Business Development Officer, T.D. McNeil Insurance Services, Fresno, California
There are several steps that a retired person can take to increase their income. The first is to “unretire.” Retirement is overrated. Working has positive effects on a person and when the work is meaningful it can add years of enjoyment. It can certainly stretch your retirement budget. Even before you retire you can discuss this with your employer to determine if there is some way you can return to the workforce as either a consultant or contract worker. It would be best to determine which aspects of your work you enjoy and what type of projects you want to do. Enter into an agreement to work on those things that interest you. I know a teacher who shows up two periods of day to teach Physics and then gets in his car and drives home. He enjoys what he does and doesn’t want to participate in the wider campus life.
Sometimes it isn’t possible to continue to work for your current employer. In those instances make an inventory of work in which you excel. Armed with that list contact people who need full or part-time help in your area of expertise and offer your services, or contract for your services. If you cannot find an employer who needs your talents consider working for yourself. There are a variety of ways to advertise your skills and there are people looking for your talents.
If you want to try something altogether new there are franchise opportunities available. These opportunities run the gamut from stores to on-line services and sales. Finding a program that suits your capabilities and temperament should be relatively easy. Some of these opportunities can become quite lucrative. I have clients who are leaving their employment long before retirement because their on-line sales business is flourishing.
Obviously working provides income and it also reduces the number of years that you will depend upon your retirement savings to provide income. If you are drawing retirement income this will give you money which you can put into a Roth IRA to fund the period when you finally do stop working altogether.
One of the most important things that working does is to allow you to delay receiving social security. For a long list of reasons it is usually to a retiree’s advantage to delay the start of benefits until they reach age 70. The increase in benefits is substantial to the worker and to the widow it is amazing.
Working provides a great deal of emotional satisfaction and a sense of freedom.
Another technique to increase your retirement income is to tap into the equity of your home. Regardless of whether the mortgage is paid or not, you can take out a reverse mortgage after age 62. A reverse mortgage will allow you to tap the equity in your home. This is a complex transaction and the only transaction that I can think of where an applicant must be counselled by a disinterested party. It is the right move for some, though and could make your retirement more comfortable.
Another way to stretch your retirement dollars is to determine what you own of value that you no longer need. If what you own can be converted to cash it might help stretch your retirement income assets. Selling things on the internet is relatively inexpensive and can be quite fruitful. I advertised an accordion on the internet and was besieged with interested buyers. Estate sales demonstrate that there are things that are not being used by the retirees that are of interest to the public. Often cars are no longer being used, undeveloped land lies idle and jewelry lies unused in a safe deposit box.
Another way to stretch your retirement income is to determine what services are available to seniors in your location that cost you money currently. Many places offer discounts and sometimes services can be free. Even utilities companies participate in programs to lower costs for seniors.
With almost 50% of retirees depending on Social Security for their retirement income it is very important to understand how you can stretch that income and even increase it.
Recruiter/Manager, Cole Insurance Investments, Charlotte N.C.
We actually never retire we just slow down statistics prove that stopping work increases our chances of death by 5 times so really retirement is a mind set if we plan and time is on our side we might want to volunteer our services at a non profit organization or church would be a good place to start. In the seed process time is our most important asset even over income but if there is a shortage even then we should tithe a 10th of our income and the word says he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that we want even be able to receive it all.So have an open mind to new ideas and maybe get involved in something you wanted to do in your 20's or 30' but just felt there was either not enough of time or time and no money.
That is a really good question! More and more people are becoming worried that they will not have enough in the bank to live out retirement like they'd hoped. There are a great number of things that you can do, many of which could depend upon where you stand financially now, and how close to/far into retirement that you are.
Some simple steps?
1.) Eliminate as much debt as possible now. Eliminating interest on loans, credit cards, etc. will save you tons of money later on. Tightening the belt now and paying off those debts will free up cash later, when it's needed.
2.) Look at when you want to file for your SSI benefits to begin. If you or your spouse can hold off on starting the benefits, the payments when they do start will be larger.
3.) Eliminate unneeded expenses, and downsize where possible. If you are living in a home that has become larger than you need, maybe downsizing the home or property could provide the money that makes the difference.
4.) If there is available money to invest, then look at vehicles that might help down the road - annuities, or a Roth IRA that allows later distributions might be options.
5.) Work, or making money off of hobbies is always a possibility. If you like to garden, grow vegetables to sell, or make flower arrangements, etc. that both gratify you, and add income.
I wish that I had more information from you to work with in my answer, but I hope that there will be something here that will give you ideas, and hope. Thank you for asking!
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Sometimes it isn’t possible to continue to work for your current employer. In those instances make an inventory of work in which you excel. Armed with that list contact people who need full or part-time help in your area of expertise and offer your services, or contract for your services. If you cannot find an employer who needs your talents consider working for yourself. There are a variety of ways to advertise your skills and there are people looking for your talents.
If you want to try something altogether new there are franchise opportunities available. These opportunities run the gamut from stores to on-line services and sales. Finding a program that suits your capabilities and temperament should be relatively easy. Some of these opportunities can become quite lucrative. I have clients who are leaving their employment long before retirement because their on-line sales business is flourishing.
Obviously working provides income and it also reduces the number of years that you will depend upon your retirement savings to provide income. If you are drawing retirement income this will give you money which you can put into a Roth IRA to fund the period when you finally do stop working altogether.
One of the most important things that working does is to allow you to delay receiving social security. For a long list of reasons it is usually to a retiree’s advantage to delay the start of benefits until they reach age 70. The increase in benefits is substantial to the worker and to the widow it is amazing.
Working provides a great deal of emotional satisfaction and a sense of freedom.
Another technique to increase your retirement income is to tap into the equity of your home. Regardless of whether the mortgage is paid or not, you can take out a reverse mortgage after age 62. A reverse mortgage will allow you to tap the equity in your home. This is a complex transaction and the only transaction that I can think of where an applicant must be counselled by a disinterested party. It is the right move for some, though and could make your retirement more comfortable.
Another way to stretch your retirement dollars is to determine what you own of value that you no longer need. If what you own can be converted to cash it might help stretch your retirement income assets. Selling things on the internet is relatively inexpensive and can be quite fruitful. I advertised an accordion on the internet and was besieged with interested buyers. Estate sales demonstrate that there are things that are not being used by the retirees that are of interest to the public. Often cars are no longer being used, undeveloped land lies idle and jewelry lies unused in a safe deposit box.
Another way to stretch your retirement income is to determine what services are available to seniors in your location that cost you money currently. Many places offer discounts and sometimes services can be free. Even utilities companies participate in programs to lower costs for seniors.
With almost 50% of retirees depending on Social Security for their retirement income it is very important to understand how you can stretch that income and even increase it.
Some simple steps?
1.) Eliminate as much debt as possible now. Eliminating interest on loans, credit cards, etc. will save you tons of money later on. Tightening the belt now and paying off those debts will free up cash later, when it's needed.
2.) Look at when you want to file for your SSI benefits to begin. If you or your spouse can hold off on starting the benefits, the payments when they do start will be larger.
3.) Eliminate unneeded expenses, and downsize where possible. If you are living in a home that has become larger than you need, maybe downsizing the home or property could provide the money that makes the difference.
4.) If there is available money to invest, then look at vehicles that might help down the road - annuities, or a Roth IRA that allows later distributions might be options.
5.) Work, or making money off of hobbies is always a possibility. If you like to garden, grow vegetables to sell, or make flower arrangements, etc. that both gratify you, and add income.
I wish that I had more information from you to work with in my answer, but I hope that there will be something here that will give you ideas, and hope. Thank you for asking!