By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly the things you need to do after you retire.
We’ll start off by saying one thing: Retirement is not an age… it’s a number!
When you hit your number, you can choose to retire. And that number is reached when your investments generate at least 20% more than your expected cost of living.
Yet most people still look at retirement as an age milestone. Most people retire after the age of 65, but there are some out there who do it in their 30s or 40s.
No matter when you choose to retire, you will need a game plan. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly what your best course of action will be.
Here are 15 Things to Do After You Retire.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like reading, you can enjoy the video below or watch it on YouTube:
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Retirement advice #1 – Keep going but with none of the pressure or stress
It turns out that people actually find pleasure, value, and purpose in going to work and being productive.
What we don’t like is all the nonsense and pressure that come with it.
Dealing with deadlines, bosses, and difficult clients. If that wasn’t the case, you’d actually enjoy working.
The goal of retirement is to retire from the pain and stress caused by these factors, to not have to do things you don’t want to do, and to remove the time pressure caused by tight deadlines.
You want to be able to wake up when you want, do what you want, and do it how you want.
The moment you understand this definition of retirement, your worldview will change.
Retirement isn’t about sipping cocktails on a beach until death inevitably comes for you…
That vision of reality is actually a marketing poster from the 1970s that was used to manipulate factory workers into working hard until the age of 65 and for travel agencies to sell more tickets.
It served as a goal that very few got to enjoy.
In reality, it gets boring really, really fast.
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Retirement advice #2 – Consider moving, or at least traveling the world
Most people choose their primary residence based on proximity to their workplace. If that’s the case for you, you might find you’re better suited somewhere else. Here’s why moving is among the things you need to do after you retire:
Moving 1 hour away might drop your costs of living considerably or at least give you more bang for the same buck spent.
Plus, you always said you wanted to live in nature or hear the sound of the waves in the morning.
The idea of retirement is to enjoy life while you still can. And that’s why traveling is amongst the best things you can do right after you retire!
If you can do it through your 30s, sprinkling some retirement here and there while you work remotely, that’s a lot better than waiting until you’re 65 to travel the world.
Ice cream doesn’t taste the same, and your body hurts most of the time, so why wait?
The world is so vast and filled with amazement, that even if you tried, you wouldn’t be able to get all of it in, so figure out who you are and what parts of it would be right for you.
Some people will find themselves on the other side of the planet in a different religion, and others will find themselves in the backyard.
You are where your feet are, so walk to different places!
And see what that feels like.
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Retirement advice #3 – Rid yourself of any debt and do not incur new ones
Retirement, as we have already established, is about freedom, and one cannot be free unless he breaks the chains that keep him constrained.
Debt contracts are the modern-day equivalent of slavery! Someone else reaps the benefits of your hard work.
By the time the requirement rolls around, make sure you’re free from any form of debt. If you’re able to retire and escape, the last thing you want to do is chain yourself back.
As long as you live, remember that all debts carry interest. You first pay the interest, and then you start repaying the loan.
Do not put yourself in situations where you will have to enslave yourself.
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Retirement advice #4 – You only need three types of investments
- Easily convertible store of value
- Cashflow
- Appreciating assets over the medium and long term
People like to make investing for retirement sound a lot more complicated than it is. So let’s walk through it once and for all.
Convertible store of value
First, you need to make sure the money you managed to save doesn’t lose its value due to inflation. So no, not just keeping money in the bank or under the mattress.
Here’s an Alux rule to remember: money loses value over time unless invested!
The goal with this one is to have your money invested in something that you can easily turn into cash.
Fixed-term deposits or fixed-term government bonds stink because if an emergency presents itself, it’s going to be hard for you to access the money.
Same with real estate. Selling your home won’t happen overnight.
This is why most people invest in stocks or an index like the S&P500, because their growth will usually outpace inflation, so at least the value is retained.
If the situation requires it, you can easily liquidate as much as you need and have the money in your bank account the next day.
Cashflow
You still need to have a consistent flow of money coming in, even in retirement.
Owning parts of businesses you no longer play a part in managing, owning rental properties or dividend-paying stocks will allow you to use the wealth you acquired to get yourself paid consistently.
Our favorite is a commercial property in the city center. Owning commercial property where the tenant is a bank or pharmacy is one of the most stress-free cash flow plays. They stick around for years, they self-manage, and they are usually hassle-free.
Appreciating assets medium to long term
These are investments you make when you have abundant cash and can afford to make long-term plans for great financial returns.
A good example is buying land. You buy it fairly cheaply now, hold it for 5-10-20 years, and then you exit.
Every 5 to 10 years, you should check up on these and see if you still want to hold them or are open to new opportunities.
