Not ready to retire? Well, you may want to consider an encore career. Most often, encore careers involve fields you had a passion for but never pursued.
“Encore careers are passion-focused endeavors and may not require high pay or full-time hours. Instead, they feed a person’s interests,” says careers and workplace analyst Laura Handrick for NY-based FitSmallBusiness . com. “The best way to select an encore career is to step back and find that thing you’ve loved all your life. Perhaps it’s been gardening, golfing or carpentry. That’s the best place to start your encore career. You could offer garden design, re-grip golf clubs, offer to teach a dance class or renovate a house to flip.”
In fact, according to the Age Wave study, about 72 percent of Americans under age 50 say that they want to keep working after they retire. There are many benefits to encore careers, besides letting you continue to be active they can also allow you to put off collecting Social Security.
When thinking about entering into an encore career, dig up all your contacts. Work your connections and networks. Also, considered non-profit organizations as they can often provide meaningful work opportunities.
You might want to stay in your same field just doing something different. You can pitch yourself as an industry expert or as a consultant.
“If you’re looking for an encore career after you retire, consider teaching. Chances are that you have lots of valuable information to convey about the field you’ve been working in all this time, and the hours are pretty convenient. You can also consider positions such as working at an animal shelter or working as a driver — jobs which are not too strenuous and can also be entertaining,” explains Caleb Backe, a Certified Life Coach and Business Consultant for Maple Holistics.
Going into business for yourself is another option. “Others, launch their own small business, often in areas of craftsmanship, such as cabinet making, quilting, or silversmithing. In other words, they make art. One need only visit a flea market or pop up art show to see many retirees offering and selling unique handmade items,” notes Handrick.
