The Retirement Newsletter: Walking in my retirement — hobby or side-hustle?
Issue Number: -60 — am I going for a walk, or am I going out to make some money?
Welcome
Welcome to issue -60. This week, going for a walk — am I going for a walk, or am I going out to make some money? Plus, I will have a bit of a rant about my pension — sorry.
And also, I had another little flurry of new subscribers last week — welcome!
Walking
One of my favourite past times is going out for a walk. I don’t mean wandering around the local town; I mean out in the woods, striding across the fields or walking by a river.
I like walking.
I always have done.
And when I retire, I plan to continue walking as it’s excellent for your mental and physical health.
But could I use my walking habit to make some extra cash?
Could I turn it into a side-hustle?
Well, here are eight ways to make money through walking.
1. Guided Tours
Guided Tours are aimed at tourists, and I know of several people who have set up nature, historical, and sightseeing walks in the area. They advertise their services through local Facebook Groups and some specialised walking websites and apps.
Will you make a lot of money doing this? Doubtful, but it could mean you get paid to go out walking and introduce people to nature, your local history, or your favourite local views and places.
One of my nearby towns is ‘famous’ as it appears in the popular TV show, Midsomer Murders. And numerous people and companies are offering Midsomer Murder Tours to take clients around some of the local landmarks in the shows.
You need to be a bit creative in thinking about what sort of tour you could offer. Is there something local you could do?
2. Set up a local fitness walking/social group
You could consider setting up a local fitness walking and social group.
Again, there are several such groups near where I live. And like the Guide Tours, they advertise via local Facebook Groups and some specialised walking websites and apps.
The local fitness/social groups are about getting out, exercising, and meeting people. And people will pay for a service where you offer local guided walks and the chance to meet people.
3. Sign-up for paid walking apps
Paid walking apps are odd, and I have no idea if they work or even how they work. But they exist. I have never used one, but I know they are out there.
From what I understand, you can get money, store discounts or free items if you use paid for walking apps.
If you are interested in ‘paid for walking apps’, look at Google.
4. Become a dog walker
For this side-hustle, you need to like dogs.
Again, I know of several local people who do this as a side-hustle. Some people do it on a small scale for a bit of extra money. Others walk the dogs and board them in their homes. There is a market out there for this type of service. (Note, there may be local laws and rules about what you can do as a 'dog service'.)
If you have a dog or are into dogs, you might consider becoming a dog walker.
5. Become a postman or deliver leaflets
OK, a slight cheat. But if you like walking, why not become a postman? Or deliver leaflets for local companies.
And then we come onto my usual three, YouTube Channel, newsletter (blog) and setting up courses.
6. Set up a YouTube Channel
You could think about setting up a YouTube Channel about walking.
At first, this doesn’t seem obvious, but people do set up YouTube Channels around their walking.
One of my favourites is Paul and Rebecca Whitewick — they go out walking and exploring old abandoned railways, canals, and routes. They take maps of local areas, look for points of interest and walk to them. They must be doing something right, as they have 73,000 plus subscribers and over 10 million views.
If you search YouTube for Walking or Walks, you will find lots of content.
7. Set up a newsletter (blog)
This is like setting up a YouTube Channel, except you deliver the content as a newsletter or blog.
8. Set up a course
Finally, setting up a course.
There are many types of courses you could set up around walking.
You could try setting up courses on map reading, nature, photography (walking and photography seem to go hand in hand — well, they do for me) or fitness.
You need to be creative and think of ways to sell your expertise in walking as a course.
Finally
And finally, what have I missed?
If you can think of other ways to monetise your love of walking, please share your ideas below.
Money — pensions
Sorry, a bit of a rant coming up.
This week, I did something I had only done once before — I went on strike.
If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you will know that I work for a UK university.
This week, university lecturers (and other staff) went on strike.
I don’t like going on strike as it harms the education of the students. And that is the last thing I want to do, but sometimes there is no choice, and I felt we had got to that point.
Why are lecturers (and other staff) on strike? It is the usual three — attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions.
Since I started working at universities, I have seen our pay eroded. In the last decade alone, its value has declined by 20%. I have seen our pension contributions increase, but our pension value drop. In some cases, staff will now receive only two-thirds of what they may have been expecting when they joined the pension scheme.
The erosion of the pension started some 12-plus years ago. The pension was in crisis; there was a mismatch between what was in the scheme and what the scheme had to cover. At the time, independent analysis suggested the maths was wrong (I know that feeling, see Issue -62). And that has now been proven to be the case. The pension is in surplus rather than in debt.
About six years ago, the pension scheme changed, and we went from a scheme in which I could easily work out what my pension would be to a scheme in which you need a PhD in mathematics to determine what you will get. The maths is so tough that the people running the pension scheme can’t give you consistent numbers. And I always get suspicious when I can’t work out how a number (in this case, my pension) has been derived. Am I being ripped off? I suspect I am.
I have been a lecturer for over 20 years, and during that time, the number of students in my class has increased from 40 to 380, yet staff numbers have not increased by the same factor. If student numbers have gone up so much, pay and pensions have fallen away, where is all the money going? My guess is in buildings and Vice-Chancellor vanity projects.
Sadly, these days universities seem more interested in investing in buildings (sometimes referred to as Vice-Chancellor’s Follies) than their staff or the education of the students.
The erosion of pay, working conditions, and pension means that universities are starting to struggle to attract the best talent. University education is entering a death spiral. Hence, I went on strike.
And people wonder why I want to take early retirement.
End of rant.
Next week
Next week, in issue -59, I will ponder what my three stages for retirement may look like.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick