Options for Work After Work
by Mary Lloyd
A whole lot of us are questioning whether we will "have" to work until we die. Sticking with the current rat race is not the only option.
If you do it right, including some amount of paid work as part of your retirement lifestyle is likely to result in a more satisfying retired life overall. The key is figuring out how you can do what you love for money. And how you can do it for as much of the time as you choose instead of letting your work life trump the rest of your life.
As you consider how this might look for you, there are six important questions to ask:
What do I love to do? Quite often we end up in our life's work by default. Some of us come to love it and some of us just keep doing it because it's easier than starting in a new direction. If what you are doing now (assuming you aren't yet retired), doesn't make you smile anymore, it's wise to start figuring out what will before you retire. Maybe it's a hobby you are already pursuing. Maybe it's something entirely new. The only way you are going to find out is to start thinking about it.
How can I make money at what I love to do? There are ways, regardless of what it is. If you love golf, work at a course, or a golf megastore. If you love to shop, find a slot in retail that's fun. If you love making sausage in the middle of the night, there's probably a way to parlay that into an income.
An essential piece of getting this to work is to stop thinking that everything has to be done between 8 and 5 on weekdays. You may want to keep that time for other things and work nights and weekends to keep the checkbook fat.
Is there only one thing that I love to do? If you've done a lot of different things while you were working full time, expect to do so for retirement income as well. A retired elementary school teacher I know makes money as a Santa but is also a tour guide on summer travel excursions.
How much do I want to work? Half time? A third of the year on specific projects? Only with customers X, Y, and Z? A piece of that answer is going to be about how much money you need to continue to make, but an even bigger piece is what else you want to have time for. (Hint: Don't worry about lying on some tropical beach with a cold drink in your hand. That's called vacation and it doesn't work as a day after day lifestyle in retirement.)
What shape do I want my work to take? When you love what you do, you find ways to get to do it. The most traditional would be regularly scheduled work-full or part time, but there's a long list of options. You can work on a contract basis for a limited period. You can work piece rate. You can work project by project. You can work in a "performance only" company where you can do your work whenever you want as long as it's done on time.
How can I get to do what I love the way I'd like to do it? It takes time to get to where you can pull this kind of thing off. Time to get good enough at what you want to do that you gain a reputation. Time to come up with an approach that meets both your needs and the needs of the person you want to work for. Time to convince whoever you need to that it's a good idea. A guy I met recently drives a high-performance dune buggy for tourists as a retirement job. He worked for the utility company for decades, but he's been driving dune buggies since he was nine. His driving skills were so well known that a total stranger approached him in line at the grocery store about working for him as a sand rail driver.
His story is the magic we'd all like to rely on. He wasn't thinking about working but the offer was too much fun to pass up. But don't expect that to happen automatically. You have to have a reputation for the job to come to you.
Figure out what you want to do. Get involved with others who are doing it. Achieve a reputation for doing it well. The more of that you can do before you retire, the easier it will be to walk into your dream retirement job when you get that far.
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Mary Lloyd is a speaker and consultant and author of Supercharged Retirement: Ditch the Rocking Chair, Trash the Remote, and Do What You Love. For more about how to work in retirement, please visit her website http://www.mining-silver.com. She can also be reached at mary@mining-silver.com.
Source: August, 2010 Put Old on Hold Newsletter
Barbara Morris — Image F/X Publications
Barbara@PutOldOnHold.com
© 2010 Image F/X Publications, All rights reserved
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