Even if you’re getting a Social Security paycheck and dividends from a nest egg, you may struggle to make ends meet in retirement. One solution is to take on new side gigs for generating extra revenue, but as you get older, you may not have the physical stamina, cognitive capacity, or personal interest in pursuing some of the most common retirement hobbies and side gigs.
What enjoyable, accessible hobbies can help you earn extra money in retirement?
1. Identifying the Perfect Side Hobbies
In this article, we’ll be covering a handful of the side gigs we feel are most appropriate for a wide audience of retirees. However, there are countless more options available that fulfill similar criteria.
With those criteria out of the way, let’s look at some of the best available paying side hobbies for retirement—and some of the pros and cons of each.
2. Gardening and Foraging
First, you could consider gardening and foraging. The goal here is to grow plants that are valuable to others, most commonly crops, and search for food on your property or publicly accessible property so that you can sell it to others.
3. Countless Options
There are countless ways that you can pursue this hobby. You can create raised beds, dedicate space in your front yard to creating a garden, take advantage of community gardens, and forage in various areas. You can grow almost anything you want, assuming your local climate supports it.
4. Teaching/Tutoring/Coaching
Another option is to educate and inform other people. If you take on a role as a teacher, a tutor, a coach, or a consultant, you can share your knowledge and insights with others and get paid for it. There are various mediums and channels you can use in pursuit of this. Depending on your preferences, you can teach people in person, virtually, or over the phone.
- Taking Advantage of Knowledge and Experience
As you enter retirement, you’ll probably have an abundance of knowledge and experience that would be valuable to other, younger people. This might include professional experience, which you can share with other young professionals, or simply skills that you’ve mastered in your personal life. In any case, this is one of the greatest ways to take advantage of knowledge and experience you already have.
- Contributing to a New Generation
This is also an opportunity to contribute to a new generation. Through this side gig, you’ll have the opportunity to meet and interact with a ton of new people—and you’ll get the opportunity to help them succeed in various ways.Another upside of this is that there is minimal physical demand. Gardening isn’t exactly intensive, but it can be too strenuous for some people. As a teacher or tutor, you probably won’t need to participate in any demanding exercises. The only real exception to this is if you’re teaching people a sport or other physically demanding activity.
- Potential Time Intensiveness
Teaching and tutoring can be time intensive activities. If you choose to meet with people one-on-one, your hypothetical hourly rate is going to be capped, and there’s going to be an upper limit to the number of new students you can take on. One potential workaround is hosting classrooms or online classes, where you can teach many people at once.Another important downside to recognize is that there’s a lot of competition in this space, for practically every conceivable niche. Teaching, coaching, and consulting are commonly sought professions, so if you want to stand out in this field and attract new students, you’ll need to find a way to differentiate yourself.
5. Content Creating
Retirees can also consider becoming content creators. This term is open and vague intentionally, because there are so many different ways that you can create content for others. All that’s important is that you create materials that other people genuinely want to consume, often because they’re especially informative or entertaining.
For example, you can maintain a blog, create videos, or even live stream for other people. As long as you have an audience, you can make money from this.
- Multiple Paths to Monetization
There are many ways to monetize your content. For example, you can make money from advertising, affiliate linking, or even selling merchandise once you accumulate a sufficient number of audience members. You may also benefit from selling subscriptions that allow consumers to access premium content or dedicated extras.Creating content online provides you with infinite scalability. Even if you have a relatively small audience, you can make some decent money by making new blog posts and videos somewhat regularly. But if you’re willing to invest in marketing and advertising, you can scale your operation to make much more money for roughly the same amount of effort.
6. Additional Tips for Managing Your Side Hustles
Here are some additional tips for managing your side hustles in retirement:You might be excited about pursuing multiple opportunities. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but it’s important to avoid overwhelming yourself. Only add one side hobby at a time until you become acclimated.
- Take Plenty of Time for Yourself
There’s a fine line between staying busy and overwhelming yourself. Some retirees take on too much at once in an effort to remain occupied, but this can have severe drawbacks. No matter what your pursuits are, it’s important to take plenty of time for yourself to relax.Things change. You might experience changes in competition, your target market, or even your personal disposition to your side hobbies. Whenever a side hobby feels like it’s no longer worth it, don’t be afraid to cut it. There are plenty of alternative options available to you.Don’t forget about taxes! If you make significant income from any or all of your side hobbies during retirement, you’ll need to properly account for it. It’s a pain, but it’s much better to be proactive in this regard.
Whether you’re looking for extra income, an opportunity to socialize with others, or just a way to stay physically and mentally stimulated, side hobbies can help you in retirement.
If you’re discerning in your choices, and you’re willing to do some due diligence, you should end up with a much more compatible array of side hobbies to help you pursue your retirement income goals.
By Deanna Ritchie
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