Six Ways To Increase Your Retirement Income
Possibly your savings or pension is just not enough to carry you through as you enter retirement. It happens, and you are not alone. However, the good news is that there are several ways to increase your retirement income and many of them can be work-at-home situations.
The reality is that as good at retirement planning many of us think we are, few of us are really doing well at it at all. In fact, only 22-percent of workers surveyed in 2015 for the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Retirement Confidence Survey thought they would have enough saved up for comfortable retirement living. With this in mind, let’s look at the six ways you can increase your retirement income.
1 – Flexible or Home-Based Jobs
The number one reason why many retirees chose a flexible or home-based job is that it takes the things we don’t like about an office job out of the equation. That can be a long commute or maybe even the inner struggles of inter-office politics. If those things turn you off about a regular job, being able to work from home will look much more attractive.
Flexible jobs are not all home-based, either. Some job tasks require on-site work which will take you somewhere other than an office and away from home if you need the break. FlexJobs CEO Sara Sutton Fell says that remote and telecommuting jobs now exist in virtually all career fields so it should not be hard to find a match to your work experience.
She adds that many of the telecommuting jobs translate into work from home positions making the option of earning an extra income from the comfort of your home a very real alternative for retirees.
2 – Hobbies Turned Into Jobs
It has been said many times over, if you do something you like, you will enjoy it more. Plus, many times that ‘thing’ is something you have a passion for. When this is the case, it often does not appear to be work.
This is why turning a hobby you are passionate about into a career is not as farfetched as it may have once sounded. That passion may be something you have been doing silently at home for years as your form of relaxation after the grind of a day of work. It may be something connected to your career path but not directly connected. The possibilities are endless and they do create excellent retirement career options!
3 – Provide A Service To Others
Look around you and consider your current social network. There are going to be some neighbors or friends at the senior’s centre who could use a hand now and then. This can be just about anything but suppose you were an accountant for years. Possibly you can assist local seniors with their tax returns.
You can be a house sitter, dog walker or a tutor. As we age we also see that we are all living a little bit longer and the Baby Boomer generation is one where a lot of experience is available. By providing some of yours as a service to others you can increase your retirement income.
Companies pay people for their opinion. Consumers are regularly surveyed on a variety of subjects and typically products and services become the focus of market research. The best part about this is you can join a consumer marketing group and you’ll be e-mailed questionnaires that you will be paid to fill out.
Two good choices are Delve or Focus Pointe Global. If you qualify for the surveys being sent out, that is, if you meet the criteria of any specific survey, you can earn up to $100 for responding.
5 – The Sharing Economy
Get Your Share
This is where you can earn money from something you own but are not currently using. In other words, someone will pay you to share something with them. It can be a vehicle, parking space, a plot of your yard for a garden or anything that someone else would find useful.
There are several online sites you can list your ‘extras’ for others to pay to borrow and use. RelayRides, Airbnb, JustPark and StowThat are good places to start.
6 – Apartment Space For Rent
A great form of extra income is from the rental of a spare room in your home. If you have an attic that can be converted or a room over the garage, you could turn them into extra retirement income. There are students, single seniors and many others who would be interested in renting a small space in someone else’s home.
Rent A Room
Particular hot spots for this kind of rental are if you live near a college or university or other learning institute. Students eager to move from home to further their education would prefer a room rental arrangement over a dorm or apartment simply because of the added expenses.
As you can see, there are a few ways you can easily increase your retirement income. These suggestions are just a few with many more possibilities available. Depending on your skills and interests you may find other options online. One excellent place to look is on this website, which features a series of potential income opportunities well worth exploring. Just scroll down the possibilities listed in the left column on this page.