In last month's blog post, I listed 5 ways college students can make money during their college career. In this article, I introduce how to make some extra cash during retirement for retirees.
Due to the coronavirus in 2020, many Americans have either decided to retire early or were forced into retirement due to not being able to find work, due to their health, or due to disability. “Despite 77% of Americans having retirement plans, many people just don’t have enough saved to actually fund their post-retirement life at the same level as their working years.”1 With that being said, what are some ways to help alleviate that problem once you're already retired?
Here are 5 ways retirees can make some extra cash to help them fight off those worries.
Selling your home and downsizing
If you are not too attached to your home, you could consider downsizing. Moving to a smaller home or to an affordable area could decrease monthly mortgage payments and cost of living expenses. As of writing this blog post, the IRS allows you to not pay capital gains tax on the first $250,000 of profit (excess over cost basis) if you are a single filer and $500,000 if you married. Note, there are some restrictions, including that the home must be considered a primary residence and that you must have occupied the home during at least 2 of the previous 5 years.
Babysitting
With America getting back to work since the Covid-19 lockdown, one of the main factors still holding Americans back is the difficulty of balancing work and costly childcare. If you love kids and enjoy being around them, you can position yourself as a reliable, friendly, and affordable child sitter to help look after kids while parents are starting to go back to the office.
Consulting/Freelance
By the time you reach retirement, you have likely amassed years of experience, contacts, and expertise in your field. Why not take what you have learned and grown with and capitalize on it. Some common areas that independent consultants and freelancers thrive in are business development, marketing, and project management. I suggest starting off with current contacts who you think could use your guiding hand on projects and branch out from there. You can also check out websites such as Upwork and Fiverr that allow people to connect with others to hire freelance workers.
Selling unwanted or excess things from your home
If you are selling your home to downsize or just have just accumulated lots of stuff over the years, there may be an opportunity. You probably don’t need that extra dining table and chairs in the other room. You might not even need most of your professional attire since you don’t work anymore. A couple great ways to make a couple extra bucks would be to have an good old fashion yard sale or if you are tech savvy, you can try listing items on eBay to sell.
Rent out your belongings
Do you have extra space in your garage or even an extra parking spot? You can consider renting out that space. Lots of people need storage for boats, RVs, extra vehicles or just plain junk. You can start knocking on neighbors’ doors to ask or check out Neighbor.com, a site where you can list your extra storage and become a host. Also, if you find that you don’t drive as much as you used to, you can rent out your car to others via Turo.com.
I hope you found this helpful. If you have questions about retirement planning, schedule a meeting HERE. Let us know if any of these ideas sound like a good option for you!
-Brandon
- https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/jaw-dropping-stats-state-retirement-america/