You can be bored in retirement... Really!?

It's true.
You spent a majority of your life on this planet working for others.
You might have been a mother with many children, a busy executive, or a stressed small business owner. These are just a few roles people take on in their youth to earn money and support their families.
After spending 40-50 years serving others, you suddenly find yourself with plenty of free time but limited extra income.
retirement is a huge transition.

Your spending habits during your working years can't be the same in your retirement years.

During our working years, expenses come at us fast.

We earn money during our careers, allowing us to cover expenses promptly or charge them to credit for later payment, thing like:

• Vacations

• Money donated to charity

• Birthday presents bought online and mailed to loved ones

Going out to dinners out on the town, money comes, money goes.

"Money talks, mine says buh-bye." -every person on Earth.

The lavish spending habits of our younger years can't continue. In most cases, when the spigot of wages or business income turns off in retirement.
Smart investors save a lot during the high-income years, preparing for lean retirement times. But, they still experience financial pressure when monthly expenses reduce their retirement savings.

Realizing their past spending is excessive in retirement, they tighten financial controls and watch expenses closely.
That's when some retirees go into a sort of financial isolation.

Sitting in your home watching TV and drinking coffee doesn't cost much, but it's BORING in retirement!

Slowly watching your life savings drain away without any income to replace it,
is stressful.
Retirees often decide to significantly reduce their expenses by stopping activities they previously enjoyed to save money.

• No more dinners,

• no more going out,

• no more expensive vacations,

• driving less to save on gas.

Except there's a problem...

You end up cutting off your social life to save money.
Did you know that Isolation in retirement years isn't good for one's health either:

"Man is by nature a social animal." -Aristotle

and being bored in retirement just doesn't work.

So what is a retiree to do? Stop spending money all together and be bored in retirement?

Nope, you just have to meet your new friend: TIME.

When you were younger you had almost NO time.
There were bills to pay, things to fix, kids to feed, jobs to work.
Time, during all that activity, was a valuable resource and seldom available.
Money, earned on weekly basis, covered all the expenses, stress-free.
Money was in abundance and time in short supply.

In retirement, the equation is reversed:

You have lots of time and money is in shorter supply.

When you subtract out a career of 40+ hours per week, suddenly you have 40+ extra hours to do things. But without making a plan, having a lot of unscheduled time can lead to... being bored in retirement!

Instead of activities that cost money, it might be time to start looking at free things to do to "spend" all that free time.

The transition is from spending your money to spending your time...

Does that make sense?

So how do you spend your time?

Previously, you contributed to various charities during your employment, but now these donations burden your finances and limit funds for necessities like food, housing, utilities, or debt repayment.
Since the money isn't flowing in, maybe it's time to donate your free time to those charities?

"I used to donate $50 monthly to the ASPCA. Now, I volunteer one hour weekly from home, speaking with other animal lovers to raise funds." - GREAT IDEA!

I used to effortlessly donate $100 to the Children's Reading Project while working, but now that amount seems much larger. Instead, I read books to kids at my local library on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They only ask me to do it whenever I want to put my name on the schedule." - EXCELLENT!

Side effects of volunteering include: a sense of contributing to your community, making new friends, meeting new people and sharing your expertise.

Avoid being bored in retirement by donating your TIME instead of your money. Your pocketbook and your local community will thank you for it.

Look for local places to volunteer like:

• animal shelters

• libraries

• law enforcement/neighborhood watch

• political parties

• your senior center

• your church

Check out http://www.createthegood.org/ or AARP for even more ideas too!