According to a Transamerica Center For Retirement Studies survey, many workers expect to retire after age 65 or never retire at all. The majority (55%) of workers plan to work in retirement either part-time (41%) or full-time (14%). Those who plan to retire after age 65 or work after retirement suggest financial reasons and staying active as grounds not to quit.
1. Bookkeeper
Do you enjoy working with numbers? Bookkeepers manage accounts, invoices, payroll, and other business financial records. They use various math and computer programs like Excel, Quickbooks, and other accounting software. These jobs pay up to $20 per hour if you are responsible for managing other people.
2. Board Member
Serving on a non-profit or corporation board is an excellent way to leverage your credentials and skills. It also can be pretty lucrative. According to the National Association of Corporate Directors, compensation can go up to $115,000 for a large private company seat on the Board. At the same time, a public corporation could command up to $214,000.
3. Business Consultant
An option for those who enjoyed their job and are still deciding whether to retire fully is becoming a business or management consultant. You can continue to work at your current employer either part-time or flexible hours or do it independently.
4. Administrative Assistant
Retirees can work as administrative assistants or secretaries, especially if they bring varying skills to do essential nitty-gritty work. They support administrative professionals in any sector who can work remotely.
5. Logistics Supervisor
The logistics supervisor oversees daily operations at manufacturing plants and warehouses, coordinating shipments of products. Since the pandemic, supply constraints have impacted product deliveries in virtually every industry. This job commands an annual salary of $54,209.
6. Technical Writer
Engineers can be essential to communicating their know-how. If they write well, they use their expertise as technical writers who write instruction manuals and other technical documents to help consumers and professionals navigate machinery, equipment, and appliances. They earn about $57,116. If you have a lot of specialized experience and are okay with writing detailed instructions, this may be an excellent job for you.
7. Engineering Professor
There is a strong demand for engineering professors to teach aspiring engineering to undergraduate and graduate students. Professors can get $59,660 annually.
8. Quality Assurance Inspector
The quality assurance inspector works for factories and manufacturing plants to ensure the proper and efficient assembly of products and processes according to rules and regulations or recommend changes. They earn about $59,651.
9. Home Inspector
Although you do not need to be an engineer to perform a home inspection, retired engineers with valuable expertise and experience often become home inspectors; home inspectors assess houses’ electrical, heating, plumbing, and structural systems. Homebuyers get protection by hiring home inspectors to find potential defects in buying homes.
10. Park Ranger
Do you like the great outdoors? You may like this next job, which often attracts retired doctors, lawyers, and accountants, among other people. Retirees often serve as park rangers in National Parks, which are seasonal jobs (usually six months per year) that provide fresh air and beautiful scenery.
11. Home Care Nurse
Home care nurses provide services for patients following surgery, rehabilitation, or longer-term care, averaging $16.40 per hour.
12. First Aid Instructor
Retiree nurses can teach CPR, basic life support skills, and first aid training in emergencies before first responders. They can teach in schools, retirement communities, and hospitals, to name a few. They earn about $23.61 per hour.
13. School Nurse
I can’t tell you how often my kids have gone to the school nurse, but it was far more than the librarian! The school nurse provides health and emergency care to students from K-12 and colleges or camps during the summer when they are sick or injured.
14. Part-Time Nurse
Nurses are essential round-the-clock and fill in gaps when full-time nurses are out or unavailable. They communicate and monitor patients, reporting on their observations to update charts and reports. They earn $31.05 on an hourly basis.
15. Medical Sales Executive
Medical sales executives can leverage their nursing expertise and familiarity with patients and medical professionals such as physicians, hospitals, and pharmacists to serve as liaisons to get drugs, devices, and equipment to those in need. As such, they earn, on average, $74,907 per year.
16. Travel Nurse
Travel nurses may accept assignments in varying regions temporarily to provide nursing services. They can fill gaps when there are nursing shortages due to catastrophic events such as hurricanes or earthquakes anywhere in the country. They earn $1,734 per week on average.
17. Security Guard
Retired law-enforcement officers often seek to be security guards after retirement at age 55+. They serve as unarmed security guards in retirement communities, banks, casinos, schools, and toll plazas on full or part-time.
18. Drive for Uber or Lyft
Do you like driving? You can spend your hours going for ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft. There are a few requirements, like having a driver’s license and meeting the minimum age requirement in your chosen area. This job can be an excellent interim step towards full retirement.
They will review your background, including your driving record, for safety. You will need a four-door car, preferably not a 20-year-old model, and have insurance and registration. You may rent one from these companies if you need a suitable vehicle.
19. Personal Chef
Can you cook with flair and enjoy doing so? People like hiring skilled personal chefs for special events or long-term culinary needs. There may be education requirements for being a private or personal chef who can differ from your clients. If you are cooking meals for a particular person or family once in a while, it may be a less formal arrangement.
