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By: Abraham GrungoldYou are five years away from your expected retirement date. Have you given any thought about what will you be doing during your retirement? An active federal employee needs to prepare beyond ensuring that you will have enough income to support yourself and your family. Your retirement is more than just about the numbers. You need to have a plan with respect to what activities you will be doing during your retirement.
Retirement is a 24-hour day 7 day a week activity. How will you be managing your time? How will you be structuring your week? Will you be working? Will you be traveling? Will you be playing pickle ball and golf? Will you be volunteering? Are you going to continue with your activities into retirement or explore new ones to fill the empty space? You don’t want every day to be the same like in the movie “Ground Hog Day”.
Working
Many federal employees such as law enforcement, fire fighters and air traffic controllers will be in their 50s when they retire. Many will choose another full-time career, some a part-time career and some will not work at all. When I was an active employee, I would hear stories from my co-workers. They said that they will be doing this job and that job in retirement and earning a big salary in addition to receiving their federal pensions. I am sorry, no one has promised you anything and for the time being, it is all speculation. Reality hits you when you are about to retire and there is no position waiting for you. Many retirees say that they should never have retired. Many retirees find themselves looking for some kind of employment after the first six months of retirement.
Personally, I started my business several years before retiring from the government. I have no plans to give up providing advice to my clients, writing articles and appearing on the radio. I enjoy those activities but I do not want to work full-time.
Volunteering
For some, volunteering is an opportunity to take on something that you have always wanted to be involved in but never have had the time. Volunteering is also important because you have the opportunity to stay physically active as well as stimulating your mental and spiritual growth. Personally, I am volunteering by doing financial seminars for the elderly and financial literacy for college students.
Traveling / Fishing / Golf / Pickleball / Hobbies
There is just so much traveling that you can do and so much golf and pickleball that you can play. I have many friends who are involved in the pickle ball craze, playing 5-6 times per week and sometimes twice a day. You need to avoid burnout by gauging your time. Beware, pickle ball is the one sport that receives the most injuries.
Recently, I moved into a retirement community. This has opened a variety of activities for me to enjoy and explore. Yes, I am traveling and playing golf, but there are many other activities that I am trying and doing that I would never have thought of. For example, I have joined a men’s club which has a calendar of activities. I do not participate in all of them but they provide a variety of intellectual and social activities.
The other major issue is that who are going to do these activities with in retirement? Your friends maybe still be working or they have moved away. I found this to be the case during my first year of retirement. You develop new friendships and relationships. I tried an activity this summer that I was not enjoying and so I have found a new one for the fall. You need to pivot if something does not work out. Be flexible and most important have fun.
In order to have a successful retirement, it is essential for you to plan for your financial needs, but you also need to start enjoying fun activities now prior to your retirement and continue those activities into retirement along with discovering new ones.
Abraham Grungold is a retired federal employee with 36 years of federal service, and through his company AG Financial Services he helps federal employees with their TSP and federal retirement planning and decisions. Mr. Grungold has written over 60 articles regarding the TSP and FERS retirement and been a guest on several podcasts with the Federal News Radio and the Government Executive Magazine.
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