PLANNING AHEAD: What do you want to do in retirement?

An outgoing columnist with the Washington Post recently penned an article entitled “Individual Retirement Accounts: Readers Offer Post-Career Advice.” Washington Post, John Kelly, Dec. 17. 2023. The title might have been misconstrued to indicate there was some tax planning involved but, far from it, the columnist broached a subject surprisingly not very often discussed. It is, as John Kelly stated “What do people do when they retire?… The italics originated with him, not me.

Sure, there are multiple articles in newspapers and magazines about financial planning for retirement, also for retirement living arrangements and communities, health care issues and so on. I have been guilty of some of those discussions myself but what people actually do is a subject rarely confronted head on. The column began with a humorous aside.

“The other morning I rolled over in bed and whispered to my wife the three words every woman longs to hear: “Viking River Cruises… Okay, maybe not every woman. And I don’t think this particular one — let’s call her ‘Ruth’ — really wants to spend the rest of her life going from cruise ship to cruise ship, never touching dry land…And yet, I see the appeal. Or maybe that’s just the PBS talking. I’ve seen so many of those Viking River Cruises ads …”

So, the columnist posed the question stated above. “What do people do when they retire?” According to him, hundreds of readers offered suggestions. He included several of them in his column. While he included actual names, for purposes of privacy, I am resorting to initials to describe. Some were humorous. Some thoughtful. Here is a sampling.

J.C. in Virginia suggested learning a new language. “That will sop up a lot of time,” he wrote. “I’m trying Irish, a difficult task.  If I live to be 150, I might be semi-fluent. Adh mor.”

P.C. in Eugene, Ore., “was 62 when he started his slow glide path to full retirement.” He stated, “The most important pieces of advice I can give are: Stay healthy (exercise, eat right) and spend time with nature (whether in a backyard garden or trekking in Nepal). All the rest will fall into place.”

A.S. from Rockville, Md., “said that once she was retired, she was retired: ‘No part-time jobs, no hobbies that turned into work, and absolutely no volunteer work that was actually real work, but with no pay. I was done with deadlines and bosses hanging over my shoulder.’” Regarding this comment I might add that some people could have waited too long to go. It could take a long time to recover from a high paced difficult job. I would be interested to know whether, given time, she might revise her opinion especially maybe as to certain kinds of volunteerism.

S.M. from Annapolis, Md. wrote … “volunteer and exercise.  Volunteering gives one a purpose in life, namely to help others. Exercise keeps the body and those endorphins alive and kicking.’”

Many readers said “they’ve thrown themselves into volunteering: at their church, at an animal shelter, at a library teaching English to immigrants.”

S.S. of Potomac, Md. suggested, “Please gradually get rid of ‘stuff’ in your house. This will be a giant gift to your daughters.”

Not everything describing early retirement was positive. T.M. in Camano Island, Wash. stated “she was a ‘change management’ consultant before switching careers… She noted that many people “cast into retirement” experience a “cascade of emotions.” Initial sadness and depression may be okay. Her advice?

“Take the time you need here to go for walks, declutter, catch up with family and friends, travel, paint your house — whatever is meaningful — to allow your mind and your body to start new rhythms…Once this starts feeling more boring than anything else, you’re ready to embark on the ‘start of the new!’”

Kelly, the columnist, noted the main theme that emerged was “Don’t jump into anything too quickly after retiring — even a Viking cruise ship.”

For me and for another point of view I recently picked up an article from the March, 2017 edition of “The Elder Law Report.” Jan Copley, an author and elder law attorney who returned to the practice of law after early retirement declares “Why I’m Not Crazy to Have Returned to Practicing Law…” I never left nor expect to. More to come.

Janet Colliton, Esq. is a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation recognized by the Pa. Supreme Court and the American Bar Association and limits her practice, Colliton Elder Law Assocs, PC, to elder law, special needs, guardianships, Medicaid, financial, and estate planning and estate administration with offices at 790 East Market St., Ste. 250, West Chester, PA  19382, 610-436-6674, colliton@collitonlaw.com. She is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and, with Jeffrey Jones, CSA, co-founder of Life Transition Services, LLC, a service for families with long term care needs.