20. Tutor Online or in Person
Do you have a passion for teaching and want flexibility? Become a tutor online or in person and share your knowledge. Select your hours and the subject of expertise for the ACT, SAT, or graduate exams. Consider tutoring privately or in classes. It can be a seasonal or all-year-round gig. Tutoring can work into your schedule by working part-time or remotely.
21. Adjunct Professor
Retirees often go to college towns as a destination in their senior years because of “increased cultural and learning opportunities.” Forbes’ 25 Best Places to Retire counts nine picks as college towns. The attraction for retirees is the chance to leverage their expertise and share their knowledge with young people. As such, retirees with advanced degrees often become college adjunct professors. Adjunct professors make about $1,500-$3,000 per course.
22. Participate in a Research Study
Have you ever wanted to be part of a research study and save humankind? Medical research is essential to finding new drugs, remedies, and dietary supplements, but they must undergo many clinical trials. Teaching hospitals, clinics, biotech companies, and research organizations seek people who will participate in their studies for paid opportunities that can be $1,000 or more.
23. Earn Money Working for Amazon
Amazon offers sign-on bonuses of up to $1,000 and $20 an hour to work in their workforce. The vast majority of Amazon’s 1.3+ million employees have hours that work for them. Part-timers get the same benefits as full-time employees.
24. Become a Local Guide
People like learning about things off the beaten path. You can become a local guide if you have specialized knowledge, speak more than one language, and are passionate about your area. Tour guides are in high demand when they share their expertise and stories that animate a specific city or town.
25. Become a Photographer
Do you enjoy photography as a hobby? Why not take it to the next step and pursue what you love doing, whether portraits, family photography, travel, sports, nature, stock photographs, or candid photography? Sell your photos online or to companies specializing in your area of expertise. Consider listing on Fine Art America or stock photo sites like Getty Images or Shutterstock.
26. Freelance Writing
Do you enjoy writing? If you write well, consider working freelance. Find a niche that works for you and start bidding on jobs.
27. Customer Service Representative
The customer service representative is often the company’s face when the consumer needs answers, help, or complaints that may escalate into queries and concerns. They are responsible for engaging customers on behalf of the company.
28. Retail Sales Associate
The retail industry, mainly brick-and-mortar companies, is bouncing back since the pandemic closed many retail stores. The retail sales associate engages customers by making suggestive sales pitches, sharing product knowledge, and answering their questions. Retirees are welcome in all parts of the retail industry.
29. Cashier
A cashier or a retail cashier is responsible for processing payments in cash, debit, credit, and checking transactions using the cash register or another point-of-sale system in a retail environment. They also balance the register at the end of the day, make a change, record purchases, and scan items for sale.
30. Merchandise Displayer
A merchandise displayer showcases the merchandise to move customers to make purchases. They design and install displays for clothes, accessories, jewelry, sporting equipment, furniture, and other windows. Retirees who have previous experience in retail may seek these jobs to leverage their prowess in the retail industry.
31. Floral Arranger or Designer
If you like working with floral arrangements and have experience handling floral designs, this can be an excellent job for a retiree. Everyone seems happy when giving or receiving flowers, and it can make a dreary day feel like sunshine. I have always admired those who arrange flowers in beautiful designs.
32. Sell Your Crafts
Do you like making crafts? In recent years, selling unique goods to a seemingly boundless market has become much more manageable. These online marketplaces may charge listing, transaction, and payment processing fees, so you must check each company before listing your goods to know precisely how much you’ll make for each product. The best-known companies are Etsy and Shopify.
33. Selling Your Professional Services Online
There are expanding platforms to sell your professional services as a freelancer. You can list your services and bid for jobs. Among the places you can record and bid for jobs are Fiverr, Upwork, and 99 Designs.
34. Tax Preparer
You don’t have to be a CPA to prepare taxes, but you probably want to be good with numbers. Tax preparation is usually seasonal, busy on the days leading up to the crunch time of April 15th, the traditional tax filing date. H&R Block will train you (for a fee) to work on taxes for them.
35. Participate in Focus Groups
Market researchers rely on consumers to participate in focus groups to retrieve invaluable opinions on new and existing products and services. You can participate one-on-one by phone, via Zoom, or in a small group that meets in person. Each focus group will be different. Your compensation could be hourly, ranging from $50-$150, or per research session. Groups typically meet for an hour or two. Participation can be a lucrative gig for studies, paying $400 per hour for those who have flexible schedules.
36. Become a House Sitter or Watcher
When people take vacations or travel for work, they consider hiring a house sitter. Owners worried about burglaries seek security and peace of mind. Professional house-sitters may water plants, collect mail, take out the trash, and do pet care. They can earn $25-$45+ per hour, depending on the location and length of stay.
37. Become a Pet Sitter
Do you love pets and want the next best thing to owning one? Pet sitter! We love our pets and will do almost everything to keep them comfortable when we are away. When pet sitting is the primary concern, owners will seek out experienced pet sitters to care for them by feeding, walking, and paying attention to them. Let’s face it: we love these essential family members and want to avoid the kennels, but we also want to travel without guilt.