Author: Kirsten Veldman

Are you wondering how you can save money as a senior? Well, I’ve lived on a tight budget for more than 10 years, and in this article, I’ll share my best tips on how you can save money as a senior. Let’s find out more! 

1) Check Your Monthly Bills

If you want to save money, you need to know your monthly expenses. It may sound obvious. However, there’s a good chance you’ll have a lot of bills that are on automatic payment each month. Which means you’re spending money without even noticing it. Ouch! 

I learned to make a list of all the expenses I have annually. Doing this once a year makes me aware of my expenses and where I can save money. It’s also fun to save up the money when you stop some monthly membership. 

Checking your monthly bills can be a timely process, and maybe it’s something you just don’t like doing. Still, it is essential when you want to save money. A great way to make this process easier is by using Billshark, an automation process to lower your bills. Billshark charges you a one-time fee of 40% of your savings, but when they can’t save you any money, you don’t have to pay anything! You can start using Billshark for free here.

2) Re-evaluate Your Insurances

According to the Bank of America, housing costs and insurances are the largest expenses of each household. So when you want to save money, it can be wise to re-evaluate your insurances and figure out what you really need. 

Most people overpay for their insurances like housing and car insurance. The reason for this is that insurance rates fluctuate constantly, and insurance companies aren’t actively sending out new (cheaper) prices to their customers. Earlier I mentioned Billshark as a helpful tool for saving money on your bills. Billshark can also help with an easy free comparison for home & car insurance. Find out more here.

3) Sign Up For Medicare

When we’re talking about insurance, it’s also interesting looking at your healthcare insurance. Healthcare insurance is one of the biggest expenses in the United States, next to housing and other insurances. However, when you’re a senior, you can easily save money on healthcare insurance because you’re probably eligible for Medicare. 

Medicare is a federal health insurance program in the United States for people who are 65 years or older. Of course, you’re only eligible when you’re a US citizen. 

There are two standard programs that Medicare offers, Medicare A, which is hospital insurance. According to the official medicare website, Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some home health care. 

Medicare B is medical insurance. According to the Medicare website, part B covers certain doctor’s services, outpatient care, medical supplies, and preventive services.

There’s also a service that covers prescription drugs, including many recommended shots and vaccines; this is Medicare Part D.

Medicare can be free of charge for seniors, depending on your individual situation. Learn more about Medicare on the official government website here.

4) Go Grocery Shopping Once A Week

When I started to live with a monthly budget to save money, I found that one of my biggest expenses was grocery shopping. The reason behind this was that I went grocery shopping nearly every day. It costs me a lot of extra money, but also a lot of time. And I was throwing away leftovers that I didn’t use at home, which I could easily use to make a lovely meal. 

So, multiple reasons to become more serious about your grocery shopping. When you really want to save money on groceries, just go shopping once a week doesn’t cut it. Make sure to make a shopping list before you go. Think of all the meals you want to make, and buy only the products you need. There’s a good chance you still have some things at home in the fridge or your pantry. 

Also, and here’s an expert tip, never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry. You’ll buy much more than you need! 

5) Get Senior Discount Cards

Seniors can join a lot of extra, and saving money as a senior has never been easier. Most companies offer a senior discount that sometimes can save you up to more than 10% of the regular price! 

Are you a member of AARP? You can become a member for only 12 USD a year. Next to the helpful information, you’ll receive many discounts and benefits. Learn more about AARP here. 

6) Use A Smart Thermostat

One of the easiest things you can do at home to save money is installing a Smart Thermostat like Google Nest. This Smart Thermostat helps you to create a pleasant temperature at home. You don’t need to work with difficult programs. It connects with your WiFi and is easy to install. 

Some of the key features of the Google Nest Smart Thermostat are;  

• The Nest Thermostat automatically turns itself down when you’re away to avoid heating or cooling an empty home. 
• It has an auto-schedule, which means it learns temperatures you like and programs itself in about a week.
• You can see energy usage on your phone
• It’s compatible with 95% of the heating and cooling systems.

7) Pay Your Bills Annually

Unfortunately, you can’t get rid of all your bills. I wish that were the case! However, when you start paying your bills annually, you can often save a lot of money. Some companies even offer a price reduction of +5% of the yearly costs when you pay in advance. Don’t forget to check the senior discount box if available for extra discounts! 

8) Refinance Your Mortgage

It can be beneficial to refinance your mortgage. Especially because loan rates stay low, it seems there’s a worldwide trend to this. It’s important to know what you pay for your mortgage each month, and if this can be cheaper, why not change it? If it makes sense financially, it can save you a lot of money.

9) Move To A Cheaper Home or Retirement Community

Instead of refinancing your mortgage, you can also think about selling your house and moving to a smaller, cheaper home or a retirement community. 

When you get older, you often don’t need a lot of space. Large houses are often much more expensive. Living in retirement or a senior community can also be a good choice. Often people think that these communities are only for seniors who require assisted living, but this isn’t always the case. There are many retirement communities where you live if you’re still fit and full of energy. 

However, the biggest benefit of living in such a community is that it’s cheaper, including many services.

10) Save Money For A Specific Purpose

It is having goals and staying active that are some of the most important things you can do for a happy and fulfilling retirement. However, doing fun things costs you money. But when you prepare for these things by saving money, it will cost you less. 

You can easily set aside some of the money you’ll be saving by cutting your bills. Save money each month and create a specific purpose for these savings. It can be a simple as ‘Retirement Bucket List Savings,’ so you can complete your retirement bucket list. 

11) Save Money For Later

Yes, as a senior, you can still save money for later. Maybe you even need to save money for when you get older. Many people didn’t save up enough money that lasts their entire retirement. Since we all get older, it is important to guarantee yourself income during your complete retirement. 

Traditional retirement savings last for around 15 to 20 years, but since most people are retired for a longer period, these savings won’t last the complete retirement. 

Saving money for later can be as easy as setting aside a few dollars once a month. For example, the money you would typically spend on going to a restaurant. Use AgeUp for saving money.

12) Downsize Your Home Interior

When you’re looking to save money as a senior, there’s an excellent opportunity when it comes to housing. We already mentioned things as refinancing your mortgage, using a smart thermostat, or even moving to a smaller home or community. However, downsizing your home interior is also a great way to save money. 

There’s a good chance you have a lot of things at home you never use. You can sell these products easily on the secondhand market. Organize a garage sale or use an application like letgo or vinted to sell your stuff. 

Downsizing your home interior is very popular among people who are minimalists—the minimalist lifestyle focus on living and owning fewer things and products.

13) Bake Your Own Bread

When you love to be active in the kitchen, a great and healthy opportunity to save money is baking your own bread. 

If you go shopping at a wholesale or supermarket, you can probably choose many types of bread. Some places even sell over 50 different pieces of bread! And while all the bread looks lovely, they often contain many sugars and other unhealthy additives. The average price of a loaf of bread is around 2.72 USD. 

When making your bread, you can create a healthy loaf and make it as expensive as you want, depending on the ingredients you’re using. 

