ASAP, if you can afford it.
I find this an odd question. And please, I mean no offense....but why would you ask strangers what you should do with your free time? Don’t you have any hobbies?
If I could I’d sit on my front porch or around my fire pit in the backyard and drink coffee and read books. I could read with pleasure for 8 hours a day. I know not everyone wants to do that though. I also build and paint small-scale military models.
I do simple wood-working projects with my kids. We raise chickens and rabbits and have a huge garden. There’s plenty to do.
I’m 50, so not too close to retirement but I do think about it. We had 3 kids later in life so I have big college payments to look forward to (boys are 15, 14, and 9). My 2 older sons have expressed interest in the service academies and/or ROTC so that bodes well for me.
I did 24 years in the army now have a civilian job. But I definitely “work to live”. I’m not passionate about my job, but it pays the bills and is steady.
When the time comes I will gleefully retire. My wife and I have already traveled all over the world so we probably won’t do too much of that. We’re content to be home bodies. So...reading, hiking, gardening, cooking...that’s about it. Bliss.
To sum up - get a hobby and count your blessings.
I retired as an Industrial Engineer in aircraft manufacturing last December and now I am self-employed as a Landscape Designer. Although the income for my new gig isn’t much yet, I totally love the new freedom. Plus, I get to spend more time on Free Republic!
Whatever you desire - every day is a Saturday unless you have an appointment.
Walk, travel, movies, books, new friendships, local republican’s headquarters visits, long-put-off hobbies or new hobbies.
You can be as busy or idle as you desire at any moment...it takes a bit to re-orient but I often wonder where I found the time to work for all them years...
Find “rabbit holes”. Here is one:
https://www.familysearch.org/
Another
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/
Another
https://nerdswithknives.com/
Check out Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). People over 50 teaching people over 50. Will be associated with a nearby university but now, with zoom classes, you can be anywhere. I take classes there and teach primarily Russian history but there are classes in literature, science, music, health, movies, etc.
I am retired. I read, go to gym and bike, play war games, build plastic models, do some technical illustration work for friends, take classes and am dabbling in learning Russian and relearning some German. Mu frau reads a lot, is a scrapbooking consultant and does zoom exercise classes. We cook a lot. Hopefully when we get back to face to face continue playing American mahjong and compete in various plastic model contests. I need prolong (Honorverse reference) to do everything I want to do.
The Grinch is my role model. I live alone with my dog.
Now, get off of my lawn.
I retired at 60. I teach and coach. Work around the house and travel.
Not retired, but my husband has fallen in love with fishing the last 10 years
Every one has different needs/options when retired. There are
options and it will take a little time for you to find out what
best suits your needs, etc.
Various businesses need part time workers but the problem is
flexible on your part. Look around your area, ask your friends
neighbors what they do and you’ll probably get a lot of various
opinions. Good luck and enjoy
I plan on consulting until they take me out toes first. I retrained myself in CRM consulting after the 2008 mess (nobody went to jail, including Warren Buffet, who is more than anybody else responsible for what happened).
The work is good, social, and if you are a curious person and are willing to keep your skills up to date, they don’t care one bit what you look like and how old you are.
It also pays a ton.
I chose this because the plan is to spend 6 months a year in Baja. Once the kids are settled on post-HS career tracks I’m buying a boat and sailing down there middle of Fall each year, then coming back up middle of Spring.
As long as I have a good internet connection, I can do my job.
Got kids, grandkids? Spend more time with them, teach them to fill the gaps in their life education.
Opening their eyes to new things and activities has the effect of doing the same for you.
Nature walks with grandkids will reveal your own lack of knowledge in some things about the world around you, learn together.
Mentoring someone causes one to think and present more clearly and concisely. Causes some rethinking along the way, somethings are not the way you've always assumed. The satisfaction gained from seeing the light dawn on a confused face is a wonder to behold.
Sounds to me like you might already have enough new work to keep you busy.
;>) my two cents...before inflation adjustment.
Volunteer at a Veteran’s Hospital or vets’ service organization. It will be life-changing.
I’m almost 56, and plan to retire modestly at 62. I work full time, but also have a small second income as a church pastor.
I’ll have enough money in my 401K to payoff my house when I retire and have some extra picket change.
My wife will retire about two years after me as a teacher and she’s going to have a decent pension. With no debt, we’ll be bringing home more than we do right now. Retiring at a lower social security check is simply better for me because we don’t know how long we’ll live.
I’ll be out on the lake fishing every chance I get, and perhaps take some foreign language courses. Not a lit of sitting on the couch.
I retired early. To me retirement meant “Freedom”.
To a friend of mine retirement equated to “Death” so she still works full time at 77.
I do whatever makes me happy! Luckily most everything makes me happy.