What do happy retirees do Norm - Well I'm glad you asked that question Tina because
we have a list of things that happy retirees do and I think we're a happy retiree couple aren't we
- Absolutely we are - And we cracked out tea mugs - Look at these do you remember these Norm this
is what our son bought you as one of your presents for your birthday
so we've got London buses and - Anyway cheers, cheers
- And of course we've got shortbread cookies here our favourite from Scotland of course
- Oh absolutely delicious - So what do happy retirees do then Tina what's your first
point do you think - Well one of the very first is we start the day with coffee - We do and
- I'll but in here Tina gets tea in bed from a certain person so her first drink of the day
is tea (absolutely) but our joint first drink of the day is coffee - Yes and
basically I prepare this at night and we wake up in the morning we set the timer on the coffee
machine and we wake up to the wonderful smell of coffee, fresh coffee floating through the apartment
it is wonderful - So we literally do wake up and smell the coffee - Oh yes we do don't we - But the
thing about that is the sense of smell is one of very strong sense and it just sets you up in the
in the day in a good mood and yeah it means that we're not making coffee in the morning it's made
for us and it's like a treat - Yeah it's perfect isn't it Norm - It really is so we bought this
automatic coffee machine and Tina sets it up at night we go to bed 6:30am in the morning drip,
drip and fresh coffee - It's absolutely wonderful isn't it - So I think that's a good starting point
for a retirees day is you know smell of fresh brewed coffee if you happen to like coffee
- Oh that's true - You could do it with tea as well if you want - Absolutely you could get a teamaker
I guess couldn't you - You can indeed yeah I think one of the most important things as a retiree
or anybody any stage of life is to stay curious and to keep up on trends so for instance
our apartment building is just this last few weeks put in an electric charging station for electric
vehicles they haven't been commissioned totally yet but they've created a space in the underground
parking garage and there's room for 2 EV's to charge and we're giving it a serious thought about
whether we would like to go and buy an electric car for various reasons the environment cost
but we're doing a lot of research aren't we Tina - Yeah we are it's actually very exciting isn't
it we actually didn't think we would get chargers in the building so up until now it was
not something we could consider but this is just great - It is and the research is entertaining so
we've been looking at various YouTube videos we have friends in the apartment building that we do
their virtual happy hour with they're looking to get one so we're comparing notes aren't we
and we found out that there's a bunch of new electric vehicles being launched in 2022
and we're having fun learning (yeah) all about electric vehicles their strengths their weaknesses
and - I think it's important Norm don't you that you keep growing as people to keep being aware of the
things around you that are happening that are new and make it part of your life too - So we do keep up
with current affairs and just just generally we obviously do this YouTube channel so there's a
fair amount of planning that Tina and I do to come up with topics and learn new things like the video
editing and all that good stuff so stay curious to keep healthy is what we think happy retirees do
- So one of the things that we've been doing is we have been doing an annual net worth statement so
around once a year we pick the same month and we do a quick tally up don't we Norm
kind of everything we've got all the RRSP's all the TFSA's all the savings accounts all our assets
and what it does is gives you that great sort of feeling to know that financially
you're going to be okay and it's a great feeling and I think that gives you - We started
doing this because when Tina took the official retirement we were doing lots of cruises and
lots of trips away going to Portugal going to the UK going to Europe doing river cruises, sea
cruises and after about a year or so we thought is this sustainable we did have a budget didn't you
- We wondered whether we were spending it all and be running out of money - I Being the nervous
nelly decided let's do a net worth statement so we did that it gave us a snapshot it was reassuring
- It was - Then we decided we're going to do this every year just to keep on top of it we don't want
any bad news to creep up on us financial wise (no) and it has made us happy we've actually seen our
net worth grow as we're spending it so - Yeah it's kind of good isn't it because now we're getting
all these different new pensions coming in and it's kind of topping up what we've been spending
and it's a wonderful position to be in - So happy retirees know what their financial position is
in life confident by it (yeah) and do a net worth statement just to reassure themselves so yeah
we think happy retirees should be on top of your finances - Okay I'm gonna have a bit of cookie first
- So we've just been sneaking a bit of cookie in between
our takes - And they're one of my favourite well both our favourites - They are delicious
another thing that we think is pretty critical is in retirement obviously you think your money
might not last to the end of retirement but as we address that with the net worth statement
don't forget to treat yourself we think that's important don't we Tina (yeah) because
you have the money your expenses are going down generally as you get into retirement so if you
have something that's a favourite or a treat or something you've always wanted maybe a watch
(yeah jewellery) you have a favourite restaurant that you like to go to treat yourself every now
and then because you deserve it you've earned it haven't you Tina - Absolutely and the same is too if
it might be a new car or planning to go on a trip that you've always wanted to go on now's the time
to do it because you have the money and you're doing great enjoy it put yourselves first - Yeah