14) Start A Vegetable Garden

Being aware of the food you’re eating and buying is an excellent way of saving money. Like we discussed earlier, shopping once a week is helpful to achieve your money-saving goals. A different way to save money when it comes to food is by starting your own vegetable or fruit garden. 

Growing your own food is not only cheaper, but it has many health benefits as well. When gardening, you’re physically active, which is an important factor that is related to healthy aging. I describe the many other benefits of gardening in my article What Are The Benefits Of Gardening After Retirement?

15) Stop Your Unused Memberships

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that the most important thing you can do to save money is by checking your monthly bills and lower them. Many people will look at their housing costs and maybe insurance costs for lowering their bills. There’s another category where you can probably save a lot of money each month; memberships. 

You probably have a few memberships on autorenewal, meaning you pay for them every month without even noticing it. Find out which memberships you have, and then look at how many times you used it over the past three months. When you didn’t use them or were limited to a minimum of three times, I would recommend stopping this membership immediately. It will save you a lot of money! Try out Billshark if you want some help with lowering your bills. 

16) Limit Your Expenses To Charities

Doing good for others is essential. It’s something I try to do every day. However, it doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money. You can also help other people in another way. If you want to save money and have monthly payments to charities, now is the time to limit these. Maybe you want to stop paying charities at all, or perhaps you want to switch to a lower payment plan. 

Another way to help other people is by volunteering. Starting as a volunteer is a popular activity among seniors and retirees. You can read more in my article, Why Do Retirees Volunteer?

17) Unplug Unused Products

Many people keep their phone chargers plugged in when not charging their phones. Did you know that many electrical products and chargers use a tiny bit of electricity even when there not switched on? So, you can probably save on your electric bills when you unplug the devices if you’re not using them. 

18) Stop Using A Landline For Your Phone

I feel that having a landline phone is a waste of money. When you still having a landline at home, try to figure out when was the last time you used it. You’re probably using your cellphone much more. 

Make sure to figure out if it can save you money to stop using your landline. Many providers say that a telephone landline is ‘free’ when you buy an internet and TV package. However, if you ask for a package with only internet & TV, you’re often paying a lot less.

19) Stop Using Cellular Data (4G)

This trick saves me around 250 USD a year. You don’t need an expensive mobile subscription. For years I’m using a prepaid SIM card without data. Around once a year, I need to top up my prepaid with the lowest rate possible. 

At home, my iPhone connects to the WiFi, so I don’t need 4G data. When I go shopping or outside, I just love to be offline, and if I really want to, there’s always a place nearby where I can connect to the WiFi. 

I only do voice or video calls when connected to WiFi and using Whatsapp Messenger or Facetime so that it won’t cost me anything. And all of my friends know that I’m not always online, so it can sometimes take some time to reply to their messages. 

20) Don’t Buy The Newest Phones or Devices

If you don’t need to use expensive data subscriptions, you also don’t need to use the newest iPhones, smartphones, or tablets. Yes, I’m using an iPhone, but I still use the good old iPhone 5. And my boyfriend is still using his iPhone 6 since 2014. They all work fine. Maybe we need to buy a new phone soon, but then we probably look for a refurbished iPhone to save money on that as well. 

21) Always Bring A Homemade Snack When Going Away

Bringing homemade snacks and drinks is a habit I picked up during traveling. I always carry a bottle of fresh water and something to eat with me. It can be just a snack. And if I want something to eat or drink while on the road, I don’t have to buy expensive food or drinks. 

You can do this easily when you’re going to the mall or something. Instead of buying an expensive coffee, bring your own! 

22) Buy Clothes During A Sale

There’s always a sale somewhere. I never buy my clothes for a regular retail price. It’s just too expensive. This easy trick can save you at least 15% of what you are usually paying. 

And if you buy winter clothes during a summer sale, you probably end up with a 50% discount or even more! 

23) Compare Products Online For A Cheaper Model

When you need to buy a new device, it can save you a lot of money to compare products online. There’s always a place where something costs less. And maybe you can wait to buy it until there’s a sale. There are so many holidays companies use to sell their products for a discount. It can save you a lot of money doing some research online and sometimes wait until there’s a sale. 

24) Use A Timer For Showering

Your water bill can be expensive. Showering is one of the activities that take up a lot of water. Most showers take up around 10 liters (around 2.6 gallons) of water per minute. So for a shower of 10 minutes, it will costs you approximately 26 gallons of water. 

You can see on this interesting chart of Statista how easy it is to save money on your water bill when using less water.

25) Buy Only Generic or Private Labels

When going shopping once a week, there’s another way you can easily save a lot of money, buying generic or private label products. These products are often cheaper priced and similar or even better quality. 

26) Buy Vegetables and Fruit On A Local Market

If there’s a weekly market closeby, you probably can save a lot of money when buying your products at that market. Fruit and vegetables are often much cheaper than in a supermarket. It’s probably because you can buy directly from the farmers when buying at a local market. There aren’t as many middlemen involved who are all taking a cut of the sales price. 

27) Avoid Late Payments

Lowering your bills is one of the important things you can do to save money. But paying your bills on time is also very important. Often companies give you a fine when you’re late on your payments. Being late on your payments is unnecessary. Avoiding late payments will save you money. 

28) Get Solar Panels For Your Home Electricity

We already looked at several things to save money when it comes to home improvement. Another great thing you can do is installing solar panels. This way, you can use solar electricity at your home, and you’ll be paying less to the electrical company. 

29) Use A Bicycle For Shorter Distances

Riding a bicycle is not only fun and healthy, but it can also save you a lot of money you normally would spend on gas. It’s just that simple. Leave your car at home, hop on your bicycle when visiting a friend, or going out for a coffee. 

30) Make Larger Meals

We already discussed doing grocery shopping once a week. When making your shopping lists try to think of a weekly menu of larger meals. For example, when making a pan of soup, make sure you can eat from this for two or three days. 

Or, when making a pumpkin soup, you can use half of the pumpkin for the soup and save the other half to make another meal with it. This way you can save money on your meals every week. 

So, you’re wondering why retirement planning is important? In the last couple of years, I wrote over 100+ articles about retirement on this website. For this article, I combined my research and knowledge and created a top 10 list of the most important reasons for retirement planning. Let’s find out more! 

1) To Complete Your Bucket List

Retirement is a time where you can do all the things you want. And there’s the catch. Most people don’t know what they want to do once they’re retired. That’s why it is important to start planning for your retirement. If you know what you want to get out of it, you can start preparing for it. 

People often say that it is the most important thing to know your financial situation when planning for retirement. Of course, knowing your financial situation is essential to get the most out of your retirement, but I’ll discuss this later. Because from what I’ve learned since researching retirement if you don’t know what you want to do, where is the fun? 

So, I always recommend pre-retirees or people who just got retired to create a retirement bucket list. The idea is simple. You create a list of all the things you want to do when you retired. There’s only one rule, don’t limit yourself. People often limit themselves, like ‘I really can’t afford that trip I always wanted to make.’ However, when creating your retirement bucket list, you want to create a list of all your dreams you want to fulfill. You can always decide later if there are things on that list that maybe have to wait a while before completing it. 

