Overall Philosophy

What Do Retirees Want to Learn?

Thoughtful reader, Klaus, suggested adding “learn something new” to the list of Cyber Advice for Sixty, that I posted last week. I think that’s a terrific idea, so I wondered what kinds of things do people want to learn at this age? It’s obviously a very personal choice, but there must be some commonalities.

With the modern miracle of AI, it’s easy to query every thought on the entire internet. I asked the question a few ways (“What do people want to learn in retirement?” or “What do retired people wish you had learned earlier?”) and then combined the results into this list of 12 areas in priority order …

In my early retirement, I’ve focused on quite a few of these areas. Health & fitness, which shows up in four different ways has certainly been a focus. In addition, I’ve spent a lot of time on “Personal Finance & Tax Strategy” (this blog), “Travel Planning & World Cultures” (almost every retirees’ favorite hobby), and “Technology & Digital Skills” (so necessary nowadays). I imagine that you, too, see yourself in many of these topics.

The one that I would have put at the top of the list is “Building Social Circles”. Research shows that the one thing critical to long-term happiness is a strong friend network. Friendships bring activity, belonging, emotional support, purpose, accountability, and the shared experiences that become life’s most meaningful memories. They make all of the other aspects of life meaningful.

What new areas of learning are you interested in over the next 10 years?

Image: Pixabay

10 thoughts on “What Do Retirees Want to Learn?”

  1. Thanks for opening this open for ideas to share. Here are some topics I would love to see.

    1. Serving on a non-profit board. At least on my non-profit, it has turned into a lot of hands on volunteering. How do you set expectations and balance with other activities?
    2. I’ve enjoyed seasonal fun jobs since retirement (Park Ranger). I was lucky finding this one but it’s probably time to try something new. What’s the best place to find seasonal fun jobs?
    3. Financial – We setup a yearly inflation adjusted spending target based on the 4% rule. We’ve used that rule for several years and it’s work great. However, with the bull market, our asset balances are up a bunch. Is there a process to safely re-evaluate the SWR amount? Example: You’ve used the 4% rule for 10 years and your balances are still up X%, can you safely adjust upward?

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    1. Our family went camping in Big Sur during the winter. There was a group of Campground Hosts who were all retired and seemed to be socializing a lot. They told me they prefer doing hosting in the Winter in warmer climates. They seemed to be having a great time.

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    2. Good topics. I’ve done quite a bit of board work from non-profit to corporate (paid) boards. I’ll write an article on that in the next few weeks. Park ranger sounds like a fun retirement job. I’ve never wanted an extra job, but if the role was fun, why not get paid!

      I would think you could just re-estimate your retirement at any time – as if you were just starting retirement now. You could take 4% of your new portfolio value and adjust for a shorter time horizon because you are older. We’re so far ahead on our portfolio, I haven’t even been diligent in tracking our spending anymore. Still, I’ll look and see if there are any “official” analyses of this situation, since we are officially in that situation too.

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    3. Dapo,

      My dividends have annual increases, my wife has Social Security with COLA increases, and my Deferred Comp slowly goes up because the divisor is always 40 (40 quarters over 10 year) while the dividend is the number of remaining quarters. Our income is going up faster than inflation, yet we lag the 4% SWR rule.

      How about cranking up your annual income to stay ahead of inflation and ignoring the 4% market value SWR for now? Allow a couple years of cash to build up to keep some powder dry.

      The three factors that Warren Buffett tracks are Shiller CAPE, total stock market capitalization to GDP are very high right now. The risk premium over short term treasuries is very low.

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  2. We live in an amazing time for learning. I have dabbled in many of the areas on your very complete list. The internet, AI and online videos make information that was previously very difficult to find much easier to get to. I try to learn something new every day.

