Define Your Retirement Lifestyle

 

Retirement planning begins with defining the lifestyle you envision for yourself. When, where, and what you do with your time all affect your retirement expenses. The key here is figuring out if your expenses will go up, down, or stay the same. Take some time to answer questions like: where do you plan to live, how much will your hobbies cost, and how much will you travel using your Delta benefits?
Start building your plan by considering what could change in retirement. 

Write down notes about how your lifestyle will change—especially where you will live—once you retire. Remember, there’s no right or wrong plan, this is just for you. To get started, think about:
 

-Who you’ll retire with. Will you need to move to be closer to them? 

-Where you’ll retire. Will it be one place or splitting your time between a couple of locations?

-What you’re retiring to. Will your lifestyle change once you retire? 

-When you’ll retire. You may not know the answer to this question yet, but this exercise and the Ready, Set, Retire resources can help get you there.

 

Download the Retirement Worksheet 

Retirement Lifestyle Tips

Hear from actual Delta retirees and what they suggest you do now, to better prepare yourself for retirement.

 

In retirement, what do you want to do the most?

Our day-to-day lives change when we retire. There are a lot of ways that people spend their days once they work less or stop working all together. Not sure what your retirement will look like? Read more below or check out the Ready, Set, Retire Budgeting page to see what kind of lifestyle you could afford.

Travel

On average, retirees take five trips each year.1  What trips do you want to take?
 

Explore your travel benefits.

Spend Time with Family

Spending time with family can help keep you in strong physical and mental shape. How much time is too much? Well, only 31% of retirees say they would like to live with their adult children once they need living assistance.2

Volunteer

Studies show that volunteering at least 4 hours per week provides a tremendous boost to your mind, body, and relationships. That’s the trifecta of wellbeing wrapped into just 4 hours.3

Work Part-Time

According to AARP, about 20% of retirees work full or part-time.4 Reasons range from extra money to health coverage to relationships. Just know that your taxes and Social Security payments may be affected based on how much income you earn.

Hobbies and Sports

Happy retirees have an average of 3.6 “core pursuits” like hobbies and sports.5 That’s almost double compared to unhappy retirees. So get out there and play pickleball, cards, paint, see a movie, or whatever will make you happy!

Relax

At first, some retirees find it hard to switch off “work mode,” but eventually 70% of people over the age of 65 report feeling relaxed.1 How people got there varied—some got more active, and others got more chill. What’s your relaxation mode?

Learn

Lifelong learning is the active pursuit of education that enriches our lives. Rediscover old passions. Achieve new goals. Bond with friends. There are so many online and in-person options for personal growth. Share your learning pursuit on SkyHub.

I'm Not Sure

It’s okay to not know what your retirement will look like. But use the time you have today to start imagining so you don’t just retire from Delta but also retire to something.

Questions?

  • For questions about Delta travel benefits, please submit a request via Ask HR.
  • What's next? Consider learning about Retirement Money.

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1 Yahoo! Finance | “31 Surprising Facts About Retiring You Probably Didn’t Know” | May 2022. 

2 Aging Care | “Do Parents Really Want to Live with Their Adult Children?” | 2024. 

3 NYU Silver School of Social Work | “Beyond the ‘9 to 5’ Dismantling Barriers and Building Economic Resilience for Older Workers” | April 2023. 

4 AARP | “Why More Retirees Are Going Back to Work” | September 2023. 

5 The Retirement Manifesto | “Why 72% of Retirees Are Happy” | July 2023.