Anything that historically goes up in value over time can serve this function, but personally, we’d rather own land, forests, and lakes than simply have this bucket of investment tied into, let’s say silver or gold.
Speaking of combining business and pleasure
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Retirement advice #5 – Surround yourself with beauty, invest in art
You’ve worked hard to be able to get to retirement.
You’re supposed to enjoy your life at this point, not contract, and barely survive.
Most of your life so far has been about the grind, so you rarely get around to enjoying the beautiful things. So here’s something you absolutely have to do after you retire:
Discover the culture, discover art, discover beautiful buildings… and while most people think of these as frivolous spending, rich people actually treat them as investments.
Owning a Picasso not only enriches your space visually but your bank account as well.
The misconception is that people think that unless you are a billionaire or multi-millionaire there’s no way for you to capitalize on investments like art because historically they’ve had a high barrier of entry.
But not anymore.
Our friends at Masterworks have made blue chip art investing available to everyone.
They handpick the best-selling artist based on historical data, they buy the painting as a whole then break the ownership up into parts the same way a company would do with shares.
So instead of buying the entire painting, you can simply own a percentage of it for as little as a couple of hundred dollars.
When the painting is sold a few months or years later, the profit is distributed among the owners.
Owning Banksy, Warhol, or Picasso has never been easier.
If you’re ready to diversify your portfolio and add some beauty to your life while investing as the rich do, go to alux.com/art right now.
Because you’re reading this on Alux and they were kind enough to sponsor this article, you get to skip the waiting list other people have to get on in order to have access to this kind of investment.
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Retirement advice #6 – Keep your spending in check, and you’ll be okay.
The biggest killer of financial happiness is unchecked spending.
The best day to own a boat is the day you buy it.
Every other day, you think about how you shouldn’t have bought a damn boat.
You don’t need jet skis. You don’t need fancy clothes or random toys. What you need is peace, not status.
As long as you spend less than the money you have coming in, you’ll be okay.
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Retirement advice #7 – Mentor someone
Either way, to get to retirement, you had to go through some things to eventually come out the other end. Along the way, you’ve learned so much.
There aren’t many things out there as fulfilling as helping someone achieve their potential—or at least helping them not make the same mistakes that you’ve made.
Save them the pain, the misery, and some of the unfairness that you had to deal with.
Choose them wisely, and make sure they’re able to listen and worthy of your time and wisdom.
The thing about success is that their success becomes your success. That’s why you feel excited when your favorite sports team wins. That’s why we’re so excited when we receive emails with your success stories at contact@alux.com.
We’ve built this entire business on the premise of helping others, which has proved to be one of the most rewarding things we’ve done. This is one of the most reward things to do after you retire.
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Write
The thing about mentorship is that there’s a physical limitation to the number of people you can mentor, and your expertise will go with them.
With writing, at least in theory, it will last forever. And what better thing to do after you retire than create something that can last forever?
Writing a book—any kind of book is one of those legacy plays everyone should consider.
If not for the masses, at least for future generations to know about the way you saw the world, what life was like day to day, and the kinds of problems and joys you encountered.
You might think that there’s nothing particularly interesting going on in your day-to-day life right now, but 100, 200, or 300 years from now, the world will look completely different, which will make your present life extraordinary in contrast.
This is why we visit museums or watch documentaries glued to the screen. What seemed mundane then has become extraordinary now.
Write a book, and at least try to make it a good one.
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Enjoy the art of maintenance: home & body
More time on your hands means more time to look around and see what needs to be done. 3 things every person should get good at:
I. Fixing their environment. Get good with your hands.
Be able to fix things around the house.
Learn how to use tools and not have to rely on someone else.
It gives you a feeling of independence and control over your destiny.
II. Learn Food.
Learn to grow it, but even more importantly, learn to cook it.
People always gather around food. The best nights you will have in your life will be around food with your family and close ones.
Give them a reason to show up.
III. A healthy lifestyle with friends: Think about picking an activity that isn’t stationary.
Swimming for example is great for joints, mobility, and weight control.
It keeps you young.
Golf is another great activity where you spend a lot of time in nature, basking in the sun, while surrounded by friends you can banter with.
This is why most rich people pick golf.
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Fix yourself and level up
Retirement moves the focus from solving other people’s problems to solving your own.
It turns out you’re actually better at the first one than the second.
You actually got away with most of it because you were so busy with work, but now the negatives have become apparent to everyone else, including yourself.
It’s time you became the main focus of your efforts.
At Alux, we believe in what we call the 5 Pillars of a Good Life:
- Wealth
- Health
- Relationships
- Intellect &
- The ability to control your emotions
Without all 5 your life can spin into chaos.
