About Fun Packed Life
Retirement was never supposed to be the boring part.
Fun Packed Life is a guide to the second half for people over 50: the money decisions, the health habits, the where-to-live questions, and the plain fun of having your time back. Written by people living it, and checked before it is published.
Harrison, Kian, Olivia and Kaylee
write and edit every guide on this site
Why we started
The advice was either selling something, scaring someone, or talking down.
Most retirement and over-50 advice falls into one of three camps. Financial sites that want to sell you a product. Health sites that want to frighten you into a supplement. And “aging” content that talks to you as if the interesting part of your life is already over.
We wanted something different: the kind of advice you would get from a sharp friend a few years ahead of you. Someone who has read the Social Security rules twice, tried the workout on their own knees, and will tell you plainly when something is not worth your money.
The goal of all that planning was never a bigger number. It was a fuller calendar.
That is where the name comes from. Fun Packed Life is about the life you planned for: the trips, the grandkids, the hobbies, the part-time work you actually enjoy, and a body that still carries you up the stairs at 80. The money and the health are how you get there. The fun is the point.
Who we write for
If one of these sounds like you, you are in the right place.
- You are 58 and want to know, with real numbers, whether retiring at 62 actually works.
- You are deciding when to claim Social Security and keep hearing different answers.
- You just turned 65 and the Medicare mail will not stop arriving.
- You have retired, and Monday morning feels a lot longer than it used to.
- You are wondering whether to stay in the family home, downsize, or move somewhere new.
- You want to stay strong enough to carry your own suitcase, and your grandkids, well into your 80s.
What we cover
Three parts of one plan.
Money, health and how you spend your days are connected. So is our coverage.
Retirement
When you can retire, when to claim Social Security, how Medicare works, turning savings into income, and the life you build once work stops.
Life After 50
Where to live, downsizing and aging in place, family and friendship, and the style and confidence that come with age.
Wellness & Fitness
Strength, balance and mobility routines built for 50-plus joints, plus eating, sleep, memory and mood, with the research linked.
Meet the team
The people behind every guide
Each of us writes about the part of life after 50 we know best, and our founder and senior editor reviews and fact-checks every article before it reaches you.
Kaylee Torres
Founder & Senior Editor
Kaylee founded Fun Packed Life and leads its editorial standards. Every article is reviewed and fact-checked by her before it is published: she checks each claim against its source, cuts the jargon, and sends back anything that would not help a real reader on a real Monday morning.
She also writes our Style & Confidence guides, drawing on her years of styling work, because looking like yourself is part of feeling like yourself at any age.
Harrison Bullock
Retirement Planning & Senior Living
Harrison retired at 62 after 34 years in manufacturing operations. The year before he left, he and his wife sat at the kitchen table with a Social Security statement, three pension options and a Medicare handbook, and understood about half of it.
He spent that year learning it properly, straight from SSA, Medicare.gov and IRS publications. Now he writes the plain-English guides they wished they had: when to claim, how to turn savings into a paycheck, what Medicare really covers, and how to decide where to live without wrecking the budget.
Kian Bennett
Life After Retirement & Life After 50
Kian left a 26-year career in corporate sales at 55, two years earlier than planned. He expected the hard part to be the money. It turned out to be Monday morning.
Since then he has sold the family house, taken a part-time job he actually likes, spent a winter in Portugal with one suitcase, and joined a pickleball league he is still bad at. He writes about building a full, fun life after work: purpose, hobbies, part-time income, travel, and the relationships that change when the calendar empties.
Olivia Anderson
Wellness & Fitness
Olivia has spent more than a decade teaching gentle yoga, mobility and beginner strength classes, and most of her students are over 50. Many of them walked in convinced it was too late to start.
Her approach is simple: small habits you will actually keep, explained with the research behind them. She writes our wellness and fitness guides, links the studies she relies on, and never promises a miracle. Health articles are for information only and do not replace advice from your own doctor.
How we work
Our standards, in plain English
Retirement money and health after 50 are too important for guesswork. These are the rules every article follows.
Primary sources, linked
Money articles rely on SSA, Medicare.gov, IRS and Department of Labor publications. Health articles rely on NIH, CDC and peer-reviewed research. Every source is linked so you can check it yourself.
Fact-checked before it is published
Our founder and senior editor, Kaylee Torres, reviews and fact-checks each article before it goes live, and its figures are checked against the source on the day we publish.
Updated when the rules change
Social Security, Medicare and tax figures change every year. Money articles carry a “rules as of” note, and we review them each January and whenever the law changes.
Corrections in the open
If we get something wrong, we fix it quickly and note the correction in the article. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will look at it the same week.
Independent recommendations
Some pages carry ads and some links may earn us a commission. Neither decides what we write or recommend, and affiliate links are always disclosed at the top of the article.
How we use AI
We use AI tools to help with research and first drafts. A named member of our team edits, fact-checks and approves every article before it is published, and stands behind it.
What we will never do
- Promise guaranteed returns, miracle cures or secret loopholes.
- Pretend to be your financial planner, tax professional or doctor.
- Let an advertiser or affiliate partner decide what we write.
- Publish a money or health claim we cannot point to a source for.
Questions, corrections or a topic idea?
We read every message.
Tell us what you are trying to figure out at info@funpackedlife.com. The best questions become our next guides.
Fun Packed Life provides general information for educational purposes. It is not financial, tax, legal or medical advice; talk to a qualified professional about your own situation. Read our full disclaimer. Images on this site are licensed, our own, or credited to their creators. If you own an image here and want it removed, contact us and we will take it down within 48 hours.