Hobbies
Baby boomers are learning some alarming news – their retirement isn’t enough. After being told all their lives that having a million dollars in assets would guarantee they had enough for retirement, they’re now being told that they need double that. Considering that few of their generation worked for the same employer all their professional life, few actually have any retirement to speak of. As for savings, the median for that generation is $144,000.
This means that most will have to depend on Social Security for their retirement. But the average Social Security benefit is only $1,470 per month. After paying a lifetime into the Social Security fund, they are finding that what they will receive back isn’t enough to meet their needs. Like their parents before them, many are facing grim financial prospects during retirement.
This is leading more and more baby boomers to try and put off retirement. But that’s not necessarily easy to do. Many companies are actively avoiding hiring people over 50, let alone over 60, preferring to hire younger workers, who will work for less and who are less prone to health problems. While few companies will actually fire someone for being “old,” they might be less likely to consider them for advancement, and may even make things difficult for them, “encouraging them to retire or go elsewhere.
Adding this lack of interest that companies have for our years of experience to the aforementioned problem of not having enough stashed away for our retirement, means that those of us who are facing retirement are looking at a rather serious problem. How are we going to live on what we have?
For many, the answer to that question is to augment our retirement income in one way or another. But with the problem of getting people to hire you, what can you do? Here are a few top ideas:
Related: How To Make Money Off Grid: Making A Living From Your Homestead
If you have some sort of hobby where you like to make some sort of crafts, you can turn that into a fun business that will augment your income. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about jewelry making or wood turning, there are probably people who are looking for what you like to make.
There’s even an online platform for this: Etsy.com. While vendors on Etsy sell other things, there’s a lot of it which is home-made handicrafts. That’s such an important part of the platform, that they ask you if you made it, when you list an item.
One real key to doing business on Etsy is to have a lot of inventory. Give people more to pick from and you’ll increase your chances of making a sale.
Whatever your profession, chances are there are people out there who need your skills. If those skills are something you can do from home, than you can be a freelancer. There is a growing trend for companies, especially small to midsize companies, to hire experts online to do work for them, especially when they don’t have enough need for that work to justify a full-time employee.
Freelance work is available online for just about anything you can do while sitting in an office; usually in front of a computer. It doesn’t matter if you’re an accountant, a computer programmer, a marketing specialist or an executive assistant, someone needs your skills. Actually, a bunch of people need them. There are a number of platforms online which connect freelancers to those who need their services; Upwork.com is probably the biggest of these.
I’ve been a freelance writer for the last 10 years and I make a good living at it. As I’m approaching retirement age, I have no intent to stop my work. I might slow down a bit, not working full-time, but I have no intention to quit. The business I have now will be my business into retirement.
If you’re truly an expert at what you do, perhaps you can kick it up a notch. Rather than just freelancing, become a consultant. Those same companies who don’t want to hire experienced people will often be more than ready to pay those people even more money to come in as a consultant. They want that experience; they just don’t want to pay for it full-time.
As a consultant, your job is to help the business improve, in whatever your area of expertise is. Years ago I was a manufacturing engineer. When I got out of that, I did some consulting for manufacturing companies, where I looked at their operations and came up with ways for them to reduce costs. That’s all I did. I’d spend a couple of weeks in the company’s facility, nosing around and then produce a report, based upon what I found.
The tricky part about being a consultant is finding customers. You can’t just advertise for this one; better to network with the people you have worked with over the years. Many of them will have moved on to other companies, some of which may need your expertise.
Related: 10 Expenses You Need to Cut Now for the Upcoming Economic Depression
One of the fastest and easiest way to start generating income is to start selling online; and it’s something you can easily do from home. Countless millions of people have started small online stores, some of whom are quite wealthy today.
There are three keys to selling online. They are:
You don’t necessarily have to invest a lot in inventory, in order to start an online store. There are many online stores which have zero inventory, depending on drop-shipping. That’s where the manufacturer or warehouse ship their orders for them; all they do is sell.
We are living in a time when people are willing to pay exorbitant prices for food. Forty years ago, people wouldn’t think of paying for Starbucks coffee or Marble Slab ice cream. It’s not that people wouldn’t have enjoyed those products, but there was a different attitude about spending money.
Today, what is known as “craft cooking” is a big thing. If you enjoy cooking and can cook some category of food well, then you can build a great little business, right from your own kitchen. I know one guy who started a company making craft pies. His pies would sell for $35 to $40 each! Within months, his business grew so much that he had to rent a building; but even then, he would sell out each day.
