs at schools, community centers, churches, libraries, and social clubs. Mary Furlong, EdD, author of Turning Silver into Gold and leading authority on the longevity marketplace, describes the everyday freedom: “It’s like living as a college student again because our schedules are more flexible and in many cases are far more under our own control than ever before. You might go shopping mid-morning or go to dinner a little bit earlier. My friends shop the happy hour for the best appetizers and the best deals.”

My thoughts on the above:

• If you retire early, health isn’t as much of an issue at the beginning of retirement. Now if you retire at 75, things will definitely be different than if you retire at 55.
• “They now have the amount of free time they desire.” Uh, that would be all the time, right? Haha. One of the young ladies at my gym’s cafe regularly asks me if I had a good weekend. I simply reply, “One day is the same as the next — they are all weekend days!” So true. I look at it as FREEDOM and even more than the quote above, I LOVE it (they say they only “like” it)!!!!
• “Organizing one’s time can be a real challenge.” Ok, we’re entering into the “how did these people get through life?” discussion of being organized. I mean by the time you get to be 60 or so shouldn’t you have some sort of system developed to organize your time and activities? If not, how did they make it this far? And the worst is the default organization forced on people by work (or at least that’s what they use as an excuse). You still organized your non-work time, didn’t you? Certainly you can do the same now that it’s a large amount, right?
• “Most retirees want to stay busy but not too busy.” This is where real organization kicks in. And I agree, you want enough on your plate to keep you active but not so much that it gets over-whelming. It is certainly a balance. This is one reason I sold Rockstar Finance — it was forcing me into a daily commitment that I didn’t want to fix in my life. And to make it grow I had to commit to more time, something I also did not want to do. I want enough of a committed schedule that I build in what I have and want to do and then leave the rest of the time open. This is why I have eliminated almost all lunches, coffee meet-ups, and so on: they are specific time commitments that I get little joy out of and they clog up my schedule. BTW, when I met Money Honey Rachel for coffee she was perfect — she suggested we walk and talk while we drank. Yes!!!!!
• “They want a balance of structure to avoid boredom and non-structure to enjoy the freedom and spontaneity that retirement makes possible.” Here’s what I set on my calendar when I’m home in Colorado: walk to gym, exercise, eat breakfast at gym cafe, and walk the long way home. These take from 7 am to about 9:30 am. I also set up pickleball matches 3-4 times a week, usually in the 11 am to 3 pm time frame. These are my base level commitments for every week. Then I might throw in a doctor’s appointment, shopping trip, activity like the Parade of Homes, and so on. And that’s about all the commitment I want/need. From there I can decide if/when I want to work or do anything else.
• I’m not really constrained by money and yet nothing I do costs a ton either. The one thing I would probably do more of is travel, but 1) the world is still in transition on that issue (given the pandemic) and 2) I actually REALLY dislike the travel portion of a trip (For example, I like the time in Hawaii, Grand Cayman, etc., but I hate the getting there and back — planes, trains, and automobiles). So we’re doing a trip with a longer stay in Florida during the winter. We’ve also discussed making October a time each year we’d take an additional trip, so we’ll see if that happens or not. The rest of the year in Colorado is amazing, so we can just stay at home.
• We definitely do things off schedule to avoid crowds as well as just suiting our preferences. That’s why I head over to the gym around 7 am. I get into the locker room before the working crowd upstairs descends to get ready for work. By the time I’m done working out, they are long gone and the school moms aren’t in yet. The cafe is pretty quiet at 8:30 am or so when I’m there. I play most of my pickleball during the weekdays when courts are easier to come by. We do most of our shopping during weekdays too (and certainly avoid the weekends). We eat supper about 4 pm as that gives us time to digest a bit before we go for a walk (FYI, we walk before dinner in the winter since it gets dark earlier). Going against the flow time-wise is one of the great benefits of retirement.

The book even has a chart that details how leisure is different in retirement. It compares and contrasts the following:

Leisure Before Retirement

• Leisure is restricted, mostly to evenings, weekends, and vacations.
• Leisure is often about relaxation and de-stressing.
• Health is less likely to be a constraint on leisure.
• Technology interferes with leisure; people want to (but can’t) unplug.
• Travel is often short.
• Work and family responsibilities constrain leisure timing, activities, and involvement.
• Planning horizon is usually the next vacation.
• Leisure is an adjunct among life priorities.

Leisure in Retirement

• Leisure time is abundant.
• Leisure is often about engagement, connection, and activity.
• Health is more likely to be a constraint on leisure.
• Technology enhances leisure through social connection; people want to be plugged in.
• Travel can be longer and more immersive.
• People have more freedom and flexibility to do what they want to do when they want to do it.
• Planning horizon can include a portfolio of trips and activities.
• Leisure can be central to people’s identity.

I’ll give some thoughts on a few of these:

• “Leisure is often about relaxation and de-stressing.” This was me when I worked. It’s the reason we took 12-day cruises instead of 7-day ones. It would take me 2-3 days to destress and then I’d start dreading going back a couple days before it was over. So if we went seven days, I had almost no time off. With 12 days, I had plenty of in between time to simply enjoy the vacation.
• “Technology interferes with leisure; people want to (but can’t) unplug.” I would check my email and blog once a day even from the ships (which was usually when the others were getting ready to do something or involved in some activity I didn’t want to do), but that was it. I actually did a pretty good job of unplugging, especially later on in life (like our trips to Grand Cayman — I kept an eye on ESI Money but that’s about it.)
• “Travel is often short.” We would save up my vacation time for the long trips. Otherwise, we’d make shorter visits to see family much of the time.
• It was tricky sometimes to plan vacation time. There were certain times of the year I had to be in the office, so those were no-gos for sure. The worst was when I worked for a retailer who didn’t allow any vacation time from November 1 through January 1. It wasn’t that bad though as our family would come and spend Christmas with us (we at least had a weekend) and we’d often travel in January once all the kids went back to school (our kids were homeschooled so we could travel whenever we wanted.) One of the great benefits of retirement is not having to get boss approval for vacations!
• “Travel can be longer and more immersive.” I am proving this to be true as we will likely spend winters somewhere besides Colorado.
• “People have more freedom and flexibility to do what they want to do when they want to do it.” This includes going against the flow and vacationing when lines are shorter. We avoid spring break, summer, and holiday travel as much as possible. We travel when work and school are in full bloom! Haha. We do it mostly for the smaller crowds but it often has the added benefit of being cheaper too. 🙂

Finally, the book ends this section with the following:

Leisure travel may just be the tip of the iceberg. Retirees find plenty of ways to spend leisure close to home.

A couple thoughts here:

• This is where you see active retirement communities like The Villages popping up. You can stay at home and be surrounded by leisure activities.
• If you live in a place that has lots of leisure activities built in (like Colorado), then your entire area becomes a “retirement community”. Hahahaha.

That’s it for today.

For the next post in this series, see What Retirees Want, Five Stages of Leisure in Retirement.