When you’re married or living together as a couple, you both want to make a retirement bucket list. This exercise is great fun. First, create an individual list, and then later combine the two lists. Creating a bucket list this way results in a list of things to do in retirement that reach fulfillment for both of you. 

Sometimes it can be challenging to create a bucket list. I’ll answer why that is in the next part of this article. However, when you’re looking for inspirational ideas for your bucket list, make sure to read my article 430 Ideas For Your Retirement Bucket List

2) To Prepare For A Lifestyle Change

Retirement changes your life, and you need to prepare for it. That’s why planning for retirement is critical. Whether you can decide on your own retirement date or are forced into retirement, you need to have an idea of the things you want to do when retired. 

Let me explain why this is important by describing two situations that occurred in my family. 

One of my aunts got forced into retirement at 55 after the company she worked for started reorganizing. She did get great financial compensation; she kept a large part of her salary until her retirement age. So, she was lucky when it comes to her financial situation. But the first years she didn’t find happiness. 

She loved her job and didn’t plan for activities in retirement. The lifestyle change came unexpected, and because she worked for so many years, she didn’t know what she could do with her time. She picked up some fun activities like traveling and volunteering, but until today she’s still struggling with finding fun things today. And all of that because she didn’t prepare for the lifestyle change that retirement is. 

How different is that when we look at my dad’s situation? He was an accountant for many years and worked until his late fifties. He decided on his own retirement date and was lucky enough he had the financial resources to do so. But he also planned for activities in his retirement. 

My dad loves to travel, so he traveled to many parts of the world, and we joined him as a family more than once. But he also loves to be active in our garden, an activity with many benefits for retirees, as you can read in this article. 

One of the things my dad loves to do most is to work as a mechanic. It was always one of his favorite hobbies, and since he was a child, he was interested in cars. So, the day he retired, he walked into a car repair shop close to his former office and asked the mechanics if he could start as a learning mechanic on a volunteering basis. And since that day, he’s working at that repair shop for one day a week. 

Do you see how two situations can be completely different when planning for retirement and preparing for the lifestyle change retirement is? I wrote this article on How To Mentally Prepare For Retirement: 21 Tips, where you’ll find some helpful tips. 

3) To Know Your Financial Situation 

Knowing your financial situation is key when planning for retirement, but it’s not the most important thing when planning for retirement. 

I always like to think of possibilities first. That’s why I recommend you first think about what you want to get out of your retirement before starting to look at your financial situation. This way, you can work towards your goals instead of limiting yourself because you don’t have the financial resources. 

Make sure to talk to a financial professional. Maybe your accountant or tax advisor. It’s important to know what you can financially expect when retired, how to invest and save enough money for retirement. Financial professionals can help you to make the best financial choices. One of the easiest ways to get in contact with a financial expert is by using the platform Just Answer. You’ll ask your answer, and the platform connects you with the best available expert. Find out more here! 

4) To Find Happiness In Retirement

Many retirees struggle to find happiness after retirement. The main reason is that they don’t have a retirement plan. Having a retirement plan prepares you for the big upcoming lifestyle change, as we discussed earlier in this article. 

However, many people aren’t aware that they often need to re-identify themselves with their new lifestyle when they retire. Every retiree needs to get to a process known as the stages of retirement. These stages describe the emotional state of a retiree during the first period of retirement. 

The final stage of these stages is where you are truly in sync with yourself and your lifestyle as a retiree. You’ve found happiness in retirement.

When you don’t have a plan of how you’re retirement should look like, you’ll probably have a hard time going through these stages of retirement. That’s why retirement planning is important. It helps you to transition from a career-focused lifestyle to a retirement-focused lifestyle.

When you’re getting retired, a lot will change. Many people have to create a new social circle because their social activities were work-related. Retirees also struggle to create a daily schedule because they don’t need to go to work anymore. I won’t say planning for retirement will solve all this for you, but it helps you make things easier. 

In my book 5 Steps To Happiness In Retirement, I combined my research and created a fast track to happiness for retirement. Learn more about my book here.

5) Because of Higher Life Expectancies

Life expectancy continues to grow all over the world. According to the CDC, people in the United States have an average life expectancy of 78.7. 

Men live on average shorter than women. The data shows that, on average, men have a life expectancy of 76.2 and women of 81.2

The interesting part of this data is that when we zoom in on US citizens at the current age of 65, their life expectancy increases. They are expected to live for another 19.5 years on average. Meaning the average age will be 84 years old. 

There are many more factors to consider when predicting your life expectancy, but it is important to know that we all get older than we’ve ever been. When you’re planning for retirement financially, you want to know how many years you need to cover financially. 

An easy and straightforward way to secure yourself of future income is to save some extra money during retirement. When you’re using the platform AgeUp, you can set aside the equivalent of one dinner a month and secure yourself a guaranteed income when you get older. Learn more about AgeUp here.

6) Prepare For Unexpected Life Events

Anything can happen during life. You can plan all you want, but your life will take a turn when something unexpected is happening. You don’t want to prepare for the worst thing that could happen because that’s probably not making you happy. 

However, it’s good to know your situation when the worst is happening—both financially and how you want to spend your life actively. 

Earlier I told you about my aunt, who got forced into retirement at an early age. This was an unexpected life event for her, and because she never planned anything for retirement, she struggles until today with finding true happiness in retirement. 

You don’t have to plan everything in detail, but having a plan helps you prepare for the unexpected things in life. 

7) To See The Big Picture

Planning for retirement helps you to oversee the big picture of what you want to achieve. When you create your retirement bucket list and make a list of all the things you want to do as a retiree, you also learn what you’ll need financially to complete these wishes. 

It gives you a goal to work towards so that you can create the retirement lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of. 

Knowing what you want to achieve helps you make difficult life decisions. You can create a strategy that helps you and maybe your family getting closer to your goals. 

8) To Avoid Unnecessary Stress

Avoiding stress is important for our health. We all know that, but still, we aren’t very good at avoiding stress. So when you’re planning for retirement, you can get at least cross off one stress factor from your list. 

Creating a retirement plan where you first look at the lifestyle you want in retirement and then at the financial part of this lifestyle helps you avoid stress. Many people stress about their financial situation. According to the American Psychological Association, 72% of Americans reported that they’re are stressed about money or their financial situation at least once a month. 

So, why do you want to avoid stressing about your (financial) retirement? Because it helps you to be happier. And not to sound negative here, but let’s look at the CDC’s life expectancy data again and zoom in at death causes. We see that heart disease is the #1 cause of death among US citizens. Many factors are related to heart disease, but as you can read on WebMD, hypertension is a major factor in heart-related illnesses. And there we have it; stress is a well-known cause of hypertension. 

So, planning for your retirement is a way to avoid unnecessary stress about your retirement. 

9) To Enjoy Retirement With Your Spouse

When your happily married, you want to enjoy retirement happily with your spouse. And to achieve that, it is essential to plan for retirement together. 

Many factors determine how you spend your retirement together. Planning for your retirement helps you to create a plan where you can both express your wishes for the lifestyle change retirement is.  

