Jobs for Seniors

You're retired, but retirement income just isn't cutting it. What can you do? After years of long workdays and menial labor, you deserve more than a flashback to your late teens bagging groceries. If you are a senior looking for creative ideas to make some extra money without breaking your back, then you've come to the right place.

Give lessons
One thing you can do is give lessons. Do you have any skills or talents that are teachable to others? If so, be bold enough to offer lessons to children in the community - teach music, like piano or voice, or a foreign language - for a specific rate. This will help keep your own skills sharp as you continue aging, and provide an opportunity for people to realize the benefits they can receive from the wiser members of society.

Start your own business
Another option is to start your own home business. This can be a lot of work, depending on what you decide to do, but even something as simple as selling crafts can provide a few extra dollars a month. Some shops allow merchants to rent a small space in their stores where they can put homemade items on display - wood carvings, paintings, crocheted or knitted pieces - and name their own price (or if you feel especially ambitious, you can have someone help you design a website and sell online). Your home, itself, can be a moneymaker if you have the means to create a Bed and Breakfast, or turn extra space into an apartment to rent to other people. Or if possible, you might look into becoming a real estate agent, where you can show houses to local homebuyers by appointment.

However, if you are willing to work an 8:00 to 5:00 job, consider a low-key working environment that will still allow you to enjoy your retirement, to an extent. A job as a librarian, for example, can provide you with a quiet workplace and the opportunity to use your knowledge - and maybe even catch up on some reading. And who knows? While you're there, you might discover new interests, or remember old ones you'd forgotten.

Teaching
If you're up to it and can afford to make the investment, consider going into teaching. High school or younger may be too much of a challenge on your health and energy (although substitute teaching to such age groups is a relatively good source of income), but obtaining a university-level teaching license in a previous field of study can take less than two years and give you the satisfaction of molding young adult minds with your own intellect. You'd be doing something important and making an actual salary. Plus, unless you opt for year-round teaching, you'll still have your summers free.

Smaller scale money-making opportunities include babysitting neighboring children, maintaining a greenhouse and selling plants and flowers, finding a shop or bakery that will sell your baked goods for you (be sure to check health laws and regulations first), writing or reporting for your local newspaper, or taking payment for doing genealogical research.