The site is YourEncore which describes itself as follows:

YourEncore is an innovation services provider that recruits and manages a network of recently retired and/or highly experienced scientific and engineering professionals. The skills and expertise of these veteran Experts are matched with the project needs of our clients with the goal of accelerating innovation.

Although the focus of this retiree job and project portal is technology, consider this clarification:

YourEncore seeks to enroll in our proprietary network scientists, engineers, product developers, market research specialists, quality control experts, medical professionals and business development managers.

So the qualifications and backgrounds that are needed go beyond pure technology.

The advantages of participating in the YourEncore job network include both intellectual stimulation and … compensation!

To join, you must create a profile which includes a detailed resume and references. In other words, they don’t accept just anyone and experience is a must. That is good because experience is what baby boomers and retirees usually have plenty of and is what can distinguish us from younger job seekers.

Finally, one of the biggest advantages of placing yourself into the YourEncore network is that your marketing costs are nil. The network does it for you.

For more information, visit the YourEncore site. At the very least, you can sign up for their newsletter and get some resume writing tips.

Related posts:

1. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...
2. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...

A pair of researchers at Northeastern University have recently published a report “After the Recovery: Help Needed.” According to their analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau,  7 million new jobs will be added to the social sector between now and 2018. More significant, they believe that 5.9 million of these new jobs will be well suited for older workers, like us.

Here is the list of the predicted fastest growing  job categories for older workers.

Note that a lot of these jobs are in a social sector where “giving back” is part of the job description. These are the kinds of second career or transition jobs that many baby boomers seem interested in.

On a related topic, U.S. News and World Report recently published list of ten places that have favorable conditions for starting a second career in retirement:

• Ames, Iowa
• Harrisonburg, Va.
• Lincoln, Neb.
• Lubbock, Texas
• Madison, Wis.
• Manhattan, Kan.
• Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Richland, Wash.
• Rochester, Minn.
• State College, Pa.

I don’t have much commentary on this list except to note that it is heavy on college towns, which makes sense for pursuing many second careers. Universities generally have excellent reputations for supporting older workers. State capitals (e.g, Lincoln, Nebraska and Madison, Wisconsin) offer state jobs which include many in the social sector.

Related posts:

1. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...
2. Work for Boomer and Retired Scientists, Engineers and Product Specialists Are you a retired engineer or scientist and looking for...
3. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...

If you are a baby boomer preparing yourself for a possible second career, it helps to know where the best job opportunities are. I came across a list of job categories with data highly relevant to this issue. It was compiled from information published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The list identified those jobs that had these characteristics: (1) projections for high future growth rates; and (2) a relatively high percentage of age 55+ workers already in those fields.

The jobs that I have selected from the list had those characteristics plus manageable barriers to entry. For example, I did not select “veterinarian” from the BLS list because no one at our age is going to attend veterinary school to engage in a transition career!

Here are three of my selections for potential career transition jobs for baby boomers:

1.  Personal and Home Health Aide. The projected ten year growth in this job category is 50.7% and 23.4% of the workforce is already over age 55.  This also seems like an area where one could easily find part-time work without a lot of prior experience or training.

2. Personal Financial Advisor. This won’t be for everyone but if you have a business background in the financial services sector, it would not be overly difficult to obtain a suitable credential for providing personal financial advice to others. The projected growth in this category over ten years is 40.9%. 18.8% of existing workers in this field today are over 55.

3. Social and Community Service Manager. This job field would include working for a non-profit or for a government agency that provides services to the community. The over-55 crowd already has 24.4% of these jobs and the BLS predicts a 10-year growth rate of 24.6%. According to this government Partnership for Public Service website, there will be a high demand for federal workers in this area in the next few years. More information is available at that site and at USAJobs.

The bottom line is that if you are thinking about a second career or transition job for a phased retirement, it helps to identify where the demand is likely to be.

Are any of you planning for a phased retirement in a second career?

Related posts:

1. Retire to a Second Career Different circumstances and goals motivate baby boomers toward different types...
2. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...

