28 Ways to Make Early Retirement Work for You

Plan for a Retirement Job

Is retirement for you all about leaving your job? Or is it more about freeing up time to do the things you’re passionate about? If it’s the latter, then don’t brush off the idea of working during retirement, especially if you find a job doing what you love.

If you think finding a job during retirement is difficult, think again. A lot of companies would gladly hire consultants or part-time experts in order to help the newer generation of workers succeed. Websites like RetirementJobs.com, Indeed.com, and Flexjobs.com are a great place to start looking!

Your years of experience will also offer you leverage when talking to potential employers. You can tell them exactly what you’re after- a flexible schedule, for example.

Another great alternative is to start your own business. This’ll be trickier but, again, because you’re retiring early you still have a lot of time left to figure out all the ins and outs, so don’t sell yourself short and start looking into this possibility!

Retire Early … but Only Temporarily

Look around you. What is the norm? Working for 40 years, if not more, then saying goodbye to the workforce, often for good, in order to retire. But should that be the norm, really?

Taking a career break or a sabbatical for a few months up to a year could be exactly what you need in order to figure out your retirement plans. How will you live? How will you spend your time? If your job offers formal sabbatical plans, especially, now’s a good time to think this opportunity through. If not, discuss an unpaid leave of absence with your employer.

But, watch out, if you do this then you need an iron-clad plan. When do you plan on doing it? Okay, now that you have a specific date, start figuring out how you’re going to survive. On what savings? Yep, time to plan some savings for this period specifically, since you can’t tap in your regular retirement savings. What about debt? Are you going to be able to pull this all off?

Finally, once you have all your numbers, here comes the fun part! What do YOU want to do with all this free time? Even if you usually wing your free time, try to come up with a game plan. Do you want to work on your garden? Visit family? Learn a new skill? All of these things will give you a better idea of how time management will work for you during your golden years.