Category Archives: Working In Retirement

6 Intriguing Home-Based Business Ideas For Retirees

 

Home-Based Business Ideas For Retirees

Image Pexels

Retiring doesn’t have to mean you stop working if you don’t want to. Keeping busy and challenging yourself is a great way to stay active, both mentally and physically. In fact, retiring is the perfect time to start a passion project, creating a business just because you want to do it — not because you have to. Here are some great ideas for you to start your own business, right in your very own home.

Get writing

A lot of budding writers say their least plentiful but most valuable resource is time. There’s just not enough hours in the day to work fulltime and write as well! But now you’re retired, you’ve got an abundance of time, and these days there are plenty of ways you can make money from writing.

For a start, you could start blogging. Writing regularly about something that interests you can be a great way to build up followers online who share your interest. Once you’ve amassed a following, you could place PPC, CPA or CPM ads to earn a little money on the side.

Or you could host sponsored content on your site from businesses related to your blog, charging a little each time. There’s lots of ways to make money blogging, so do a little research and see what’s on offer.

On the other side of blogging, there is the ever growing self-publishing and copy-editing industry. With a huge need for high-quality online content, you can help businesses with their content, or fulfil your dreams of becoming an author. The best self-published books tend to be in a popular sub-genre, don’t cost a lot of money, and come as a series. To establish yourself as a copy-editor, put some listings up on freelance sites, and collect client testimonials and ratings.

 

Start your own radio station

If you’re passionate about something but you don’t have the chops required to write regularly about it, why not start your own radio station? With the rise of the internet, you don’t need to have an aerial and sophisticated recording equipment anymore. Instead, all you basically need are an internet connection and a microphone!

There are plenty of affordable radio hosting services online that make it quick and easy to start broadcasting. Once you’ve gotten your name out there and built up a good listenership, you can start offering ad space to businesses from your field of interest.

Similarly, podcasting hosting is something that more and more people are embracing. It’s a pretty low-cost business idea, and if you can find a good topic to podcast about, it’s one that is likely to take off pretty quick as the popularity of podcasts continues to grow.

 

Become a professional coach

Throughout your career, you’ve probably accumulated a wealth of knowledge, skills, and wisdom. A lifetime of learning (and making a few mistakes along the way of course!) has given you a deep well of experience. But just because you’ve retired doesn’t mean it ends there. Why not share it with others and become a professional coach?

There are plenty of people out there who want to learn from you, to get firsthand advice that will help guide them in their career. Maybe you managed a successful business before you retired — that will have given you exactly the kind of hard-earned knowledge that young entrepreneurs could benefit from. Create an online profile that showcases your work history and start networking. You’ll find scores of people willing to learn from you!

 

Become a tutor

Instead of passing on your knowledge to people in the workplace, why not pass it onto people in school as well? Parents want their kids to do the best they can, and will happily pay for someone to give them extracurricular lessons outside of normal school hours if it gets them ahead.

You don’t necessarily need to have any qualifications to do this, you just need to be knowledgeable about something. It could be a hobby like playing an instrument or a sport, or you might have a passion for maths or history that you’ve nurtured over the years. Pass on your knowledge and passion to the next generation and help them grow because of it.

 

Start a second-hand store

After a lifetime of working hard and raising a family, you’ve no doubt accrued a trove of bits and bobs. Record players, furniture, collectibles, clothes — the ephemera of life can build up very quickly without you even realizing it. It might be tempting to just take them all down to the junkyard and get rid of them, but as the old saying goes: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. So why not sell them online?

Now you’ve retired, you’ve got plenty of time to start going through your old things and finding what can be reused. Even if it’s broken, you might find it a nice little side project to fix it up too. Digital marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay are easy to use, and with the entire internet at your fingertips, you’re bound to find someone willing to buy what you’re selling.

 

Turn your hobby into a business

Most of you reading this will have a hobby of some kind: gardening, playing an instrument, baking, photography, model-making, the list is endless. While it might have kept you busy in your leisure time before retiring, and even provided some comfort to you when you needed a distraction, you might never have imagined it could provide you with an income.

However, retirement is the perfect time to start making money out of that thing you enjoy doing most. For example, if you enjoy gardening, you could offer your services out to others, of course. Or you could create an ebook or video tutorials on gardening to share your knowledge with others. Almost every hobby can be monetized, you just need to find the right angle….

 

For some, retirement might be the perfect time to put your feet up and have a well-earned rest. But for others, it might be an even better time to really get busy. With so many business ideas out there that you can start today from your own home, why sit around twiddling your thumbs? Get thinking and start your business today!

**If you want to see more on starting a home business, check this out- How to Set Up a Small Business at Home

This is another informative post contributed to Leisure Freak by author Kayleigh Alexandra.

Kayleigh Alexandra is a content writer for Micro Startups — a site dedicated to giving through growth hacking. Visit the blog for your latest dose of startup, entrepreneur, and charity insights from top experts around the globe. Follow us on Twitter- getmicrostarted.

Pension Eligible And Still Working? Maybe You Shouldn’t

If you’re fortunate enough to be working somewhere that offers or offered pension benefits then congratulations are in order. Very few in today’s world have that level of retirement benefit anymore. But once you are pension eligible, is staying on the job to work longer instead of retiring the best way to go? Many times the answer is NO.

Pension Eligible And Still Working? Maybe You Shouldn’t

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

Things To Consider Once Becoming Pension Eligible

Whether you have a defined contribution plan or a defined benefit plan, it will represent a big part of your retirement funding. Those who have enough in pension and retirement savings to retire usually do retire. But if you don’t and have decided to stay working, wouldn’t you want to maximize your pension benefit and future retirement funding?

Post Pension Eligibility Growth

You may be surprised at how little your pension benefit grows going forward. Once you’ve reached your pension eligibility milestone and get the big bounce, the additional years of service may offer very little if any growth. The first step is checking with your company’s pension administrator or HR benefits representative to find out what your pension estimate is. Then find out how much it increases if you stay on the job.

For instance, where I worked, you were fully pension eligible with 30 years of service regardless of your age. If that happened before reaching age 55, then your pension would grow 3% a year until age 55. But after that it was based only on salary increases and your highest consecutive 5 year salary averages. It took big raises to move that needle.

Frozen And Going Nowhere Fast

For many, this little retirement benefit investigation starts right away with bad news. You’re reminded that your pension was frozen by your employer. Meaning that it won’t grow at all or may grow far-far less than their pre-freeze pension rules over the time we stay. That pension benefit then becomes negatively affected by inflation before we even collect a single penny.

 

Got Retirement Benefits? Don’t let them sit, let them rip!