it's a really good way of keeping happy you don't want to be denying yourself in retirement so it's
another positive thought that adds to positive behaviour well I'm gonna have tea - Okay
another really good thing that we have actually bought for both of us is we have bought smart
watches and one of the great things about this is that not only does it tell the time but it
is making exercise fun we can track how many steps we're going - And Tina cheats because she
moves her arm
faster than everybody else - I walk around the apartment like making the bed going round and
round I think that does it Norm so we can monitor our steps but not only that we can take our blood
pressure on it can measure how much oxygen is going on and you know what it's added that
extra thing that we try to go for at least about an hour's walk a day don't we - It has it has made
exercising more fun because we said we set our steps 8,000 rather than 10,000 steps and when we
achieve that the watch flashes with a little gold cup and fireworks - Which is great but you know
it's a really neat thing to have and it's making exercising enjoyable isn't it - And depending on
what your budget is and your finances we decided not to have Apple watches these are inexpensive
watches from Amazon that we got they're (yeah) they really are very affordable and they
give us those features we wanted blood pressure just to give us a rough idea we know it's not a
100% accurate - No but it's kind of close - But as we monitor it it gives us a trend over time
so basically we're loving these things and it
it gets us to go out for walks so that I can beat Tina on her 8,000 which I don't - And one of
the best things is we actually only have to charge them about once a week - And that's why we didn't
get the Apple watches because they need charging every day - And we thought that might be a bit of a
pain didn't we so just charging these once a week is great so we would highly recommend - And this
one has a conventional watch face that you can put on to it which I prefer rather than seeing
a digital thing - Yeah but you can actually change the face (yeah) you can put different ones - I have
Tina's picture on my watches part of the watch face - You can actually put photographs on it too
and really neat so we encourage you to do that to keep healthy because that's really important
- And we think happy retirees are healthy retirees - Absolutely they are oh
I'm sneaking another one Norm because these are absolutely delicious - So I think happy retirees
also have a bit of a purpose as well and one of the things we thought that you might consider
is to digitize old photographs when I had to clear out my parents house I did
come away with a lot of old family photographs and we're looking to digitize
those over time so that they can be a record that our children and grandchildren can have access to
and see who their relatives were even though they've maybe never met them and these go back
to wartime with old black and white photographs and we think that's a worthwhile project
if you don't have the photographs then of course there's family trees and (yeah) we've
been doing that and our daughter has done a lot of work on the family trees as well sort of took
over from me so find that project that really talks to you and we think that everybody has
old photographs and in this digital age with a smartphone it's so easy to copy them
put little notes into the metadata of who these people are and the dates and where they were but
find yourself a project that you can work at over time you don't have to do it all at once it
could be something that takes many years of your retirement - Because not everybody has a hobby
do they Norm not everybody wants to go golfing and fishing and that so that's a great one that
a lot of people could do - It really is so just throwing ideas out so that everybody can be
happy retirees - Important to keep you happy is socializing don't forget to socialize
we are fortunate with that we've been able to see some family and we also do other
things like during the pandemic we've been doing virtual happy hours which are great
you know other than the fact you're not in the same room with people we just pour ourselves a
drink and we chat away just as if we were there in person and we have many laughs don't we Norm
- Yeah talk about electric vehicles - We do talk about the weather and everything don't we
it is so important to meet people and to try and find some way of bringing laughter - And that was
one of the reasons we came into the apartment building because we can just walk out the door
go to the elevator and there'll be somebody else comes in and so you have that sort of
10 second elevator talk and it's just enough to lift your spirits (yeah) we didn't want to be
remote we lived in a in a country home and there was no sidewalks there's no passer-by's everybody
are in cars and we didn't want to be socially isolated and the apartments work great for us so
we see people every day - It's a huge plus isn't it - It really is and it makes us happy and it makes us
not lonely and it puts us in a frame of mind that we're grateful for what we have and for the access
to other people even if it's just hello how are you - I'm popping down to the mailbox or
going down to the car or anything - Now other people who take it a stage further from us some
people will go to a Mcdonald's around 10 o'clock for a coffee and there can be a group of people
there (yeah) and so they'll socialize over coffee or at another cafe - Yeah that's something that is very
good to do isn't it you could get people who don't necessarily live together in the same building but
great way of just chatting and shooting the breeze - It is so once again we think happy retirees are
retirees that socialize (yes) and have that social interaction which is important for
you your own health mental health (absolutely) so that was our take on what makes retirees happy
and we hope that you're all happy - And we hope you've enjoyed listening to us and
everybody is staying safe - And keeping well - Until the next time bye-bye, bye-bye