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Your Retirement Life: It’s OK to Take It Easy

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When you retire, the feeling that you need to always be doing something will be there. It’s important to remember you’ve earned the luxury to “Take it Easy.”

David Ekerdt writes:

Instead, I believe that the mantra should be: Let retirement be retirement. Studies of people who pass from work to retirement consistently find that they prize sovereignty over time—freedom—as the great gift of their new stage of life. This should include the freedom to shrug off any pressure to conform to a busy standard. Our society has a sufficient number of retirees who feel driven to pass their later years believing that they must drag an energetic middle age as far into the future as they can. Let them chatter on about their bucket lists.

But let others feel comfortable not having any bucket list at all. Anyone’s retirement can be purpose-driven as long as it is one’s own purpose at one’s own pace. One of the wisest books about life after work, “The Experience of Retirement,” written by my good friend Robert Weiss, advised a rough 50-50 mix of engagement and freedom. Too many obligations can cost too much in freedom; too much free time can foster feelings of marginality. “Keep time for yourself, yes, but not to the exclusion of continuing to play a role in the world.” Bob also endorsed the satisfactions of “puttering.”

Easier said than done, of course. For retirees who want to pursue the not-so-busy life, nudges to do otherwise are constant. They find themselves being asked about their lives nowadays: So what are you up to? What are you doing with yourself? Are you keeping busy?

Read more here.

Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com.

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E.J. Smith

Editor-in-Chief
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com.