Retirement may be a wonderful opportunity to take a well-earned break and finally pursue your passions with gusto, but let’s be honest:
As much as you enjoy having all that extra time to do the things you love, you miss the connection, interaction, and sense of achievement that was such a driving factor throughout your work life.
If that sounds like you, take a look at these 10 retirement hobbies that make money while still giving you the time and freedom to enjoy life after work.
10 Retirement Hobbies That Make Money
1. Writing
If there’s nothing you love more than putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to share your creativity, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s an abundance of ways to parlay that passion into extra cash.
While starting a freelance writing business offering services on sites like Upwork is always a great starting point for anyone looking to monetize their writing skills, it does mean that your clients will largely dictate what you write about and how you write it.
If you’d rather enjoy the freedom of spending your retirement years writing whatever and however you like, you may prefer to consider self-publishing, which can still prove to be a lucrative income earner.
Here, your options are numerous.
For example, you may choose to start a blog, which you can monetize through advertising networks such as Google Ads or affiliate marketing programs like Amazon Associates.
Speaking of Amazon, you might also consider using their free self-publishing service, KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), to write and sell your own books, whether that’s the epic sci-fi novel you’ve always dreamed of writing, a children’s book, or perhaps even your memoirs.
Related: How to start a freelance writing business
2. Gardening
For as long as I can remember, my dad has always been a passionate gardener. So, when he finally retired, it didn’t come as a surprise to any of us that he set up his own part-time gardening business.
Using photos of his own immaculately kept garden as evidence of his talent, he created a website, posted in local business groups on Facebook, and put up flyers around town.
Before, he amassed a client list he was happy with, big enough to make his business profitable yet small enough that he wasn’t spending all of his retirement on it.
If that sounds like your dream retirement gig, you can follow Dad’s steps as well as advertise your services on platforms such as Angi or LawnLove.
3. Arts and Crafts
Writing isn’t the only way to profit from your creativity. Whether you love oil painting, woodworking, jewelry making, or just about any other type of arts and crafts, there are a number of ways you can turn your passion into profit.
One of the most effective ways to do this is to sell your own handmade items via Etsy, an online marketplace with a large audience of happy buyers who shop for original art, home decor, and other artisan goods.
It’s free to sign up and create your own Etsy store. Any fees you pay are only taken out after you make a sale, which makes it a great option if you’re looking to start a side hustle with no money.
If you’re looking for a hobby that will get you out of the house in your retirement years, you can also consider connecting with local art groups, galleries, and other artists to find out about craft fairs and events that offer opportunities to sell your work.
4. Furniture Restoration
If you love nothing more than breathing a new lease of life into worn-out, old furniture, you may not be too surprised to learn that there’s money to be made in that.
A retired neighbor of ours simply keeps an eye out for old furniture left at the side of the road, scoops it up for free, and takes it home to his workshop.
After he’s done bringing each item back to life, he makes a good amount of extra money by selling his upcycled furniture at vintage craft fairs, flea markets, and online via Etsy.
You could take this one step further by creating your own website to sell your work, or perhaps even documenting your restoration process on social media as a means of attracting commissions from clients.
Related: How to start a furniture restoration business
5. Local History
I’ve met many retirees who spent all (or at least most) of their lives living in the same location and enjoyed regaling others with fascinating tales of how things used to be in their local area.
Are you one of them?
If so, why not turn your hand to providing local history tours?
Not only is this a great way to make money talking about something you love, it’s also a great way to get some fresh air, exercise, and engage with others.
You’ll need to check what licenses you need to start a tour guide company, and, of course, getting the right business insurance will be of paramount importance.
From there, spend your free time walking around your local area, taking note of those historical locations that give you the best opportunities to share little-known facts or interesting stories, and planning a tour route that gives your customers value for money without being too tiring.
You might even decide to write and sell your own local history book, which is not just a good way to create extra income but also boosts your credibility as a local expert, something which can help drive up bookings for your new tour company.
6. Sharing Your Knowledge and Experience
History is far from the only subject that retirees can get paid for talking about.
