The Retirement Newsletter: Ten things that haven’t changed in retirement
Issue Number: 176 (29) — some things stay the same in retirement
Welcome
Over the past few weeks, I have examined what has changed in my life since I retired. In issue 176 (29) this week, I look at ten things that haven’t changed.
Ten Things I Expected to Change But Didn’t
Retirement is often viewed as the final chapter of the work-life story. It is a time for relaxation, endless hobbies, and total freedom.
Yet, many aspects of our lives stay the same in retirement and here are ten things I expected to change when I retired but didn’t:
1. My Daily Routine
I was expecting my daily routine to change. But it hasn’t.
I still get up at the same time every morning. I go to bed at the same time every night. I expected later nights and morning lie-ins, but they haven’t happened.
My day starts and ends at the same time as when I was working, and my meal times are the same. And this is very weird; I still stop for a cup of tea at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (I know—very British of me!)—times when I used to take a tea break at work.
2. My Weekly Routine
My daily routine hasn’t changed, and neither has my weekly routine.
I still do my weekly main grocery shop on a Saturday morning. Why? Why do I go to the supermarket when I know it will be busy with non-retired folk? I can now go at any time but don’t.
I cook a Sunday roast (I won’t and haven’t cooked a roast on any other days).
I meet retired friends at weekends. Why not during the week? Going out socialising mid-week feels wrong. It is not as though I have work the next day.
Monday is still the start of the week, Wednesday is still hump day, and Friday is still ‘yipppeeee… here comes the weekend’.
3. My Financial Mindset
I am still in a preretirement financial mindset. I was expecting that to change by now.
I have continued to worry about money and had been expecting that. Budgeting and monitoring expenses persist, and I can’t shake the saving habit.
I was expecting to move out of the saving habit by now, but I can’t. I am still saving for my retirement, in my retirement. I need to accept that I am retired. I’ll be saying more about this issue next week.
4. My Sense of Purpose
I was expecting to lose my sense of purpose, but I haven’t. My sense of purpose has increased. Is this because I am now in control?
5. My Relationship with Technology
I was expecting a change in my relationship with technology. I was expecting a loss of interest, as I would no longer need to be up-to-date on the latest tech my students were using. But, it has gone the other way; my level of tech interest has stayed the same and may have increased. Again, this was not what I was expecting.
6. My Household Responsibilities
In retirement, I expected household responsibilities and chores to become less painful.
While working, I viewed household responsibilities and chores as eating into my ‘me time’, the limited time I had to do what I wanted. However, I still resent the time spent on household responsibilities and chores in retirement because I now know what I could be doing instead.
7. My Appetite for Learning
When I retired, I expected my curiosity and learning to drop, particularly around science. But it hasn’t happened. I still have the same passion for science as before I retired.
8. Family Dynamics
I had hoped that retirement would bring better relationships with family members, but it hasn’t; the dynamics of the relationships remain unchanged.
9. How I Felt About Ageing
I wasn’t expecting retirement to turn me into an old man, and it hasn’t. Being retired has had zero impact on my thinking about the ageing process.
I did feel that retirement was the closing of a chapter in my life, but I didn’t feel that retirement was directly linked to ageing, and now that I am retired, I still feel the two are not connected.
10. My Sense of Identity
I was worried about how retirement would impact my sense of identity, and it hasn’t.
I have written about how I thought retirement could impact a person’s sense of identity (Dealing with imposter syndrome in retirement, Mental Health and Retirement), which I was worried about. However, for me, it has not been an issue.
What about you?
What were you expecting to change in your retirement, and yet didn’t?
Please let me know in the comments below.
This week in the Retirement Hustle
This week in The Retirement Side Hustle, I look at how much money I have made on my various side hustles in September — September 2024 Side Hustle Income.
In the video, I give a breakdown of my income on my:
Medium Pension Blog (a repeat of the newsletter you are currently reading)
Nick’s Wanderings Blog (my new site for my travel stories)
Substack Pension Newsletter (you are reading it)
eBooks
The Retirement Side Hustle Newsletter is subscription-based. However, each video comes with a free minute or so that allows you to confirm the content, and if you take out a free subscription, you get full access to one edition.
Travel — Nostalgia Corner
This week, I complete a tour of some countryside around Luang Prabang, Laos and had another look at the town:
Laos — Tour — Bear Rescue Centre (Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre, Free the Bears), Kuang Si Waterfall (ນ້ຳຕົກຕາດ ກວາງຊີ), Laos — It was sad to see these bears in captivity, but at the same time, it was good to know that someone was looking out for them.
Laos — Tour — Kuang Si Butterfly Park, Laos — This was another ‘wow’ moment from my time in Laos—some stunning butterflies.
Laos — Tour from Luang Prabang (ຫລວງພະບາງ/ຫຼວງພະບາງ, Laos — Summary — A summary of my trip out from Luang Prabang to see the local countryside and nearby attractions
Laos — Indigo Café, Luang Prabang (ຫລວງພະບາງ/ຫຼວງພະບາງ), Laos — Pizza in Luang Prabang (ຫລວງພະບາງ/ຫຼວງພະບາງ) — not the best pizza I have ever had, but the beer was cold, and the mango sticky rice was excellent.
Laos — The Old Bridge, Luang Prabang (ຫລວງພະບາງ/ຫຼວງພະບາງ), Laos — An old rickety bridge with an interesting backstory.
Next week, stories from a trip out to look at more waterfalls near Luang Prabang.
Next week
Next week, in issue 176 (29), I will look at how and why I need to change my financial mindset.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
PS: If you would like to contribute a story, advice, or anything else to the newsletter, please get in touch.
Thanks for sharing, Nick. For me, on #1, #5, #7, and #9, I think I'm in the same place as you on not changing daily routines, attitude toward technology, desire to learn, and relationship to aging,
On #2, I definitely changed my weekly routines. Running errands on the weekdays is so much easier. Here in the US, we have Costco, and I don't think I will ever return to Costco on the weekends!
On #3, I've been asked about my financial mindset, and I'll write about that, too! Net is that I've had to change my investing philosophy somewhat, and I do recognize the ongoing need to grow wealth to combat future inflation!
On #4, I do think my sense of meaning has changed. I believe I'm in the camp you refer to being "in control" - I refer to it in my Substack as more "Agency" (per the ABCs of Meaning in last Sunday's post), and I revisited throughout my life in today's post.
On #6 , #8, and #10, I have been evolving my relationship with both family, role in the household, and my own sense of identity. These evolutions were the motivation for me to do a Substack in the first place!
Thanks again for sharing. It's fun to compare notes from across the pond!