When you’re planning for retirement as a couple, you should consider several things. I wrote an extensive article where I share all the important steps for retirement planning for couples. The retirement planning guide for couples consists out of 12 steps, which are; 

• Communicate your desired plans
• Discuss housing
• Organize (health) care
• Estimate your life expectancy
• Calculate your retirement budget
• Save for retirement
• Strategize your social security
• Up-date your finances regularly
• Stay updated about financial news
• Keep track of your finances
• Decide to retire together or separately
• Plan retirement dates

I explain these steps in detail in the article; 12 Steps: Retirement Planning Guide for Married Couples

10) Because You Can’t Work Forever

It’s just as simple as that. We can’t work forever. Of course, we all know the stories of people who work until their late eighties or even never retire. But the majority of people retire at some point in life. 

There’s a difference between retirement when you stop working and have a plan for your retirement lifestyle and people who retire and don’t have a plan. Let’s discuss the people living in the Blue Zones to clarify this example. 

The world’s Blue Zones are areas in the world where the most centenarians live. People who live to a healthy age much longer than average. Across the world, there are several areas known as Blue Zones, and the exciting thing is that the lifestyle of these people is similar. Besides healthy eating, they also stay active until a late age. Meaning, when they stop working, they’ll find other things in life that get them fulfillment. 

Retirement doesn’t mean your life stops. It means a new chapter in your life is starting, and that’s why retirement planning is important. When you prepare for this time in your life, it’s easier to get fulfillment and find happiness in retirement. 

You might ask yourself, what type of lifestyle do I want in retirement? I created this helpful list of 10 unique lifestyle ideas for retirement. Also, I’ll guide you to the process of how you decide on a particular lifestyle in retirement. So let’s get started! 

1) A Learning Lifestyle In Retirement

A great lifestyle to focus on in retirement is constantly learning new things because you’re never too old to learn! According to many research reports, learning new things is related to healthy aging. So it’s fun and benefits your health, which helps you enjoy your retirement even more! 

According to this article on Harvard Health Publishing, learning new skills can slow down cognitive aging. You need to train regularly when you’re doing physical exercise to gain more strength or stamina. The same goes for when you want to get the best benefits for your brain while learning new things. It’s important to get out of your comfort zone and regularly learn new things to get the best results.

The best thing about being retired is that you can do things at your own pace. You decide when, where and what kind of new things you want to learn. However, it’s helpful when you have easy access to different learning programs. One of the best platforms you can join is the online platform MasterClass. 

On MasterClass, you can follow video classes from the best and most renowned teachers in the world in different categories. There are 100+ different classes available in different categories like lifestyle, sports, cooking, writing, music, and many more.

A few of the popular classes on MasterClass are; 

• Gordon Ramsay Teaches Restaurant-Style Cooking
• Aaron Franklin Teaches Texas-Style BBQ
• Bobbi Brown Teaches Makeup & Beauty
• Kelly Wearstler Teaches Interior Design 

Each class on MasterClass has several video lessons that you can download to your device, allowing you to follow the lessons offline. You can get an Annual Membership for 180 USD, which gives you full access to the platform. 

A Membership for MasterClass contains: 

• Access To All 100+ classes and categories
• PDF workbooks for each class
• Audio only lessons
• Ability to watch on different devices
• Download & watch offline
• New classes are added each month

Start your learning lifestyle in retirement with annual membership for MasterClass; 

2) Sportive Lifestyle In Retirement

Did you know that according to the CDC, staying active is one of the most important things you can do for healthy aging? The CDC mentions this in their advice about physical activity for older adults. 

Their slogan is “move more and sit less.” When looking at the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), it might be the best slogan they could choose. 

The average amount of time spent of people 65 years and older in leisure and sports is 7.33 hours a day. However, this time is divided into different categories from which watching television (when people are sitting) is 4.5 hours a day. When people are moving, the category sports accounts for only 0.22 hours a day! 

I would recommend having a more sportive lifestyle in retirement. Being active benefits your health. You’ll be more energetic, which results in doing other things as well. This way, you can create an active and sportive lifestyle in retirement! 

One of the easiest ways to start with sports is by using the application Aaptiv. With the application, you can follow different sports programs dedicated to your goals. And you can use the application everywhere you go, so you don’t have the hassle of memberships you don’t use when, for example, you’re traveling around. 

3) Becoming A Gardener

Gardening is a popular activity among retirees. Becoming a gardener, you combine the best of both worlds. You have an active hobby, you’ll come outside a lot, and you’ll learn new things when learning how to garden.

Gardening is a great activity where you train all the muscles in your body without even noticing it. So, if you’re not that sporty person but like to be outside en being busy, gardening might be the lifestyle you’re looking for in retirement! 

Next to physical activity, gardening is also a mindfulness activity, which benefits your well-being. 

When you don’t have any gardening experience, I recommend following the MasterClass of Ron Finley on the MasterClass platform. You can get an annual Membership for MasterClass here. 

Ron Finley is a renowned, LA-based fashion designer and urban gardener. In his MasterClass about gardening, he teaches the ins- and outs of (urban) gardening and explains how you can make gardening a fun activity to do without much effort! Learn more here. 

4) Start Your Own Business In Retirement

Maybe you’ve always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur and having your own business. Being retired is the perfect opportunity to pursue this dream! 

There are so many possibilities to start your own business today, and it doesn’t mean you have to back to working full time. You can easily start your own business as a part-time business or even set up something that creates a passive income, like blogging (recommended read; Blogging In Retirement: 11 Expert Tips For Beginners.) 

Many retirees want to keep working 1 or 2 days a week to stay busy, and because they like doing it. Sometimes people need to keep working because they didn’t save enough money for their retirement. One of the most popular businesses that retirees start is becoming a consultant. As a consultant, you can help other companies and easily decide how much time you want to spend on your ‘job’.

However, I would recommend chasing your dreams. When you’ve always dreamed of setting up your bakery or coffeeshop after retirement, why not doing it? It’s all about doing what your love and choosing the lifestyle in retirement that makes you happy. 

Before you start a new company, it’s important to research the competition, your product or service, how profitable it can be, etcetera. A great service that can help you set up your company is Northwest register agent, find out more here.

5) Become A (Semi)-Professional Chef

If you love cooking, retirement is a great time to improve your cooking skills. You can become a semi-professional chef and even dedicate your lifestyle in retirement to cooking. There are several ways you can fill in your time when it comes to cooking. You can look for a part-time job in a local restaurant. Compete in several cooking contests. Start your cooking club, or cook for fun with friends and family. 

The best way to improve your cooking skills is by following the different Cooking Classes on MasterClass. You’ll improve not only your kitchen skills but also get great knowledge about international cuisine. 

Currently, there are 17 different cooking classes available on the MasterClass platform.
Get your annual Membership for MasterClass here so that you can start with your cooking lifestyle today! 

6) Start With New Hobbies In Retirement

You can spend your time in retirement however you like. It doesn’t always have to be business-related or being about improving yourself. The most important thing is that you love what you’re doing. And that’s exactly what a hobby is. 