Another couple I know, who were from the Philippines, made their living cooking their country’s traditional dishes, either making dinners for people or finger food for parties. They didn’t even have to work every day, in order to make a living.
The real key here isn’t trying to compete with the fast food restaurants or even the big chains. It’s to create upscale food that people can’t get just anywhere. There’s a definite market for that and it’s a market that’s growing.
Related: Pioneer Recipes Every Prepper Should Learn
If you have the room and the energy, you might want to consider taking a few children in during the day, offering child care. Most retired people don’t get as much time with their grandchildren as they would like and most kids today don’t get enough opportunity to have time with their grandparents. You could offer an atmosphere where you at as a surrogate grandparent, giving that child much needed love and attention.
If you’re going to do something like this, you’ll probably need to get licensed by your state as a day care center. Amongst other things, that will entail an inspection of your home, to ensure that it is safe for small children. So take a good look around, from the viewpoint of a protective parent, before deciding on this one. Can you realistically make your home a safe haven, where you don’t need to worry about the kids breaking some antique vase?
Unless you downsized when your kids moved out, chances are you have an extra bedroom or two in your house. You may still have them decorated the way they were when your kids moved out and still refer to those rooms by your kids’ names. But the rooms aren’t doing you any good.
There are always people who are looking for a place to stay; college students, people who just moved to town, someone who just got out of the military or a single person who just doesn’t want the cost and work of having their own apartment to care for.
You will probably want to check out anyone you rent a room out to pretty carefully. After all, they’re going to have access to your home. You can put reasonable rules on who you’ll rent out to too. If you’re a non-smoker, you may want to make that a stipulation for renting. The same can be said for things like late night parties and loud music.
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There is no way I will ever have 1 million dollars by the time I’m ready to retire, I’m already 62.
Now I might get lucky and hit the lottery and I do play it since I no longer smoke I figure why not use that money towards something that might reward me and don’t worry, I only spend 4 dollars a week so I’m not an addicted gambler.
The only options I have are try to live within my means,
hit the lottery, or work another 8 to 10 years.
I do have a 401k from work but its no where near 1 million.
GoFundMe..
“I lost my house, my cat, my car keys, my stock portfolio tanked, and I have massive student debt because no one hires multiple gender studies grad students. Also, my parents can no longer afford to keep me in the lifestyle I choose to lead. Please contribute to my GoFundMe account. I am asking for $500,000 for this year.”
I am sure someone will be “kind hearted” or simple minded enough to contribute. 😀
There is always something you can do to earn the $500K you’re asking. You just might need to get your hands dirty.
You can easily fund your retirement plus pay for all your grandkids’ college tuition by knitting lace doilies in your spare time!
HaHa! And tatting: the lost art. SO useful after an EMP!!!
Harsh! This article is about getting by. I know of at least 2 people who have thrived by turning a hobby into a business. One started making knapsacks out of heavy canvas. They were so sturdy he began selling them to an outfitter. The other reclaims the lead from sailboat keels and melts it down into cannonball weights for fishing down riggers, very good money.. There are people who supplement their income doing knife and other blade sharpening. All three of these would come in handy even after an EMP strike.
And that tatting skill just might turn into a great little fishnet business.
Before you try any form of ‘child care’ I suggest that you try being an umpire one summer for a little league in your area. You will not end up making ANY money. That is if you approach it with the same high standards of professionalism that you applied to your earlier career. It takes time, time commitment and a nearly $1000 financial commitment for classes, uniforms and transportation costs. I’ll never see my grandkids again. Missing them so much I decided, with the encouragement from friends involved in it, to give it a try. I haven’t done many things for money in my life that I loved more. The kids are great, most of the coaches are committed to a positive learning experience for the kids as much as winning and the countless thank you’s from moms and dads alike who are very generous with their graditude when you’re willing to go the extra mile to see that their kids are, above all safe and having fun learning about sportsmanship.
I thought I had really found something that I could do for a few extra bucks as ALL of my first seasons earnings went into covering my original start up costs I was excited at the prospect of all the extra income I would make in the next full season.
The second season started out just as great as the first until I ran into one of the harsh realities of the jaded, selfish and litigious world in which we all now live. There is always going to be one parent or more who’s egos just can’t stand some aspect of you personally or your job performance and when one of them decides to make your life hell because of it you will end up knowing JUST how Gary Cooper felt in the movie High Noon. No matter how well you perform or how pleased most are with your performance when that one parent decides to take action against you there will not be ONE SINGLE PERSON to stand by you.
