Money
Retirement happiness gap tied to adventure hobbies, not savings targets, Wes Moss survey finds
By Bear Creek Staff, . Bear Creek Capital Network.
A survey of thousands of retirees by retirement author Wes Moss found that the gap between happy and unhappy retirees is less about portfolio size than about what people do with their days. The findings were reported by 24/7 Wall St., drawing on research Moss conducted for his book The Retire Sooner Method.
According to the report, 57% of unhappy retirees reported zero adventure-related core interests. Happy retirees in Moss's research averaged 1.9 adventure interests, compared with 1.2 for unhappy retirees. Adventure ranked as the second-largest category of activities retirees said brought them the most joy, accounting for more than 15% of responses, behind creative interests at more than 20%.
The time data reinforces the pattern. Happy retirees spent 18.6 hours a week on core interests, while unhappy retirees spent 13.2 hours, a difference the report calculated as more than 280 hours annually, or roughly seven work weeks. Moss's stated target is at least 2.5 hours a day on activities a person genuinely values.
Moss defines adventure broadly, which matters for how advisers and clients interpret the finding. The report says the activities named by happy retirees ranged from scuba diving and international travel to RVing, kayaking, bird-watching, bass fishing and rock hunting. One retiree quoted in the piece described tumbling rocks and making jewelry. The point, as Moss frames it, is novelty and engagement, not expense or physical intensity.
Moss attributes part of the benefit to what he calls "anticipatory happiness," described in the piece as "the joy you feel looking forward to something exciting." The mechanism he describes is straightforward: a planned trip generates positive feeling three times, during preparation, during the experience itself, and in the retelling afterward.
Happy retirees in Moss's research also averaged five or more core interests overall, and Moss describes a pattern he calls a "core pursuit cascade," where one activity tends to draw a person toward others.
For financial professionals, the practical implication is timing. Moss argues that meaning cannot be manufactured quickly, and that the years before retirement are the window to build habits, skills and social connections around chosen activities. His analogy, quoted in the piece: waiting until retirement to develop these interests is like "waiting until you're thirsty to dig a well."
One methodological note worth flagging: the survey establishes correlation, not causation. As the report acknowledged, healthier or wealthier retirees may simply find adventure easier to pursue, which means the direction of the relationship is not fully settled. The data does not show whether adventure hobbies cause happiness or whether happier, healthier people are more likely to pursue them.
What the reporting does not establish is how Moss's survey was conducted, what the sample size was, or how retirees were recruited, details that would matter for anyone weighing the findings against other retirement satisfaction research. Those questions are worth asking before treating the correlations as prescriptive benchmarks.
Bear Creek Capital Network publishes content for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, investment, tax or legal advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Consider your own circumstances and consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.