According to dictionary.com, a hobby is; 

“an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.”

So, focusing your retirement lifestyle on hobbies is time well spent! You might ask yourself, what kind of hobbies are fun to do as a retiree. If you’re struggling with finding a hobby, I recommend reading one of my articles; 

• 10 Best Hobbies For Seniors At Home
• 150 Best Hobbies In Retirement

When you’re a fan of arts & craft hobbies, I recommend signing up for CrateJoy. With the Arts&Crafts Box from Cratejoy, you’ll get a unique hobby-related box delivered at home once a month. This way, you can start with a new hobby each month! Get your Cratejoy subscription here! 

7) Become Bilingual In Retirement

Earlier I told you about the benefit of learning new things in retirement. Maybe you’ve always dreamed of speaking multiple languages or becoming fluent in Spanish. Focusing on becoming bilingual in retirement is a unique retirement lifestyle to choose from. 

Learning a new language is not difficult but can take up a lot of time. One of the best ways to learn a new language is by way of total immersion, meaning you spent a long time with native speakers in their home country, learning about their culture and language. Of course, you can start easily using a language learning application, allowing you to become fluent in each language. 

Learn more about learning a language at an older age in my article; Can You Learn A Language At 60 Or Older?

The best learning application you can use is Busuu. It was even named the best application of 2020! Learn more about Busuu here. 

8) Traveling The World

Together with my family, we travel the world all year long, and it’s the best life choice we’ve ever made! Of course, with Covid-19 restrictions, it’s becoming a bit more challenging to go wherever you like, but I’m certain this will be possible in the near future again. You still can travel in your own country, and there’s a lot to explore there as well! 

Focusing on a traveling lifestyle in retirement is one of the best things you can do. Traveling allows you to learn more about other cultures, it keeps you socially and physically active, and you’ll also explore all the beautiful places in the world! 

9) Become A Retired College Graduate

Never finished a college degree? Or maybe you’re eager to back to school and get a different degree. Did you know that in the US, there are specific college programs for retirees and seniors? Some of these programs are even free of charge! Learn more about the possibilities here. 

Going back to college is a great lifestyle to focus on in retirement. It has many benefits because you’ll learn new things, get out of your comfort zone, and interact with other people, keeping you socially active. 

10) Volunteering Lifestyle In Retirement

Volunteering is an activity that is very popular among retirees. If you want to focus your lifestyle in retirement on volunteering, you need to decide for yourself what it is you want to get out of it. 

Ask yourself if you can commit to, let’s say, 1 or 2 times volunteering work a week. Do you have the financial position to do volunteer work, or is it better if you’re spending this time on a paid job?

Volunteering can be very rewarding because, often, you’re able to help other people in need. There are all kinds of volunteering jobs available, like helping out in the community center at your local church. You can even join the international volunteer corps and start volunteering abroad! 

If you want to learn more about volunteering in retirement, I recommend reading my article Why Do Retirees Volunteer?

How To Decide On Your Lifestyle In Retirement?

Now that you have several ideas about the lifestyle possibilities in retirement, you might ask yourself, how do I decide on my retirement lifestyle? 

It’s time to answer the difficult questions. Well difficult? It’s actually very simple. You can focus on every lifestyle you want. The most important thing is that you’re doing what makes you happy! 

The other day I read an interesting article about financially preparing for retirement. Many people ask themselves if they saved enough for their retirement. But to answer that question, you need to decide what kind of lifestyle you want in retirement in the first place. 

I’m not here to tell you about your financial position, but I can help you to decide what lifestyle to choose in retirement. As I said, you must choose a lifestyle that makes you happy. Often that means doing the things your passionate about. 

The lifestyles that I described in the list above are all fun and rewarding if you’re passionate about them—so choosing the right lifestyle for retirement is finding your passion.

Finding your passion in retirement can be challenging because, in the last years, you spent a lot of time focusing on your career instead of the things you love to do when not working. In a few steps, you can easily figure out your passion again. The first step is going back to your childhood. Remember what you loved doing as a kid? Probably you’re still getting excited about these activities! Which can be a perfect start to find your passion again. I explain this process step by step in my article How Do I Find My Passion In Retirement? | 14 Helpful Tips. 

Are you wondering if you can learn a new language at 60 or older? I researched and found the scientific proof:

According to research, people 60 years or older can learn a new language easily. The large vocabulary helps seniors to learn new words more easily. The slowed-down neurons in the older brain make the learning process longer. Mental and physical exercise nurtures the growth of new brain cells and increases the ability to learn at an older age.

Now you know that learning a new language at 60 or older is possible, let’s dive in deeper. In this article, I share more scientific proof, 5 tips to learn a new language effortlessly, and the benefits and importance of learning at an older age. Let’s get started! 

Scientific Proof You Can Learn A New Language At 60 Or Older

There is a common misconception: learning is hard at an older age.

Perhaps you’re convinced too that learning a new language is impossible for you. And although it is on your bucket list to speak a couple of words of Spanish, French, or another language. You’re discouraged due to previous experiences that made you believe that learning is more difficult compared to when you’re were younger. Perhaps that’s why you’re reading my article right now. Well, I’m here to prove you the opposite.

We all know that learning for kids is easy. They are like sponges, which is very true. Only that doesn’t mean that learning at an older age is impossible. The reason why kids are easy at learning is that they learn every day. And that way of life is different for older people. Especially when we leave college.

As we get older we often stop learning because we dedicate our time elsewhere. We work 8 hours a day, get married, start a family, and have household activities to do every day. Kids spend their whole childhood at school and outside school learning new things and skills. For them, the whole world is filled with new things to discover. And they’re eager to stay interested and motivated to keep learning. This is the key to their success. Learning is easy for them because they keep learning.

According to this research, 60-year-olds and older participants were challenged to learn at least three new skills simultaneously for 3 months. “Learning multiple skills simultaneously increased cognitive abilities in older adults by the midpoint of the intervention, to levels similar to performance in a separate sample of middle-aged adults, 30 years younger.” To sum it up: your brain will function younger when challenged thoroughly enough. Therefore learning becomes easier as you challenge yourself mentally regularly.

Also, according to a study, 60-year-olds often underestimate the power of their brain memory and ability to learn. The lack of confidence keeps them from pursuing learning new things. Then it becomes a downward spiral. Seniors don’t challenge their brains frequently, which will result in learning becoming harder. And then the confidence goes down… etc. Up to the point that you’re convinced that you can’t learn anything after 60.

To make learning easy at 60 or older is to keep learning as you age. Learning rewires the brain and optimizes the brain through a process called myelination, no matter the age. It’s the process where you experience becoming better at a skill with time and practice. A new language is a great way to challenge your brain and as you continue your learning journey you’ll notice it will get easier over time.

How To Easily Learn A New Language At 60 Or Older

1) Use A Language Learning Application

There are many language applications available to help you learn a new language. However, if you truly want to become fluent in a new language, I recommend using the application Busuu. 

