The dream of being financially free and retiring is dear to every working human, but if you ask them what they will do with their retirement, that is not clear. At least not to the majority.

This creates a problem in fulfilling the dream. If we could clearly visualize what we wanted, we could undoubtedly get it. I think that’s true. Not because of some cosmic power that would bring us closer to the goal but because clarity empowers action.

The goal looks vague, far, and extensive when we don’t have a clear idea of what we want to achieve. Only when we strain our eyes to focus on it, do we realize it’s reachable and much smaller.

What is retirement - 101?

Before we go further to explore what we could do with retirement. I would like to ask the question, what do you mean by retirement? Retirement, to me, is the freedom to do whatever I wish with my time. There’s another angle to this freedom that must be examined closely. With your time, you can do anything accessible, and in our world, access is gated by a paywall.

If you want to live for a month in Disney Land, yes, you have the time now, but you would also need the money to be there. In the 21st century, I would define retirement as the ownership of time and some form of wealth.

Retirement = Own your time + Own enough wealth

The first part about owning the time is more straightforward, which we all get right. It’s the latter one that trips us all off. How much wealth do you need when you retire?

Modern society’s currency is designed to keep you working without an end. The money you save will diminish itself automatically through depreciation and inflation. No matter what you save, it will look little tomorrow, and you can not escape the ring. And I don’t even want to talk about taxation, in which we pay 50%, if not more, of everything we ever earn.

I’ve only basic financial literacy, and I don’t qualify to answer that question for you. I assume that you have figured this out and have saved enough wealth. We’ll move to the next part, the most important one. Now that we have retirement, what will we do with it?

Waking up on Monday after retirement

The sun is about to rise in the east on a cool pleasant day. You are not going to report to anyone anymore. What do you do from here? Here are a few things that I can think of. I’ll group them into two sections. One that requires little to no money and a good amount of money.

Things to do with no very little money after retirement

  • Exercise - I’ve always excused myself from this because of lack of time
  • Sleep - yes, why not sleep again for 12 more hours? Not the best, but possible
  • Family time
  • Hang out with friends - assuming they will not have work too? And you have friends!
  • Read books
  • Gardening
  • Writing
  • Play
  • Watch TV
  • Volunteer - do I read work here?
  • Swim
  • Go to the park
  • Learn new skills - hard work
  • Work on something new and exciting

Things to do after retirement when you are rich AF

  • Shopping - cars, watches, yacht, house, …
  • Travel
  • Feast
  • Party

I am still trying to figure out what I’ll do with all the time and money. It is yet a mystery. Maybe I’ll become the explorer of the world and learn many new things, or perhaps I’ll wane away scrolling some shitty app on my phone…