Retirement, or "Re-Tire" — Changing the Tires Again
Leisure after retirement differs from leisure during your working years, not only in meaning but also in significance. During your working years, most of daily life is tied up with the job, so leisure time is just the brief pleasure of being released from work. After retirement, however, daily life itself is so much leisure that you could say it takes the biggest share. Therefore, how you spend your leisure time is directly linked to the happiness of retirement life.
Say life expectancy is 80 and you retire at 60. Sleep 8 hours, eat 3 hours, and handle other matters 2 hours a day, and the remaining 11 hours are yours. Summed up, that adds up to a total of 80,000 hours of free time after retirement. Factoring in the coming "100-year life," post-retirement free time is expected to balloon to a full 160,000 hours. (p. 102)
From Woo Jae-ryong & Min Ju-young, "A Happy 100-Year Plan — Preparing Today" (Bookon / Bookholic)
"Retire." The English word for, well, retiring. I've heard that abroad, people sometimes read it as "Re-Tire" — "change the tires and drive powerfully into post-retirement life." A prime example of a positive framing of retirement.
But in our reality retirement is often a cause for "worry." With the phrase "100-year life" in the air these days, even more so. It's not just about finances — health, work, social activity, hobbies, all kinds of things have to be in place for a happy old age.
The two pieces of advice the retirement-expert author offers are worth paying attention to. First, the author stresses that having enough money alone does not make retirement life happy. In fact, preparing financially isn't easy either. But that isn't the end of it. You also have to put in place things money can't buy — health, family, work, leisure — a comprehensive preparation is what makes a happy retirement possible.
The author also advises against thinking that "once retired, I don't have to work anymore." Work carries a special meaning even for retirees. It isn't just an income source; it also provides a "frame" for daily life. Work gives "meaning to life." That work could look similar to what you did before retirement, or it could be something on a new plane entirely, like community service.
Even if you have work that fits you, time can still be left over. That's why we need to prepare in advance for leisure and hobbies that can bring us happiness. Thinking only up to age 80 gives you 80,000 hours of free time; think to 100, and it's 160,000 hours. How you spend that leisure time will determine your happiness after retirement.
▶ Yeh Byung-il's Economy Note - Twitter: @yehbyungil / Facebook: www.facebook.com/yehbyungil