Once we reach pension eligibility, whether it is frozen or not, decide if the rate of growth is too little to make it worth staying. The pension benefit growth rate is nothing we have control over. Why not pull it out and put our retirement benefit to work for us? Maybe pulling your cookies out of their cookie jar and rolling them into your own IRA cookie jar to control investment direction or beginning your pension annuity payment now is the better retirement strategy. Don’t underestimate the power of working and collecting a pension check to invest or a lump sum to rollover to supercharge your retirement savings. If you are going to work anyway, this strategy of changing the scenery is all about giving yourself the chance to grow your retirement portfolio.

 

Why Are You Still Working There Instead Of Taking Your Pension And Running?

Need To Work Longer

There are many reasons why someone who has a pension benefit needs to work longer. From simply wanting to still work to needing more time to meet retirement financial targets. But nothing says you have to stay at your same job and company to meet your goals. This is a great time to pursue opportunities in the same industry with a different company or go in a new direction and do something completely different. The best time to find a great job is when you have one. Consider looking and applying for outside opportunities while on your job. See what’s available, choose the perfect position, and understand your options. Then once hired, announce your retirement and apply for your pension and other retirement benefits.

Love What You Do

Perhaps you stay because you love what you are doing. Do you think that you would love doing it just as much somewhere else? Especially when knowing that you have taken control of your locked up pension and have the chance to better grow your retirement portfolio?

Coworker Friends

Is a big reason you are there due to friends you have on the job? Nothing says you can’t stay in contact. In fact, your being at a different company will add a whole new dimension to your conversations. Taking your pension and running will also allow you to easily expand your social circle and professional network.

Comfortable

It can be very comfortable working a job you know from end to end. But be honest with yourself. Do you sometimes feel like you are stagnate? Starting a new job will be exciting and carry a bunch of optimism about your future. True, it will also bring some discomfort from temporary stress until you learn the ropes. The key word here is temporary. A little stress early on and before you know it your comfort will return. Start thinking about the possibility of personal growth through a new job.

Lucky Are The Few With Retirement Health Insurance Benefits

If you have retirement health benefits, you are open to look for a lot more opportunities since health care won’t be a target factor. If the position offers employee health insurance benefits, you can explain that you have coverage. Then try to negotiate your salary up because you won’t need theirs. Being able to accept any position whether they have health insurance benefits or not is a huge advantage. Obviously if you don’t have retirement health benefits, limit your opportunity search to companies that offer employee health coverage. If starting your own business, expanding an existing side hustle, or choosing an opportunity without benefits, check for all available health insurance options. Consider the cost of health care in your decision.

Pension Eligible – Should you stay or should you go?

There’s nothing wrong with being pension eligible and still working for your same company. But maybe you should really consider taking your retirement strategy to the next level by retiring and moving on. This strategy isn’t theory. I was in a pension plan that kept changing the rules, converted many employees from a defined benefit to a defined contribution plan, denied others completely, and then finally froze it. I retired a young 51 and have enjoyed and benefited from my retirement gigs and a short but sweet encore career. While I was doing that, I used what pension cookies were left to me to grow in my cookie jar and executed a strategy to increase my net worth.

If you are pension eligible where you work, take a step back from the same-old same-old and see if you could be doing something better for your eventual retirement. Then do some research and check available opportunities. If you need it, even if for nothing more than a confidence boost, consult with a CFP for some financial advice. Even if you decide to stay after doing all of that, then you will at least have the knowledge about your pension going forward. That way you can proactively close any discovered pension growth deficiency by setting aside additional savings on your end.

What To Do For Your Business Now So That You Can Retire Early

One of the biggest dreams of many people around the world is to be able to achieve financial stability and ultimately retire early. This is so that while you’re still young enough, you can venture out into the world and experience as many things as you want – without having to worry about a price tag! The sad truth is, we sometimes don’t get the choice about when we retire and in fact, people in their 70’s are more than ever still working just so they can make ends meet. Don’t fancy the idea of that? Whether you intend to eventually sell your business or continue to own it from the backseat, take a look at these tips to apply to your business now so that you can reap the benefits and retire early.

 

What To Do For Your Business Now So That You Can Retire Early

Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash

 

Appoint a second in command

One of the biggest mistakes that business owners make is by not appointing someone to be their ‘second in command’. It’s understandable that you want to run your business your way, and promoting someone to be your right hand man (or woman) doesn’t mean that you won’t still be able to do so. Having that person there to help you with the everyday running of your business, and also be able to lend their opinions with hard and financially crucial decisions will help you out massively. If you have been the face of your company, you probably have customers who prefer always working directly with you. Start occasionally transitioning them to a second in command to extend your client-business relationships. Consider appointing someone that you trust to help you out with your business so that you’re giving yourself the best chance of success!

 

Give yourself the extra knowledge

Another huge faux pas that many entrepreneurs make is by assuming that they know everything there is to know about the running of their business. While it’s likely that you know a fair bit, there are always new techniques and hacks in the business world that could help you out. Think you could do with a refresher in supply chain management? Did you know that you can get a online masters in supply chain management? It would give you the upper hand when it comes to the handling of your goods, services, and products. This applies to all the different aspects of your business too, so give yourself the extra knowledge and get your foot ahead of the game!

 

Take to the realms of the internet!

Finally, if there’s one thing that all businesses can benefit from, big or small, it’s using the internet to accelerate any hard work that you’ve already achieved. You’re probably already aware of social media and how much of an impact it has on day-to-day life – and that’s just for people who want to catch up with their friends and family! Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have made it possible for businesses to create special accounts to help them promote and grow their business. So why not get yourself in on a slice of the action? Be sure to take a look at these useful algorithms for each social media platform, as not all of them will work the same way; therefore needing you to change a few things here and there.

Not The Retirement Job! Staying Unemployed Once You’ve Left Work For Good

 

All our working lives, we move towards retirement like it’s the holy grail. We may get stuck in the rat race for the best part of our lives, but one day, we stand to see our days doing what we want. Ahh, to not have to get up in the mornings. How blissful would that be?

Of course, it’s no secret that retirement days are forever getting further away for many people. Now, the majority of us have no choice but to keep working past retirement. Even those of us who do make it often face the prospect of a retirement job. There’s nothing wrong with this path if you take it because you want to. Many retired people choose to rejoin the world of work. An easy position in a quiet shop could, after all, be the ideal way to get out of the house for a little socializing and adding to one’s coffers. Others, myself included, used retirement as a means to explore new career ambitions. After all, retirement should be defined as the absence of needing to work, not the absence of working.

This only becomes an abomination and retirement failure if you’re forced into a retirement job you really don’t want to do because of money worries. You didn’t work all your life, just to go back into a job you hate in your seventies. Just because our savings and investments take a dump in a bad market, we experienced a loss of benefits, or took some other financial hit causing financial distress, we shouldn’t jump at any crappy job as the only answer. Which is why it’s worth considering these alternatives if it looks like a job is approaching your retirement horizon and you have absolutely no interest in re-joining the rat race.

