Remember back before the Great Recession when Boomers were expected to retire in waves, leaving the country with a gigantic labor shortage? In California, for example, we expected to have to hire approximately 300,000 new teachers to fill the classrooms vacated by retiring Boomers.
Of course, that didn’t happen. These days, Boomers are hanging onto their jobs by their bloody fingernails, hoping like hell they won’t get fired because the younger, cheaper models are lined up thirty-deep outside of HR.
For those Boomers who have retired, many have seen the value of their savings plummet, and are now looking for part-time work to supplement their Social Security checks. Here are some of the jobs I’ve seen my contemporaries invent:
- “Limo” service: driving neighbors to and picking them up from airports.
- “Vacation” service: watching pets and maintaining homes for vacationing neighbors.
- Home-based sales like jewelry, skin care/makeup, home decor.
- Fix-it person.
- Make and sell a craft or product. (My brother builds cabinets as a hobby. He wants to do that out of his garage when he retires.)
- “Swap meet entrepreneur” wherein you buy at yard sales and resell for a profit at the local swap meet.
- Tutoring students if you’re a retired teacher.
- Computer “helper”: teaching elder users the basics, and unsnagging them when they get tangled up.
- and, of course, consulting in your career field, if you’ve got the chops to reel in business that way.
Any other ideas? Let me know and I’ll list them in a future post. This way, we can encourage and motivate each other.
Re: young people, I suggest they start thinking about and preparing early in their careers for a part-time or self-employed business idea later on. The way things are going, if they get canned or injured, they’ll need a way to keep food on the table, because the days of job security and pensions are sunsetting. Any time you get an opportunity, I tell them, learn a new skill. Let your employer send you to training. Build your contacts. Network like crazy. Eyes on the horizon, Grasshopper. Don’t take anything for granted. The days are over when “I’m on a fixed income” used to be a bad thing.
Hey Lynne,
You are so right. I plan to work forever but not at the dead end day job. My writing and graphic design skills are opening up doors that I never imagined. It’s scary to think that I won’t have a paycheck and benefits handed to me or a timeclock to punch every morning, but I will be happy. And at this point in my life, that’s all that matters.
I agree that Boomers might have to work forever, Lynne. But as long as a person has his health, why not? Sure, we’ve all grown up with the idea that “retirement” is our reward for a life well-lived, but isn’t that more of a myth? I’ve known far too many people (mostly the hard-driving, Type A kind) who keel over dead just weeks after retiring — guess the fast-paced life they were living suited them. My sister and I have talked about this often, and both of us agree we’d rather die on the job than sitting in a rocking chair some place. To each his own, I guess!
Work is life, said Freud. I agree with your general philosophy, Deb. I think work helps all of us stay healthy and sharp. The difference is between “have to” and “want to”. All of the jobs I listed sound kind of fun to me, but I wouldn’t want to HAVE to do them to keep a roof over my head. PS I forgot to sign out of the “Marie” account again! Lynne
You’re right, Lynne. I wasn’t even thinking about the differences between “have to” and “want to.” That’s a biggie — “have to” tends to make all of us bitter! And when you factor in the “I can hire a younger model for three times cheaper” attitude, well, you can see how the bitterness mushrooms!