To retire happily is something you choose.

Retiring Happily sounds like a vague platitude, but the truth is that too many just retire to get rid of their job and seldom make any serious effort to Retire Happily.

Many articles have been written about the same topic, and I must admit I belong to this group of bloggers. Here are some of the most popular ones:

How to Create Your Recession Toolkit Online and Grow Your Wealth

3 Golden Tips for Retirees Starting Side Hustles

How can Baby Boomers Turn Retirement Challenges into Opportunities?

When I officially retired 8 years ago, I already had a side hustle I was working with during my spare time. It helped me a lot to transition from active employee to active retiree.

Usually, a standard working week is something around 40 hours, equal to approximately 180 hours per month, or 2,100 hours per year, if we reduce some time for holidays and extra public holidays. The question is, what will you do with these 2,100 hours?

Many do answer that they will start to travel as they never could do before, spend more time with family and friends, and perhaps take up an old hobby that never was possible to practice during their labor time.

If you are lucky, your monthly pension payouts will be enough to cover all these activities that you can finally do. For others, it all stops there. The available financial resources are not enough, and it all ends up as a dream that could never be transformed into reality.

Retire happily is not about money

Money or no Money, it's not the main task, believe me.

The 2,100 hours should be used for something. While slowly sliding into retirement mode, it's nowadays quite common for people to take up a new job. It could be for financial reasons, which not seldom uses to be the case.

But there is something else a new job can help you to achieve:

Working for pleasure!

What does that mean?

When retiring, no matter your profession or experience, we all "leave the ship" with great experience, knowledge, and skills.

While doing things you know well, you will practice all you have learned during years of work. At the same time, you will become an essential source of value you can provide to the market.

I have met many people in my age range, and the first thing I always emphasize with a firm conviction is that it should all be fun. You should search for a balance between work and pleasure.

Busy or unbusy?

Searching around, you will find many different opportunities that could fit into your established frame.

You can rejoin the corporate world or independently run your own business. Both alternatives are valid as long as you are happy with them.

Some time ago, I came across an article about the same topic, and I love the statement:

"Being Unbusy but Never Bored."

These few words tell it all.

Working for pleasure and not for profit will change your attitude toward what you will do. Now, you are setting the rules of the game. By doing it the correct way, you will earn money as well.

The difference is that now money is chasing you and not as back in the old corporate days when you traded your time and skills for money.

Before searching for a job or setting up your own business, it's important to put some boundaries in place. As retired, you are at the helm, and you should never forget that to retire happily, it all comes down to combining joy with providing value...Continue Reading!>>