Monday, April 25, 2022

Money Monday-Earning a Living, Living a Life

     
     
     A few weeks back on a Money Monday post, a wise young woman, shout out to you Vix, commented that she and her partner sort of retired when they started selling with intention as Vintage Traders 16 years earlier, and doing what they love hardly seems like work at all. My copied from somewhere response was, "I think you and Jon figured out how to earn a living while living a life!" It got me thinking of all the things DH and I like to do that should we hop off the work train earlier than seems practical, there's opportunities abound to bring in some supplemental to our retirement accounts (for needs), cash for the fun things in life. He and I have different skills and educational back grounds, but there's a few things we could do in partnership if we set our minds to it. We'd likely need to use his first year or so in retirement for him to set us up if we go that route, but I'd still be covering our bills so that could be part of the plan. Some are borrowed ideas from others and likely nothing is original as I heard about the idea somewhere.

I'll start with me:
  • Substitute teaching. I'd limit the days and what weeks, and duration. I'd probably give all ages a go. Though my main experience is preschool, I've experienced both elementary and middle school classrooms as well but it's been a long while!
  • Adult Education trainer, likely in my field. I would have to go through some online courses to update my credentials for adult education, but with so many options to train both in person and on-line this could be done with a lot of flexibility. I train regularly as part of my job, but program specifically, not for CEU's or in-service credit.
  • Free lance project coordination, either on short term hire, or per project. In my work place alone, we regularly bring back retirees to help get projects launched, or manage a short term grant. Many of the non-profits I've worked with over the years have grant funds that don't cover enough to hire someone, but they aren't equipped to pull someone off their regular work for a meaningful length of time. This was actually the route I was going to go 8 years ago had my current job not panned out. The difference post retirement, I would take very few contracts and only for those I genuinely want to work on.
Now him-granted the first few keep him in his current field, and he might want a total separation:
  • Attending car auction on behalf of local dealerships
  • Car delivery, walking through the customer on all the bells and whistles after all the sales and financing is done. This is often what he ends up getting called back to the store to do on his day off because he's really good at it and customers like him.
  • Filling in vacations here and there, for a guarantee rate of pay, scheduled in advance
  • Car guy blog and pod cast-I don't know if this could really be much money, but I think as a hobby, that won't cost anything, but could make a little fun money, it would be great for him. Think Car Talk from MPR.
  • Something with art sales, auctions, curation-I have no clue what the opportunity might be there to earn money, but again could be just a lovely hobby opportunity.
Edit: DH is not a mechanic, just good with cars/ talking about cars.  His real skills and education back ground are in sales and marketing. I just thought I should clarify that based on some suggestions and ideas.

Now joint effort:
  • Online store of ..... I don't know what the niche could be, but we could partner on inventory procurements, sales, marketing, and package and shopping logistics. 
  • To go along with this, the semi regular yard sale. (Another edit: no one would come into our hime. This would be strictly outside) This could be both an opportunity for a monthly April-October purging, reselling, and holding space for a small fee or commission for others that want to bring their stuff. If we were in the UK, perhaps this is like a care boot sale option, but we don't have them here. Holding 4-6 a season if done right, could mint vacation money for the harsh months of winter. I'd like to do this now, but this would be one of those need a year to prepare type activities that we could do while I'm still working if DH preps ahead. Note: The college kid hated this idea and thought the garage sale concept of strangers coming to peoples houses was "sketch". I'll keep on the list but understand her point.
     This is just a short list off the top of my head. If we did a good long drive, we'd likely keep adding. It's kind of a thrill to think of the possibility.  The stock market fluctuations makes me nervous to not have back pocket ideas. The sure fire post retirement one for me would be substitute teaching as I don't think the demand is going away any time soon. I'd be looking to just bridge until my pension fully matured, so not forever. Who knows though, my sister subs post retirement and absolutely loves it. The pay is not great, but it would be meaningful. This is all just thinking and list making, but ideas are welcomed. If not a fit for us, maybe someone reading will see an opportunity.



