What Are “Core Pursuits” in Retirement?
Many retirement conversations tend to focus on money. Not this one. Today, we’re talking about something even more valuable: your time.
A “core pursuit” is the term I’ve coined to mean a hobby, passion, or activity that generates joy or purpose. In my research on happy retirees, I’ve found that people who report being happiest in retirement typically have at least five meaningful core pursuits in their lives. People with four or fewer were much more likely to report feeling adrift and unhappy in retirement.
Why Happy Retirees Have at Least Five Core Pursuits
Why five? The study showed that the happiest retirees weren’t just “keeping busy.” They were consistently engaged in several different activities that gave them a reason to get up in the morning: social, physical, creative, and sometimes spiritual. When one activity dropped off for a bit, the others helped fill the gap. That built‑in backup system is part of what may help keep happiness more stable over time.
How To Find Your Own 5 Core Retirement Pursuits
Recently, I stumbled onto a simple exercise to help future (or current) retirees discover their own core pursuits. Instead of casually asking what they like to do, I started saying, “Tell me your five (or more) favorite core pursuits.”
The “top five” framing helps generate a more productive thought experiment. Instead of mentioning one or two vague activities they “kind of like,” they tend to pause with more intention. You can almost see the wheels turning as they sort through ideas and search for something they could see themselves doing 15 to 20 hours per week once they stopped working full-time.
Whether it’s golf, travel, pickleball, volunteering, music, coaching, faith, adventures with grandchildren, creative projects, sailing, hang-gliding, or something else, what matters is that the options stop being abstract. The picture of what their retirement life, not just their retirement account, might look like may come more into focus.
As a quick, fictional example, imagine doing this with a couple in their late 50s. At first, they might only mention “travel” and “time with grandkids.” After a few minutes of gentle nudging, perhaps they’ll add mentoring young business owners, playing in a community band, and hiking local trails every week. By the end of the conversation, they might go from listing hobbies to sketching out a weekly routine!
Something else often happens, too. Something physical. They smile. Why? Because it’s more fun to brainstorm what would make retirement meaningful than how to keep it affordable. And once you can see the life you want, it may even become easier to make effective decisions about the money you’ll need to support it.
Separating the “nice to have” hobbies from the activities that truly generate excitement or fulfillment is more than just enjoyable: it’s useful. Retirement is not a vacation; it’s a new life with a new schedule. Having enough money to support that life is essential but not as important as deciding how you want to spend your time.
Align Your Retirement Budget With How You Want To Live
Once you have a list of five core pursuits, you might start aligning your money with your plan. Maybe that means budgeting more for travel in your early, active years, or setting aside a little extra for equipment, lessons, or membership fees tied to your favorite activities. The clearer you are about how you want to use your time, the easier it may be to prioritize your spending. You’re essentially building a “time budget” for retirement that sits right alongside your financial budget.
The numbers only tell you if you can retire. Your core pursuits help answer why you’re retiring and what you’re retiring to. The “top five” exercise is designed to help individuals create a concrete list so they can begin planning now, rather than scrambling to discover something later.
Your Assignment: Ask This Question To Yourself and Your Family
The next time you’re with your spouse, adult kid, friend, or coworker, ask them to tell you their five (or more) favorite core pursuits.
Give them a minute to squirm. That awkward struggle to find all five often helps lead to the joyful epiphany once the list is complete. From there, they may even shine the spotlight back at you. “Okay, now what are your five?”
When that happens, don’t rush your answer. Take a little time and write your list. Put it somewhere you’ll see it. Revisit it once or twice a year as your interests or your life circumstances shift. Over time, that short list may become a simple but powerful roadmap for how you want to spend the next phase of your life.
And that’s the moment when the “top five” question may change from a mental exercise into a healthy strategy to help guide you toward the happy retirement you’ve worked so hard to build.
Core pursuits are just one of the five “Happy Retiree Basics,” and it’s only Secret #2. My new book, The Retire Sooner Method, walks through all five plus the tools and stories behind each one. Pre-order your copy now, it’s the retirement roadmap I’ve wanted to write for years, and it’s almost here.”
This material is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial planning advice. Any examples are for illustrative purposes only. Individual circumstances vary, and retirement planning decisions should be made in consultation with qualified professionals.