This blog is one example. I enjoy the research and writing to be sure. If I do a good job with my writing, that brings readers and causes Google and its advertisers to display helpful ads on this site. If readers are interested in what is being offered, I can make a little side money. That’s a win-win for everyone involved.

One of the advantages of being a baby boomer is that we have years of knowledge and experience to draw upon in finding sources of alternative income. I have written in the past about some of those supplemental income options, including selling your expertise online and teaching online. But we shouldn’t overlook the creative side of alternative income.

Many of us know how to create “things”  that others might like. What we lack is the ability to convert that creative talent into actual products that people can buy. This post is for those of you in that category. I want to call your attention to a few online resources where you can use your creativity to develop an alternative income stream.

Selling Products with Your Custom Designs for Alternative Income

If we are artistic or clever with words and images, maybe folks would like to buy stuff that display our work. There are easy ways to find out. The most well-known is Cafe Press.

Using Cafe Press online tools and your own words/designs, you can create a variety of customizable clothing and gift products. The best part is that you can begin selling them immediately. You don’t have to actually manufacture or make anything. Cafe Press does that for you and your customers, on demand. The revenue is shared between you and Cafe Press. Of course, you can’t just do the “design it and they will buy” thing. You will have to find ways to let folks know what you are selling. But if you have the time to do a little marketing, you can have a complete product line for sale at your own online store, with no capital investment.

Other options similar to Cafe Press but with their own flair are Zazzle, Spreadshirt, and Pikistore.

Self-Publishing Books and Music for Alternative Income

You can be a published author, songwriter, or musician. There are online resources that make it easy (assuming that you have the creative energy and talent). One of those resources is Zulu, which says this about itself:

Publish

Go ahead, unleash your inner creator.

Just upload your manuscript, photos or digital files, use our formatting tools to get everything set up just the way you want, from size to binding to cover art, and… well, that’s it. You’re the proud parent of a brand new digital creation, ready to publish and cherish. The publishing process couldn’t be easier.

Create a keepsake just for yourself, full of favorite photos or your own stories. You’ll end up with a professional-looking finished product that’s a match for anything you’ll find on the shelf at your local bookstore.

Lulu offers free book publishing services. No set-up fees. Ever. We make the book publishing process simple.

You can publish all kinds of books, calendars, DVDs and CDs through Zulu and sell them right there on its site.  Instant online income source.

Other self-publishing options for creative boomers include CreateSpace (owned by Amazon), Blurb, and TasteBook (for cookbooks).

If you are one of those folks who like board games and card games, there’s a brand-new place for you to make and sell your own:  Game Crafter.

Selling Artwork and Designs for Alternative Income

Maybe you are more of a true artist who can create attractive two and three-dimensional designs. (That’s not me for sure!) There are places for you as well. Imagekind is an online community where you can create, display and sell all kinds of creative imagery, including photography and framed and poster art.

Imagekind is owned by the Cafe Press folks so the user interface is somewhat familiar. Other sites for selling your own artistic creations for secondary income include Spoonflower (for fabric designs), Shapeways (for three-dimensional designs), Ponoko (for turning designs into usable products), and deviantArt.

Final Thoughts on Using Creativity for Alternative Income

All of the resources I have listed require little or no investment except your time and talent. That’s the best way to develop a source of secondary income because you are not risking other assets that you will need for retirement. So what’s the worst that can happen? Perhaps no one buys your creativity. So who cares? No one but you has to know!

Give those creative juices a try!

No related posts.

The Retired Volunteer State of Mind

Before selecting a volunteer position, we baby boomers should think about the practical side. After all, we are not alone in our desire to help others. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2007 60 million Americans volunteered a median of 52 hours. Most of these hours were donated to churches and schools but sports, environmental, health, community service, civic, and political organizations had more than 30 million volunteers working for them.

You need to ask yourself why are you volunteering. Without that self-knowledge, you may have problems finding a fit for your volunteer goals. There are a number of different volunteer motivations, including a desire to give back to the community, to improve your own life and health circumstances, to meet new friends and expand your social circle, or just to find new meaning to your life. All are worthwhile.

