There are many reasons that a retired person would want to continue working, including not having saved enough for retirement, wanting to stay active or just needing to do something to stave off boredom. Unfortunately, many retirees today find themselves faced with the first reason, that being that they haven’t saved enough money to be able to live comfortably without extra income coming in on a regular basis.
But, if you are a retiree and you’re in good shape and don’t suffer from any major health problems, there are a few great jobs for you out there if you can get them that will fulfill a lot of your needs including taking care of that boredom we talked about as well as putting some much-needed extra bucks in your pocket. Below are a number of excellent suggestions. Enjoy.
- Assistant or aid in a library. This job include such duties as taking questions about where particular books, DVDs or music CDs are located, putting books back on the shelves, helping library customers check out their books and tracking overdue library materials. Schedules at this job can vary but, as many large libraries on university campuses or in big cities tend to stay open 24 hours a day, in many cases the hours can be quite flexible. As far as pay, the bigger the library the better the pay generally will be. There are some libraries that pay over $15 an hour and, if you have experience and live in a bigger city, that pay rate can go up considerably.
- Bookkeeper for a small business. Many small businesses need someone to help them keep up with their books and, if that’s you, you’ll be handling a number of financial necessities. From purchasing office supplies to helping the owner process their payroll and lots of other things in between like tracking accounts receivable, maintaining their checking and savings accounts, contacting and following up with accounts that are delinquent and even auditing accounts. As far as ours go, this job is almost always part-time as most bookkeepers are needed for only 1 to 2 days a month. Pay depends on experience and can range from $10 an hour up to $50 an hour depending on certain factors like your degree, any advanced training that you’ve taken and the area of the country that you live in.
- In-home personal caregiver. This job requires a person to be relatively fit and active and, if that’s you, you can make upwards of $35 an hour depending on your experience and your location. The people that you will typically be helping our much older and sometimes disabled. Activities that you’ll be helping with include helping to get them dressed, go to the bathroom and even some light cooking duties. Many times a bit of light housekeeping is involved and, most importantly, companionship. In some cases there are live in positions that require you to attend to the patient for most of their waking hours but the upsell for this job is that you get free room and board (if you need it). One thing that’s a must when you’re an in-home personal caregiver is that you have excellent bedside manner and lots of patience.
- Assistant in a medical or dental practice. If you have the experience or find a clinic that will train you, working in a doctor’s, dentists or other medical professionals office as an assistant can be very satisfying both mentally and financially. There are plenty of things to do and any busy medical office including taking care of new patient paperwork, verifying insurance, answering the telephone and scheduling appointments. Depending on your experience, the type of clinic that you are working in and any degrees that you might have, pay ranges from $10-$25 an hour and sometimes more. One of the best perks about working for a doctor or a dentist is the free care and advice that comes with it, something that can in many ways be invaluable.
- Home handyman. This job demands that a person be relatively fit and have a wide knowledge of different repair tasks including how to unclog sinks, repair small electrical problems, fix a wide variety of small home problems and have a knack for painting as well. The hours are quite flexible and, if you have a decent clientele, you can keep quite busy. Depending on your experience and expertise you can charge from $10 all the way up to $50 an hour. One caveat is that you’ll more than likely need to have your own tools and your customer service skills should definitely be keen.
Whether you need to work because you just don’t have enough income coming in to support you in retirement or you just want to keep busy, the five jobs listed above are all excellent and, if your health and mental state are in great shape, could very well be quite satisfying. One things for sure, you certainly won’t be bored with anyone of the five jobs we just talked about.