Busuu was named the #1 language learning application of 2020. It has over 100 million students worldwide. When you follow a language course with Busuu, you also can complete an official test based on the McGraw-Hill Education standards. These tests allow you to measure your knowledge of a language, and if you like, you can share your certificate for professional use. 

Using an application like Busuu is convenient because you can start learning a language on your own time. You decide your schedule, when, and where you want to start learning. According to this article on Harvard Health Publishing, learning at your own pace benefits the learning process. Besides improving your knowledge, learning new skills, like learning a new language, also gives you a sense of purpose. 

According to the article on Harvard Health Publishing, it is important for older adults that they can interact by doing exercises, taking notes, and completing tasks when they learn something new. That’s exactly how the Busuu learning program is set up. 

The Busuu language courses are developed according to the Common European Framework of Reference, an internationally recognized standard for creating language lessons. You can read more about how their courses are developed here.

The Busuu courses are divided into four stages, from beginner to upper-intermediate. The beginner stage only focuses on learning simple things like saying hello, and ordering something in a shop. When you reached the upper-intermediate stage, you can truly join a discussion in the language. You became a fluent speaker. Sign up for Busuu For Free.

2) Make Use Of Your Learning Skills

Over the years, you probably followed different courses and learned new things. Maybe you went to college before you started your career. Either way, you developed a way of learning new things that work best for you. 

If you want to start learning a new language in your retirement, it is important to focus on these learning skills. For example, if you learn best by watching a video course, follow a language video course first. Or when you’re learning better when reading aloud or doing specific tasks, make sure to focus on that. 

The Busuu application lets you decide what kind of lessons you want to follow. This way, you can first start with the learning exercises that fit you the most. This makes it easier to learn a new language when you are older. 

3) Use Your Vocubalury Knowledge

Let’s say you want to learn Spanish, one of the most difficult things at the start is understanding sayings and specific words. To make this easier, you can use your knowledge of your native language. It would surprise you how much some words in each language are alike. 

Also, learning a new language benefits your knowledge of your native language. You’ll translate these into your native language by learning new foreign words or sayings. This way your knowledge of both languages will improve! 

4) Read Books In The Foreign Language

When you’ve read more articles on this website, you probably know that I’m from The Netherlands, so my native tongue is Dutch. However, I’m fluent in English and can also speak Spanish. To improve my English, I started reading books in English, which I’m still doing today. It helps me to keep my knowledge of the language up to date. 

If you start reading books in a foreign language, of course, you need to have some knowledge of that language first. But if you understand the basics of a language and start with simple books, it can work great. I even started reading children’s books at first, it may sound silly, but it helped me understand the language much faster! 

I found that the biggest advantage of reading books in a foreign language is that you learn about specific cultural sayings, humor, and communication in that language. 

The Busuu application focuses on reading in each language lesson, and next to reading, they also focus on writing tasks, which helps you improve your knowledge even faster. 

5) Focus On Total Immersion For Learning A Language

When you’re at an older age and retired, there’s a good chance you have enough time to spend a while in a different country. For example, if you want to learn Spanish, you can travel to Spain or a different Spanish-speaking country and stay there for a few months. Not only to travel and explore the country but to truly become fluent in the language. This process is known as total immersion, and it’s one of the best ways to become bilingual. 

Learning to speak and understand a language is one thing you can easily do by using Busuu. It creates perfect knowledge as a start. And with the upper-intermediate level courses, you can still use the application while you immerse yourself by visiting a country to learn the language. 

Total immersion helps you understand the cultural backgrounds in a language much better. When you spent some time with locals, you’ll understand their way of speaking, different dialects and learn more about the country. 

Benefits Of Learning A Language At An Older Age

Many people say that learning a language at an older age is much difficult. However, the opposite is true! Of course, younger people can often adapt easier and learn new things faster, but you’re never too old to learn! It’s even important to keep learning new things for staying fit. Learning new things is related to healthy aging, but later more on that. 

Did you know that learning a new language has many benefits? Even when you’re older. 

For example, learning a new language makes you a better listener because you need to focus harder when speaking in a foreign language. When learning a new language, it’s more difficult to understand the meaning of what someone is saying. It also improves your decision-making skills. Because you’re able to think through your problem in different languages, so you can focus on multiple points of view.

When you’re bilingual, you’ll get a better cultural understanding, and learning new languages increases your social circle because you can connect easier with people from a different cultural background. 

You can read all the important benefits of learning a new language at an older age in my article, 10 Benefits Of Learning A Second Language At An Older Age.

The Importance Of Learning New Things At An Older Age

Learning a new language is related to healthy aging. It has a lot of benefits like we mentioned above. Learning a new language as a senior keeps you busy, improves your social circle, and benefits your brain. 

According to this article on Harvard Health Publishing, you need to train your brain similarly to train your muscles. Exercise is the most important thing for staying fit. We do all kinds of physical exercise for healthy aging, but we also need to focus on brain activity. According to this article, learning new things like learning a new language helps slow down cognitive aging.

However, it’s not enough to simply learn something new. To truly benefit from your brain exercises, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Compare it with physical exercise. You won’t benefit from it if you only do sports once a month. 

So, when you’re learning new things, it’s important to challenge yourself. Learning a new language at an older age is a great challenge at the level that is needed, according to this article on Harvard Health Publishing.  

If you truly want to benefit and maximize your learning efforts at an older age, you need to keep a few things in mind. Experts from Harvard Health Publishing say that older adults learn best when they can interact with the content. Interaction can be things like taking notes, completing tasks, follow video lessons, etcetera. It’s also helpful to find a buddy for your learning process. Giving each other feedback about the process, and helping each other with difficult tasks, speed up the learning. 

When focusing on learning a new language and all the important facts above, as mentioned by the experts of Harvard Health Publishing, the language learning application Busuu is the best learning tool you can use. 

With a Busuu membership, you automatically interact with the content by completing different tasks, following video lessons, and much more. But you also get access to the community where you can connect with other language students. This way, you can easily find a buddy that can help you become more fluent in a language faster. You can sign up for Busuu for free! 

You might be wondering, what are the benefits of learning a second language at an older age? I researched this question and created this list of benefits of learning a second language when you’re getting older. I’ll also share some tips on how you can easily learn a language when you’re getting older.  

Ready to become a bilingual senior? Let’s learn more! 

If you want to learn a second language using a smartphone application, I recommend using Busuu. Busuu is known as the best language learning application, and it was named the #1 Language Learning Application of 2020. Over 100 million people worldwide use Busuu to learn a second language. So, if you can’t wait, start learning right away with Busuu.

1) Learning a Second Language Helps With Healthy Aging

Things that help with healthy aging are important when you reach an older age. Learning new things helps to keep your mind sharp and fit, and with healthy aging. When learning a new language, when you get older, these benefits are getting even stronger.

According to Dr. Ipsit Vahia, director of geriatric outpatient services for Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, learning new things is similar to training your muscles to keep your strength. In this article on Harvard Health Publishing, he mentions that you train your muscles to improve your overall health when you exercise. The same concept applies to our brain; you need to challenge it with exercises to keep it healthy. 

