Thriving at Home: The Best Work-from-Home Jobs for Seniors

Congratulations on your retirement! You have just entered a time in your life when decisions can easily be made with you at the forefront – not your boss who you report to at a nine to five gig! The stress you felt throughout your working career will now be a thing of the past and the freedom you craved is at your fingertips!

Love traveling? Good! You can now freely make plans to do all the traveling you like! But what if you don’t like to travel? What if you’re not keen on having to go shoeless at an airport while your luggage is being inspected. Maybe you prefer to remain close to home; maybe work on creating the backyard garden you’ve always dreamed of. Perhaps you enjoy writing and might be thinking of embarking on a writing journey and believe it is now the right time to write that novel you’ve always wanted to write.

Did you know you can earn money to spend on some of your creature comforts by working part time post-retirement? You can! There are many jobs you can choose from but are unsure where to go find them and even what job you would like to do.

Enter “Work From Home” or WFH jobs.

There is a world of possibilities one can explore. Surely there is something you enjoy doing that will fill your golden years with personal satisfaction and joy that you can get paid for. Oprah once said: “Find a way to get paid for doing what you love. Then every paycheck will be a bonus.”

With that thought in mind, today we offer you a diverse list of eight jobs seniors can do from home as long as you have a computer and a phone.

Let’s first talk about the reasons why a retiree might want to take on a job part-time.

• Familiarity: Some people opt to continue working with companies they have worked at for many years because they truly enjoy it and return as contractors on a part-time basis.

• Lifestyle: Some retirees are afraid of losing mental capacity and so return to work in order to remain both mentally alert and physically stimulated.

• Finances: Once you retire, you might not have the greatest health insurance. This could be a reason to return to work at your old employer just so that you have the health insurance you need.

• Phased Retirement: This is when you return to work at a company you enjoyed working at but not in the same capacity you were in prior to your official retirement date.

Now, let’s take a look at those twelve jobs we mentioned earlier that a retiree may be interested in.

• Substitute Teacher: This is a great post-retirement job to consider if this is what you did previous to retiring and enjoyed touching and enhancing the lives of young people. You would be responsible for light duties such as attendance taking and working with students on any subject while their regular teacher is away. Substitute teachers can earn around $44K per year. Check with your local Board of Education for information on opportunities.

• Virtual Assistant: An annual salary of $60K is what a virtual assistants can earn. This could be pretty heavy job for some retirees. Responsibilities include answering emails and phone calls, making travel arrangements, schedule appointments create posts for the company’s social media channels, prepare presentations and much more.

• e-Commerce: There is great earning potential with an e-Commerce store like Etsy or Shopify if you have the desire and resources to do so. Warning: There is much market research that has to be done before you even create such a store, then you must build it online and ensure you use the correct key words in your descriptions that will drive traffic to your store. Some people have claimed to earn around $10K a month with their e-shops.

• Dog Walker/Pet Sitter: You may have retired but there are many people around you in your community who have not, and some may be pet owners who have to go into an office to work or, they may have a trip planned and want their fur baby to stay at home where the environment is familiar. You would come in and save the day to feed and exercise their pets. Pet sitters earn about $39K per year.

• Driver: If you have a clean driving record, and are familiar with your local areas, hook up with a taxi or ride-share service like Uber or Lyft. You will be able to set your own hours and can earn up to $57K.

• Real Estate Agent: If you are comfortable networking, this could be a good fit for you. Real Estate agents can earn upwards of $90K a year, especially when the real estate market is in a positive state.

• Tax Preparer: This can be a very satisfying position to be in if you have the acumen for this type of work. A tax preparer is busiest during tax season, but most businesses must file quarterly taxes and need someone to do this. In addition, there might be cases where you can help customers create new businesses and build professional relationships while you’re at it. Tax preparers can earn upwards of $55K per year.

• Freelance Writer: We mentioned earlier this could be a time for retirees to write that novel they’ve always dreamed of. If you have excellent writing, grammar and spelling skills, you can build a lucrative business as a freelance writer all while working on your novel. Freelance writers generally work from home and usually have several clients for whom they provide writing services and earn $74K per year or more. 

So now you have all these great ideas but don’t know where to start. Two places you can begin your search for part-time work is Upwork and Fiverr. You can also google “WFH jobs for seniors” and a bunch of links will pop up for you to choose from. In addition, click on the links included above and see which is the best fit for you!

Good luck!