Jim Letts, a former industrial arts teacher, moved to a hobby farm in Sturgeon County, Alta. after retiring. 'I have a shop here on the farm where I spend a lot of time building and fixing things for myself and others,' he says.Amber Bracken/The Globe and Mail
In Tales from the Golden Age, retirees talk about their spending, savings and whether life after work is what they expected. For more articles in this series, click here.
Jim Letts, 62, Sturgeon County, Alta.
I retired in 2020 at age 57 after working for more than 30 years as a high school industrial arts teacher, or what most people call a shop teacher. I also taught computer graphics, digital photography and screen printing. I enjoyed the career because the students chose to take my classes. Then COVID-19 came along, and there were some changes at work, and it just wasn’t fun anymore. It was time to do something else.
I’ve kept very busy in retirement. In 2020, my wife and I moved to a small hobby farm near where I grew up. I have a shop here on the farm where I spend a lot of time building and fixing things for myself and others. I also do some landscaping and snow removal. I enjoy working with my hands and being outside, so I’ve been able to do more of that in retirement. It keeps my body and brain going.
Amber Bracken/The Globe and Mail
My wife is about four years younger than me and still working as an administrative assistant at our church. Waiting for her to retire is a bit challenging, as we want to travel more. Also, it’s been a bit tough on my wife to see me lingering in bed longer than I used to while she heads off to work. But she plans to retire this spring, or at least go down to part-time.
We don’t worry too much about money. My wife is a meticulous financial partner and has kept our finances in excellent condition since we married in 1988. We’ve been saving for retirement since I started teaching in 1987. I have a defined-benefit pension plan from work and have been investing other savings in the stock market for decades now. I’ve always been a do-it-yourself investor.
I’ve never been impressed with the apparent conflict of selling a product while also benefiting financially from the sale. I started with mutual funds and have since switched to lower-cost exchange-traded funds. I also invested some money in cryptocurrency ETFs years ago, which have performed much better than my stock portfolio, at least so far.
My wife and I are also practical when it comes to spending. We were debt-free when we got married and are debt-free in retirement, which has given us greater financial freedom. Our kids have moved out and have their own careers and families. We haven’t cut back on our charitable donations in retirement. To us, giving back is an important part of life.
My advice to others heading into retirement is to diversify your activities and your contacts. For a lot of people, including myself, you may have to take more initiative with your friendships in retirement rather than leaving it to others to contact you.
Also, it’s important to work on finding new friendships. You can do this by trying out different volunteer activities, such as coaching or donating time to your church or other community activities – whatever is close to your heart. Think about what you plan to do from day to day in retirement, because you can only travel so much.
As told to Brenda Bouw
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Are you a Canadian retiree interested in discussing what life is like now that you’ve stopped working? The Globe is seeking participants for its Tales from the Golden Age feature, which examines the personal and financial realities of retirement. If you’re interested in being interviewed for this feature and agree to use your full name and have a photo taken, please e-mail us at: goldenageglobe@gmail.com. Please include a few details about how you saved and invested for retirement and what your life is like now.