Month of Sundays

When I was working, the only day I could do whatever I wanted was Sunday. Now that I’m retired, life could be like Sunday all the time. Every month is a month of Sundays.

But Sundays never had an enough structure to get things accomplished. But too much structure would not feel like retirement.

This blog is about how the right balance can be struck between freedom and structure. In fact, without trying to sound too cliche, or 1984-ish, we might just find that “structure is freedom.”

The first thing to decide is what you want to do in retirement, what you want more of, and what you want less of.

Retirement planners will often tell you that you need about 70 percent of your working income during retirement. Some government and public school jobs work that formula in to the retirement equation. On retirement, they might even figure out your pension by having you average your last three years and then multiply that average by .7 or .75 or something close to that.

But others will tell you to plan to spend even MORE in retirement, because this might be your first opportunity to do the kind of travelling, or invest in new activities and hobbies, or even business ventures you always wanted to try.

In my case, I always wanted to spend more time trying to produce paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, colored pencils, charcoal, etc. I sold paintings when I was younger, and thought I might try my hand at it again.

I also wished I could play guitar like my brother (or now, my daughter) or play piano like my aunt (or now, my son) or even viola/violin, or trombone/trumpet. When I was young, I could only play a couple things on a guitar, and a few more things on a “recorder” (kid’s flute), and I loved the harmonica. That was my instrument. I would like to expand my capabilities.

And then there is writing and reading and studying. There are topics I always wanted to know more about. I’d like to know enough about some topics to share with others.

Then there is “Tech.” For many retirees, technology is the glue, or catalyst, or “thing” that keeps us organized to accomplish these kinds of goals.

Of course, I’ve left out entertainment. Some will come from books we wanted to read, and some will come from movies and documentaries, and series, and TV, and tutorials, language courses, lectures, etc. That’s not all entertainment, but will have to be coordinated with periods of entertainment. Learning how to use tech is key to getting a lot of retirement goals met.

Since this is a website, tech solutions for retirement, will be a big part of the site.