Do you want to work after retirement?

Are you one of the estimated 7 out of 10 people who wants or needs to carry on working (in some capacity) once you reach the traditional age for retirement?

Or maybe you’ve always secretly harboured the desire to own your own business but never had the time, resources, confidence or opportunity to ‘go for it’… until now?

There is much evidence to suggest that the people who have the most successful retirements are the ones who keep themselves active and engaged.  There is also much evidence to suggest that many people nowadays don’t actually want to retire at all.  They just want to do something else and they want to do it on their own terms – for example, they want to be able to choose when they work and for how long.  Or they want to do something completely different - such as voluntary work in a different field to the one in which they made their living. 

So the question is:

Do you want, need or feel that it would be beneficial to continue to work after you ‘officially’ retire?

And, if you do, the following thought provokers will, hopefully, help you to determine what type of work will meet your needs. 

1.  Which of the 5 main benefits of work are you hoping that your post-retirement work will provide for you?  Is it:

a)  financial stability?
b)  time management?
c)  a sense of being useful?
d)  socialization and companionship?
e)  status?

2.  How much will you want or need to earn from this work?

3.  Which of the following types of post-retirement work are most appealing to you?  Which would have the potential to provide you with the income that you want/need?

a) Full time   b)  Part time   c)  Voluntary work   d)  Running your own business

4.  Using the categories of work you have determined to be most appealing, list the different types of work that you would consider that spring immediately to mind.  For example, under the ‘Part time’ heading, you may be willing to consider:

• Using your D.I.Y. expertise by working in the plumbing section of a D.I.Y. superstore
• Clerical work in a small, family-run company
• Seasonal work (such as delivering the new edition of the Yellow Pages or Thomson Local)
• Parcel delivery as part of a courier network

Under the ‘Running your own business’ heading, you may be interested in:

• Setting up a ‘handyman’ (or woman) business
• Writing a ‘How to’ ebook on your chosen specialist subject and selling it via your own website
• Becoming a consultant in your field of expertise
• Helping people declutter their homes
• Setting up a dog-walking service
• Becoming a fitness trainer for folks aged 60+
• Selling affiliate products online via your own website

TIP: If you would like to start a business but don’t know what kind of a business that will be, keep an eye on www.Springwise.com for a few weeks.  (Springwise and its network of 8,000 ‘spotters’ scan the globe for smart new business ideas, providing inspiration to both budding and more established entrepreneurs.) 

5.  Next, consider what the essential components of your ideal post-retirement work would be.  For example:

• Working 3 days per week
• Working with people (or not, depending on your preference!)
• A salary of at least £5000 p.a. (or per month, if you can get it!:-))
• Allows me to continue to use the skills, knowledge and expertise that I’ve spent a lifetime acquiring
• Allows me to use a completely different range of skills, knowledge and expertise than the ones I’ve spent a lifetime acquiring
• Keeps me physically active

6.  Then consider what the desirable components of your ideal post-retirement work would be.  For example:

• No early morning starts
• No weekend work
• No office politics to worry about/get involved in
• Gets me out and about, meeting new people every day

7.  What new challenges would you like to set yourself in this new phase of your working life?

8.  What are your skills?  Jot them down.  Cross off any of the skills you have that you don’t enjoy having/using.  Jot down a list of the jobs you could get/businesses you could start with those skills that you enjoy.  Add them to the list you started in answer to question 4.

9.  What are your interests/passions?  Jot them down.  Then make a list of the jobs you could get/businesses you could start using those interests/passions.  Add them to the list you started in answer to question 4.

10.  If you think you might like to go down the retirement business route, what would your perfect retirement business look/feel/be like? 

11.  Who could help you discover what is involved in becoming a business owner?  Who could advise you about the legal requirements of starting a business?  Who could help you make an informed decision about whether business ownership is right for you or not?  Who could help you to set your business up?  Who do you know who already owns a business who would be willing to discuss their experiences with you?  Who do you know who could provide you with ongoing business support and advice?

12.  What additional skills would be useful to you? 

13.  What new skills would increase the likelihood of your success?  For example, if you intend to start your own business, some book-keeping skills might be useful until you become successful enough to be able to pay someone to do your book-keeping for you.  If you would like to do some part-time office work, an IT refresher course might be useful to make sure that your skills are up-to-date and relevant.

14.  Based on all of the above, what do you think your perfect post-retirement work might be?

Comments

[JoJami Tyler]

I liked this article because it asks good questions to get you thinking. However, the question "do you want to start your own business?", is really opening a can of worms and not one to take lightly. I would like to see you dive into some of these options separtely and discuss them more! Also, you will want to evalute your wardrobe and possilbly update your look if you want to explore new types of work.

[Ann Harrison]

Thanks for your comment, JoJami! To be fair, the article wasn't meant to be a guide to starting a business - just an attempt to get people thinking about the types of post-retirement work that would be most appealing to them.

I've added some more questions to encourage people to think about the implications of starting a business in more depth, but, since readers of the blog come from different parts of the world, it's quite difficult (and probably unwise) to try to give specific advice.

What were you hoping to see? As someone who has started her own business, what do you think people need to know?

Best wishes

Ann

[PEX Plumbing]

Maybe retirement would be a good time to finally fix up your house. There are so many things sold over the internet, there is practically nothing you will need that you can't buy. Once your place is fixed up, maybe you could sell it and add a chunk to your retirement fund.