A great brain exercise is learning new things, like learning a new language. If you really want to get the most out of these benefits, you must be getting out of your comfort zone. According to this study, doing some simple exercises like learning a few new words in a different language doesn’t cut it. 

The study examined two groups of older people between the age of 60 and 90 years old. The first group was learning more challenging skills. For the study, they learned digital photography. However, learning a new language also applies as a learning a challenging skill. The second group did only some easy brain exercises, like doing crossword puzzles everyday. 

The group that did the challenging skills showed more improvement in different brain activities like overall memory.

Another research published in the Annals of Neurology in 2014 shows that people who can speak two or more languages may slow down cognitive decline from aging, even when they learned the second or third language at an older age. 

There’s a lot of research available that proves the health benefits of learning a second or even third language. However, being bilingual, meaning that you can speak multiple languages, has a lot more benefits. Let’s look at the other benefits of learning a second language at an older age. 

2) Learning A Second Language Increases Social Interactions

When you’re able to speak multiple languages, it’s easier to connect with people who speak that language as well. For example, when your neighbors can only speak Spanish, and you just learned Spanish, it’s easier to connect with them. It’s also a great way to improve your Spanish! 

Or when you enjoy travel adventures in other countries, it’s easier to connect with locals if you can speak the local language. 

So, you can say that learning a new language helps you to improve your social interactions. If you want to improve your language skills in a particular language, you can connect with native speakers. And when traveling, it’s easier to get around with the locals. Staying socially active is known as one of the most important factors when it comes to healthy aging.

According to this article on Harvard Health Publishing, having many social interactions, or as they say, a rich web of human relationships stimulates your mind and memory loss. If you want to learn more about staying socially active in retirement, I recommend reading my article How Do I Socialize After Retirement?

Having multiple social interactions in the language, you’re learning helps you to learn that specific language easier. I’m bilingual myself. I’m a native Dutch speaker and learned English and Spanish when I was still in college. I learned the basics of both languages at school. However, I truly learned to speak both languages when I had many social interactions in that language for a longer period. For example, when I was still in college, I worked at a summer camp in the US for a few months. We could only speak English together, and after a while, I started my dream were even in English! That’s when I realized I became fluent in English. 

Social interactions both benefit your health and your knowledge of a foreign language. 

3) You Get A Better Cultural Understanding When Being Bilingual

As I mentioned earlier, it’s easier to connect with your Spanish-speaking neighbor when you speak Spanish. Or to connect with local people during traveling when you speak the local language. However, when you’re truly fluent in a language, you’ll get a much better understanding of the culture of a country as well. You don’t even have to travel for it, which is, of course, a great thing to do when you’re retired. But you can easily learn more about a specific country if you understand the language. 

For example, many older people love reading books , and sometimes it’s easier to get a translation into your native language. In my experience, you sometimes miss out on things when you read a translation. Certain jokes or cultural sayings translated in English are different than in, let’s say, Dutch or Spanish. So it’s more fun to read those books in the original language. 

During traveling, when you connect with locals and speak the local language, you can truly have a conversation that’s not limited to ‘who are you, nice to meet you,’ or ‘what a beautiful place.’ 

Having an actual conversation with a local in their native language teaches you so much more about their culture. It’s interesting and refreshing! Another great way of learning new things!

4) You Can Make Use Of Your Large Vocabulary 

Many people say that it’s easier to learn a second language when you’re younger. Yes, younger people can adapt easier and maybe learn more things at once easier. However, when you learn a new language at an older age, you can use your knowledge you gathered over time.

For example, your vocabulary, even when you can only speak one language. When you’re older, you just learned much more words and sayings in that language than younger people. Using this knowledge in a different language helps you to learn these sayings easier. Younger people often start to learn different words. It’s easier to relate to sentences and sayings when you’re older, so you’re able to speak that new language faster. 

5) Use Your Learning Techniques

Another benefit of learning a second language at an older age is knowing which learning techniques work best for you. 

Over the past years, you learned all kinds of new things. Maybe you even completed a specific course not too long ago. Or you developed a new skill or hobby during your retirement. Either way, you know how you learn new things the best. 

Use this knowledge to your benefit. If you learn new things the best by reading, try to start reading a book using translation in that second language. Or maybe you’re learning the best by following a video course, then find a language video course. 

Like I said at the start of this article, Busuu is one of the best language learning applications you can use. When using Busuu, you can learn a language at different skill levels, from beginner to upper-intermediate. If you finished the last level, you’re able to join a more difficult conversation in that language, like discussing important things in life or following the local news. You can learn more about the application Busuu here. 

6) Learning A Second Language Improves Decision-Making Skills

Sometimes it’s not easy to decide on a specific topic. Life choices, financial decisions, or other things that can influence your happiness are often decided based on facts and personal feelings. However, researchers from the University of Chicago found that if you’re bilingual, you’re able to think through a specific problem or choice in your non-native language. This allows you to create a whole different point of view on a topic. 

In fact, when you’re fluent in a second language, you can even consider cultural points of view or discuss them with someone from that country. 

According to the study, people who make decisions in a foreign language are more likely to focus on the potential outcome of that decisions instead. When making a decision in our native language, we tend to focus more on potential losses and problems instead of the benefits.

7) Learning A Second Language Keeps You Busy

Staying busy at an older age or when you’re retired is important for your health and feeling of happiness. Have you ever heard of the world’s Blue Zones? 

The Blue Zones are specific areas in the world where people get much older than average. These areas even have the most centenarians, people who healthily reach the age of 100+. They all have a similar lifestyle, and one of the most important facts is that they stay busy and active until old age. 

So, instead of doing nothing all the time, it is important to create goals and stay busy when you get older. Learning a second language at an older age keeps you busy, and as we discussed in this article, it has many other health benefits.  

If you truly want to challenge yourself, why stop after learning a second language? When you’re using the application Busuu, you can easily start a new language course in a different tongue if you finished your first course. This way, you can become fluent in more languages and truly become bilingual! 

8) Learning A Second Language Improves Your Native Tongue

When learning a second language, you’re also learning many new words, sayings, and the grammar of that specific language. Learning all these new things also improves your native tongue because you need to translate it into your first language to process it. 

9) Learning A Second Language Improves Listening

Learning a second language also helps if you want to become a better listener. When listening to someone in a foreign language, you truly need to pay attention to understanding its meaning. 

Knowing the meaning of words is different than understanding them in a conversation. When having a conversation, you need to understand nuances, accents, cultural jokes, etcetera. Listening with attention automatically improves your listening skills. 

10) Learning A Second Language Keeps You Modern

With globalization in mind and the great chance that you’re traveling much more when you get older or are retired, you want to join the modern-day society. When you’re traveling to Europe, you’ll get a much better understanding of the countries’ cultural aspects if you can speak multiple European languages. 

According to this article on Busuu, Spanish, French, and Portuguese are all in the top-10 most spoken languages worldwide. 

Best Language Learning Application For Learning A Language (At An Older Age)

With all these benefits of learning a second language at an older age in mind, you probably wonder which application is best for learning that second or maybe third language. 

