Retirement Rehearsal

As I finish this article, I’m sitting in an Airbnb in an older community undergoing a renaissance, nestled between a small mountain and my family’s favorite little city. Atop the mountain, my daughter is attending a three-day “get acquainted” gathering at the college perched there, while my wife and I hang out and practice being a couple again.

Across the room, my wife is catching up on her reading. Freedom from home or family duties feels like a vacation to her, even if we’re not running to and fro to catch the sights. Meanwhile, indulging in semi-dedicated writing time foreshadows my vision of retirement. Paired with gardening, my other hobby, I hope writing provides a balance to the busy retirement I expect to experience. Currently, my writing is relegated to early-morning, late -evening or odd stretches of time snatched from my busy schedule.

I say “semi-dedicated” because my wife and I have an itinerary that intermingles short hikes and good food with down time in the Airbnb. That’s an easy mix to throw together, since it’s just a brief walk to strike a trail leading up the mountain, while a cluster of restaurants close by promise a tasty menu. There’s no set schedule, so I’m following my plan to fire up the keyboard when my wife is otherwise occupied

Until recently, retirement planning for my wife and me meant fretting over our investment mix and running the numbers to be certain there’s money to pay the bills after our work days are over for good. But we’ve learned money is not the only scarce resource to work out a plan for. Once we’re satisfied our pile of treasure is high enough to quit working–should we choose to do so–how should we spend our new-found free time?

Our list of possible pursuits is lengthy. For starters, there are my hobbies I mentioned earlier, and I’ve written about my wife’s love of travel. The picture of our retirement lifestyle is still a little fuzzy, however, and we’ve yet to put in the planning to bring to the details into sharper focus. It turns out we’re not alone.

A recent study out of Canada found that while many folks describe retirement goals that include lifestyle activities such as travel, hobbies, community service and volunteering, less than half had done the work of planning for these activities. By contrast, nearly 7/10 participants in the study report engaging in “some financial planning.” This can be significant, since failing to plan for a fulfilling life during retirement leads to feeling unsatisfied, even when people figure they are financially prepared, according to the research.

To be honest, our lives are a bit too busy to feel unsatisfied by a paucity of planning for our retirement lifestyle. We can’t imagine a lack of things to keep us busy, even after we give up the chunk of time presently devoted to work. Still, we think it’s not too early to engage in some field research of our own.

Hence, while our daughter is on top of the mountain making friends and scoping out her new digs, we’re spending our three days at the foot of it, imagining we’re retired and practicing how we might spend our time.

Here’s my question for the retirement veterans among us: How well did you plan your retirement time beforehand, and how is it turning out?