b'Easing the Transition to RetirementLocal group helps people find answers and activitiesBY CINDY PERMANL to R:FORT members took a Moroccan cooking class at the Kings Cooking Studio in Short Hills. Photo credit: Alan Levine; FORT members enjoyed a fall bike ride at Duke Farms in Hillsborough. Photo credit: Cindy Perman. FORT members attended a Moth StorySLAM in Brooklyn at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Photo credit: Alan Levine.R etirementissomethingmosttive retirees. metOutRetirementTogetherThe name kind of says it all. We dont have all people dream about. No moreEnterFiguringthe answers, says Levine, a longtime South Or-work! Forty or more hours per(FORT), a SOMA-based group that is the brain- ange resident (who, full disclosure, isnt officially week that are yours to do withchildoflongtimefriendsAlanLevineandJanetretired yet). Were a bunch of diverse peoplewhatyouwant.YouareyourCoviello. Theyat a work conference in theirthinking about retirement, embarking on retire-own boss. Woohoo! 20s and moved to SOMA in their 30s to raise theirment or recently retiredlooking to make the Thenrealitysetsin:Whatfamilies. In 2023, 40 years after that first meeting,most of their retirement years. We have regular areyougoingtodotoday?Tomorrow?Withthey found themselves at the end of long careersmeetings, as well as special events and activities. whom are you going to do it? Do you have enoughwondering:Nowwhat?TheywonderedwhetherWere still figuring it out.money to live the life you want? otherpeopleinornearretirementwerefeelingFORTsfirstmeetingwasinJanuary2024. Figuring out retirement isnt as easy as just notsimilarly unmoored and asking the same questions.There are 215 members, most of whom live in showing up to a job every day. You may not retireSomeone would say to us, Oh, did you knowMaplewoodorSouthOrange,thoughitsnot at the same time as your partner, friends and fami- that you can audit a class at Rutgers for free? limited to these two towns. Some couples attend ly, so its on you to figure out what to do with yourCoviellosays.Everytimewewouldspeaktoevents together, but others join solo. FORT usual-time. Do you do fun things alone? Do you cleansomeone, we learned some other tidbit about whatly has at least one event per month with anywhere the garage while you wait for them to get home? people were doing in retirement. from five to 40 people attending.SOMA has services and events for seniors, butSo over lunch at Miti Miti in South Orange,Thegrouphostseducationalmeetingsand many of them tend to skew toward older, less ac- FORT was born. speakersontopicssuchasfinancialandestate 26/ matters magazine / winter 2026'