Cancel the Rocking Chair

For many retired folks, the vision of sipping lemonade on the front porch while rocking away isn’t for them.  A lot of seniors are healthy, active and want to still be productive after they hit retirement age.  There are some questions, though, that you may want to ask yourself before going job hunting.

For instance, how much money do you need to earn?  Do you need to work for extra income to make ends meet?  Or do you just want a little extra spending money?  Do you need medical benefits that the job may offer?  What kind of work would you like to do?  If you have hobbies that you enjoy, you can transfer that interest into a job.  For example, do you like to craft?  You could get a part time job in a craft or hobby store teaching crafts, scrapbooking, sewing or even card designing.  Do you enjoy being around children?  You could be a teacher’s aide, a crossing guard or even drive a school bus.  You could be a babysitter for someone who needs after school childcare or daycare. If you take a job in your retirement, you can chose one that really interests you or that you always wanted to do but couldn’t because of previous commitments.

How about what kind of hours you would want to work?  If you are presently working, talk to your employer about phased retirement.  You could change your hours or have a more flexible schedule.  A lot of times, you can keep your medical benefits and other benefits also.  If your employer doesn’t offer this option, you may be able to steer them in that direction.  Instead of fitting your life around your job, you can now fit your job around your life and work the hours that are most convenient for you.

What about work as a Temp?  Temporary jobs could be exactly what you might like.  You could be assigned to work one day or several days a week.  If you didn’t like that job or if you need a break, you can pass on a job assignment and wait for the next one.  A lot of temp jobs don’t require an advanced degree, specialized training or lots of work experience.  You can alternate work with leisure.

Retraining is another thought.  You could always go back to school and retrain.  You do need to consider how long it will take and how much the education will cost.  There are also training programs and vocational schools that can be looked into.  If you would rather give something back, there is always volunteer work.  There is a need for volunteers for hospitals, schools, libraries, churches and parks, just to name a few.  You could also work at animal shelters or other non-profit organizations.

As you can see, there are many options for seniors of retirement age.  You can retrain for a whole new job, decrease hours on the present one or do volunteer work for those who don’t really need extra income but would like to give back.  The choices are yours!

If you are retired,  do you have a retirement job?

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