29 comments:

  1. Love that you are thinking about this. I've given a bit of thought for myself, as well as for my husband. Your list is much more thorough, and I should probably do some additional brainstorming. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Of course we can't won't do it all-it really was just brainstorming.

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  2. At retirement I received a congratulatory card that read - retirement is when you stop living at work and start working at living. I've always said that work allowed me the financial opportunity to do things outside of work. Many of those activities are mainstays of retirement life for me. Having a plan is step #1.

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    1. That's a really nice card to get as a send off from the work space. I have lots of ideas for fun as well.

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  3. Some years ago, whilst I was holed up at home with a teething toddler and a brand new baby, I read somewhere .. ' find something you like doing then find someone to pay you to do it'...
    I took up gardening and the rest they say is history -
    good luck with the gentle but positive slide into future opportunitiesx

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    1. We've both been lucky that we've enjoyed our careers. For him though, its his hard schedule as he ages. For me, it's wanting to move on and do things at my own leisure.

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  4. Substitute teaching is/was my go-to, immediate way to earn money. The need is there. The first graders and below were all little liars...lol. They told me things they were allowed to do and I believed them. Older kids and hs were the ones I knew how to handle. The little ones were just too cute and conned me...lol.
    Junior colleges can use subs, too. Husband could sub, too. There are automotive programs that need someone. It is a process sometimes of just talking to people so they know you, and it sounds like your husband could talk to the instructors well. He may not have the education, but if they want someone, the schools can overlook little things like qualifications. I have seen it happen.

    My friend was an engineer at NASA and his wife was a homemaker. They made around $5K each craft show they worked, making baby bead bracelets @ $5 each. I supported myself working craft shows, making Cabbage Patch and other clothes for toys. But, that is more than a full time job. However, two shows a year could net a person $12K, easily.

    Yard sales are wearing and weather dependent, not a good mix for older bodies. I would not allow anyone in the house, so the sketch bit would be eliminated.

    Online sales of yard sale items that you buy for resale would be good. Ephemera works. Has your husband seen how in-demand car manuals, appliance manuals are? Google one and see what can easily be sold and for a small fortune sometimes. People stick these in yard sales for little. Old maps from the free days, all sorts of odd things are worth money.

    When I hear adult education, I think several things. Adult Basic Education is GED here. Teaching GED is good because it often is only one or two days each week. AND, it was highly rewarding to me.

    I made good money writing resumes. I got all the information, dates, employers and could turn around a resume in less than 24 hours. In the South and 25 years ago, I could make $50 in an afternoon. I knew when to put in punctuation, could spell, and could format easily and knew what made a good resume, so it was so simple. I met my best customer in KFC in line. I charged up to $100 and still felt like it was a cakewalk.

    Tutoring worked for me, too. I mostly tutored algebra and math for nurses. Two nursing students paid all my bills one summer. Oh, I did tutor boys who were not going to get into 9th grade. That saved their skins. I tutored the son of the guy at whose house Tommy fell. I also tutored home school kids who were not making it.

    I bought sewing machines and breadmakers and resold them. I would clean the breadmaker, bake a loaf of bread and resell. I cleaned up the sewing machines, adjusted them and resold. I advertised in a free space in a local paper and met the person buying things in front of the library, two blocks from me. This is just an idea how to turn around items. Of course, I know sewing machines backwards and forwards, especially ones made before computers.

    Of course, you or anyone else cannot do all of these. Several small income streams seem to work best.

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    1. You sure had a lot of income earning activities.

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    2. These activities were NOT all in the same time frame. When I worked full-time, I might buy two or three machines in one weekend and none for months, depending on my time to go to garage sales and availability of machines. Most were hit or miss over a few years.

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  5. Sounds like some great ideas!
    Thanks for the tips, and I hope your dh will be excited about some of the possibilities too.
    I've been trying to talk my dh into starting a youtube channel or an etsy store, perhaps of woodworking, cnc machine or vintage computer repairs. These are things he enjoys, and I think these days, it is good to have a second stream of income possibilities.