Retirement Funding Is Short- Oh No, Not The Retirement Job!

Can you reduce your expenses?

First, ask yourself whether you can reduce your expenses. Many of us enter retirement thinking we can keep up the same standards. But, that’s not usually financially viable, especially over the long-term. After all, you’re now operating on finite finances. That car which costs a fortune no longer fits into that. Neither does overspending on all kinds of other things. This isn’t to say you should put yourself on the bread line. But, letting go of some luxuries could make your life more financially comfortable.

Consider things like reducing or dropping your expensive cable or satellite TV service and wireless phone plan. Those 2 items alone can represent hundreds of dollars a month. Shop your insurance plans for better rates. Insurance companies are always making rate changes but seldom tell their existing customers of money-saving options. There are many cost cutting opportunities to explore to lower your lifestyle costs. Thus, you could do away with the need for a retirement job altogether. Even where we live should not be off the table. Downsizing and relocating should be looked at. Reducing your retirement lifestyle costs is the first place to look when money becomes tight and you don’t want to return to the grind.

Is there an easier way to make money?

If you hate the idea of going back to a working environment, why not consider new ways to make money? There are passive income options which stand to earn more than a part-time job could. Investing some of your retirement fund in a rental property could stand to earn you a lot each month if done right. If you are a homeowner, you could rent your home out either fully or partially. Consider moving to a lower cost location and rent out your home or take advantage of your space by taking on a roommate or using a short-term lodging service like Airbnb to bring in extra cash.

 

Equally, many retired individuals turn to investment to make some extra money. When our portfolios can’t deliver gains, interest, and dividends fast enough, there are other ways to make money in the market. If you’re unfamiliar with trading, but enjoy a good wager now and then, you could look at something like spread betting. This is a form of trading using principles stolen from the sports betting world. To make it work for you, all you would need to do is bring forward your betting knowledge and ask yourself, where can you spread bet?. Or, if you have the confidence to stick it out playing in the stocks and shares market, you could make your money that way.

Do your research, get educated, don’t overestimate your skills, and be smart!

This isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain skill set and having a risk-taking personality to pull it off. Anything that involves making a spread bet or day trading may have the potential for high reward but also comes with higher risks than you may be willing to take or should take. You are working with your life’s savings so don’t put all of your eggs into this basket.

Could you work for yourself?

We may think of entrepreneurs as young go-getters, but individuals over 50 are actually dominating the startup market. You could always opt to do the same. After all, a home based and/or internet based business can be started with minimal upfront cash. What’s more, a successful startup could keep earning for you, even if you decide to take a back seat down the line. If a startup isn’t in your cards, you can consider jumping into the gig economy. As a freelancer you choose when and where you work. While working for yourself does have the downside of still being work, at least you won’t have to answer to a boss anymore.

 

If after considering all the alternatives you still find your answer is returning to paid work to fix your retirement funding shortfall, then choose your retirement job the right way. Figure out what your payable skills are and find something you have interest in doing. Not everyone considers working in retirement as being a good retirement. But having a job doing something you want to do or enjoy doing isn’t a bad retirement either. With some cost cutting and earning a little extra each month you may find that you can return to your retired unemployed bliss sooner rather than later.

Making Money For The Future By Starting Your Own Business

When it comes to making more money, especially for your future and retirement life, it is often said that you can do more by starting your very own business at home. You may have an idea that has been festering for while, or it could be that you have skills that you know could earn you more if your set up on your own. But it can be difficult to find the confidence to take that step and actually how you even go about it. I thought I would share with you some of the top tips that could help you get started.

Create a business plan

 

One of the first things to consider would be to create a business plan. This can be a great way to ensure you know what direction you want to take with your business. It can also help you to identify if you need funding, and how much it might take to get your business off the ground. When it comes to a home business, there should be limited set up costs, depending on what the business is, but you may still need to include investment and funding options. This is when websites like https://smallbusinessloans.co/small-business-funding/ could help you out.  The plan itself could be more focused around your actual business idea and the route to market you might want to take as well, so that you cover all bases of what you are going to do with your business. Not only is having a written business plan essential for any funding needs but it will be easier for you to refer back to and adjust as needed in the months or years to come.

 

Have a separate area to work from home

 

The next thing to consider would be to have a dedicated working space for your home and your business. When you work from home, it can be quite difficult to differentiate between your working life and your home life. So many people create a desk area in their home that is purely for work, so that it can feel like you are walking away from it when you are not sitting there. It can also be a great way to keep everything to do with your home business in one place. If you have the space to dedicate a room or area of you home to your business, then it may make it easier come income tax filing time to take helpful business tax deductions.

 

Don’t spend your time, spend your money

 

Sometimes it can be quite difficult to work out when to spend money and outsource things and when to actually take on things yourself. The decision comes down to whether or not your time is more valuable put elsewhere, and whether the costs outweigh the cost of your time, etc. Sometimes you need to understand that it is better to invest wisely than to waste time, especially if it is something that could be handled better and more efficiently by being outsourced. Invest in yourself and your time to know when to take something on and when to hand it over.

 

Using social media and other marketing ploys

 

On the subject of social media, it is important for you to make more of your marketing aspects and sometimes you as the business owner is the one who can make your business shine. More people are inclined to accept people who show passion for what they are showcasing when it comes to smaller businesses, so if you can appeal to followers and engage with your audience you are on the right track. Facebook and Twitter are common platforms, but things like Instagram stories could help and websites like https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ are full of tips to get you started.

 

I hope that these tips help you to create your at home business and make it shine.

 

My Second Act Retirement Jobs: What Worked, What Didn’t

The benefits of working in retirement are many, from financial to social. I retired early at the age of 51 and planned on pursuing certain paid opportunities that I was interested in learning and doing. I was excited about the prospects of experiencing second act retirement jobs that I had passion for. A passion and excitement that was lost after decades of doing mostly the same thing with a lot of stress and legacy baggage attached to it.

I did find success in my second act efforts and can truthfully say it exceeded my expectations. There were a couple of jobs, a side hustle, and even a 4 year encore career that I enjoyed before I retired early again. Although I can look back at my second act experiences with pride and label it all a great success, there were certainly some things that worked and some things I tried to do that didn’t work as well.