I refused to allow ANY violence against ANY of the kids on my field. I was shocked one night to see a father beating his 6 year old son out in right field because he was the boy was bored and prefered layin down counting ants…not the kind of behaviour that will get him drafted into the majors but hardly offensive enough for a public beating. I resisted the urge to go out and give the dad a taste of his own medicine. Instead, I took him and the coach over to the side between innings and warned them both, discretely, that spanking of any kind would not be tolerated on my field. I got the “he’s my kid I’ll spank him if I want” but the coach agreed and I thought that was the end of it.
In the next game in the 7 and 8 year old class I had a real issue. That’s the toughest group as some have just turned 7 with no experience and others are about to turn 9 and have 3 years experience. Anyone who knows kids will tell you there can be a gigantic size difference between a 6 year old and a 9 year old.
ALWAYS putting safety FIRST for all the kids I stepped in, took a very small and skinny 7 year old by the elbow and pulled him out of the batters box as three very large 9 year olds converged on home plate due to a passed ball. After the play, the runner was out, so I gave the kid a break and after explaining the rules and the danger of staying in the batters box all was smiles as the kid returned to bat. The rest of the night went well and ended with the usual thanks and high spirits that I’d grown accustomed to…until I got home only to have a sheriff car pull up in the drive way. I couldn’t believe my ears when I was told that the boy I had pulled out of harms way had parents who were filling ASSAULT CHARGES against me for touching their child AND were contacting their lawyer in an effort to bring a lawsuit against both me and the league!!
After explaining the situation to them I was not arrested and the DA refused to follow up on it saying that it was a league issue especially since the child was NOT injured. I supposed that the parents would have been happier had I let their son be seriously injured, or worse yet, one of the other boys who were FOLLOWING the rules? There was a meeting at which NO parent showed up and in which my head umpire, covering her ass, refused to back me up. I was given a warning about touching any of the kids for any reason and allowed to return to the games but I had taken enough at that point an resigned on the spot.
I get it. We have to protect our children from predators at all costs but when you take that so far as having to make people stand helplessly by an just watch as they see a child be possibly crippled for life and be powerless to stop it… it’s a pitiful world we have created for us all.
I found out later that the child’s father was the brother of the of the man I scolded for beating his kid in right field the game before. It’s pretty obvious now what happened and why.
I had to deal with kids in their parents presence a few hours a night a few nights a week and quite nearly was jailed, fined and sued for practically no cause at all. You might well think long and hard before you even consider bringing a bunch of them into your home 5 days a week, 8 to 10 hours a day…alone. It will take only one parent who doesn’t like which side of your head you part your hair on to destroy your entire life and I’ll be go to hell if I know of a damned thing that you will be able to do about it that won’t cost you everything you have worked your entire life for.
You’d be better off just.moving into your car now.
I have been fortunate to have had the ability to send my son to Little League. It was a family affair and I chipped in anyway I possibly could. First, I became the water Lady, then the handler of the team mascot, a retriever who was dressed for success ,in a team shirt and then I worked my way up to 3rd base coach, where I was mostly responsible to make sure all shoelaces were properly tied. Parents should welcome the opportunity to do everything they can to make this a memorable experience for the kids and support the coaches and the league.its disgraceful how they behave today! They should be thrown out of the game!
Amen, City Chick.
Up votes, down votes, it doesn’t matter one way or the other, but this WAS intended to be humorous. No offense meant, so no apology necessary.
The article has some good suggestions, and most suggestions are all inclusive. Like TheSouthernNationalist, I am no where near close to a million dollar retirement fund, and the thought of an accidental lottery win is fun to think about, so with that being said, the next most unlikely way of me enhancing my retirement would be to get money from GoFundMe. I may contribute to worthwhile GoFundMe projects, but I have never and will never consider setting up a page for myself. I am blessed, and I don’t believe in asking for money for a want. And THAT is the problem with today’s younger generation.. they don’t know the difference between a want and a need, or what a true emergency is.
So, to the down voters, were you offended by the statement, or did you really think it was a valid suggestion for enhancing the retirement years? Either way, I feel sorry for your inability to understand a facetious post.
yeah, I got that
I thought it was hysterical, because so many of the clueless out there think that GoFUndMe is a way to easy fixes for all of life’s little problems. The “I screwed up something so someone else should pay for it.”
Got a dent in your car? GoFundMe. Wife ran off with the insurance salesman? GoFundMe. Got a booboo? GoFundMe.
keep on hoping sister. but then you may have heard those old words of wisdom, “hope in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up the fastest”.