You need to find a volunteer job that you will you be good at it. Do you have the particular skills or experience needed for the position? Can you function inside that volunteer organization and structure? Do you have the right level of empathy for others? Honest answers are needed here or both you and the volunteer organization may be disappointed.

Can your commitment match the need? Be sure that the intensity (hours per week) and duration of the position is suitable for the time you are able to give. After all, you will be retired but that doesn’t mean that you want a full-time job as a volunteer.

Finding a Volunteer Position as a Retired Baby Boomer

To find a good volunteer opportunity, a good place to start is to ask your friends and colleagues in your community. Beyond that, there are a number of sites on the Internet that serve as clearing houses for volunteer opportunities. Here are some of them:

• The federal government sponsors and operates Serve.gov, which features a volunteer opportunity search engine.
• VolunteerMatch is a non-profit service that allows you to search for volunteer positions by location and keywords.
• idealist.org is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. This is an interactive site where people and organizations can locate opportunities and supporters.
• Points of Light promotes its Hands On Network where you can search for volunteer opportunities, also by location and keyword.
• AmeriCorps is a federally sponsored volunteer organization with a variety of different community outreach programs.  I have written more about federal volunteer and public service opportunities for boomers and retirees.
• AARP operates its Create the Good program, including a volunteer search engine for the 50+ crowd.

Good luck with your search. If you discover any other resources that would help a retired baby boomer find a volunteer position, please leave a comment.

Related posts:

1. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...
2. Work for Boomer and Retired Scientists, Engineers and Product Specialists Are you a retired engineer or scientist and looking for...
3. Baby Boomer and Genealogy Records I’ve been interested in family history and genealogy for about...

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a source of online courses in small business management. These courses are part of its Small Business Training Network which it describes as follows:

The Small Business Training Network (SBTN) is a customer-focused SBA strategy designed to enrich, educate and empower small businesses. It is an Internet-based learning environment – operating like a virtual campus – offering online courses, workshops, publications, information resources, learning tools and direct access to electronic counseling, and other forms of technical assistance.

The  SBA courses are offered in ten different categories:  starting a business, business management, surviving in a down economy, finance/accounting, marketing/advertising, government contracting, business planning, e-commerce, international trade, and federal taxation.

These are the most popular course titles:

• The Small Business Primer
• Business Opportunities: A Guide to Winning Federal Contracts
• Finance Primer: A Guide to SBA’s Loan Guaranty Programs
• How to Prepare a Business Plan
• How to Prepare a Loan Package

The courses are self-paced and are typically only 30 minutes long. This precludes an in-depth study of the topic. Nevertheless, since they are free, it certainly can’t hurt your career planning to take a few courses before investing precious retirement dollars in a new small business.

Another excellent resource for free online business management courses is the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center. This site has links to over 90 free courses and learning programs that are available online 24/7.  The courses are from the SBA, IRS, Small Biz U, Virtual Advisor, as well as custom programs from the Pennsylvania SBDC Network. They are all self-paced and include voice-over narration. Some courses also include video. Many are longer than the SBA courses.

I particularly like the offerings in the legal aspects of forming a small business and in using intellectual property protection.

If you are a baby boomer looking to enhance your small business management skills, give some of these online courses a test drive. It could mean the difference between success and failure.

Related posts:

1. Work for Boomer and Retired Scientists, Engineers and Product Specialists Are you a retired engineer or scientist and looking for...
2. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...
3. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...

If you are interested in teaching online for extra income, I have found some new online resources as well. You can check out the latest links in my post on online teaching opportunities.

I believe that baby boomers have so much experience to offer to younger generations, some of us could probably create our own educational courses and offer them online for a modest fee. If you are inclined in that area, don’t forget my post on selling expertise online.

Finally, have a look at this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.

Enjoy the rest of your week-end.

Related posts:

1. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...
2. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...
3. Retire to a Second Career Different circumstances and goals motivate baby boomers toward different types...

Baby Boomers, Retirement Careers, and the Serve America Act of 2009

Congress has passed and the President recently signed the Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009. This law expands opportunities for baby boomers to combine aspirations for volunteer and public service with a need to generate a little bit of income from volunteering-type activities. The Act includes three different programs that target those of us who are over-55.

