A recent publication by the Wall Street Journal indicated how retirees spend their time in retirement. The diagram below breaks down various activities. Can you spot the problem? Where do you fit in?

There are numerous articles and documentaries that stipulate how important it is to plan your retirement well in advance. I am not referring to financially planning your retirement, but rather planning your time spent in retirement. Having said that, financially planning your retirement over many years and financial planning in retirement is crucial and as important as planning your time in retirement.

At the outset, I want to state that every individual has the right to choose how they spend their time in retirement. There are many factors that have an influence on how your time will be spent. These range from health, marital status, mobility, social environment, your standing in the community, family, finances, interests, likes and dislikes and how you actually want to spend your time.

Social and psychological studies have shown the following to be important:

• The need to belong. As social beings, we want to be respected, feel needed, and feel that we are making a difference in other people’s lives (friends, family and the larger community).

• To feel worthy. We must wake up every day with purpose. We need to know what that purpose is and what you are waking up to every day. Without a sense of purpose, one starts to sink into a dark black hole…

• The need to be social. Having friends and being part of the larger community where you play an active role embraces the feeling of belonging and feeling wanted, which leads to feeling worthy.

• Keep healthy in body and mind. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind. Be as active as your physical condition allows. Remember that ageing means that everybody will lose their physical ability to do strenuous activities. Adapt activities as your physical condition dictates. Irrespective of how insignificant you feel an activity is – do it!

• Create memories that you can reminisce on the older you get and that you can share with others.

So if we dissect the graph above, how does the average retiree spend their time?

In summary, every day time is spent as follows by the surveyed retirees:

• Most time is spent sleeping, which makes sense – time spent 9.01 hours per day.

• Relaxing and leisure – time spent 6.24 hours.

• Watching TV – time spent 4.5 hours.

• Housework – time spent 1.54 hours

• Eating and drinking – time spent 1.24 hours.

• Working – time spent 48 minutes.

• Exercise, sport and recreation – time spent 17 minutes.

• Caregiving – time spent 15 minutes.

• Volunteer work – time spent 10 minutes.

• Financial management – time spent 3.6 minutes.

How does your time spent compare to the above?

As I mentioned before, if you fall into the above category and you are happy and content with it, that is 100% fine. If you would like to feel better about yourself and enjoy life a bit more in general, perhaps you should consider dissecting your daily time as follows:

• Sleeping – nine hours.

• Relaxing and leisure – four hours per day.

• Watching TV – three hours.

• Exercise, sport and recreation – an hour

• Caregiving and volunteer work – 30 minutes. This equates to 2.5 hours for one day per week.

• Working or an activity that is constructive/creative hobby – an hour.

• The rest of the day doing “stuff” (teach the dog tricks, learn a craft or a new game, research anything of interest, start another constructive hobby, teach someone else a skill you have, etc). Find something to do as a couple or with friends. If you commit to doing something with friends, they will hold you to it, and maybe that is the motivation you need.

• Financial management depends on your supporting team. If you manage your own affairs, then more than 3.6 minutes per day (or 16 minutes per five-day week) will probably be required. If your financial affairs are in order and you have a dynamic team to assist you in this regard, then the 3.6 minutes per day equates to a meeting of roughly two hours every three months with your advisory team, and that should be adequate.

It is important to note that the allocated times do not have to be adhered to every day. Many of these activities can be done weekly or fortnightly, where you can accumulate the allotted time and “spend” the time as it suits you. Manage your time to suit your schedule and daily activities. If you feel more energised in the mornings, then allocate your exercise time to mornings and reserve afternoons for leisure activities and relaxing.

The one challenge for retirees is to differentiate between days. If you do not have daily schedules that tie into a specific day, then you lose track of what day it is, and the days of the week become somewhat irrelevant. If this is the case, then the challenges in retirement become even greater.

I often hear the comment, “It doesn’t matter what day it is because all the days are the same”. One solution is to divide your weeks/days into certain activities, whether it is sport/fun, social club, community work, family gatherings or whatever excites you. This does mean that many retirees become “stuck in their ways” due to their schedules. These retirees, however, do seem to be more content and happier…

At the end of the day, you are retired, and your time belongs to you. Make it count. Make it worthwhile. Use it to make you feel better and, most of all, have fun while doing it.

Enjoy retirement. This should be a time of reflection and enjoying the fruits of your past hard labour.