The ‘Other’ Retirement Income? Pair Passion With Part-Time Work, Experts Say

Art by Alex Eben Meyer

As a lifestyle and career coach focused on second-act careers, Nancy Collamer has come across many people who have followed their passions in “semi-retirement.”

She has met outdoor lovers who have gotten work at national parks, animal lovers who took up part-time dog walking, shoppers who work in retail to take advantage of the discounts and even sports lovers who get jobs at their local stadiums to be able to watch the games.

“If you think about what you enjoy doing and match that to how you would spend your time in retirement, then there might be a way,” Collamer says.

The coach’s advice is for all retirees, no matter their retirement saving or pension situation. But the reality for many Americans is that they may need to have at least a part-time job to live the kind of life they want in retirement.

“The fact of the matter is that a lot of people have gotten to this point [of retirement], and they haven’t saved enough,” says the career coach, public speaker and author. “Working on a part-time basis becomes a real area of interest for these people.”

Despite the boom in financial wellness tools and advice available from workplaces, the financial advisement industry and even social media, Americans are getting less confident that they will reach their retirement goals. In 2022, 31% of non-retirees felt their retirement savings plan was on track, down from 40% in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve System’s most recent economic well-being report.

To live comfortably in retirement, a married American earning $75,000 a year should have saved 7 times their income, or $525,000, by age 70, according to analysis by retirement recordkeeper T. Rowe Price. That savings would be paired, depending on career income, with the average Social Security monthly pay of $1,827 a month. That may seem okay in theory. But the average saver 65 or older only has $279,997 in retirement plan savings, according to data drawn from nearly 5 million participant accounts with Vanguard.

“I don’t think continually telling people to save a lot more is helpful,” says Kelli Send, who works on a regular basis with retirement plan participants as a senior vice president at advisory Francis LLC. “It’s about getting people to recalibrate their thinking. … The first goal is to give that person some hope. If you approach it from a ‘you can do this’ perspective, the person won’t feel quite so badly about their situation; they won’t feel defeated.”

Step 1: Social Security

When speaking with a worker who is near retirement but has not saved enough to keep up their desired lifestyle, Send first turns to the guaranteed income already available: Social Security. She begins with a discussion of the benefit, then starts showing the person how much their take-home amount can increase if they don’t take Social Security immediately at the age of 62.

“The first thing we do is have a discussion about Social Security,” Send says. “When you look at a Social Security benefit, at that 8% increase that you enjoy every year you wait from age 62 to 70, the math turns out that it’s about double.”

Send uses the example of a person who will be getting $1,200 per month from Social Security and about $200 a month from retirement savings because they have not put away a lot. If they work a few additional years, that monthly income may get closer to or even pass $2,000, which seems more palatable.

“It’s getting people comfortable that it’s OK to work a little later,” she says.

Another factor she often discusses is Medicare, which does not kick in until age 65 and can be a major factor in terms of the costs of health insurance. “You do sometimes have to have a little tough love to let people know they probably shouldn’t retire before 65 to be on Medicare,” she says.

George Fraser, managing director of the Fraser Group at Retirement Benefits Group, speaks to groups across the country—including retirement plan advisers—about the power of Social Security and how the industry often overlooks it when discussing retirement income.

“We need to spend more time talking about Social Security and reminding people about the power of that guaranteed paycheck,” Fraser says in an interview just after speaking with Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, chamber of commerce members about retirement planning. “The average person leaves a lot on the table because they take it at the wrong time. We need to remind them that it’s going to be there, and it’s going to make a tremendous difference.”

Fraser notes that the Social Security Administration itself used to use the wording “early retirement” when workers decided to take distributions at age 62. Now it has shifted it to “minimum distribution” at 62, as compared to “maximum distribution” at 70—language that is much more accurate, he notes.

Step 2: Pair Passion with Income

But waiting for Social Security does not necessarily mean staying in the same full-time job, Fraser says. Nor does it mean suggesting that people buy a lifetime income annuity that, when you do not have much money, amounts to very little in monthly payments. Instead, Fraser suggests people can make income with part-time work doing something that is part of their retirement dream.

“People don’t want to sit on their couch and watch Maury Povich all day,” Fraser says. “They can look for things they already like to do and get paid for it. Let’s say I like golf, but rather than pay for a membership, I get a part-time job at the club. If I like to ski, I could get work as a ski instructor.”

Fraser believes the retirement plan industry has a lot of room to grow in helping people get to retirement goals that are fulfilling, but also realistic.

“We create fear as opposed to hope,” he says. “The ultimate goal, at the end of the day, is: Let’s find ways to create additional income that meets our lifestyle goals.”

According to AARP research from early 2023, gig or independent work is increasingly common among workers. For those age 60 and older, the organization found the top ways of earning money without a full-time job include freelance or contract work (48%), teaching (16%), providing pet care (8%), doing home repair, such as handyman, lawn care, or snow removal (6%), shopping for others (6%), and making or growing things (6%).

“Among the 65-plus age group, entrepreneurial, gig, or nontraditional work has exploded,” says Carly Roszkowski, vice president of financial resilience programming for the DC-based AARP. “COVID has made us rethink how we want to live and the kind of flexibility we want; the gig or freelance work allows people to work when they want, be their own boss and have that work-life balance.”

Step 3: Use the Tech

On a website called SideHusl, started by business writer Kathy Kristof, users can see reviews and ratings of more than 450 online platforms that help people make money “on the side.” Suggestions range from a service that connects you to voiceover work for things such as video games, hosting paid dinner parties in your home or even getting paid for allowing data collectors to follow your online activity.

While some of these ideas may seem a bit extreme for a retiree, there are plenty of tech-economy gigs that can pair people with their favorite hobbies, Collamer says.

“I once interviewed a gentleman who had been a vice president,” she says. “He wanted to do something and thought it would be great if he could earn some extra money. He loved dogs, and so he signed up with Rover to be a dog walker. Within a half an hour, he was able to have a profile up that was marketed to people in his area.”

Collamer says that using a shared site may be a good way to test an idea, and if it succeeds, you might turn it into your own business so you do not have to share the profits.

While semi-retirees have increased flexibility in their work, the AARP’s recent research does show that only 38%, or a minority of the population, expect to be financially secure in retirement. With people now living to much older ages—and with better health—than in the past, part-time work is becoming much more prevalent, according to Roszkowski.

“The financial piece is still the number one reason we’re seeing older adults either return to work, or having the expectation that they will need to return to work in retirement,” she says. “If inflation continues to rise and the cost of everyday items like groceries continues to go up, retirees may need some sort of income stream in order to pay their bills or keep up the lifestyle they want.”

One silver lining from the pandemic, she notes, is that older adults are likely to be more familiar and confident with using digital tools to communicate or work at jobs that can now be done remotely, such as customer service or tutoring.

Financial wellness expert Send agrees with the many opportunities available to the “tomorrow retiree” who is familiar with the tech economy and can leverage its benefits. She also encounters, however, some “today” retirees who are not as familiar with the tech economy. On top of that, they may be ending a physically grueling career after which more work does not sound very attractive.

In those situations, Send tries to show the participant that they have not failed in how they have worked and saved. Rather, they have a few different choices of how they can approach life in retirement. Choice A could be cutting their budget, B could be a side hustle or C could be working for a few more years to build up both their savings and Social Security income, Send notes.

“It’s not a failing because they have to work longer or pick up a side hustle or whatever it may be,” she says. “It’s a choice they are making that gives them hope about what is next for them in their lives.”