How to Stay Connected During Your Retirement
While there were a number of long-term issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, one of the least discussed problems revolved around loneliness and isolation.
Make no mistake; the levels of loneliness in the UK have increased since the spring of 2020, with approximately 2.6 million adults reporting to regularly or always feeling lonely. This figure increased to 3.7 million in the six months ending February 2021, with this accounting for 7.2% of the total adult population.
Of course, social isolation is even more problematic for older adults, especially those who have retired from the workplace. But how can retirees stay connected and avoid feelings of loneliness?
The Importance of a Good Social Life
Maintaining a good and active social network outside of the workplace is crucial to avoiding feelings of isolation in later life.
Building such a network also requires time and energy, and you’ll need an active social life that enables you to meet people and regularly interact with them.
Over time and regular social gatherings, you’ll build a close cohort of friends, form significant emotional attachments and create an effective support network that can help you during times of need.
If they’re of the same age and enjoy a similar lifestyle too, you can also avoid isolation and schedule regular activities to help keep you busy.
Join Social Clubs
If you have particular preferences in terms of how you spend your free time once you’ve given up work, you may also want to look for specific clubs that schedule activities and enable you to meet like-minded individuals.
Whether you’re into sports, running, travelling or arts and crafts, you’re bound to find relevant clubs and activities available at your local community centre, while faith centres close to you may also put on social events and coffee mornings.
Not only does this enable you to meet people who share similar interests and circumstances to you, but it also creates structured and scheduled events that help you to organise your time effectively.
Consider Travelling
If you’ve retired and own your home, you may have the option of engaging in extensive travel. Certainly, this offers you access to potentially large sums of cash, whether you choose to sell or downsize your home or consider releasing the equity in your property.
The latter option is available to homeowners aged 55 or older, with it enabling you to access the remaining capital value in your home either through a lump sum payment or incremental payouts over time.
You can use an equity release calculator to work out how much capital you’re able to access, and this can help inform your travel decisions about the regions of the world that you’d like to visit.
Travelling is a great way of spending your retirement and meeting new people from across the globe, as it allows you to seek out additional activities that help to prevent feelings of isolation from forming.