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    1. I think he's most excited to not be working in the winter and being able to take off and travel whenever we want! A little extra cash will help that be practical.

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  6. YES... we floated several thoughts before retiring. Hubby did a couple before going to starting his own business of hauling. Amish neighbor mentioned he was needing someone to haul his horses and that was the start. Mother and Pop did flea markets. Daddy did small engine repairs and yard mowing. Hubby's dad did some insurance selling then went to school bus driving. His mom filled in where she retired from.

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    1. His friend drove bus for seven years after retiring form the police force. Neither of us though would want a firm scheduled job though. Flea markets-that's what I was trying to think of with the semi regular garage sales.

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  7. I'm fortunate that my pension is a defined benefit and I bring in enough income that I don't want need to look for anything extra. I have, though, been working on crochet and knit projects for some time and at some point I'd like to sell them. Sadly, most people aren't willing to pay much more than the cost of supplies, which isn't worth my time and effort. I may try a craft fair this fall to test the waters with the product I've collected.

    You both certainly have skills and abilities that would lend themselves to a part time job. Subs are always in demand and I suspect your DH wouldn't find it hard to find a position doing some of the things he's currently doing. It would be a matter of not allowing the employers to take advantage and finding yourselves working fulltime again.

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    1. We don't really want part time jobs-we more want flexible jobs, take or not take based on our personal schedule first. Technically, we should have more than enough to live off. IT's the extras I'm aiming for.

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  8. Sounds like you have some great options for yourself.

    I have done catering from time to time over the years and will probably do more of that as time to retire becomes closer. I think as long as it is something you really enjoy and can do it on your time frame it is more fun than actual work.

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    1. A good caterer is a god send in a community.

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  9. Thanks for the kind words and the shout out!
    You've got some great ideas. A retired headteacher friend does exam invigilating & supply teaching and says its a lot less stressful just popping in and keeping her hand in rather than doing the same thing day after day.
    Not sure if it would work but the AA offer a service where a car expert checks out secondhand cars before the buyer commits to purchasing - I wonder if your husband could do something similar and share his knowledge? xxx

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    1. He's not actually a mechanic so wouldn't want the responsibility of verifying second hand, but he loves talking cars. I just saw a need for people to supervise testing days.

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  10. I admit, I was a bit panicked when I left the workforce to be a SAHM. A few years afterwards DH retired, and I went back to school to earn another degree. I realized that, while I loved the coursework, I did not like being away from my kids during the day, and knew I made the right decision to leave the work force when my first was born. We were always careful with investments, particularly real estate, which is our main source of supplemental income. I also worked as a PT dance instructor, but the pay was small--I did it because I loved it, until I realized I couldn't stand it anymore, and knew it was time to give up. The real estate is something we can do together. I think because my DH is older, I've always thought about how we can spend time together.

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    1. I'm less panicked about living expenses but more motivated by "fun", travel, entertaining, seeing kids living a ways away.

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  11. So many members of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early) have side gigs and it strikes me as a very smart move in these volatile times! And potentially exciting too!

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    1. Most seem not totally retired, but able to live frugally.

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  12. You will find your time filling up, just like Hubs. It is so good to think of all these things beforehand. I remember mom was moving in with us when Hubs retired so I could think of nothing else.

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    1. No doubt! I'm less nice though do won't commit beyond my own needs and preference.

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  13. Seems like a good idea to plan now, especially across both of your opportunities. Hope you're able to find things that will work but still be enjoyable.

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    1. I think project work and subbing are my best options. For him, the back up things at his dealership group are easy fits.

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  14. Yeah, I often think I'd like to go work in a store a couple of days a week, just to have a reason to get dressed and to interact with people - and a bit of money is nice too! However, people are not very nice to retail workers...sigh.

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    1. I thought being a barista would be fun, but only in a local small business, not a company store.

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