Whether choosing to work after retirement for monetary reasons, social networks, or aiding a cause you believe in, millions of retirees carry on the burden of work long after turning in their time cards. Seniors are living longer, healthier lives, enjoying higher levels of education, and being offered countless more opportunities than only just few decades ago.
Deciding to work after retirement seems to fall between three categories: financial assistance, volunteering, or finally having time to explore a buried interest. First we’ll look at financial reasons working after retirement in prudent.
Fewer and fewer people work at the same job for an entire career. When my grandparents were growing up, they put in their years, established a comfortable retirement account and cashed out. Nowadays, it’s more realistic that a person float between several jobs offsetting important retirement savings. In order to put in the required years, people are forced to work long after the standard retirement age.
In our generation, it is also less common to set aside money for retirement. We live in a society that glamorizes the best car, the hippest wardrobe, and extravagances like eating out several nights a week, having cable, and purchasing the newest gadgets. Older generations ate at home, consider a night out an “event” and bought only what was needed.
Working to help financial burden is commonplace. Some jobs that cater to seniors are grocery stores, libraries, and after school programs. These jobs not only have shorter shifts, but also offer seniors a rare opportunity to share their wealth of knowledge. For patient people, working in an office or healthcare facility is also a wonderful way to make extra money and establish a social circle outside of the home.
Volunteering is also a wonderful part time job if finances do not restrict you. Often through our adult years, family, work and money take precedence over our lending a helping hand. When we find we have more time to spare, it’s enriching to help a cause that is important to us.
Volunteers are needed to help with childcare, healthcare, after school programs, fundraisers and office work. If there is a specific charity that you support, call their head office and ask how you can assist. By sponsoring walks, hosting bake sales, or campaigning for money, you offer a valuable contribution.
If you have grandchildren in school, they may need help during lunch hours, study periods, or assistance tutoring children in their studies.
Another enriching type of work is by establishing an all-new career. Laden with responsibility during adulthood, you may have pushed your “dream job” aside for a responsible paycheck. Without guilt, you can explore what you’ve always wanted to do. I knew a 70-year-old woman who opened her own cake decorating business, and she had never been happier.
Think about your hobbies and interests and think of how you can put them to good use. Do you like line dancing? Offer a class at the country club. Do you like to bake? Bring in a sample to a local coffee shop and see if they will sell your cookies and brownies. Do you love to quilt? Sell a few samples at the church picnic and watch your business take off.
Retirement doesn’t mean retiring anymore. Retirement is a unique opportunity to explore interests you’ve never had the opportunity to explore before. So, whether you decide to head back to the job market from money trouble, an urge to help the world around you, or the desire to explore your own talents and interests, have fun. Think of work after retirement as a way to meet people and learn things you’ve never had the good fortune of doing before.