Leverage Your Time in Retirement

The majority of people I meet who are retired appreciate the opportunity they’ve been given to live out their golden years the way they want.  I love it when I hear them say that they don’t know how they ever worked at a job because their time seems to fly by.  It’s good if you can leverage your time in retirement and make every second worthwhile.  There are a few ways to do this because we have more time than ever when we get to this point in our life.  So why not take advantage of that?

We all love vacations, so why not leverage your time in retirement by doing something you could never do while you were working?  Extend each vacation and watch how your memories multiply.  We took two vacations of more than one week during the forty-year working career each of us had.  They were wonderful and we made the most of every day that we were away.  In each case, we flew to our destination, once to Hawaii and once to California.  The airfares were quite hefty so got the biggest bang for our buck by staying an extra week.  We applied that concept in retirement.  Airfares are still expensive and the hassle of getting to an airport and being on a plane for six hours or more makes you want to maximize the enjoyment you get from each trip.  We leverage our time in retirement by extending our trips as much as possible, especially if the cost of airfare is involved.  We plan out every day with the thought of seeing as much as possible because, who knows, we may not be able to come back – there’s too much of the world to see.  We also leverage our time by using a guide to make sure we get to see what we want, usually ahead of the crowds which is very nice.  There are companies that provide wonderful tours to places that are sometimes booked up in advance.  Cities like Rome are extremely busy and a guided tour of Rome is the way to go.

If you’re embarking on a particularly long journey you can break up your flights to avoid the twenty-hour travel days as you make your way to Africa or Asia or the land “down under.” You can leverage your time in retirement and break it up into manageable pieces and avoid feeling like a zombie for the first few days after arrival.  It gives you extra time to climb the Eiffel Tower or enjoy a photo session with a koala or whatever you use your extra time for.  We have found that taking the extra time and spreading out our activities over a few extra days rather than packing everything into a marathon day or two saves wear and tear on the body and makes everything much more enjoyable.  It gives you time for afternoon tea or a little midday siesta.  The wonders of the world are vast, and they’re best enjoyed in little sips rather than drinking from a fire hose.  It’s all made possible when you learn how to leverage your time in retirement.

We know we are incredibly fortunate to be able to enjoy the things that I have written about on this website, and we know there are some people who have financial difficulties in their later years.  We know how frustrating that can be.  The one thing I will say is that we didn’t always live like this.  A trip to Catskill Game Farm when it was in existence was our vacation for a couple of years.  But we enjoyed it immensely.  We enjoy where we live and we take local trips all the time.  Travel does not have to be expensive or involve flying or extended stays.  There are hiking trails and local sites that we sometimes take for granted.  Make it a point to schedule a trip or you won’t get it done.  That’s another way you can leverage your time in retirement: schedule something right now.  Don’t let another day go by without mapping out a trip and making a day of it.  Find a little place for a picnic and an ice cream stand and you’ve created a day of memories.  You’ve got to go out an enjoy life.

Use Technology to Leverage Your Time in Retirement

If you’re determined to start saving up for that dream trip, go for it!  Do whatever you have to do to make it happen.  If you need to sell some of that stuff that’s cluttering your house or basement, do it!  But, even there, you can leverage your time in retirement by leveraging technology.  Instead of having a garage sale where perhaps twenty people will stop by in a day, use something like eBay to sell your wares, especially if it’s a collectable of any kind.  Finding the right buyer can add a lot to the revenue you can generate.  By using the internet, you’re leveraging your time and vastly increasing your audience.  And, if you don’t think you’re capable of doing this, you’re selling yourself short because there are people like you who are doing this right now.  There are so many retirees with their own websites who are creating extra money to take those trips they had previously only talked about.  And their site is working for them 24 hours a day, even when they sleep.  They have found the best way to leverage your time in retirement.

So, get out and make things happen.  Schedule that trip and make the most of it.  Don’t go to Alaska for a week, stay two and see as much of it as you can.  We have a wonderful world to see.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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