My Second Act Retirement Jobs: What Worked, What Didn’t

Image source

My Second Act Retirement Jobs Adventure

Knowing What I Wanted For My Second Act Retirement Job

I wanted to choose the right retirement job, not simply jumping back into the unfulfilling rat race. The first thing I did was identify my payable skills and experiences. I then split them between the skills that I enjoyed using and the ones I didn’t enjoy doing. On the ‘didn’t enjoy’ list I also identified those skills I wish to never do again. The idea was to target positions that were heavy on the ‘enjoy using’ side of my skills ledger. In no way did I want a second act retirement job heavily weighted toward doing things I didn’t enjoy.

Next I listed what jobs and industries I wanted to experience. I had some technical opportunities I wanted to pursue that were aligned with my first career, others were not. There were some non-technical opportunities I really wanted to experience. I also listed other desired second act attributes I was looking for, like commute limitations, avoiding the corporate world, flexibility, etc. This gave me an expanded retirement job target zone.

Then there was the early retired side of me. In my first career I was a lead engineer and I no longer wished to have the stress of a high professional position. At least not right out of the retirement gate. I wanted to look for lower level opportunities that would be less stressful.

This worked!

This was an important aspect of my successful second act adventure. I accomplished knowing what I wanted for my second act retirement job and then eagerly went after it. It set realistic goals based on the payable skills I had and enjoyed using. 

A Lower Stress Stepped Down Position

None of my second act plans revolved around making the big bucks so scoring a lower stress position was tops on my list. This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. Even though there were many aspects of my technical career I still enjoyed doing, I prioritized finding a non-technical opportunity.

I carefully applied and interviewed for positions I really wanted to do. Even though I had some desired cross-over skills, the fact that I had no real documented experience in these fields held me back. I noticed a common issue during interviews. Because of my previous high technical past, the interviewers in one way or another had concerns about boredom doing nontechnical work. In their minds I was only applying for the position because I was bored or they were concerned I would soon become bored if hired. No matter how I tried to counter this issue I failed.

I shifted my strategy to pursue a lower level technical position that aligned more with my first career. I didn’t have to deal with the boredom issue but instead the overqualified kiss of retirement job death. But I countered honestly by telling them why I wanted the position and found success.

First attempts failed but strategy shift worked.

Seeking stepped down opportunities outside of my long career failed. I should have either attempted to work part-time in these fields of interest before I retired or signed up at a temp agency to work in those industries to get experience. That may have been enough proof that I had real interest in them regardless of my long career. However, after finding success with my strategy shift, I must say that my first retirement job was a fun and rewarding experience. Even though my initial desire to attempt staying out of tech failed, I have no regrets about how my second act journey played out. I stayed just short of 2 years with this first opportunity before accepting what would become my encore career.

Being Honest and Setting Boundaries

For my second act I was looking for something more rewarding. I was honest about my experience and skills. I didn’t want to fake my way into a job that I wouldn’t enjoy doing or putting myself in a position where I couldn’t meet their expectations. But I also set some boundaries. If during an interview things came up that were skills I never wanted to do again I would honestly explain my position and bow out. I feel this worked well for me.

I had no issues in my first stepped down position but I did experience push back in my encore career and even more so during what I call my short-term early retirement side hustle. The longer I worked for them, the more they pushed to expand my responsibilities into my no-fly skills zone. I was mostly successful in maintaining the boundaries set when I was hired on during my encore career stint. There was honest discussion that resulted in agreeable compromise. I retired early again and I still look back more favorably on that experience than my first long career.

My short-term side hustle experience within a different business segment of that same company was another story. I accepted the short-term gig after honestly defining the scope of my work. It was probably the best work arrangement of my life. But after a couple of months when the first phase of the project was completed, the pressure started again to push me into doing things beyond the scope of our agreement and what I found acceptable for my second act.  

I successfully maintained my boundaries but there were repercussions.

Sometimes honesty isn’t acceptable, especially when management just wants conformity and silent obedience to authority. I saw that everyone was being pushed to expand roles and responsibilities. I simply and honestly said that maybe it’s best we call this good and part ways. Management doesn’t always seem to like that kind of honest conversation. The situation resulted in my staying on for the last 4 months of the agreed upon contract but there was obvious hostility from my manager. I can’t call this short-term side hustle a second act retirement job win. If ever in this kind of situation again I would now just resign and happily return to retirement.

Being A Competent Overachiever In A Stepped Down Retirement Job

For my first retirement job I wanted a less stressful lower responsibility opportunity. Having been an engineer and becoming a technician in a similar field was exactly that. I was doing very well in the position and I found myself applying some of my previous self, like documenting training for new techs that went beyond my role. It was appreciated and I had a very good relationship with my coworkers and manager. That was the upside. But I did experience something I hadn’t planned for.

An opportunity to move into a different job within the company became open that I really wanted. It was a slight promotion but still within my stepped down lower stress retirement job parameters. My manager was for it and the hiring manager was ready to offer me the position. But my director had different ideas. Two things were on his mind. I was in my fifties where everyone else was 25-35 and I was basically too good to let go. He went to the VP and the offer was killed. My background and early retirement status was well-known. I was seen as a flight risk. Better to continue using me where I am already productive for as long as they can. 

I felt the sting because I forgot how business works.

I somehow let myself fall into a youthful exuberance of being in a company I liked, doing something I had passion for. All said, the director was absolutely right. I had no real intentions of staying for a long time.

It wasn’t a major setback in how I grade this second act experience. But I felt a mental sting and call this a great lesson in handling stepped down retirement jobs. My lack of life drama made me dependable. I was reliable and capable. My lesson learned- Being good at your retirement job can’t counter the realities of how management thinks. At the same time understand and remember my goals. If I really want to make a long commitment then communicate that. Voluntarily go above and beyond but don’t lose sight of my defined second act employment parameters. I have to remember that as a retiree willing to take on retirement jobs that I will always be a flight risk. Throttle expectations to that truth.

Financial Blessings

I was prepared to live off of my portfolio when I retired early, but I always planned on living a retire early and often lifestyle. This allowed me to have the courage to retire with less than a million dollar portfolio. I enjoyed second act retirement jobs for just short of 6 years and earned a little over $350,000. It’s amazing how different work can be when you do something you enjoy learning and doing. I accepted opportunities that I had interest and passion for and was paid for doing so.

This is a total win!

Money wasn’t my primary motivation to pursue the opportunities I took on. But I knew that earning even a little money in retirement makes a huge difference in portfolio longevity.

 

I always say that retirement should be redefined as the absence of needing to work, not the absence of working. I went into retirement with that definition and my experience was better than expected. Some things I did worked, others didn’t or at least only partially worked.

From education to careers, so much of our life’s employment decisions are career minded and money centric. My second acts were more about working in areas of interest, passions, and doing it on my terms. Nothing much that we do goes off without a hitch. However, by having goals we tilt the odds in our favor.

