1. Develop a Spending Plan: If you have already retired you would have determined financially that it was the right time to retire. It’s important that you now develop a plan for how you should spend your money in retirement. It can be daunting to watch your savings dwindle each year once you have retired. Setting monthly/yearly spending benchmarks is essential to make sure you are not spending too much or being unnecessarily frugal with your money.
2. Plan a Daily Routine: Even though you have retired from your job, planning a daily routine helps to keep a healthy, consistent lifestyle. Whether this involves social activities, hobbies, life necessities like shopping or even planning holidays – sticking to a routine is important. By planning how you spend your retirement, you are setting up activities you can retire to.
3. List Down your Hobbies: Prepare a list of hobbies you will enjoy pursuing and prioritize the ones you can accomplish. Hobbies and activities give you a sense of purpose and structure and they are often a great way to stay social and meet new friends. The following hobbies are amongst the most popular; reading, listening to music, writing, painting, sports activities, dancing, playing instruments and fishing.
4. Read 1 to 2 Hours a Day: Developing a daily reading habit is recommended in your senior years. Not only does this add a lot of knowledge to your repertoire it helps to keep your brain sharp. Whether you choose to read books on fact or fiction or even keep up to date with the latest news, choose reading materials that are right for you.
5. Travel in Nigeria and Abroad – Planning trips and traveling is a great way to stay active in retirement. Whether this is within Nigeria or to an overseas destination, having something to look forward to is always exciting. If there are parts of Nigeria you haven’t visited, it’s now time to do it. You may even want to plan an exotic holiday to a country you have never visited or visit family that live abroad.
6. Participate in social activities: Whether it’s an organized group social activity or a catch up with a friend, being socially active is a great way to pursue happy retirement living. As many of our friendships and social activities have previously revolved around work, finding activities to be social in retirement can be difficult. Research online or visit your local communities to discover social activities you can be part of.
7. Conquer New Exciting Challenges: Many people like to set up goals and challenges in different aspects of their life. The desire to succeed doesn’t have to stop in retirement. Many seniors still like to take part in new challenges and set goals to achieve. Goals can be anything from learning a new skill or activity, travelling to a new country, taking part in a new sport or even joining a new club.
8. Keep your Mind Sharp: Keeping your brain sharp with positive brain power activities is one the most important tips to living a happy, fulfilled retirement. This could be achieved by reading, learning, completing puzzles and even socializing. You could try learning a foreign language or a musical instrument. Whatever you decide to do, make it a priority.
9. Remain Healthy: Staying healthy in retirement means eating well, exercising, being happy and enjoying yourself. You have more time to invest in learning about new foods that are good for you as well as time to spend on daily exercise routines. This might simply be walking or doing a sport you love. If you keep yourself healthy, you will feel good and consequently enjoy a happy retirement.
10. Move to a Smaller Property: Having the burden of a large family home can often be too much in retirement. Many choose to move to a smaller property that is more manageable. You may not be able to keep up with the cleaning and gardening of a big house. Whether you choose to downsize to a smaller property or even move to a retirement community, consider the best option that is right for you.
