The Retirement Newsletter: Thinking about side-hustles
Issue Number: -45 — do retirees need a side-hustle?
Welcome
Welcome to issue -45 — Thinking about side hustles.
First, I had a little flurry of new subscribers this week — welcome!
Last week, I wrote about being “economically inactive” when retired, and I tried to make the case that the retired are not “economically inactive” — retirees are far from “economically inactive” and contribute to the economy in many ways. (See issue -46: I am not “economically inactive” — I am retired!)
One point I made in “I am not “economically inactive” — I am retired!” is that during my retirement, certainly in the early years, I plan to be very busy with several side-hustles to boost my pension income. So, even though I will be retired, I will still be working — but this time for myself.
Side-hustles
Looking back over my newsletters, I have written a lot about side-hustles — is it an obsession?
In issue -132 — Starting to plan for your retirement — I wrote about how side-hustles provide an opportunity in retirement to explore something new. And in issue -121 — What am I going to do once I retire? — I wrote about how I might use side-hustles in my retirement to help finance my adventures.
I very much see side-hustles as supporting my retirement, and I looked at how I could use side-hustles to help balance the books in issue -98 (Balancing the books — other income streams). But I have also been concerned that side-hustles may destroy fun hobbies (Issue Number: -97 - Hobbies v. Side-hustles).
Besides the financial benefits of a side-hustle, I have looked at other benefits, such as improved physical and mental health (see issue -95: The advantages of hobbies and side-hustles).
I have also looked at some potential side-hustles I could do in my retirement, including:
Reading in retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -92)
Exercise in retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -89)
Writing in retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -86)
YouTube and Photos — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -84)
Setting up an online course — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -80)
"Knitting" without wool during your retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -76 — in this issue, I explored how you could look at turning most hobbies into a side-hustle)
Relaxing in your retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -73)
Gardening during your retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -67)
Walking in my retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -60)
Would it be possible to turn being a couch potato into a side-hustle? (Issue -58)
Travelling in retirement — hobby or side-hustle? (Issue -47)
And I argued in issue -71 — Side-hustles and start-ups — is retirement your biggest start-up? — why you should or might not want to start a side-hustle when you retire.
It is a complex story, and setting up a side-hustle in retirement has many pros and cons.
But what am I going to do?
(If you are wondering about the odd issue numbering above, yes, it is a negative number; I am counting down the weeks to my planned retirement — this week is newsletter -45, so I have 45 weeks to my retirement date.)
The Future — what am I going to do?
Looking at how my pension pots are doing and keeping an eye on inflation, I will need a side hustle or two in my retirement.
Of the potential side-hustles listed above, I have tried a few.
Writing
I have been writing online for years.
I started my first ‘blog’ in 1995. Yes, my first blog predated the term blog.
At the time, I was working in the US, and the university had a web server for staff, and I had a website. I posted pages on my website on my science and on pubs I missed from the UK. Every time I came back to the UK, I would visit some pubs and update the website when I returned. It was a pub blog. (I looked at some old backups and found webpages from the site dated July 1995.)
Over the years, I have written and run various blogs. I have written and sold computer and iPhone Apps, and now I write a newsletter and blog on Medium about my travels.
I have also written and sold books about science online.
I have never made much money through my writing. But I don’t care. The writing was about writing and not the money. I enjoy the process of writing. But all that could change if I make writing my retirement side-hustle. The pressure will be on to make money, which may detract from the enjoyment.
YouTube
I have had a YouTube Channel since 2012.
In over ten years of having the Channel, I still only have 698 subscribers and 295,000 views. I am far from monetising the channel as I need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watched hours in a year — I currently have 698 subscribers and get around 2,000 hours. There is a long way to go.
The Channel does have an issue in that it is not an entertainment channel; it is educational. Visitors only come to my Channel to solve homework problems or learn about scientific methods. My top video is “How to calculate the size of a DNA band on a gel?” (72,000 views), followed by “Anion Exchange Chromatography — separating haemoglobin and catalase” (30,000 views). Neither video could be considered ‘entertainment’, and you wouldn’t watch either by choice.
At the current rate of about 60 new subscribers a year, I should have the Channel monetised by 2027.
Am I worried or concerned? No. Not at the moment; I have the Channel as a bit of fun and somewhere to post some of my teaching videos. (I started the Channel as the servers at the university couldn’t handle the load of streaming video, and YouTube could.)
If I make YouTube my side-hustle when I retire, the slow growth rate of the current Channel will be an issue. I will need to look for a niche that I can grow.
Online courses
I teach — therefore, I am.
I enjoy teaching (I hate marking) and want to keep teaching when I retire. So, setting up online courses would be a natural choice.
I have tried setting up online courses.
I have done email courses — they didn’t work, but I had fun and learnt a lot.
I have set up more traditional video-type courses. Again, they didn’t work. I made a little money, but nothing significant. But I learnt a lot.
What next?
I am fast approaching retirement. I have 45 weeks to go to my planned retirement date.
In my retirement, I will set up some side-hustles. I don’t think I will have a choice. It will be either set up a side-hustle or get a part-time job, and having a part-time job doesn’t fit in with my retirement plans — famous last words.
So, I think I will explore the Course, Writing, and YouTube side-hustles idea.
Watch this space…
Next week
Next week, I will look at another side-hustle idea that occurred to me while writing this week’s newsletter — DIY — hobby or side-hustle? (A radiator sprung a leak, and I had to stop writing to go and fix it.)
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you want to contribute something to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.