Considering A Retirement Job? Avoid These Costly Mistakes

Working in retirement can bring many rewarding benefits. From social and personal growth to obvious financial rewards. But do it wrong and your retirement job can cost you plenty. Sadly, making some simple mistakes can have us end up with a retirement job that delivers a dose of regret. Having a little awareness goes a long way in avoiding any retirement job pitfalls. Here are some issues to look out for and plan around so you can walk the retirement job tightrope.

The Benefits of a Retirement Job Are Obvious

I had always planned on living a retire early and often lifestyle. Based on recent studies many people plan on having some type of retirement job. According to a 2017 Gallup poll 75% (3 out of 4) people plan on working in retirement. Part-time is the most popular option from that group. A 2015 AARP study reported “more than one-third of working Americans age 50-64 (37%) anticipate working for pay post retirement from their current career.”

Obviously, earning any income in retirement will at least mean a reduction in the amount we take from our retirement savings. That lets our tax-advantaged retirement accounts continue to grow. Starting a lucrative encore career could even mean adding more money to those retirement savings accounts. We may still be able to add earned income to a Roth IRA even in the year we turn 70 ½ and beyond when RMD is in play.

Working in retirement can be great. But we have to be smart about earning income from a retirement job and do it right or it can cost us way more than it should.

Avoiding Costly Mistakes When Considering A Retirement Job

Everyone’s situation is different. A smart strategy for working in retirement takes looking at how you have your retirement funding and benefits set up and from where it comes from.

I was aware of some of the pitfalls of working in retirement. I planned accordingly based on my retirement income and benefits. Yet I was still surprised at how easy it would be to misstep.

Retiring With A Severance Package

Many companies offer early out packages due to restructuring business direction, location, or personnel. If you began your retirement with a nice send-off in the way of a severance package, then you better pay attention to the fine print in the severance package contract. Many if not all severance packages will have a non-compete clause.

Now What?

If you figured you would accept the severance package, retire, and then take a retirement job in your same field, you best check the contract for any non-compete language. Most dictate a non-compete time frame. It usually starts from the date you left the business dictating that you must not compete in the same line of business. The last thing you want is a costly legal suit. Some states limit the ability of companies to enforce non-compete clauses. If your heart is set on a retirement job within in your same field during the non-compete clause time frame then first seek legal advice.

Increased Taxes and Managing Payment

Just like pre-retirement, the more you earn the bigger your chance of being pushed into a higher tax bracket. Knowing the tax brackets and making sure you either stay just below the next jump or make well enough that you won’t care is a necessary action to take. The challenge a retirement job brings is when your retirement funding is set and can’t be suspended or reduced while you work in retirement. Having a set private or public pension, an annuity, or taking early retirement SEPP 72t payments from your IRA, means that retirement income still comes even though you may now also have a paycheck.

In my case I had a 72t with a 10% Federal Tax withholding assigned to it. That was more than enough taxes withheld when I didn’t work in retirement. Those taxable 72t payments had to continue coming to me while I was working. Even though I filled out my retirement job W4 to withhold taxes as Married but at the higher single rate with Zero dependents, I owed over $1,000 when tax filing time came. That kind of under payment can cause an IRS tax penalty and interest charges.

What to do:  

Keep track of your income and run tax estimates. Make sure that you set aside money for taxes owed later and/or plan on paying additional quarterly estimated taxes if withholding will fall short. Being caught off guard at tax filing time is nobody’s idea of fun. Especially if your savings isn’t easily accessible.

Another consideration is stuffing as much of your retirement job income into tax deferred retirement accounts. Contributing to an IRA and/or 401K can help mitigate any retirement job tax issues. On my early retirement 5 month side-hustle I contributed 80% of my salary to a 401K. This reduced my retirement job’s taxable income for the year. It was set aside for later in retirement when I could easier manage my retirement income and tax rate.

Health Benefits

Medicare:

Once your reach age 65 you have to sign up for Medicare. If you’re already collecting Social Security, whether working in retirement or not, you will be automatically signed up for Medicare Part A. However, you must still sign up for a Part B plan or a 10% penalty may be levied against you. This is easy to overlook if you turn age 65 while working a retirement job that offers health insurance benefits. Start investigating all of the medicare rules before you reach age 65.

ACA (Obamacare):

Many people took advantage of using the ACA so that they could retire early before Medicare kicks in. A lot of retirement jobs do not provide health insurance benefits so the ACA makes it easy to accept these opportunities. If you have a low-cost of living, thus having a low enough income to qualify to receive health insurance subsidies, then pay close attention to the ACA income thresholds. Crossing them may cause your health subsidy being trimmed way back. This could cause you to pay thousands more a year for your health insurance. Take care to analyze the income to cost ratio so that your retirement job doesn’t cost you more than you earn from it.

Employer Retirement Healthcare:

If you retired with a medical benefit from your employer then pay close attention to the fine print and review the plan rules yearly. Things can change and you can run afoul of the rules causing you lose your hard-won retirement healthcare benefit.

After working over 30 years in my first career and company I had earned a retirement health benefit where I was allowed to buy into the employee health plan. With my first retirement job came a low-cost employee health insurance benefit that was 75% less than my retirement health insurance premium. I suspended my retirement healthcare as allowed and went on the retirement job’s health plan for the year.

The next year the retirement health benefit rules changed and benefit suspension was no longer supported. It became a “use it or lose it” retirement healthcare policy going forward. If I had missed the fine print on the end of year healthcare election documents I could have been dropped. Losing a 30 year employment benefit and once again being forced to work for healthcare or thrown to the expensive individual market, praying the ACA stays intact until I turn age 65, could have been a costly mistake.  

Social Security

If you take on a retirement job after you have started receiving Social Security then there are two separate issues that can come into play.

  • Having your Social Security payment reduced
  • Causing your Social Security to be taxable
Reduced Social Security Payment:

If you started Social Security before your full retirement age and take on a retirement job making more than the yearly earnings limit, Social Security will reduce your benefit payment. The reduction is $1 for every $2 earned above the annual limit. The 2018 earnings limit is only $17,040. For the year you reach full retirement age, the reduction is $1 for every $3 earned above the annual limit but it is only applied to earnings before your birthday. The earnings limit is also set higher at $45,360. There is no Social Security limit on earnings for working in retirement after your full retirement age.

Note: Reduced Social Security benefit amounts are merely delayed. Reduced amounts are added back to your benefit and monthly payments once you reach full retirement age.

Social Security Becoming Taxable:

Regardless of your age, a chunk of your Social Security can become taxable. According to the Social Security Administration:

file a federal tax return as an “individual” and your combined income* is

  • between $25,000 and $34,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50 percent of your benefits.
  • more than $34,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.

file a joint return, and you and your spouse have a combined income* that is

  • between $32,000 and $44,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50 percent of your benefits
  • more than $44,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.

