After retiring, I tried several new jobs to determine if a second last hurrah career was a possibility. I tried the following: Tutoring, Teaching, Tax Preparation, Park Employee, Census Bureau Employee for part time work and Executive Director of a non-profit, which turned out to be full time work.
These jobs were a good transition from working to retirement. They made the transition smoother since I still have some of the work routine and camaraderie with co-workers. None of these jobs turned out to be work I wanted to do full time and long term.
I quit doing part time jobs in 2015. I decided I wasn't going to find that second hurrah job. Instead, I started focusing more time on determining my retirement purpose and delivering on that.
In summary, here's what I have decided are my three focus retirement purposes:
- Managing our household personal finances.
I have mostly been and still am a DIYer for personal finances. I am managing our investments, covering our spending, and consulting with a financial advisor occasionally on a couple areas such as when to take social security and how long our funds will last.
Historically, I have typically invested in individual stocks and index ETFs since both have low or no management fees. I am transitioning to have just 2-3 ETFs and Treasuries/CDs to simplify our investment holdings while maintaining returns.
No one cares more about my finances and investments that I do. I manage our investments. I do our taxes. I make sure we have sufficient funds for our living expenses. I transfer funds when we need more. I'm not ready to let go of doing this, yet. - Raise our kids to be self sufficient adults.
Although retired, we still have one child in college and one in junior high school. Our goal it to enable them to graduate from college debt free and, if needed, cover the cost of graduate school. In addition, we are also tutoring them in the basics of personal finance. I want them have stable finances and be good contributors to society in the future.
An approach I'm taking is to focus on their strengths and interests to help them develop into great adults. However, I'm also sometimes involving them in my strengths and interests areas in case that works for them also. - Keep our current house by doing modernizing upgrades and planned maintenance.
We've decided this will be our forever home, rather than buy a newer home and move or go to a senior residential community. We also don't want to own a vacation home.
Over the past few years, we've been renovating the inside of our home. First, we upgraded the counter tops and appliances in our kitchen. Next we refinished our wood floor on the first floor. We considered replacing windows and doors, but decided to repair the windows and doors instead
We are replacing some furniture, such as the outdated armoire TV cabinet with a more modern stand. And we are working on decluttering by donating books, clothing and other items no longer used. Next is a project of replace carpeted stairs to the finished basement with wood stairs. At some point, we will renovate our bathrooms, but that is for the future.
My spouse loves gardening and she is continuously upgrading the outdoor space. Moving would mean starting from scratch again.
Overall, we feel this is a better option than buying another house, modifying to our tastes and then moving.
These three part time focuses will easily combine to be full time "career" in retirement going forward. Definitely, we'll need periodic vacations from all this "work."
This is not financial, home renovation, parenting nor retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.
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