Supplemental Retirement Income
Supplemental Retirement Income: A Chance to Be Creative
Whatever retirement portfolio and pension plan you’ve put together, after adding it all up you may still find yourself thinking about supplemental retirement income.
There are many reasons to supplement retirement income: added security, the engaging challenges of a post-retirement job – or even of playing a risky market – or the realization that you want to have some retirement travel, or help with our grandchildren’s education. Whatever your reasons for wanting more income after retirement, you’ll want to think creatively about why you want it, as well as how to get it.
Being creative about your retirement plans will help your post-career life be a time of fulfilling dreams, rather than of struggling with anxieties.
The first step is to put together a good retirement budget – because planning what you’ll need and want to spend through retirement spending will require all the careful thought and passion you brought to your career. For advice on thinking through how much you’ll need, visit our retirement budget section.
If there is a serious gap between your retirement needs and projected budget, visit our sections on retirement income and retirement investment – it’s never too soon to take a hard look at your plans for your core retirement income.
But if you’ve got the basics covered, earning supplemental retirement income can bring together needs and desires in a creative way.
Ways to Supplement Retirement Income
The key questions to ask yourself about supplemental retirement income are how much and what for?
If you want extra room in your retirement budget for weekly contributions to a grandchild’s education, you’ll want something steady – maybe a part time job that brings out a talent, or immerses you in a community, your career neglected. Think about retirement activities that could turn into a part time job – which could be anything from doing people’s taxes on retirement income to tutoring college bound kids. Since this is supplemental retirement income, you have a chance to try things that wouldn’t have supported a full career.
If you just want the chance to splurge occasionally – on gifts for loved ones, or solo retirement travel – you could try something that offers more risk, but also more excitement. The stock market still offers opportunities, and the Internet offers many possibilities for home business entrepreneurship. Whatever you decide to try, research it thoroughly – wherever opportunities blossom, scam artists cluster around; don’t sign up for that ‘free’ business kit until you’ve checked out the fine print.
Tried and True Supplemental Retirement Income
Some sure ways to get a little more income after retirement are to see what extras you can shave out of your budget, and what choices you can make to bring down your tax burden – take a look at our sections retirement income calculator, tax on retirement income and retirement expenses.