*Combined income is calculated the following way- AGI (wages, self-employment income, interest, dividends, IRA/401K withdrawals, taxable pension/annuity, etc.) + Non-taxable interest. (interest excluded from taxes on your federal return but considered as part of the taxable Social Security threshold calculation) + ½ of your Social Security benefits. (individual, or joint-you and spouse combined).

If you are considering a retirement job and haven’t already claimed Social Security, you may want to delay beginning your benefits, if you can afford to. That way you will earn a higher benefit amount later. You also won’t have to deal with retirement job related Social Security payment reduction and/or taxable Social Security thresholds.

Be aware of these thresholds if you have already begun your Social Security benefits. That way you can calculate the impacts and the actions you can take to reduce unnecessary cost and make your retirement job worth doing.

Retirement Job Trap

One of the easiest retirement job mistakes to make is finding yourself trapped in the wrong job. This is a costly mistake because we end up spending our time doing something we are not happily doing. Choose your retirement opportunity wisely. We all only have so much time left to spend so we shouldn’t be wasteful with it. Even a carefully chosen job can later have run its course. It’s far too easy to become trapped because of our old pre-retirement work habits of business obligation and loyalty.

I certainly experienced that in my retirement job endeavours. The longer I was there the more the business added to my duties beyond my desired working in retirement happiness thresholds.

Be sure to check your retirement job happiness account frequently. If you find it being depleted then your retirement job is costing you way too much. Make the necessary adjustments to your working arrangement, retire again and find another retirement job, or re-enter a happiness based work-free phase of retirement.

Working In Retirement – Is It Worth It?

 

Once we retire, that’s it, right? You are finally able to give up your job and can leisurely sit back and relax. Or is it that simple?

Not all retirees want to give up their job once they hit retirement age. In fact, some even take up another job once they have retired from their regular one. Wondering why that is? Well, there are various reasons. For some folks retirement is the perfect time to pursue new opportunities of passion and interest. But the main reasons many retirees return to a paying job is they need the money or they just get bored with all the free time that retirement brings.

Thinking of calling it quits on your retirement and finding another job? Here are some reasons why it might be worth it.

 

The Benefits of Working In Retirement

Can Keep It Flexible

Lots of retirees enjoy the new lease of flexibility that it brings. They are no longer trapped by their nine-to-five. And it’s now possible to find a flexible job that they can do in their spare time. This is why there are a lot of retirees who are now becoming entrepreneurs and freelancers – the flexible way of working fits into their new lifestyle. You just need to remember to stay highly organized with your working schedule, paystub generator for your payroll, and filing your taxes. Being highly organized and having plenty of free time – they are the best things for helping your new flexible career become a success!

Provides You With A Regular Income

When some people hit retirement age, they are surprised to find that they haven’t saved up enough for their post-work life, despite all of their best efforts. If you find that you are in this situation, then you might be forced to go back to work. Don’t worry, though, even if your pension pot isn’t as big as you were expecting, it should make it possible to only go back to part-time work rather than a full-time job. Even taking on a full-time opportunity in retirement can be enjoyable. Especially if it’s aligned with what you are interested in doing or passionate about. Who knows, it could be the start of a rewarding encore career.

 

Social and Personal Growth Benefits

Of course, it’s not just the monetary benefits that people get from going back to work. They also enjoy the social side of having a job as well! In fact, some retirees who feel quite lonely after leaving work choose to find a part-time job just so they have some regular contact with other folk. This is especially the case with retirees who live quite far away from their family.

Aside from this social benefit, working in retirement allows retirees the opportunity to learn new skills they have long admired. Personal growth is a rewarding self-investment that adds immense satisfaction.  

Delay Pension Withdrawals

If you do go back to work after retiring, you won’t have to begin your Government Pension (Social Security) or withdraw from your private pension (retirement accounts) as you will be living off your regular income. At the very least you will be able to withdraw far less. So, you will be leaving most of, if not all, of your pension for a later date, when you finally do retire for good. And, while your pension waits for you to fully begin withdrawing from it, it will be amassing more interest and will grow as a result. So, when you do decide to start making withdrawals, your pension pot will be larger than right at the start of your retirement!

 

Just because you are now at retirement age, it doesn’t mean that you absolutely have to retire. As you can see, there are a few different reasons why it might be worth returning to work!

Create Your Own Phased Retirement

Just because your company doesn’t support phased retirements doesn’t mean you have to delay your retirement. Staying in their full-time rat race grind may be the only solution they offer. But it isn’t the only solution for anyone wishing to ease into retirement using a phased retirement approach.

Create Your Own Phased Retirement A recent study done by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) found that 77% of employers actually believe many of their employees plan to continue working after they retire. 47% of these employers also say many of their employees envision they’re using a phased retirement transition approach for their retirement.

Yet only 31% of the employers that Transamerica surveyed said they would let their employees shift from full-time to part-time employment. Not surprisingly, only 27% of employers said they would allow phased retirement seeking employees to move into less stressful or demanding positions.

Caution is Needed for Employer Allowed Phased Retirement

Retiring employees do need to be careful entering into a formal or informal phased retirement work arrangement with their employer.

Careful attention has to made into the impacts that a reduced schedule or a lower stress/lower paying position will have on any defined retirement benefits there may be. The defined benefit rules and the formulas they use are tough to get around. The last thing you want is for your phased retirement time dragging your retirement benefit amount down.

Other active employee benefits like medical insurance and paid-time-off/Vacation will also need to be carefully examined. Entering into a phased retirement arrangement will most likely impact them.

Signs to Look for Before Staying With Your Company in a Phased Retirement Agreement

Being able to have a phased retirement with one’s current employer is certainly the most comfortable way to go. We already understand the business, the work processes, and the culture. But based on my first career I believe caution is justified.

I think my corporate world experience isn’t unique and is a shared experience. Entering into a phased retirement agreement with one’s employer may not be the no-brainer decision you might think.

Think about the following:

Does your company have a habit of expecting employee loyalty but never reciprocates?

In other words, do they treat long-time loyal and dedicated employees as just a disposable number? Your phased retirement gig may be just short-term to ring out all they can before letting you leave on their terms, not necessarily yours. They will and do value younger employees who they think they can retain longer-term.

Do employees who have transferred to a new position or have been promoted get sucked back into their previous roles every time feces hits the fan?

Do you think your phased retirement agreement will stand if your company has a habit of doing that? Are you OK with a prolonged or indefinite return to your pre-retirement job obligations?

Has there been times when your company has backtracked away from promises made?

Think bonuses, raises, 401k match, pensions, health insurance, promotions, etc. When they do, did they include executives in the pain or did they state they decided not to include them in order to attract and retain the best for the company? Do you think they will honor your phased retirement agreement for as long as you want, need, or agreed to? If your company throws employees under the bus but never its executives then maybe you should think twice about extending your relationship with them.

