Earning a bit of extra money can make a big difference to your retirement income.
If you can earn £125 a week, that’s £6,500 a year, or a fifth of the £31,700 annual amount one person needs for a moderate retirement, according to benchmark figures from the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.
Turning a hobby, lifelong passion or skills honed during your career into a later-life side-hustle can prove a valuable boost to the lifestyle you can afford. Plus it can be interesting and needn’t take up a lot of your time.
In fact, most of those with a side-hustle dedicate just ten hours a week to it, according to a survey by design app Adobe Express.
Just over 70 per cent of those surveyed made up to £500 a month, with 20 per cent generating more than £1,000.
Here we reveal seven retirement-friendly side-hustles and how to get started.
Skillset: Turning a hobby, lifelong passion or skills honed during your career into a later-life side-hustle can prove a valuable boost to the lifestyle you can afford
Offer local tours
If you love walking and have a passion for local places of interest, becoming a tour guide can make you money while keeping you fit and chatting about favourite subjects.
Jane Keightley, 67, started her guided tours of Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 2019. In peak season she earns around £500 a month.
To get started, Jane, who is married to Martyn, 69, immersed herself in Boston’s heritage, linked to the pilgrims who set sail on the Mayflower to America.
She attended talks by historians and studied a collection of history books given to her by her mother.
She runs both short and long tours every week and takes group bookings from schools and coach parties. Jane also gives talks in care homes and to the Women’s Institute.
Jane says: ‘My advice is to give a tour on something you’re passionate about, because people can tell and that’s why I only get five-star reviews from my customers.’
To advertise her tours, which run between April and September, Jane leaves leaflets at hotels and the church of St Botolph’s, a popular spot for tourists. She also uses her Facebook page and website mrsktours.co.uk.
Tour guide: Jane Keightley, 67, started her guided tours of Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 2019. In peak season she earns around £500 a month
Help in gardens
Going door to door, either with leaflets or a friendly knock, to let neighbours know you are available for light gardening work, is an easy way to get started.
You can charge around £30 an hour for services such as weeding, garden maintenance and pruning.
Advertising your services to those nearby by setting up a page on nextdoor.co.uk will help you reach a wider customer base.
Head of local businesses at Nextdoor, Alice Skeats, says her top tips are posting images of gardens you have spruced up, sharing free advice and tips to build trust and engagement, and asking customers to leave recommendations.
Share your reasons for setting up a side hustle with potential customers. Letting people know that you can indulge your love of gardening now you have retired is a great conversation starter.
Websites such as startupschool
forseniors.com offer services to get your venture off the ground and tell you how best to market your skills.
Sing in a show
After giving up singing for almost three decades, Suzanne Noble reignited her love of vintage jazz and blues music at 58.
Now 64, Suzanne performs once a month at venues in London and will appear for the first time at Soho’s The Groucho Club this summer.
Specialising in 1920s to 1940s jazz, Suzanne, who lives in South Hampstead, north London, only contacts venues she knows showcase her style of music. She advertises her dates on her website suzannenoblesings.com.
For artists looking for singing gigs in pubs and restaurants, she recommends the platform Pure Sound Network.
Tuned in: Suzanne Noble, 64, performs once a month at venues in London and will appear for the first time at Soho’s The Groucho Club this summer
She makes up to £500 for a show, and advises singers to check how they will be paid. Some venues pay a flat fee while others offer a split of the ticket sales.
‘Find your niche of music,’ says Suzanne. ‘There are a lot more opportunities for people who sing covers of pop hits and karaoke classics because you can perform in restaurants and weddings.’
Having a website and an Instagram profile is a must, as venues want to see where you have performed. She is also a member of the Musicians’ Union, which adds to credibility.
Handyman skills
Handy with a hammer? You can make around £50 for a job.
Posting in your local Facebook group or sites such as gumtree.com will help build your business.
Adverts on Gumtree cost £9 to £25. List the services you offer such as painting, putting up shelves, furniture assembly, shelf installation and picture hanging.
If you were formerly qualified as a plumber or electrician, add this to your profile with any certifications and experience details.
Share photos of completed projects and include good reviews.
According to taskrabbit.co.uk, a website for sourcing everyday jobs, handymen charge £40 to £70 for jet washing a patio, or assembling flatpack furniture and up to £45 to hang pictures or mirrors.
Let out rooms
If you want to earn without giving up much of your time, letting out rooms to tourists, via Airbnb or similar sites, can be an easy way to make money.
It is tax efficient too. Under the Government’s Rent A Room Scheme, homeowners can earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free from letting out furnished rooms in their home, halved to £3,750 if you share the income with someone.
Airbnb says over a third of its UK-based hosts are retired and 20 per cent of all nights booked in the UK are private room listings.
But check with your mortgage lender and insurer that letting rooms is permitted.
Run a retreat
Whether you love painting, drawing, foraging or photography, hosting a retreat can partner your passion with a serious money-making opportunity.
Former lawyer and mediator Helen Garlick, 67, runs a coastal writing retreat from The Smugglers Rest pub in the village where she grew up, Mortehoe, in Devon.
Booked up: Former lawyer and mediator Helen Garlick, 67, runs a coastal writing retreat from The Smugglers Rest pub in the village where she grew up, Mortehoe, in Devon
After employing a writing coach and taking a creative writing course to pen her memoir on family secrets, No Place To Lie, Helen wanted to continue using the skills.
This gave birth to the idea of the retreat titled, The Power of Owning Your Story.
‘We ran sessions on being inspired by the landscape, a silent walking exercise and we go to see the North Atlantic seals,’ says Helen.
She books all eight rooms at the pub and gets a downstairs room for talks and classes. Helen charges guests a set price for their stay, food, talks with guest writers and the training.
After costs, she typically makes around £1,000 in profit.
Become a tutor
Former teachers, or those with transferable skills can take on students for private tutoring.
The average hourly rate, according to indeed.com, is £26.70.
Job websites host a mix of freelance and part-time tutoring contracts and positions, some of which can be done from your home using online resources.
Others require tutoring face to face.
Alternatively, you can set up on your own, which means you can dictate the hours and workload.
List your services with websites specialising in matching students and tutors, such as tutorful.co.uk, mytutor.co.uk and tutorhunt.com.
#parttime #jobs #perfect #pensioners #fears #Budget #bloodbath #experts #reveal #lowcommitment #lucrative #posts #add #year
