Thursday, April 19, 2018

Passion and Retirement

It does not matter at what age you retire, if you do not have a passion for something, if you are not active, you do not last long. People who retire and do nothing get things like heart attacks, strokes or cancer. Often this happens within 5 years. You have to be active and you have to have a passion about something. It does not matter what you do, just do something that you love. Try out new things.

It is also both exercise and socializing that make for a good retirement. You can get a number of exercise programs from YouTube or go to a gym. You need to walk, do some aerobics and do some weights. An hour's walk plus walking around you home should get you to the 10,000 steps that are recommended. There are lots of parks to walk in Toronto and beaches areas in both the west end and the east end of Toronto.

You will want to keep you mind intact. There is evidence that you do this with exercise and socializing on a daily basis. I have read that 90% of the people on walkers could lose the walker if they just exercised. I asked a friend of mine who was a Physiotherapist about this. She thought for a moment and said that it was probably true. I have read studies that show people 60, 70 and 80 years old can rebuild muscle mass by exercising. The body has amazing recuperation abilities.

I love walking in parks. Google maps show where the paths are in parks. There is a site of Trail Forks that show where all the trails are in Toronto. Most trails are paved for bicycles, but they are used for walking also.

A favourite walk is from High Park Station through High Park and west along the beach to Humber Bay Park East at Mimico Creek. Just north of the park there is a Firkin Pub on Marine Parkdale Drive. All my walks tend to be 2 hours and end at a pub or restaurant. The Queen streetcar or bus is just north and east of this pub.

I you like walking, there are meetup groups that go walking. Also ROM has free walks with a schedule shown here, there is the Lost Rivers (of Toronto with a link here and the Toronto Field Naturalists have walks with a link here.

Socializing is easy in Toronto with such things as Meet Up. You can join a group of interest to you. I belong to several meetup groups. I also belong to a social group called UK Connexion and to an investment club called Ellen's Investment Club.

You can go back to school. There are college and university courses open to people who are retired. Ryerson University has the Life Institute for people over 50 where you can take courses or join in other activities. The site is here.

A book I would recommend is "You Could Live a Long Time: Are You Ready?" by Lyndsay Green. Unfortunately as you age some friends move away to retire and some friends die. It is important later in life to be open minded about making new friends and trying new experiences.

I blog, I walk and I socialize with friends old and new. I know people who do volunteer work or have acquired part-time jobs. My volunteer work is publishing the investment research I do. Other volunteer work all seems to involve working with people and I work better with computers. I think it is good to go with your strengths.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about Barclays PLC ADR (LSE-BARC, NYSE:-BCS)... learn more. Next, I will write about SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (TSX-SNC, OTC-SNCAF)... learn more on Friday, April 20, 2018 around 5 pm.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk. The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter. I am on Instagram. Or you can just Google #walktoronto spbrunner8166 to see my pictures.

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