Just take a moment and really think about your experience with the company.

If your career there has been nothing but a stellar experience then I think you are in the minority. If it’s that good I would also question why even consider a phased retirement. Just enjoy it until you can feel like fully retiring. If you have concerns now about the company then why enter into a phased retirement agreement and continue with any negative feelings in your life?

For my first early retirement I wasn’t thinking “phased retirement”.

I was fully in a “retire early and often” mindset. I have successfully done that with some rewarding and interesting post-retirement work. In hindsight some of the things I did while preparing for that included asking myself the above questions about my long-time employer.

Let’s just say that I have never worked for them again in post-retirement. I admit that there is some truth in the saying better the devil you know (than the devil you don’t)”. However I found entering into a new relationship to be in my favor when working in retirement.

I could work without a legacy of career obligation baggage to be dragged back into. I could create a retirement lifestyle where I would only seek opportunities aligned with my interests and passions. That includes only working under my terms for as long as I wanted to.

Not having to worry about upsetting or angering a long-time employer who may still have control over some of my retirement benefits, thus having control over me. That to me is a big deal.

Why Creating Your Own Phased Retirement May Be the Better Way

First off, understand what kind of phased retirement you really want. Even if your company does offer a phased retirement option it may not be aligned with what you envision.

  • Are you looking to go part-time?  
  • Change job duties to something with less stress and less responsibilities?
  • Wanting to only work certain parts of the year or specific seasons?  

Also try to figure out how long you want the arrangement to last. I think the fact anyone is willing to bring up phased retirement with their employer means they aren’t afraid to signal their retirement intentions. Hopefully this is done only after knowing one could actually retire because employers may sideswipe someone who have prematurely signaled their retirement intentions.

Rather than thinking only “phased retirement”, open up your options by thinking of retirement as the absence of needing to work. You can think of it as a phased retirement or as I had planned to do and have successfully done. That is retiring early and often.

If your plan is to go directly into your desired phased retirement position then begin finding, interviewing, and accepting a position before announcing your retirement. This will at least allow for you to explore your options over only attempting to stay at your existing company.

Here are some reasons supporting why you should create your own phased retirement:

Make a clean break from your employer. No worries of negatively impacting any retirement benefits through a reduced salary (less stress-pay/fewer hours) phased retirement agreement.

Free to choose opportunities aligned with your interests and passions. Not what your employer thinks is their best way to use you. It’s easier to limit your duties to agreed upon responsibilities and negotiate rather than be dictated when our role needs to be changed.

No previous legacy obligation of work to be dragged back into in any time of crisis, real or otherwise. That certainly could circumvent your phased retirement wants and needs.

New working environments offer new experiences. In people, work, education, and culture. It may not be as comfortable starting out but it makes up for that by being more exciting. We all stay in our ruts too long.

It’s easier to move on or as I call it “retire early again” when there are no long-term ties. Knowing that I can simply leave once a retirement job isn’t checking off all my boxes anymore makes working in retirement fun and not a dreaded burden.

Last Words on Creating Your Own Phased Retirement

The company I worked for over 3 decades did not offer any phased retirement options. It was “their way or the highway”. I waited some months after retiring early before I began looking for my first dream retirement job. It all worked out wonderfully. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t take some effort on my part.

I have several pages on this Leisure Freak site that might be of help:

Retiring Early and Often 

How to Choose Your Retirement Job 

How To Find Your Early Retirement Job 

Retire Early and Start Your Own Business 

Check under the Retiring Early and Often tab at the top of the page and there are pages on retiree resume  and interview  tips, handling the dreaded “overqualified issue, and even how you can increase your wealth by retiring early and often

Before I close out this post I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fly in the ointment. It’s called health insurance. If you retire without a retirement medical benefit then health insurance must be considered. A phased retirement agreement at your employer that allows for employee group medical insurance does carry some weight.

When looking at creating your own phased retirement, include health insurance in your decision process. Look at staying with the same employer, looking for new opportunities that provide health care benefits, or buying health insurance in the single payer market.  

Retire Early and Often: A 7 Step Plan for Scoring a Successful Encore Career

If I was able to retire early and have a successful encore career then you can too.

When I retired early from a long career at the age of 51 it was late 2009. Unemployment was high and the economy was low. It took having a plan of action for a successful encore career to happen for me.

People have many reasons for wanting a retirement job or starting an encore career. There are obvious social and financial benefits. For me there were some things I really wanted to learn more about and experience. Getting paid to do it was the frosting on the cake.

Successful Encore CareerI had always planned to retire early and often.   I needed to set aside my decades long engineer persona and all of its associated all-consuming obligation. My wish was to spend more of my time doing things closer aligned with my passions and interests.

I didn’t need to return to work. What I wanted to do was cherry-pick opportunities that concentrated on the skills I enjoyed using. I was and still am grateful for all that the earlier version of me and my career gave me. But I needed to move-on and reinvent myself  to living a more passion-driven lifestyle.

I’d like to share my seven-step strategy for landing a successful encore career.

Second Act, Here I Come

My 7 Step Plan for Scoring a Successful Encore Career

Phase one of my plan started with taking some time off to decompress and enjoy some alarm clock freedom. Phase one had it’s unique importance. It’s where I could mentally shed decades of institutional career-driven conditioning. That and embrace the new life to be lived on my terms. Phase two is where the 7 step encore career actions came into full play.

Step 1: It’s All About and Not About Money

Have Your Financial House in Order

Obviously my retiring early meant having a good handle on my finances and lifestyle cost. In my case my early retirement funding paid for my primary living expenses. This allowed me to remove money from the retirement job decision process. With money off the table I can ask myself whether I would really want to pursue an opportunity. That question is a tool I use in what I describe as “retiring well”. 

Even if lifestyle funding isn’t at 100% for the long-term, knowing where we are financially removes any job search desperation. I believe part of my encore career success was the lack of financial desperation in my opportunity selection process. I Chose well. It was at no time salary driven. I also believe having a lack of financial desperation helps in the interview process.

Encore career success isn’t just about money. It’s about scoring an opportunity aligned with our values, passions, and what we are interested in doing now.  What I did was focus on the opportunity first. I then only negotiated an appropriate salary after being offered the position.

Step 2: What Floats Your Boat?

Identify Your Passions and Interests

I asked myself, what do I want? The whole idea is picking the right encore career opportunity.  I began with a self-assessment of my passions and interests. There were specific industry and positions I wanted to pursue.

