Yesterday's blog chat about retirement led a dinner table chat about having sources of income during retirement. It seems that people who have the roughest time with retirement (boredom and income) are the people who simply stop working at 65. They had the type of job that took them into an office. They earned money for a big company doing a job that they really didn't like and they were happy to walk away from it, but now they don't have something to occupy their time, to keep them happy and to bring in money later. 

My dad supplements his retirement money by continuing to edit a popular textbook and by writing an occasional magazine article. An academic friend collects old books. He has a warehouse of those books that he will sell off when he has the time. Another friend is investing in rental properties and Kumon franchises, while they live modestly right now. My tax dude is mostly retired until tax season. We mail him our forms to North Carolina and he processes them for us every year. 

I think our generation is going to have to look at retirement differently than previous generations. Work isn't something that is done until 65 and then stopped entirely. Ideally, you are doing something you love and you will be happy to keep doing it until they cart you away in the pine box. But if you aren't, then you should have a Saturday hobby that can be turned into a source of income in the future.