Retirement Employment is Found in the Most Amazing Places!

Retirement employment stories never fail to amaze me! The ingenuity of retirees is alive and well.

Much has been written on the subject of retirement employment. But when you start looking for real life stories, you find a lot less material. On this page I relate retiree stories that actually crossed my path first hand. It might energize you or give you some ideas to explore.

Postpone retirement
It sounds like a very obvious option, but it doesn't happen automatically. You've got to make yourself indispensable while still employed. So it is very much part of your retirement planning. It can only work if you are passionate about your job and good at it.

Two people in our direct circle of friends did exactly that. The one is an internationally renowned professor in electronic engineering. He retired as head of the faculty and as vice chancellor of the university, but was re-appointed to teach the subject of his expertise. He presents papers at conferences all over the world and he enjoys every minute of it!

Our other friend was also head of his department at the university. Many years ago he co-founded an IT company that grew to become an international player in the IT field. He retired some ten years ago as an executive of this company, but he was asked to stay on in a non-executive capacity because of his knack for bringing ideas together in innovation of new products.

Gradual retirement
One of my former colleagues was asked to stay on when he reached retirement age. But he wanted to leave the city and retire to his house at the coast. His employer agreed and went out of their way to accommodate him through a virtual presence communication network. His workload is also planned to be stepped down gradually over several years.

B&B
The most common and successful retiree story I encounter is the establishment of a Bed and Breakfast facility for paying guests. The hosts are invariably jovial people with a passion for their city, town, or region. One such guest house I visited recently is regularly featured in magazines and television programs. They restored their house which was in their family for nine generation and turned it into a family museum.

Travel
The opportunities for travel and employment are numerous. Friends who are both retired medical practitioners do short assignments at hospitals all over the world. We look forward to their emailed stories and photos!

I spoke to retirees from Holland who were busy with the wine harvest in Piedmont, Italy. They do seasonal work wherever it is offered and they claimed that it is a big business with a lot of fun time and financially rewarding.

I recently spoke to a retired teacher who offer his services as a guide to tourists in his region. He drives them around in his vehicle. He knows the region and it's history very well and enjoy taking visitors around. By word-of-mouth his service became so popular that he can select today which assignments he wants to do.

Research
I met a retired medical doctor who is a part time lecturer at the university's medical school. He found a lucrative niche in doing controlled medical trials or studies on new products for pharmaceutical companies.

The stories go on. Retired teachers teaching extra classes, retired engineers doing consulting assignments, retired project managers doing part time project assignments, a retired security officer with a high security clearing doing courier work for government departments.

Perhaps you can find retirement employment too in the most unexpected way!

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