Finding part time work in retirement?

[rayinpenn]

60.5, can pull the plug anytime I want - can't relocate until sophomore son finishes HS. Money isn't the issue but staying busy is.
Yeah I've got a couple months of decluttering to do.
1) stay on the job and seek to work one day a week from home. (Likely ok), but I need a change.2) retire find a p/t gig (limitation can't stand for long bad knees)

Ok so the question becomes just how hard is it yo find a p/t gig?

Anyone willing to share?





Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[travelover]

My plan was to work part time to "stay busy". After volunteering for a while at Habitat, I quickly realized that what I wanted was to not have a schedule.

You may well be different, but I surprised myself.

Even if you volunteer, if you are good, the "job" grows.

 

[marko]

My plan was to work part time to "stay busy". After volunteering for a while at Habitat, I quickly realized that what I wanted was to not have a schedule.

You may well be different, but I surprised myself.

Even if you volunteer, if you are good, the "job" grows.

+1. Even if the job doesn't grow it slowly can become a "job".

The "imposition on your (free) time" also becomes an issue.

A fine line between something to get you out of bed and something that forces you to get out of bed.

Maybe a PT job is one of those transitional strategies (however unintended it may be) for ER's that slowly becomes the impetus to fully retire. You come to realize how valuable --and short--your time is.

 

[W2R]

I gather that finding an appealing part time job is difficult in some areas, due to age discrimination.

Personally I have never looked for one. Honestly, even if I wanted to work again (I don't), I don't have time to fit a job into my schedule in retirement. It was mind-boggling to me to discover how one's time just fills right up with stuff to do that seems interesting and/or important.

YMMV, of course.

 

[Ronstar]

Very easy to find a part time gig. Employers like to hire people that don't need a full time job or benefits. There's always people needing a handyman to do something. And there are a lot of volunteer opportunities.

Once I told people I was retired, they suggested part time jobs. I've had about 20 offers during the past year. But i'm too busy.

 

[MRG]

Ray think you're in PA. IMHO, it will depend where in the state you live. My DW and I left that state in '78 partly due to the depressed economy in the area we lived in(there were some family issues that made moving 1500 miles away appealing). Different area in PA would have made finding work easier.

Like someone said, there's some businesses that seek out part time, mature individuals. Best wishes.

 

[Bamaman]

Only part time jobs we have are the door greeter at Walmart, and the person that cleans tables at Taco Bell. Meaningful part time jobs paying good money are hard to find unless you have unusual job skills.

And with such a young son approaching college age, you could face expensive living for as long as 7 years. College, cars and health insurance can suck the life out of a family even working full time.

If your job holds out and if it's enjoyable, you might do best staying where you are and enjoy the fact that you can leave any time.

At one point in time, your last child will be ready to stand on his own two feet financially. And that will be when it's time for you to start your next stage of life.

 

[brewer12345]

Ray, aside from needing a change from the job, you need to have other reasons to retire. Something you are going toward, rather than running from, will make things a lot easier. What are your hobbies that you would like to devote more time to? What have you always wanted to do but never had the time? Just getting a part time job to fill the time does not make for a satisfying retirement or life.

 

[Amethyst]

I think it would be scary and uncomfortable to start all over with a new employer or in a new line of work. If I thought I might have to do that to make ends meet, I would not have retired.

That said, I am working 2 days a week for my old employer (salary only, no benefits). I like it and feel lucky to have been asked to come back to help them launch a new activity - yet part of the goodness is that I am so familiar with this employer's culture that I can add value, without stressing too much.

So my advice would be to take the 1-day-a-week gig with your current employer.

Good luck,

Amethyst

 

[soupcxan]

I've also wondered about this - specifically, how hard would it be to find part-time work for a finance person with an MBA. I wouldn't want to be a payables clerk or some basic job for $10/hr. Not sure if there is anything part-time in between that and a +40 hr/week job at six figures.

 

[brewer12345]

I've also wondered about this - specifically, how hard would it be to find part-time work for a finance person with an MBA. I wouldn't want to be a payables clerk or some basic job for $10/hr. Not sure if there is anything part-time in between that and a +40 hr/week job at six figures.

Most likely you would find temp work or contract work. That might or might not be part time, but if it is full time you could pursue it for a while and then take some time off before looking for the next gig.

 

[rayinpenn]

And with such a young son approaching college age, you could face expensive living for as long as 7 years. College, cars and health insurance can suck the life out of a family even working full time......

At one point in time, your last child will be ready to stand on his own two feet financially. And that will be when it's time for you to start your next stage of life.

Generally your spot on but in this instance I think you may be projecting... We have saved hard for 30 plus years and are blessed ....Money isn't the issue..


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[MN317]

....Ok so the question becomes just how hard is it yo find a p/t gig?

It depends on where you live. In the Minneapolis area the unemployment rate is 3.7% and it is very difficult to find good employees – f/t or p/t. Many employers actively seek retirees, especially if you have good skills. I work six day a month at a large hospital. I am warm, dry, and I don’t have to touch icky stuff – a great p/t job – going on 4 years.

 

[Music Lover]

You worked all your life...isn't your remaining time too valuable to waste in meaningless part time work just to "keep busy"? You must have developed some interests outside of working that you can pursue??

 

[outdoorgirl02]

There are also a lot of part time options online or that you can do freelance on the computer. A few that come to mind are writing articles for websites/blogs, editing, proofreading, graphic design, virtual assistant.

My 82 year old dad has an etsy.com store where he sells handmade coat racks that use golf club heads as the hooks. If you are crafty or handy with woodwork, you could easily make some cash with an etsy.com store. Or maybe eBay would be a good option too.

Check out peopleperhour.com for ideas on what others are doing.

 

[Amethyst]

Hey! I never thought of it before, but this is also a benefit of my line of work

II am warm, dry, and I don’t have to touch icky stuff.

 

[MRG]

I am warm, dry, and I don’t have to touch icky stuff – a great p/t job – going on 4 years.

That's important. Working in the rain 4 straight days is what drove me to go back to school and get into IT. Of course that was one of the best decesions I ever made.

I really couldn't believe they forced me to do that. I spend $700K on logs and had no idea if I was even close. Trying to measure wearing rain soaked glasses. Then writing the length and diameter in a little rain soaked book. About 50% of the books the admins couldn't read. Then they'd ask me to go find the logs and remeasure. Sure there's close to a million board feet of logs out there, it's easy to go find a load of logs I measured yesterday. Heck they we're long gone by then.

Really went against my grain to be forced to manufacture numbers. I knew the inventory that I was responsible for was wrong.

 

[frayne]

Have been retired going on ten years this July. Of those ten years I have worked part time five years for H&R Block, two years as a VITA volunteer and this past year helping with a new internet start-up. Although I enjoyed the work and the social interaction all of the jobs eventually became "work" and a PIA. When I get bored I'll probably find something again not for the money so much but for something to do when I can't golf or ride my motorcycle. A major problem I seem to run into is these part time jobs always seem to run into more responsibility once they find out you are competent and trust worthy.

I have found that I have become very possesive of my time and don't care much for regular schedules. Just my two cents and experience.

 

[Huston55]

My plan was to work part time to "stay busy". After volunteering for a while at Habitat, I quickly realized that what I wanted was to not have a schedule.

You may well be different, but I surprised myself.

Even if you volunteer, if you are good, the "job" grows.

+1. Even if the job doesn't grow it slowly can become a "job".

The "imposition on your (free) time" also becomes an issue.

A fine line between something to get you out of bed and something that forces you to get out of bed.

Maybe a PT job is one of those transitional strategies (however unintended it may be) for ER's that slowly becomes the impetus to fully retire. You come to realize how valuable --and short--your time is.

I gather that finding an appealing part time job is difficult in some areas, due to age discrimination.

Personally I have never looked for one. Honestly, even if I wanted to work again (I don't), I don't have time to fit a job into my schedule in retirement. It was mind-boggling to me to discover how one's time just fills right up with stuff to do that seems interesting and/or important.

YMMV, of course.

Have been retired going on ten years this July. Of those ten years I have worked part time five years for H&R Block, two years as a VITA volunteer and this past year helping with a new internet start-up. Although I enjoyed the work and the social interaction all of the jobs eventually became "work" and a PIA. When I get bored I'll probably find something again not for the money so much but for something to do when I can't golf or ride my motorcycle. A major problem I seem to run into is these part time jobs always seem to run into more responsibility once they find out you are competent and trust worthy.

I have found that I have become very possesive of my time and don't care much for regular schedules. Just my two cents and experience.

One way to avoid the "work" syndrome and "schedule" issues is to work intermittently (i.e.: X weeks/yr all in major chunks) like a consultant would do. This is what I'm doing (just retired last year) and it seems to work OK so far.

 

[W2R]

One way to avoid the "work" syndrome and "schedule" issues is to work intermittently (i.e.: X weeks/yr all in major chunks) like a consultant would do. This is what I'm doing (just retired last year) and it seems to work OK so far.

Whatever floats your boat, but getting a job, intermittent or not, is the LAST thing I would ever want to do in retirement. I worked long and hard for the freedom to do whatever interests me for the rest of my life, and more years of work isn't it.

Each and every day in retirement is full of things I'd prefer to be doing.

 

[Mulligan]

I just recently got offered a pretty easy 9 month gig that would pay $50k. Being 50 I am not too old for a retiree to work a bit again. It intrigued me for about 5 minutes, then I put the pen to paper and I would only net $27k after taxes, loss of tax credits, and transportation costs....Then you figure in all the time and driving...Add in the fact the money made would only be put into investment accounts with no value derived from the earned money and the answer became obvious....Plus after 5 years I am out of practice and am just too damn lazy to give the job the effort it properly deserves.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Sarah in SC]

DH has suddenly become an extremely motivated part timer in retirement, thanks to my requirement that he purchase his paramotor equipment, training, and assorted supplies from the "sweat of his brow" rather than from our household budget. He's done a bunch of IT consulting, some handyman type work, and even helped a guy move some stuff with our truck for $50!
Let me tell you: he was never this ambitious when he was actually working for a living!

 

[martyp]

If you are really just looking for a way to keep busy then find some volunteer opportunities. There are a lot of them out there. Some may lead to paying positions.

Part-time or full time - w*rk is w*rk. I don't want the schedule hassles or obligation unless it is on my own terms. It is always easier to say no if they are not paying you.