    This past week I learned the difference between Alkalinity and Alkaline. After cleaning and refilling my spa that I have owned for five years and using test strips on freshly filled water I saw that the Alkalinity was very high and the pH was very low. I had always thought the word Alkalinity was interchangeable with Alkaline. The strips just didn’t make sense. After searching I found that Alkaline is a pH measure over 7. Alkalinity is a measurement of the water’s ability to buffer against changes in pH. Many spa guys instruct that you need to dial in Alkalinity first and then adjust the pH. The next problem I had to solve was dialing in the Alkalinity will lower the pH more. Most spa chemical sets include pH Up and pH Down which lower or raise both the pH and Alkalinity in lockstep. How do I raise pH without raising Alkalinity? The answer was Borax which raises only the pH.

    For the first time in five years my spa is in balance. Before my spa education, the instruction on the spa chemicals and the test strips didn’t seem right. Now, the test strips actually look like the colors on the side of the bottle. My spa water is the clearest ever and it stayed that way after my sons had a party and their friends used the spa. No bubbles whatsoever.

    My sons who have taken a lot more chemistry than me, say the difference between Alkalinity and Alkaline would make a good trick question on a chemistry exam.

    Learning something new every day is the opposite of cognitive decline! Use your brain or lose it.

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    1. I would be useless on any problem involving chemistry, that’s for sure. My son’s girlfriend is a Chemical Engineer, so I’d have to count on her to explain something like that to me.

      You wrote “learn something new every day”. That’s an old adage that I haven’t thought about for quite awhile. I think I learn something new everyday, but some days I’m sure I fall short. I like to listen to podcasts and most of them are educational in some way.

      Lately I’ve been studying the American Revolution. I read the David McCullough 1776 book about 20 years ago, but other than that – my understanding of that chapter of our history is limited to my high school American History class. I’ve learned a lot watching the Ken Burns series, listening to podcasts, and looking up things online / YouTube. We went to Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, DC, and Baltimore in early April. I’m going to Philadelphia & New York in June for Flag Day.

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      1. I am not a Chemist and until last week I thought Alkalinity and Alkaline meant the same thing. A high pH. My test strips on freshly changed water made me curious because pH was low and Alkalinity was high. Here is the definition and it says a lot, “It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of a buffer solution.”

        Next, I searched how spa guys balance spas and found they always balance the Alkalinity first and then dial in the pH.

        I now understood that I need to lower the Alkalinity which will also further reduce the pH. I searched what chemical do I use to raise the pH without raising Alkalinity and Borax had a webpage dedicated to this. I bought some at the grocery store in the laundry section and it worked great.

        This was learning something new. Most spa chemical kits only include pH Down which lowers both pH and Alkalinity and pH Up which raises both pH and Alkalinity. They need to also add third chemical and call it Only pH Up.

        Looks like I will be learning about Lighting Control Modules today. My son’s car has been having interior light gremlins and today it was a no start. Already saw a video where a guy repaired on by replacing the relays by desoldering the old ones and soldering new ones in.

        I think the key to learning something new is being curious and having a willingness to get out of your comfort area. The power of videos is that you can see this isn’t that I hard and I can do it.

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  3. World History. I was given the complete set of the History of Civilization thirty years ago. I had read some of it over the years and then during the pandemic read all 14 volumes. When we travel to new areas, I pick up a volume which has information on the area and read it prior to our visit and again on return.

    I am ignorant about many things in history. When in Poland we visited a castle in which Hitler had made many underground improvements with slave labor. We had no idea. Besides the war years we learned a lot and still have a lot to learn of that small area of Silesia.

    The more that I know, the more that I realize what I don’t know.

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    1. There is SO much great history to learn about. I like to learn about it through videos, reading, & travel combined. Unfortunately, there is SO much that I forget the details too quickly!

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  4. My wife gave me Victor Davis Hanson’s “The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny”. It is not well known, but Nazi Germany wanted to make the rest of Europe their slaves, so that the German people could live a life of leisure. VDH really knows how to make history interesting.

    I like reading the history of a place before I visit it. Also like to read up on movies based in history.

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