Don’t forget that you’ve had an entire career’s worth of experience in your industry, and you’ve no doubt learned a thing or two that could be useful to the next generation.
If you’re willing to share your unique insights and advice, you could start a part-time consulting business or teach a class.
This is exactly what my father-in-law does. After a lengthy career at the top of his field in brand marketing, he decided to gradually ease his way into retirement by offering to teach a marketing class at a school.
Away from work-related subjects, you could also make extra cash teaching people how to play a musical instrument via online tutoring sites such as SuperProf or create a course on crochet and knitting using Udemy or Thinkific.
You name it, if there’s something you can teach, there’s a platform out there to connect you with students who want to learn it.
Related: How to start a tutoring business
7. Dog Walking
If retirement has left you with an itch to get active that you’ve not yet scratched, signing up for paid dog-walking job on sites like Rover may be the perfect gig.
Animal lovers will particularly like Rover as it offers much more than dog walking. The site is all about connecting pet owners to provide a whole host of useful services such as pet-sitting and doggy daycare.
Once your profile is approved, you can use it to take on jobs that fit in with your own schedule and even set your own rates to ensure that each job is worth your while.
Related: How to start a dog walking business
8. Photography
That high-caliber camera you carry around everywhere could be a significant money maker, depending on how you use it.
The most obvious route here is to sell your services as a freelance photographer, either by narrowing down to a specific niche, such as portraits or wedding photography, or showcasing your diverse talents as a jack-of-all-trades photographer.
However, that’s far the only route.
If you’re not keen on being told what to shoot, when, and where, you’ll probably prefer the freedom and flexibility of being able to photograph almost anything you like and sell it as stock photography via platforms such as Alamy or Shutterstock.
Elsewhere, you could consider selling prints of your best work online and at art fairs, entering photography contests with cash prizes, or even teaching photography skills to others.
Related: How to start a photography business
9. Sports
The great thing about being a sports fan -at least from a profit-making perspective- is that there’s a number of ways to make money no matter whether you enjoy being in the thick of the action or watching from the comfort of your armchair.
If you like to get actively involved, you could offer to coach your local baseball team or offer your skills and experience as a personal athletics coach.
Although such jobs aren’t going to pay a fortune, many of them do pay while also offering the kind of rewarding experience that money can’t buy.
If you’re more of a spectator, consider channeling your love of your favorite sport, team, or sports star into a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel.
10. Treasure Hunting
Don’t worry. We’re not suggesting you dig your old Indiana Jones Halloween costume out of the closet and jet off to the catacombs of Egypt in search of buried riches.
No, this is a kind of treasure hunting you can do much closer to home by scouring thrift stores, yard sales, or antique markets in search of rare or otherwise valuable items that you can flip for a profit on sites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace.
Money-Making Hobbies for Retirees: A Final Tip
If you’ve been paying close attention, you may have noticed that many of the best retirement hobbies that make money are those that can easily overlap to provide you with multiple revenue streams.
For example, if your heart lies in gardening, there’s no reason why you couldn’t create one great retirement business by combining the three main types of side hustle into one, like so:
1. Do
Providing landscape gardening services (doing the skill)
2. Teach
Creating courses, workshops, blogs, or books (teaching the skill)
3. Sell
Selling plants, flowers, and garden produce at farmers markets and similar events (selling the product/outcome of the skill.)
This Do/Teach/Sell model can be applied to practically any hobby.
As a passionate photographer, for example, you may decide to offer freelance services (doing), launch a photography tips Youtube channel (teaching), and sell prints (selling).
Meanwhile, the furniture restorers among you may prefer to flip that ratio on its head by focusing on selling your furniture but also taking on commissions (doing), and teaching a workshop.
Of course, this all comes down to how much of your retirement you’re willing to spend working, and you may decide that sticking to just one thing is the best approach for you.
On the other hand, if you’re ready to throw yourself fully into this new endeavor, use this guide as inspiration to determine all the different money-making possibilities provided by your hobby.
Finally, whether you do just one thing or multiple things, give yourself the best possible chance of success with these low-cost business marketing suggestions.