ServeAmerica Fellowships are newly created by the Act to support individuals selected by State Commissions who serve with sponsors that have registered with the Commission. Fellows will receive a living allowance and, upon, successful completion of a term of service, an education award.  

The Act creates a new Encore Fellowship program to allow selected individuals aged 55 or older to serve at organizations that are listed by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Encore Fellowship program is supported  by $11,000 grants to the listed organization for fellowship living expenses. 

For boomers and seniors looking for only a part-time commitment to a retirement career, the Act also creates Silver Scholarships that carry a $1,000 stipend for 350 hours of community service work. These scholarships are specifically designated for the over-55 group.

Senior Corps Volunteer Opportunities

The Serve America Act  expands and formalizes the National Senior Service Corps which has been around for a while with three different programs but with little emphasis.  The Act has this to say about the Senior Corps:

The purpose for all three Senior Corps programs is to provide opportunities for senior service to meet unmet needs, to empower people 55 years and older to contribute to their communities through service, enhancing the lives of those who serve and those whom they serve, and provide communities with valuable services.

The expanded Senior Corps is unlikely to provide income to support a second career for retirees unless you are in a leadership or administrative position.

Final Thoughts on Retirement Career Opportunities  in the Serve America Act

Although I am not a fan of more government programs, I am glad that some of the new volunteer opportunity funding is being directed at baby boomers who are eager to give back to the community but need to have some income while doing so.

The real funding for these new retirement career and volunteer programs doesn’t kick-in until 2010 so the details are still to be worked out. To monitor developments and to learn how to apply, visit the Corporation for National and Community Service website.

Also, the AARP uses a section of its site to promote volunteer opportunities for boomers and seniors uner the new legislation and in other programs.

Finally, if you are really ambitous in your desire for a second career in public service, the Peace Corps is eager to accept older volunteers. You do get paid and receive free medical care. But you have to commit for 27 months and pass a physical.

Related posts:

1. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...
2. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...
3. Retire to a Second Career Different circumstances and goals motivate baby boomers toward different types...

Things are even harder to figure out for people who are retired, receiving Social Security, and working full or part-time.  Most retirees don’t have a clear understanding of how much they are taxed on job income they receive from post-retirement employment.

Reduction of Social Security Benefits

If you work while receiving Social Security retirement benefits, there is a double-whammy.  The first “whammy” is a reduction in benefits. If you are younger than your full retirement age,  the government will deduct $1 from your benefits for each $2 you that earned above $14,160.

If you reach full retirement age during 2009, the government will deduct $1 from your benefits for each $3 you earn above $37,680 until the month you reach full retirement age.

I explained in an earlier post that the benefit reduction is returned to you in an increased benefit after you reach full retirement age.

Taxation of Social Security Benefits

The second “whammy” from working after retirement is that, depending on how much you make, some of your Social Security benefit can become taxable.

These are the current tax rules:

If you file a your federal tax return as an individual, and your combined income is:

• between $25,000 and $34,000, you may have to pay income tax on 50 percent of your benefits.
• more than $34,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.

If you file a joint tax return, and you and your spouse have a combined income that is

• between $32,000 and $44,000, you may have to pay income tax on 50 percent of your benefits
• more than $44,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable. 

Your “combined income” is the sum of your adjusted gross income + 1/2 of your Social Security benefits + any non-taxable interest received.

Adding it All Up

Now that we know the rules, let’s add all of those taxes up:

Assume that you are single, have reached full retirement age, that you are receiving $25,000 per year in Social Security benefits, and working a full or part-time job that pays you $30,000 annually.

Your “combined income” is $12,500 (1/2 of your benefit) plus $30,000 in AGI = $42,500.

Now instead of being taxed just on the $30,000 wage income at a 15% marginal tax rate, you are also paying taxes on $12,500 of Social Security income.  

This effectively increases your taxes on your last wage dollars earned by 7.5% because those wage dollars cause 1/2 of your Social Security dollars to be also taxed at a 15% marginal rate.  So now your effective marginal rate on those wages has increased from 15% to to 22.5%.  

But wait – we are not done.

Don’t forget that you are also paying Social Security and Medicare taxes on those wages.  That rate is approximately 7.5%.  So now you – a Social Security retiree – are surrendering approximately 30% of your wage dollars to the government.

But wait – we are still not done!

Let’s assume that you are like a lot of baby boomers and working part-time consulting gigs or are otherwise self-employed.  This means that you also have to pay the employer’s share of the payroll taxes, i.e., another 7.5%.

Adding it all up, your effective marginal tax rate on your post-retirement job income could be 37.5%!

Kind of scary and upsetting – don’t you think?

Related posts:

1. Places to Retire with Low Income Taxes If you are thinking about places to live when you...
2. How to Plan for Tax Free Retirement Income Many experts tell us that when we retire, it can...
3. Property Taxes and the Paid-Off Mortgage Some rules to follow when paying property taxes after your...

In days gone by, collecting stock dividends would be one reliable income source.  That’s no longer the case, with many blue chip companies cutting or eliminating dividends altogether.  So where is a baby boomer to find another income stream?  

How about selling something that many baby boomers have plenty of:  expertise.  I’m not referring here to a traditional consulting gig which to me is really just another form of “go to the office” employment only less predictable.  Instead, I’m talking about selling expertise online, from your home “office.”  I have come across two online resources that baby boomers can use to sell their expertise and a third online source of “work for hire” income. 

Providing Online Expert Advice at LivePerson

Simply put, LivePerson is an online marketplace for “experts” to sell their knowledge and advice directly to customers in an online chat environment.  To participate, an “expert” must apply and submit some baseline credentials in a particular knowledge area.  Once accepted, the expert selects a cost-per-minute billing rate and is listed as a LivePerson provider.  LivePerson receives a commission of 30%-35% of fees collected.

LivePerson offers a wide variety of expertise on its site, including financial advisers, fashion experts, and even mental and spiritual health counselors.  I think this site would be ideal for a baby boomer having significant training or experience in a marketable field to exploit that expertise online.

Writing for Online Income at Associated Content

Associated Content is a repository of online written content provided by thousands of writers.  The business model is simple.  First, you write something containing content which you believe people might search for on web.  You submit your article to the Associated Content editors.  If it meets their criteria, they publish it and run ads on the pages where your article appears.   Video and audio content are also accepted.

The article can be on any topic but you need to select one that is search engine friendly (a frequently searched topic).  Your article must itself be search engine friendly.  (That is an entire subject in its own right.)  If it does not meet these criteria, the Associated Content editors will probably reject it, as they do for about 25% of the submissions.  If you need topic ideas, Associated Content has lists of those as well, which they call “Calls for Content.”

If your article is accepted, Associated Content will pay you anywhere from $5-$30 for the submission plus $1.50 for every 1000 times that your article page is viewed by an Internet user.  (Now you know why your article must be search engine friendly.)  A prolific writer who effectively targets high traffic key words can make some serious money over time.  You can actually strategize topics to write about by checking search statistics at Google Adwords, Google Trends, or Google Insight.

Piece Work Online Income at Mechanical Turk

This source of alternative income is more about completing small web tasks than it is selling your expertise.  Mechanical Turk was developed by Amazon.com initially to enlist the help of online users in managing its product information.  It has since expanded well beyond that.  Now lots of businesses come to the site and ask users to do things like visit other sites, search for addresses online, etc. and paying anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars per task.  Not a great source of revenue but if you have a lot of time on your hands you can definitely make some bucks.

Final Thoughts on Baby Boomers and Online Income

The Internet is an efficient and effective vehicle for allowing baby boomers to transfer their knowledge to younger generations.  I really like the concept and intend to investigate these options for generating alternative income for us.  I’m not much interested in the piece work strategy but I do have expertise (non-legal) to sell and an interest in writing.  How about you?

Image Credit: Chris Heuer

Related posts:

1. Alternative Retirement Income from Personal Creativity I am a proponent of alternative income streams. Baby boomers...
2. Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Baby Boomers Many baby boomers imagine themselves being retired from a paying...
3. Second Career Transition Jobs for Baby Boomers I am working on an article about phased retirement.  One...