Friends make for a satisfying retirement

According to research it is not family and grandchildren that equate to a happy retirement, so what does?

New hobbies, clubs and making new friends were more important to 'life satisfaction' in a recent study than regularly seeing grandchildren. Researchers have suggested that grandchildren could actually prevent grandparents from having an active social life as they are spending too much time caring for them.

The study questioned around 300 pensioners about their home, lives, relationships and hobbies etc which was then measured using a standard psychological model.

Though having children and grandchildren had little effect on life satisfaction, those who had taken up new hobbies, joined clubs and met new friends were an average of 30 percent happier. Among the happiest were those who had taken on an allotment, joined an art class or were in a book club.

Read the original article here.