retire

It really sounds so simple, does it not? Attend a short class, get a certificate and some software, and for only $299 you can do medical transcription right from the comfort of your own home. Really it is not much more difficult than playing another game of solitaire or hearts. Of course all of this depends on actually having clients. You mean to tell me the brochure, website and sales rep failed to tell you the program is only to teach you how to use their software but you still need to go out and get a doctor to hire you to transcribe?

You should be old enough to know that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is not. There are, however, a few things you can do to earn money at home that really do not cost anything to do. In fact my wife has been filling out online surveys for about a year and she is now up to between $80 and $100 per month. Additionally she has been selected to participate in a drug testing program which lasts for 6 months and when it is finished she will recceive a $1500 check.  In the mean while every time she goes to an appointment (about twice per month) they give her a $10 gas card. Three of those appointments have very literally been “right across the street”!

To get started doing online surveys I spent about $50 and bought someone’s list of the different types of work at home plans and links to get started. I signed up with a few and from time to time do surveys and earn $1 to $15 per survey but my wife does three to five surveys every day. They take anywhere from five to thirty minutes and most pay one or two dollars. Myra receives a check in the mail every couple of days or so for $5 or so.

My preferred method of streaming income from home is blogging for pay. In fact I will be paid $1 for this blog you are reading and a few pennies for the traffic (number of visitors) it generates. In addition to that I actually write blog articles for people of about two-hundred words for $2 each. I have had a career in finance and the internet and therefore mostly write on those topics. Each order is for a minimum of twenty articles which I can write and proof in about two hours. When I am working I earn about $20 per hour.

On other blogs that I do for myself I have a Google AdSense account and I let Google place ads on my blogs. When visitors click on the links in the ads I earn from a few pennies to a few dollars. Once I actually earned $17 from a single click! Normally it is just a few cents but I earn anywhere from $2 to $3 per day on each blog that actually has traffic.

Yet another way is to create a blog and setup an Amazon Associates account and sell books, movies, DVD’s, toys, tools … anything Amazon sells- to earn additional income. I personally have never earned enough to actually get a check but I have used my earnings to purchase gifts for others. The reason I have not been successful is because I have never focused on it but the potential is definitely there! You only earn a small percentage of the sale but the only investment you have is your time.

Oh, before I forget, sometimes my wife earns dining certificates from her online surveys. In fact our most recent anniversary dinner was sushi and tom yum soup in a flaming hot pot paid for in part by her survey. Just be careful what you spend your money on. There are plenty of things to do that pay. Between us we earn about $200 per month with just surveys and AdSense in just a few hours - probably no more than  2 hours between us per day. When I pick up a blog writing job that is just bonus!

For my purposes I do have a business license and file taxes through my LLC. You do not have to do that to use AdSense, Amazon or surveys but you will have to give them your taxpayer identification number. For most of us that is our social security number. You may also apply for your own taxpayer identification number and use that instead of your social security number. They will need this to send your 1099 form to you at the end of the tax year.

So I am free from the constraints of a daily schedule other than an occasional trip to the doctor, the golf course and my workout. Almost everything I need to do can work around my schedule and not the other way. Now it is the Holiday period and let us say I am at my son’s house using my laptop to write this article while he and his family prepare lunch. Right now everything is fine because it is the Sunday following Christmas and just prior to the New Year celebration.

We have arranged ahead of time that my wife and I will be staying here through the end of the next week which is convenient to my son and daughter-in-law as the children are out of school and both parents have full time jobs. This leaves us with the convenience of watching the children for the few days of school being out. What I must be careful of is putting any extra stress on my son and his wife by not leaving room for them to egress back to their normal activities.

The best way to avoid conflicts is to have an open discussion with your relatives or friends with whom you will be spending holidays. We all know what it is like when a friend or relative over-stays their welcome and we usually do not want to be that over burdensome person. So ask, plan and modify the plan as it best suits the people with whom you are guesting. Do not be afraid to cut your stay short and do not be offended when you feel you must. In other words go, have fun, be useful but not in the way, then go home or wherever else you planned to go. You are the one with the flexible schedule.

You have worked hard and made many contributions to your Independent Retirement Account by the time you near your retirement age. If you retire “early” there are a few rules you need to know about your IRA and when you can begin withdrawing funds without penalty.

Under the current rules you can officially begin drawing down your IRA at age 59 and 1/2 without any penalty. Of course, as always, there are exceptions to the rules. For example if you become disabled prior to age 59 and 1/2 you may be entitled to withdraw funds from your IRA to help sustain your income. Before making any decisions you should contact your IRA custodian or account manager and remember that different types of IRA’s are subject to different rules.

In the event of an early death, when the IRA owner dies before age 59 and 1/2, the beneficiary is entitled to IRA funds without penalty. Additionally if  you need supplementary income you may also be able to take a series of equal payments without penalty. Again you will need to consult with your adviser.

