What kind of business should I start at retirement? (pension, supplement, state)
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I have always wanted to have my own business. When I retire I want to do that on a part time basis. I will have a pension and won't have to worry about money.
But I am kind of stumped at to what I want to do. I am a lawyer by trade but pretty much hate the law. I would like to get into some sort of real estate thing ... such as property management or flipping homes but I don't know if I have what it takes for that.
perhaps some sort of law online consultation service $25/consult via paypal......don't know the legality for cross state border law advice......I'd pay for expert advice on variety of topics for general advice....I've seen Physical Therapists do this (but charge more) for telemedicine general advice....same with fitness folks.
perhaps start a youtube channel w/ advice....the more viewers you get, the bigger the youtube check that you get.....there are people on YT that are full time channel producers who enjoy a nice supplemental income from their channel with as few as 20,000 subscribers.
The best thing to do for a part time business is something you are good at. My husband and I have a side business with another couple. Both of the guys are engineers so the product we sell is something they developed together. We sell this product to a distributor so that we don't have to worry about individual orders.
We actually have a second product we hope to have out later this year. Since I am an accountant I take care of all the accounting work for the company. We have used this business to fund our travel for the past few years and it is working out great. When we do retire we hope to keep this business going to continue to fund travel!
Real Estate Salesperson is definitely not a part-time gig. If done correctly, it requires a lot of hours, and your weekends are no longer your own. You would be the Rookie in the Market Area, and you'd be competing for Listings against experienced Agents with their Network intact.
You might be able to make a buck flipping homes. But you need funding for that,-- the Banks aren't eager to lend Purchase money on rehab projects. The Seed money has to come from your deep pockets.
Kitchens and Bathrooms sell houses, if you're not handy with Plumbing, Cabinetry and Tilework, you'll need to hire tradesmen (wait til you see what these guys charge).
If I may suggest, your Law Degree might be useful in a Law Office that handles Real Estate Closings. A Standard Real Estate Contract should be a Piece-o-Cake to any experienced Lawyer. Couple of days a week, and you could pocket a nice little stipend. Set up a Home Office and get the Tax Write-offs.
Last edited by FiveLoaves; 02-20-2018 at 12:54 PM..
I have always wanted to have my own business.
When I retire I want to do that on a part time basis.
I will have a pension and won't have to worry about money.
Any thoughts?
First decide on just how many hours you're willing to commit to (per week or month)...
then what sort of return you expect on any investment outlays you might make
and how long you're willing to wait before realizing that return or other profits.
Oh yeah, and the big one: Are you willing to risk losing whatever you lay out?
What do you mean by "a lawyer by trade"? Do you have a degree? Are you licensed? Do you have a speciality? Do you (not) like working one on one with people? Do you have strong hobbies you could leverage? Are you interested in social justice? Politics? Children's or women's issues?
On the other hand, sounds like you might be interested in property management, HOA management, or the like. I vote for HOA management. That would be for HOA's that are professionally managed rather than managed by amateurs.
Last edited by luv4horses; 02-20-2018 at 12:45 PM..
I've worked for a property management company. Unless you have a lot of properties that you are managing you aren't making much money.... figure 6% or 7% of the monthly rental as your monthly gross. You constantly need to sell yourself in order to add more rental properties to your workload as the rental properties come and go. The tenants always have problems that need to be addressed. There are a lot of bills to be paid per property. The vendors are always calling asking where their money is. The property owners always have questions, concerns, complaints. It's a lot of work, a lot of emails being sent to you that need replies. You have to have continuing education. Overall the net income isn't worth the amount of time it takes.
I have always wanted to have my own business. When I retire I want to do that on a part time basis. I will have a pension and won't have to worry about money.
But I am kind of stumped at to what I want to do. I am a lawyer by trade but pretty much hate the law. I would like to get into some sort of real estate thing ... such as property management or flipping homes but I don't know if I have what it takes for that.
Most universities pay $3000-$3600 per course taught. Your time commitment would be about 10 hours a week per class, for 16 weeks - although first time through each course would likely require more time (learning curve for eating via online).
Generally the requirement for undergrad courses is a Master's, so in your case, intro to business law, intro to contract law, ethics, and perhaps general business management or marketing would likely be your wheelhouse as an instructor.
Also, if you are looking for something more formal/regular (although this gets away from the own your own business idea), many junior colleges hire part time faculty for on campus instruction as a lecturer non tenure track.
Consider how many hours per day you'll need to spend satisfying IRS regulations.
It can be VERY high. And it's high risk if you make errors even in your own recordkeeping.
Will it be services or "stuff"?
To make this decision, the first thing you should do is take courses in how to start and operate a small business. How to create a business plan. What is the demand? What is your investment? How to price. If you don't price properly, it's a complete waste of time. Then, it's a hobby. And the IRS may consider your "business" a hobby, too and disallow your stuff.
These courses are available at colleges and through the Small Business Administration.
You MUST have a business plan.
You start with the four Ps:
Product (what is it?)
Place (where?)
Price ($$$ you MUST make, not what you "might make")
Promote (how to sell it)
If it's a SERVICE and you're using your car, you MUST include the cost to replace your car eventually, for example. LOTS of people dont' even consider that and use the car like "credit" and when it dies, they have no car and no money to buy a new one. So that $20K (or whatever) was revenue you LOST in your "business". If you're only making net $5K per year, then in year 4 you need a new car for $20K, that means you worked 4 years for NOTHING.
These are the fundamentals of Product Management / Marketing.
Obviously doing work on your own computer at home is much easier than dealing with hard goods and services. Like graphic arts, website development or even making stuff on sites like Zazzle where they fulfill the merch.
I make a couple thousand dollars per year almost passively by COINCIDENCE on Zazzle. I made some stuff for myself for my business, then for someone else once, and total strangers found my "store" and started buying from me. And by "store", it was nothing more than making the products public so she could order them. Really funny. AND THE IRS SEES IT, so yeah, it's even work for that passive income.
Or creating something out of nothing like Blogging. LOL
It should be something you KNOW about. Not something you'd LOVE TO DO but know nothing about. Just because a guy loves golf doesn't mean his golf store will be successful. The GREATEST failures are in this area. Fail quickly within a year or two.
If you'd "love to own a flower shop" go get a job in one first and learn about it. AND about retail. For example.
Study that stuff.
Also study IRS regs about retirement income if you are going to retire before FRA on SS, you're limited as to what your income can be.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 02-20-2018 at 01:23 PM..
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