Retirees and soon-to-be retirees enjoy living a well-rounded lifestyle favoring activities such as traveling, reading, exercise and family fun.
Retirement means different things to different people. Some soon-to-be retirees look forward to traveling, spending more time with their families or even enrolling in continuing education classes. Others long to explore new interests, rediscover the joys of a forgotten hobby or start a second career. Many retirees simply look forward to having a string of lazy days to themselves.
Active adult communities are designed to support many different types of activities. A look at their more popular amenities may offer some insight into the activities favored by many retirees. State-of-the-art fitness centers with indoor walking tracks, swimming pools and aerobics studios are in demand, showing that retirees care about their fitness. Social clubs of all flavors speak to the desire to spend time with like-minded individuals. Other popular amenities include arts and craft studios, card rooms, computer labs, golf courses, pickleball courts and lifelong learning centers.
In 2002, Allstate Financial released a Cost of Leisure Index which compared expected retirement expenses to average retirement savings plans. As part of this study, Baby Boomers were surveyed to find out how they planned to spend their retirement years. Their responses were used to craft this top ten list of retirement activities:
- Traveling
- Family activities
- Hobbies
- Gardening
- Fishing
- Golfing
- Reading
- Exercise
- Home improvement
- Fun and games
In October of 2011, The Hartford and MIT AgeLab arranged for a retirement survey by GfK Roper. This Age of Opportunity study compared the plans of people who expected to retire in 10 years with those who were already retired. In some cases their answers were the same, but there were also some clear differences.
When it comes to how they will spend retirement, 45 percent of the pre-retirees surveyed said they expected to travel more. Slightly fewer current retirees agreed, with 32 percent citing travel as a planned retirement activity. Both pre-retirees (42 percent) and current retirees (44 percent) agreed that their retirement plans included spending more time with family. Yet a big difference came when each group was asked if they planned to read, watch TV and relax more. Just 22 percent of pre-retirees made those pursuits a part of their plans, compared to 38 percent of those who were already retired.
While everyone has their own goals and dreams for the future, it appears that there are some common themes among plans for retirement activities. Travel and spending time with family frequently top the list, while hobbies and fitness are not far behind. Many active adult community developers are responding to these needs with smaller communities in more diverse locations across the country. This gives homebuyers options that let them enjoy resort-style 55+ communities which are closer to their family and friends, and perhaps closer to urban areas with nearby airports and other forms of transportation.
What do you plan to do during your own retirement? Is travel at the top of your list? Does Allstate Financial’s top ten list fit your idea of an ideal retirement? Do you think an active adult community might be right for you? Let us know in the comments below!
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Great read Bill; thanks for helping people look within. We were fortunate, we had purchased our retirement home in Sun City AZ at the age of 51. We rented it out during the winter months (more than covering our yearly expenses on it) and during the months it was vacant took vacations to work on it.
That gave us a four year jump (we retired at 55) to start planning what retirement would mean to us. When we moved in 2003 from Minnesota to Arizona, we had a pretty good idea what we wanted to do. Though i must admit, the most attractive thought was to be free of the daily grind and the terrible cold and snow.
Once moving to Sun City we took up several sporting activities (golf and lawn bowling for me, tennis and pickleball for my wife). It filled our days and kept us running as fast, or as slow as we wanted to go. We woke asking what we wanted to do today. Nice way to live eh?
I had no interest in returning to work, but i found the self-governance of Sun City was a whole other option. Being involved and giving back to the community we loved was important and volunteering became just as important as playing. It was the best of all worlds.
I was delighted to see reading on the list. I have become passionate about getting through at least two books a week (if not more). As i type i am surrounded by no less than 100 books just waiting for me to pick them up. While many like the library (or the new ebooks), there’s just something about being able to hold a book in your hand or collecting an entire series.
Of course being frugal becomes a way of life; so garage sales, thrift stores and estate sale hunting for bargains books is another of my “tasks.” I just can’t resist trying to find the great paperback in a series i am missing for 25 cents. Better yet when you come across a recently released hardback for a buck or two, it’s cause for celebration.
The point here is, retirement shoul be whatever you want it to be. Some need to travel the world; our tastes were far less complicated. We wanted to enjoy a simple, quiet life doing what we wanted, when we wanted. Nice.