Working in Retirement

Explore the rewarding journey of working in retirement by starting a small business or working a part-time job that you love! Many have the idea that retirement is all about sitting in a hammock or taking cruises. You may wish to take life a lot more leisurely but there are some good reasons to keep busy and keep earning even a small income. Instead of being retired, we prefer the term “Work Optional” or Financially Independent.” If you love it, we would not call it work and the benefits can be many!

Why Consider Working in Retirement – Financial benefits?

Here is a list of reasons we plan to keep working at something until we no longer want to:

• The longer you delay or at least reduce drawing from your savings, the longer your money will last. Delaying can have an exponential value to your investments.  Delaying just 5 years could help your nest egg grow by 10-50% or more.
• Sadly just as people have accumulated some substantial savings, they start drawing them down. Once you have some strong investments is when they really begin to grow exponentially – why not let them run a little longer.
• Using Bengen’s 4% withdrawal rate a $20,000 annual income would be equivalent to having an additional $500,000 invested. Even if you have been a good saver there is nothing better than a little icing on the cake!
• You might choose to delay drawing your Social Security payments to as late as age 70 thus increasing your monthly payments substantially after age 70.
• You might start a business that does well and offers the possibility of selling it for a nice gain.
• If your goal is to leave a legacy to family or an organization, earning a little longer is a great help.
• Establishing a small income can also help you leave your stressful job earlier – a little income goes a long way such as replacing Social Security until you reach full retirement age.
• We see financial preparedness as having a diverse set of incomes in retirement, Social Security, Investment Income, possibly rental property income, and a small business or part-time job.

Other reasons to work past your official retirement:

• Many who retire find they miss the social interactions they once had at work.
• Many also miss the mental challenge of having and accomplishing goals.
• Some like the discipline and purpose of having something to get up and go to.
• For many couples one may still be working full-time and may appreciate the retiring spouse work at least part-time.
• Now is the time to try something you always wanted to try!

Small Business Ideas for Retirees:

These are our favorites but we will mention a few more.

Plant Nursery Business: Discover the joy of nurturing plants, focusing on species like arborvitaes, dogwoods, and Japanese Red Maples. Learn about Starting a Backyard Nursery  and efficient plant propagation techniques.

Firewood Sales:  We have a great Firewood Side Hustle that we have operated for years. Utilizing a woodlot management program, we cut and sell firewood to make some extra money (And mostly heat our home) but also benefit from favorable real estate tax classifications as a Woodlot and a Farm. The sales, savings, and tax break are substantial.

Consulting, Workshops, YouTube: Share your expertise by offering consulting services or workshops, leveraging platforms like YouTube for wider reach. Starting a subscription newsletter or a content site using a tool like https://substack.com can be enjoyable and generate a nice income.

Starting or buying a simple online business: We purchased a small online business in 2021 that was long established and earns a small but steady income. Our return on the business investment is about 35% per year. We of course do spend a little time each week on the business but it is minimal. Our ROI has been far better than just investing the money for a 4-10% annual return. This website and our YouTube Channel, Growing Our Retirement produce a small income as well. We started them from scratch thus investing mostly just our time. Perhaps there is something you can start online, make, or sell that can bring you enjoyment and a nice income.

We do recommend you start a business at least a before you retire so read our article on this topic.

You might also take a Part-Time job working at something you love.

You don’t have to start a business to generate some extra income.

Working a couple days per week can generate a steady income that keeps you from draining your investments. Many choose to work with animals, work in a florist shop, or work in the same field they spent their career in. The possibilities are almost endless! Many employers appreciate reliable workers and people with great experience.

We would add you will probably earn the most doing what you know the most about. Thus you might work in the same field as your career was in. Then again don’t do that unless you really love it!

Steps to Get Started:

Give some thought to what you really love to do and investigate if there is an audience or market. Once you have some ideas you might rank them by income potential. Then, making sure you will be able to balance this work with other retirement goals such as traveling and spending more time with family. If you choose to start a business you will need to study the business and write at least a simple business plan. Finally visit with a CPA to discuss how to form the business. One thing that is great is the flexibility and enjoyment of running a small business in retirement. Every dollar you make will take pressure off your savings and investments,

Working in Retirement offers many benefits

As we have started to explore, working in retirement can get you retired sooner, has financial benefits, adds purpose to your time, and can certainly help others. Please look around our pages to see what we are doing as it may give you ideas about what you might do!