I already mentioned a few times the application Busuu. This application is the easiest to use and best to become truly fluent in a second language because it gives you the possibility to have real conversations, speech recognition, and native speaker models. When following a Spanish, French, German, or English course, you can take a certified test to measure your progress. The language courses on Busuu have a McGraw-Hill Education certification. 

The easy interface and possibility to take these different tests make Busuu stand out from other language learning applications like Babbel or Duolingo. Busuu has even named the #1 language learning application of 2020, has a high customer review on both Google PlayStore and the Apple Appstore.

As a Busuu student, you get access to the Busuu community, which allows you to get to know other students. It also helps you to stay motivated if learning that second language is getting a bit difficult at a certain point. You can share your progress and goals with other students. A great benefit of this community is that you can also speak with other students in the language you’re trying to learn, which is not only fun but also speeds up the process of language learning! Learn more about Busuu here.

Having a hobby makes your time in retirement a lot more fun. It’s a great way to destress and enjoy the moment while learning new things. When you’re looking for a new hobby at home, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve listed the 10 best hobbies for seniors at home in this article. So let’s get started.

Just a heads up, this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Purchases you make through these links may earn us a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

1) Cooking

You can consider cooking as a daily chore in retirement, but you can also make it your new hobby. You need to eat, so why not make the process of preparing a meal a fun experience? You can try out new recipes, bake your own cake and cookies, introduce new ingredients to your meals, remake an old family recipe, etc. You can even explore new cultures and travel to other places in the world all through their cuisine. But where can you learn all these things?

I’ve got the best tip for you: MasterClass. A streaming platform just as easy to use as Netflix, but where you can follow different cooking classes from the world’s best chefs. You don’t need to be an experienced cook to follow classes from Gordon Ramsey to Thomas Keller, Gabriela Cámara, and so many more. With Masterclass, you can learn how to cook Mexican, Italian, French, Japanese, Texas-Style BBQ dishes, and upgrade your cooking skills even if you’re already an experienced cook yourself. And the best part is: with a membership, you’ll have access to all cooking classes (and all the other classes on Masterclass).

2) Gardening

Being outdoors with your hands in the soil is a very healthy hobby to have as a senior. So whether you have a small or big garden at home, do a little gardening each day and you’ll experience many benefits. Because gardening is great for your mental and physical health. It reduces stress, builds stronger muscles, boosts your creativity and your overall mood. And that is why gardening is such a popular hobby amongst seniors.

You can plant flowers to create beautiful scenery, start a vegetable garden or grow a couple of herbs that you can use for your cooking. There are so much many things you can learn within gardening and the man to teach you all about it is Ron Finley. He has an online Gardening Class on MasterClass where he teaches how to create a garden in any home, how to grow your own food, the best time to plant, how to keep houseplants alive, and a lot more. Curious? Check out more information about his Gardening Class here.

3) Writing

A reason for seniors to take up writing as a hobby is to have a legacy for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It’s great to have something to pass on to younger generations.

When you like this hobby idea but are hesitant to start writing because you don’t have any experience or maybe never took a writing class. I’m here to tell you that there are many advantages to start writing at a later stage in life: plenty of time to write, there are no distractions such as a full-time job or kids running around the house, and as a senior, you have a lot of history and life experience to draw from.

And it’s never too late to take a writing class if you want to be better and learn more. And with a Membership to Masterclass you get access to fantastic writing classes from the world’s best writers: Judy Blume, Dan Brown, Billy Collins, James Patterson, Margaret Atwood, Shonda Rhimes, Walter Mosley, and many more. They are all there to teach you every aspect of writing from storytelling, writing fiction, poems, screenwriting, songwriting, etc. All from the comforts of your home and learning at your own pace, time, and device.

4) Reading

Reading is an excellent hobby for seniors because keeping your brain occupied and stimulated improves your memory and helps to prevent dementia according to many studies. And as a senior, you have more time to enjoy a good book, because there are no distractions to finish a couple of extra chapters.

Perhaps you have a stack of unread books you didn’t have the patience and time to read, or when you like to do more reading in retirement you can consider getting a Kindle e-reader. You’ll have access to millions of book titles that are waiting for you.

5) Music

Music has the enormous power to move us emotionally. Music can make you feel happy or sad and it can help you reminisce about loving memories in the past. But it also has health benefits. Whether you listen or play music it’s a great brain exercise. Music can improve your memory, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure. And it keeps your heart healthy through released endorphins in the brain that improves heart health. Therefore a great hobby for a senior, right?

You can get a vintage record player to listen to old records. Go on Spotify and create a playlist with all your favorite songs to listen to at home. You can learn to play a new musical instrument, write a song or try to perfect your pitch. Perhaps you have the courage even to upload a couple of videos of you singing or playing an instrument.

On MasterClass you can follow so many awesome music classes from the world’s greatest. For example, Alicia Keys teaches Songwriting, Tom Morello teaches Electric Guitar, Itzhak Perlman teaches Violin, Reba McEntire teaches Country Music and the list goes on. From learning how to play ukulele, drums and percussion to singing lessons. A Membership to MasterClass gives you acces to all music classes, but also all the othe classes on the platform from cooking, gardening, writing to science, art and business.

6) Arts & Crafts

Get creative with arts and crafts. Working with your hand and creating a piece of art gives you a fulfilling and satisfying feeling. It gives you a sense of meaning that most technologies cannot. You can invite friends over to do new fun art and crafts project every week. So what are great arts and crafts hobbies?

• Painting
• Crocheting
• Woodworking
• Scrapbooking
• Jewelry making
• Diamond painting
• Knitting
• Mosaic

7) Birdwatching

You can connect more with nature through the hobby of birdwatching. You can hang up a bird feeder in your garden, window, or balcony and see the birds fly in and out. And the best part is you can be as involved as you want to be. You can start by feeding birds, identifying your backyard birds, and see how they interact with each other, and even keeping a bird-watching log journal. Birds are all around us so it’s a year-round and inexpensive hobby.

8) Genealogy

If you’re curious about your past and want to know more about your ancestors, you can have genealogy as a hobby. You can research and build a family tree and perhaps write a family history book to pass on to your children en grandchildren. It’s what a lot of seniors love to do.

My Heritage DNA Kit can give you a head start. You discover relatives who share DNA segments, inherited from the same common ancestor. And it can help you find answers about your past and create a family tree in a thorough way.

9) Volunteering

Doing volunteer work is one of the most popular hobbies in retirement. Helping others makes you feel good and gives meaning to your life. It makes you feel fulfilled and that is why so many retirees love to volunteer. It keeps you busy in all ways; socially, mentally, and physically. But you might wonder, can you do volunteer work from home?

Yes, you can. There are all sorts of virtual volunteer opportunities out there. You can search through hundreds of volunteer jobs you can do from home at VolunteerMatch.

10) Games

Do you love to play games? Then your hobby can be all sorts of fun games. Get yourself a Puzzle Book and spent hours on Crosswords, Sudoku, Cryptograms, Word Searches, etc. You can solve a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, do a brain teaser or play video games. The possibilities are endless.

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