5 Great Reasons to Volunteer in Retirement
Retirement gives you greater control over your time, but an open calendar may not replace everything a career once contributed to daily life. Many people miss the regular contact with coworkers, the satisfaction of being useful, or simply having somewhere to be. Volunteering can bring those experiences into retirement on your own terms. You can support a cause that matters to you, choose a commitment that fits your schedule, and meet people through work you find meaningful. Research also suggests that volunteering may benefit emotional and physical well-being, giving you plenty of reasons to consider where your time and experience could make a difference.
Enjoying Social Connections and Structure
After retirement, we miss the social contact and daily structure that comes with a busy work life. Volunteering can replace some of that regular interaction because it gives you somewhere to go, people who expect to see you, and a shared activity around which relationships can develop naturally. Completing your volunteer duties also means you’re working within schedules and processes that provide a framework for your activities, much like your former work setting.
Often, when you volunteer, you work with others to achieve a specific goal, like running a food drive, volunteering in a soup kitchen, or helping at an animal shelter. As a result, you'll build connections with people who believe in the same causes as you and want to make the world better.
At the same time, you'll likely interact with people from different backgrounds and life experiences. Getting to know these folks can broaden your horizons and help you build empathy for people outside your traditional social circle.
Stress Reduction
Volunteering has been found to relieve stress. One study found that subjects had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol on the days they volunteered. The study authors even suggested that “volunteer programs designed to help others in need may be considered as an intervention strategy for individuals living under stressful conditions.”
Volunteering can temporarily shift attention away from your own worries, provide social interaction, create a predictable routine, and give you the satisfaction of accomplishing something useful. However, an overly demanding volunteer position can become an obligation and create stress, so the key is choosing a commitment that fits your available time and energy.
Volunteering Promotes Physical Activity
As you grow older, staying active can be challenging. However, you don't have to run a marathon or go to the gym twice a day to stay physically healthy. Volunteering often requires movement as you help the community. For example, you might shelve library books, walk dogs, stock food shelves, maintain trails, set up tables, deliver meals, or work at a museum. All these can reduce sedentary time and add movement to the day.
In a study of participants in a volunteer program in Baltimore, MD, called AARP Experience Corps, the authors reported “significant improvements in the level of physical activity of previously inactive older adult volunteers”. Moving around regularly can help burn calories and build muscle without straining the body. Movement-based activities help you maintain good physical health and may improve your fitness level.
Volunteering Provides a Sense of Purpose
Volunteering often connects us to a purpose bigger than ourselves. One of the major transitions of retirement is moving away from a job that may have provided responsibility, deadlines, recognition, and the feeling that others depended on you. Volunteering can restore some of those elements without recreating the demands of full-time employment.
At its heart, volunteering benefits those in need in the community. This can give you a sense of purpose, especially when you give back to communities that need help most, whether it's knitting blankets for newborn babies, fostering shelter animals, or maintaining your local park.
Helping others can boost your own life satisfaction and emotional well-being. You'll also feel a natural sense of accomplishment, which can make it more likely you'll have a more positive view of life.
Opportunities For New Experiences
Volunteering can provide opportunities to learn actual skills like public speaking, mentoring, fundraising, event planning, gardening, computer skills, teaching, nonprofit administration, or even serving on a board. It also exposes you to organizations and parts of the community you might otherwise never encounter.
Many volunteering opportunities are available, and they might even be something you've never tried before. It's all about finding the right opportunity and taking that first step to experience something new. Or, if you have an old interest you never really had time to explore, this is the perfect time to rekindle it!
For example, if you've always been an animal lover, you can try your local shelter if it needs help. If you prefer the outdoors and being surrounded by nature, your local nature reserve might have volunteer opportunities open.
At the same time, if you have particular expertise, you may be able to apply it in a new environment. For example, a career in accounting might help a nonprofit with its finances.
Finding the Right Volunteer Opportunity
How do you find a volunteer gig that works for you? First, think about how many hours per week you want to commit, then decide whether you want something social or solitary, indoors or outdoors, physically active or sedentary, structured or flexible. Keep in mind that volunteering doesn't have to mean joining a large organization. Helping a neighborhood group, coaching, serving on a community board, assisting at a school, or regularly helping an older neighbor can all qualify.
How do you get started? Think about causes you care about and plan to research at least one organization per week. Review their volunteer pages online and, if you’re still interested, call the volunteer coordinator for more details. If you decide to commit, start slow with just a few hours per week to make sure it's right for you.
A rewarding volunteer role should fit your interests, availability, and energy. Start with a cause you care about, learn what the organization expects, and give yourself time to see how the role feels in practice. The right opportunity can become a meaningful part of your routine while allowing your time and experience to benefit people beyond your immediate circle.
Volunteering may take you across town, to a community event, or on a service trip farther from home. The Visa Signature Credit Card offers purchasing flexibility and rewards on eligible expenses along the way.