Your money won’t matter if you lack health and a supportive family. It’s pretty hard to focus on internal peace if your kids don’t have food on the table.
You need all 5 to win at the proverbial game of life. Everything we’ve done at Alux slowly and strategically builds you up in all 5 pillars.
If you want to go after all 5 the smart way, go and download the Alux app.
We built it specifically on this 5 pillar framework.
Only actionable and practical advice from industry experts is designed to help you level up.
91% of our app users have either achieved their primary goal in life or, since getting the app, have made substantial progress towards it.
It costs only $99 per year, and it will pay for itself almost immediately.
Download the app right now and you’ll see why and what kind of impact it will have on your life.
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Focus on the family
Retirement allows you the opportunity to spend that time you always said you wanted to spend with your kids or your partner. Here’s why this is one of the most important things to do after you retire:
The biggest mistake parents make is thinking they can buy their kids a happy childhood!
Oh, how much they’re mistaking.
The kid will not remember the car or even the home as much as they will remember those few instances where you really saw them… When you were there for them, you made them feel safe and happy.
Happiness is the result of moments well-spent together. In the process of building, most people forget what their partners or children need.
When you don’t know what to do, you end up doing more of what you know!
So most bury themselves in work to make more money, thinking more money will somehow make up for their emotional absence.
Once out of that loop, it doesn’t feel comfortable starting over, but it’s what you must do.
It’s the same with the few who are lucky enough to still have their parents alive.
Statistically, how many times do you think you will still physically see your parents?
Twice or 3 times per year? How many years do they have left? That number is a lot lower than you thought it would be, isn’t it?
Be present. Do the little things. Go on an adventure with your kids. Romance your partner.
Cook a meal with your mom and drink a beer with your dad. It might be that one moment you look back on for years to come.
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Top 100 Everything
In terms of splurging, we live in the golden age of content.
Your mind is ready to be blown away and taken on a million trips. If you have the time:
- Read the top 100 books.
- Watch the top 100 films.
- Listen to the top 100 best albums of all time.
- Play the top 100 video games.
Every single one of these will allow you to experience a different life. What better thing to do after you retire than enjoy all this amazing content?
You’ll laugh, cry, gasp, be frightened, and more from the comfort of your retirement.
When was the last time you really immersed yourself in a book or a film without reality creeping in?
Look for great stories and follow great storytellers. You’re in for a journey.
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Sit around and do nothing
Italians call it: dolce far niente!
It means the sweetness of doing nothing.
The entire culture has brainwashed everyone into being these ultra-productive machines, where the grind is nonstop.
Hustle culture will have you spend more time making your bed than you spend in it. It’s all artificial chaos.
If you zoom out of all of that… and zoom into the little things, you’ll realize life is more like poetry than a game of Tetris.
The flowers smell nice. The summer wind feels different on your skin. Coffee tastes differently.
Being able to do nothing went from something the poor did to something only the super-rich can afford to do… and they don’t even get it right.
Our minds and souls open when we stop looking into the past or the future and instead start looking around us with a lens of appreciation.
You’re one of the lucky few who saw the day of retirement. Take every day in!
And when you’re done doing nothing:
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Do that one thing you always regretted not doing
For some it is learning to play an instrument – for others mastering chess – running a marathon – painting – photography – learning French – getting a black belt in jiu-jitsu or seeing all 7 wonders of the world… Whatever it is, do it.
There is no time like the present.
Sure, it might seem silly at first, to start as a beginner at this stage in your life, but by now you have acquired the emotional maturity to know that the rest of the world doesn’t really care or think that much about you. You’re free.
You’re pretty much doing this alone for yourself, and you’re having a wonderful time doing it.
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Plant a tree in the shade of which you’ll never sit
If you’re fortunate enough to be retired and there’s still some excess time, money, and energy, there’s nothing greater than paying it forward for future generations.
If you have the brains for it, solve the problems in your community. And if you still have the appetite for more, expand.
Build things that will outlast you.
There’s always a need out there in the world, so find the one you have the power to alleviate and then do it.
Don’t give them fish.
Build fishing boats or fishing rods and teach others how to use them or build them themselves.
This is why last year we built the first Alux International School in Uganda, a project that we hope will be the first of many.
Before the end of the year, we hope to provide water to multiple communities in Burundi – the world’s poorest country.
If you do things that are in your power, even if they are small, your life will expand in more ways than you think.
If you’ve not hit your retirement number or age yet, don’t worry, you’ll get there.
And once you do retire, you’ll know the thing you need to do. See you next time!
