6 Ways To Make Extra Money in Retirement

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Need to make extra money in retirement? Having some extra financial security can take some work, but can go a long way for peace of mind.

Here’s How To Make Extra Money in Retirement

It’s always nice to have a little more money in your monthly budget, right? And that’s never more true than when you’re retired and living on a fixed income.

Of course, the older you get, the more likely you are to want to focus on making money from things that are a little less active than delivering pizzas or ferrying around Uber riders.

This article focuses on things that don’t necessarily involve “heavy lifting” but still allow you to bring more money into your life.

Table of Contents

  1. Join a Focus Group
  2. Open a New Bank Account for the Sign-Up Bonus
  3. Try Your Hand at Consulting
  4. Do Small Jobs at Home for Amazon’s MTurk
  5. Sell Unwanted Stuff Online
  6. Rent Out a Spare Room on Airbnb

1. Join a Focus Group

focus group written on notepad

Potential earnings: Varies, but generally starting around $100

Marketers want the opinions of regular people just like you to help shape their campaigns as they launch new products and services. And best of all, you can get paid to say what you think.

FocusGroup.org is a service you can use to browse focus group opportunities and estimates that you can earn $50-$200 for each study.

2. Open a New Bank Account for the Sign-Up Bonus

bank free money offers

Potential earnings: Varies

Did you know you can get several hundred bucks just for opening a new bank account?

Big banks often offer sign-up bonuses of up to $500 to attract new customers. All you have to do is open up a checking or savings account with a traditional bank such as Chase, Citi, HSBC, Truist or Wells Fargo and read the fine print.

Each offer has its own stipulations. You may need to deposit several thousand dollars into the new account, make a certain number of transactions a month or maintain a monthly minimum balance to get the money. Just be sure to keep a copy of the promotional offer to make sure the bank plays by its own rules.

But when you consider the low-interest rates most of these big banks normally pay, this could be a real boost to your bottom line.

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Or, if you are in it for the long game, forget the sign-up bonuses with the big banks. Instead, consider switching to one of the best online savings accounts where you can make up to 5.28% on interest as of March 2024.

3. Try Your Hand at Consulting

financial planning consult

Potential earnings: Starts at $39,000, according to Glassdoor

Sure, you got tired of the daily grind at the office and decided to hang it up. Or maybe you were forced into an early retirement. Either way, you still have decades of experience and a lifetime of on-the-job learning under your belt. What better way to put that to use than consulting?

Work at Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE) offers unique opportunities for people who are 50 and older to work remotely for a variety of companies looking for experienced consultants. Most of the opportunities are clustered in the three following fields:

  • Accounting
  • Human resources
  • Insurance

Best of all, there are no startup costs for you working with WAVHE. But you do have to pass their extensive initial intake phone interview and subsequent phone interviews with potential clients to find the right fit.

4. Do Small Jobs at Home for Amazon’s MTurk

How to get free gift cards with Amazon Mechanical Turk or Mturk

Potential earnings: Up to $7.30/hour

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) gives you the opportunity to earn a little spare cash right from your couch. The site specializes in short surveys and other small “Human Intelligence Tasks” (HITs) such as transcriptions, photo identification and verifying Google search descriptions.

Each HIT may pay only a few cents, but the thing is these tasks only take a couple of seconds to complete anyway. So it all adds up.

One of our team members earned an average hourly rate of $0.40 when he tested it in 2021, but other users say they make about $10/hour. We believe that’s possible once you’ve established yourself in the system.

5. Sell Unwanted Stuff Online

Decluttr homepage

Potential earnings: Varies

If you’ve been in your home for a long time, chances are you’ve accumulated a lot of stuff along the way. Now that you’ve got a little more time on your hands in retirement, you can clean out the clutter and get paid for it at the same time.

Craigslist and eBay may be where your mind goes first when you think about selling unwanted stuff online. But the truth is, the selling sites these days are based on what it is you have to sell.

Electronics

Clothing 

General Sales 

6. Rent Out a Spare Room on Airbnb

Airbnb app

Potential earnings: Varies

A lot of people who are of retirement age also happen to be empty nesters. The kids are either away at school or have long since moved out for good. That means you may have a spare room or two in your home.

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Airbnb offers an online marketplace where you can monetize that spare room by renting it out to short-term guests.

The going rate for properties varies widely. In some highly sought-after areas, you can make up to $100 a night or more by doing this. However, if you live in an HOA community, the covenants may restrict you from renting a room in your home. This is something you’ll want to clarify before you advertise your property for rent on Airbnb.

BONUS: Find Missing Money in Your Name!

MissingMoney.com website screenshot

The best kind of money is found money! MissingMoney.com and Unclaimed.org are two sites where you can do a quick check of your name for money that may be due to you that you’ve lost track of over the years.

This money can come in the form of unclaimed money from bank accounts, insurance policies and safe deposit boxes, among other overlooked sources.

Best of all, if you find some money in your name on either site, there’s no fee to claim it. You’ll be walked through the process of claiming the missing money with each state’s unclaimed funds department.

Final Thought

Being in retirement doesn’t have to mean living on a fixed income. It can be relatively easy to make some extra money, while still enjoying the freedom of retirement. If none of these appeal to you, we have a list of even more ways to make extra money.

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