Author: Ken Cook

It sounds like an oxymoron yet it is more reality than grammar. Today’s retired people, though equal in age to our predecessors, are often younger in body and mind. We really have no desire to fill our days with checkers, television and knitting. We want activity and to learn new things!

Retire Today is very happy to introduce RetireeWorkforce.com -a website dedicated to the young at heart retiree who has much to offer to the industrial world. From their website:

RetireeWorkforce.com is dedicated to providing exciting employment opportunities for experienced and motivated retirees. Our job database contains unique part-time, flexible, seasonal and even full-time positions specifically for more experienced candidates.

Most retirees have years of experience and are not ready to lay down the gavel just yet. Finding a way to earn an income, make new contacts and help businesses become more successful is the perfect way for the enterprising retiree to enter that next phase of life. Remember, not all “retirees” are old in years. Many people retire the first time in their forties or early fifties and have many years of productive work ability to sell to the right company.

Be sure to use Google to search for retirement jobs if you are looking. In fact, next we will talk about using the Internet to help retirement be more productive. See you next time on Retire.Today.Com

Author: Ken Cook

Every day of your working life you had some task awaiting you. Regardless of whether you were self-employed, the president of a national corporation or the janitor at the local elementary school you had a set of defined duties and responsibilities. Even the self-employed and top executive had bosses usually denoted as “clients” or “customers”.

Now you have reached retirement and no more boss, right? Wrong. Now you work for time, spouse, neighbor, children, friends, and others. You will have an entirely new set of guidelines to follow and goals to achieve. I know this intimately from watching my brother-in-law’s retirement for the last fifteen years.

To help you cope with your new responsibilities and duties make sure you define the parameters for your new “clients”. You are perfectly well permitted to block of “you” time so long as that time maintains the momentum you have developed and ads constructive activities to your schedule. Blocking out sleeping time or “drunk” time is not so cool nor is it good for you or your “clients”.

Ben Northcutt, the same brother-in-law to which I earlier referred, offers this advice, “Keep a schedule. While every minute need not be pre-determined it is important to know that lunch time is noon and dinner time is six. I get a little flexible on breakfast time.”

Ben spent decades as a police chief and was always “on call”. His duties would often stir him from a sound sleep and send him into the dark and unknown. He certainly enjoys the comfort of home and his computer but he also understands sometimes there are interruptions and he does not let those throw him off. His church and family schedule are pretty much all he goes by these days.

Here are some other tips for those of you about to enter or just now entering retirement:

1. Save that “you” time and make sure everyone knows that is your time but do not block out all day every day. An afternoon for golf, a morning for fishing, an evening in the game room playing pool with friends. Whatever you like, fill in the blanks.

2. Keep up your momentum. If you are accustomed to arising at six in the morning keep roughly the same schedule.

3. Never stop learning. Pick some mind and body challenging activities to keep you sharp mentally and physically.

4. Master a new skill. This has been the hope and dream of retirees for many generations. Today’s world offers many new areas of exploration. My cousin Bill, after retiring from IBM, went for his commercial driver’s license and did some long haul trucking. In fact, he is in his middle seventies and still takes day runs.

5. Be careful about others who did not just retire. Your children and friends probably still have daytime routines requiring them to be elsewhere. When you are bored or lonely that probably means you did not anticipate that time alone and did not properly plan or prepare. Remember that and prevent it in the future.

6. If you expect retirement to be a big pyjama fest you must have yourself confused with Hugh Hefner or Liz Taylor. If you are one of them then I apologize. Get up, get out and get busy!

We all want to hear from you as well so please feel free to comment and share. Just do not share with this man who evidently puts all of his chickens into one basket:

Sixty-two is not as old as it once was. Today we see men and woman in their seventies and even eighties swimming, working out at the gym, dancing, even playing sports. Retirement no longer means sitting around the senior’s center waiting on the occasional visitor or spending a little pension check on trinkets for the great-grandchildren. More and more retired people are just as active after retirement as they were ten years before their sixtieth birthday.

From Florida to California and all points in between retirement is lasting longer, too. Because of advancements in health care and healthy living choices men and women both are outliving their parents and grandparents and with greater vitality. Where the focus for retirement once was knitting, whittling or travel now there are senior’s sports leagues that include more than bowling and horseshoes. In fact there are now national and international championships for seniors who compete individually and in teams in such sports as track and field, tennis and softball.

Tell me about your retirement experiences or retirement plans as we explore this wonderful new era in retirement the world around. Comment here and let us all know what you know and let us experience it together.

My name is Ken Cook and I am a 50 year old mortgage banker, financial blogger and Internet specialist. I will be your guide to all things retirement and active right here on Today.com where I will, hopefully, inspire you to share with us your hopes, dreams, experiences and questions about modern retirement. Believe me, I am looking forward to a more successful retirement than I have had a working career because retirement should mean I get to enjoy everything I and my wife have planned.