When we think about it – why aren’t all retired people happy?  They don’t work or commute any more.  They have no deadlines, commitments, angry bosses, or back-stabbing coworkers to deal with, and they can sleep-in every day.  To the rest of us still working, we can’t imagine why they wouldn’t be happy all the time?  But it turns out, there are some retired Americans that are indeed happier than others.

Here is the information provided by a 2024 American Research Study on the Happiest Retirees in the USA.

When we looked at the financial aspects of the happiest retirees, it was not that they had more money, but more that they viewed their money as a tool for their happiness.  The happier retirees had no mortgage or consumer debt.  They also stayed in the homes that they purchased and paid off while they were working.

When it came to vacations, the happiest retirees had taken two or three vacation every year, while the less happy retirees had one or none.  The happiest retirees in the survey were not lavish spenders and seemed to be right in the middle-class with their spending especially on cars, clothing, and vacations.  The unhappy retirees on the other hand were the opposite.  This group had a lot more status symbol purchases and high-priced vehicles, with BMW being the most popular.

The happiest retirees had done a lot of planning over the years.  Most had financial advisors, and all had multiple sources of income in retirement, (3-5 sources funding retirement).  The unhappy participants, as you would expect, did little to no planning for their future during their working years, with most starting just five years before retirement.  This group invested without financial assistance, usually day-traded on their own, and all planned to rely on one or two sources of income, such as their pensions only.  The happiest people had four to seven hobbies versus the most unhappy retirees who had fewer than three.

Christine’s Tip:

So, what is a hobby?  A hobby is a leisure pursuit, something that fulfills and defines you.  This would be something that you think about, something you do often, and is absolutely one of the key traits that will ensure your happiness.  You see, those retirees that had many core pursuits were statistically happier than those that retired with only one or two things they liked to do outside work.  According to the research, many Americans with no hobbies, ended up with depression in retirement; claiming that they had never been depressed before retirement, but now without work, they felt they had lost the only identity and sense of purpose they had ever known.