I then listed my relevant payable skills and divided them into 2 columns. Those I enjoy doing and those that I don’t. I only targeted opportunities that tilted heavily to the payable skills I enjoyed using. There will always be a need to do the things from the less desired payable skills column. The encore career idea I embraced was to limit my exposure to the non-enjoyed column skills as much as possible through purposeful opportunity targeting.

Step 3: What’s Your Story?

Be Able to Enthusiastically Answer the “Your Story” Question

The question can come in many forms. Tell me about yourself. Why did you retire? Why are you interested in doing XYZ? That’s when understanding my story became important. In my story I am the protagonist. I am more than a chronological list of my experiences. My resume certainly lays out that professional experience and accomplishments list. I didn’t want to just roll through that boring narrative when given the opportunity to tell my story.

Choosing an encore career path different from one’s first long career can be challenging. Instead of my early retirement and subsequent search for a new opportunity looking like I’m some kind of unpredictable, undependable flake. I wanted my story to be about coherent transition. My story is about all my experiences and discovering what I am really good at, love doing, and what I have passion for. It shows how I am pursuing opportunities that are on a logical path forward to grow and be productive in those areas. It’s why I should be seen as an asset and not someone making a nonsensical disconnected jump.

What I found necessary for encore career success is telling my story by adding emotion and interest to the chronological history. I used feelings to set myself apart by adding how I felt during certain milestones or personal discoveries. I also emphasized the impact it had on me, the business, and/or others. My belief in my story is projected out when telling it.

Step 4: Keep Growing

Add New Skills that are Aligned with Your Early Retirement and Encore Career Goals

I am very curious and that is a big part of my early retirement. I’m always exploring new concepts and adding new skills. I had many interests that went in different directions when I was looking at opportunities. Even though I was targeting opportunities based on what I loved doing, the job ads listed things I had never done or wasn’t as proficient at doing.

I took free classes that were offered at my library. It was a gardening class and had nothing to do with my eventual encore career. It was about other encore avenues I was exploring. I also did volunteer work in what was another path unrelated to my eventual encore career. Although they did not result in an encore career the experience was still rewarding and helped me in other ways.

I did sit for a few sessions with a friend of mine who was an Excel and SQL-pro. He tutored me on advanced spreadsheet and database query skills. They were skills aligned with my targeted technical encore interests. Those skill learning sessions were directly related to my eventual coveted retirement job. There are many ways to learn new skills.   

When we keep growing in areas of our interest and passions it makes our early retirement fuller and only improves our chances for starting a successful encore career.

Step 5: Practice Makes Perfect

Test the Waters and Yourself

I actually started interviewing a year before I retired from my first career. At that time (2008) job opportunities were limited due to the deepening recession. Doing it gave me practice. Job interviewing is like a game or dance. The better we are the more likely we are to stand out. It’s something we get better at the more we do it. Our resume facts are the same. But it’s all about feeling and acting more natural and comfortable in the role of self-promotion and being judged.

I also did some volunteer work and a side hustle. The volunteer work was very physical and allowed me to test my interest and passion for the outdoor recreation industry. For the side hustle I was a private consultant. It was a contract related to telecom litigation and paid extremely well. I was able to explore my self-employment path in an area I thought I enjoyed from my long career. In both of these examples I decided the experience showed me that they weren’t exactly what I wanted to do in my retirement.

The volunteer work was too physical for my 50ish old body and I couldn’t easily keep up with my younger team members. I had to set aside that targeted path and honor my limitations. The other was too close to my first career. Requiring heavy use of skills I preferred to limit using going forward regardless of how much it paid. However it did bring to view how much I really loved some of the other skills I had to use. The experiences fine-tuned and narrowed my focus to the space where my eventual encore career lived.

Step 6: Get Off Your Island

Stay Connected To and Keep Expanding Your Network

After retiring it’s easy to withdraw from our professional connections. Our focus happily changes and the last thing we want is to stay connected to anything associated to the past grind. That withdrawal is what I allowed during my first phase of my early retirement (career mindset decompression). It was a time I concentrated on building my social circle. I began reconnecting to my professional circle in phase 2. I did this by email. No big drawn out dialog. Just reconnecting and reminding them of my retire early and often plans that many thought was crazy or funny when I mentioned it during my pre-retirement years.

I also expanded my network using LinkedIn. There were many people who had left my orbit over the years that I had worked with and respected. I reconnected and mentioned my intentions when appropriate. What all of this did was lock-in what I was going to do. It gets the word out but more than that it made me accountable to myself. I then started mentioning to my social circle that I was always open to the right opportunity. Retiring early and often became a great conversation topic at social events when others discussed work matters.

My successful encore career came out of LinkedIn. An email came to me asking if I would be interested in talking about an opportunity. Using social networks like LinkedIn is a necessary tool but it is important to go beyond them. Through face to face social conversation I met executives and other key connections to add to my network. Just by talking about what I did and what I wanted to now do.

Step 7: Throw Your Name Into the Hat

Post Your Resume Online and Talk to Everyone

I did what everyone does. I started searching for opportunities that were posted online or in the newspaper. Unfortunately applying for those openings and getting a call back during those times had a very low success rate. Hopefully things are better for that now. I did successfully get a lot of contact from simply having my resume posted online and viewable to recruiters. I have used Snag-A-Job, Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice and InDeed.

Obviously not all targeted jobs use recruiters to fill positions. If you have no network connections for a foot in the door, then the good old-fashioned way of going on site or to their online portal and applying is the only way to get your resume in front of someone. My stepped down retirement jobs came that way. The resume posting sites I mentioned above allow you to directly apply your posted resume to job listings. 

A key tip is to talk to everyone you can. Even when they are calling or emailing about a position that you know upfront you wouldn’t be interested in. Don’t just ignore them. Have fun and learn what’s going on. It is easier talking with them when you don’t want the job. I would return their calls/emails and ask for more details. After listening to their pitch I then would explain why I didn’t feel it was a good fit and what it was I was looking for. I would be totally honest. I would also share the name and contact details of anyone else I knew that was looking for an opportunity in that field. What this did was create a certain rapport and a new professional connection. I still get contacted from many of them even after removing my online resume over 5 years ago.

In Closing

I believe that retirement is the absence of NEEDING to work, not the absence of working. That doesn’t mean I will always do paid work or even look for new opportunities. But when I do it is something I really WANT to do. Parts of all seven of these steps came fully into play for me to score my encore career. They will again if I choose to do another opportunity.

Now that I’m in my second early retirement I look back at all of my retirement work opportunities far more fondly than my first career. I believe that’s because they were all on my terms and aligned with what I valued doing. Doing what I wanted to do for as long as I wanted them in my life.  

There is nothing special about me. We all have our own unique skill-sets and experiences. I hope by sharing my approach for scoring a successful encore career that it inspires you to see a way to set your own retirement job strategy into motion.