You are an idiot.
The problem here is, your dire scenario is too close to reality for a lot of young folks entitled today. Ha! You forgot to request that you also be set up in a corner office so that you would be able to feel inclusive and not isolated from your peers!
Yeah, it used to be if you had a million invested and it returned 6% which wasn’t that hard to find and was considered “conservative”, it would return $60,000 a year in interest which was okay, you could live conservatively on that if your medical bills weren’t too high.
Try finding a 6% return these days. If you have a very good financial planner or you have been lucky in placing your investments, you might find some vehicle that will return that, but they are usually very complicated investment schemes and most unsophisticated savers such as me, avoid them because they are so complicated For the average worker trying to save for retirement these days getting 1.5% return on your money is a real windfall and most of us haven’t accumulated that $1,000,000 that is the prerequisite to the whole idea anyway.
If you have a job that you don’t detest and your boss isn’t pushing you out the door, hand on to it until you are 70. That’s the optimum age to start collecting Social Insecurity anyway and it will give you more time to add to that small nested that you have been struggling to accumulate.
Sometime since I started following this site there was a discussion about how to figure whether you should take Social Insecurity at 62 or wait until your “regular” retirement age or wait until you are 70 to start Social Insecurity.
There is no one formula fits all for that exercise. You have to consider your present health situation. You have to consider your spouse’s health situation. You have to consider the longevity history of your family. The Social Insecurity Office can provide you with a readout of how much you will receive based on your earnings to day and at what age you start collecting what has been extracted from your earnings at gunpoint for the whole Ponzi scheme.
I haven’t followed the rules in recent years, so I don’t know what they are with regard to what you do about medical insurance between 62 and 65 when Medicare kicks in. You have to figure that into the equation when you are doing the math. You need to deduct the cost of medical care/insurance for that three year period.
The unknown is how long you and your spouse are going to live. That’s where the review of your respective health situations come in and the ages at which your respective sets of parents passed — or if they are still living at an advanced age. If both of your parents and your spouse’s parents are still living in their 90s and you don’t have serious health problems, you had better plan on delaying taking the money until 70 because in the end you will wind up with more money than if you take it sooner.
There used to be a dictum that you take the payments and invest the money and keep on working. Well, there are two downsides to that. Until you reach 70 you social security is reduced by your earnings and you also have to pay income tax on the Social Insecurity Payments. How’s that for irony? How much you have to pay depends upon how much you earn. Also, you used to be able to get a decent return of you actually invested the SS payments which is no longer available and unfortunately, too many people didn’t invest that money and spent it on vacations and fun which is okay, but you have to pay the piper when you dance. Take it now and you won’t be getting more when you are older and when costs have kept going up and up and up.
Just to give you a quickie: I retired in 1999. Apples were on sale at 29¢ a pound for several years after I retired. I don’t remember what gas was, but it was below $2.00 a gallon in the PDRK. Today when apples are on sale they are 99¢ a pound and that doesn’t happen every week like the 29¢ apple sale. Gas is well over $2.00 a gallon now. Gas tax in the PDRK is now 50¢ a gallon (just CA state gas tax) which started July 1 despite the state being in a state of recession due to the idiot rules we are getting from our “leaders”.
Please don’t rely on what the folks at the federal bureaucracy tell you. They have a canned answer that they provide which only applied to a very limited number of retirees back when it had any validity at all. In recent years their stock answer very likely doesn’t apply to anyone.
I haven’t kept up with the rules and the numbers. You really should get professional advice on how to proceed in taking your retirement and the Social Insecurity payments that you have coming. That professional should question you about your family situation as I have outlined above. Your expected longevity is yours alone. Yes, there are tables that insurance companies use but those are based on calculated odds, not on you individually, You can’t rely just on the odds. You have to first take into consideration the factors I outlined as they apply to you and your spouse. What everybody else is doing is academically interesting only. It should have only minor bearing on what you choose for your and your spouse’s lives. Anyone who gives you canned advice should be avoided like COVD.
West Coast Chuck…this was some excellent advise and I couldn’t agree more with all of it with the exception of one minor, opinionated point.
SS is on of the most well like, most needed and under appreciated programs that our Republic’s leaders have ever come up with.
It is anything BUT a Ponzi scheme if you do the math on the program when it is run in the manor in which it was set up to run originally and has been fine tuned over the years.
The only problem the program really has are those ‘idiot leaders’ you mentioned, from BOTH sides of the isles I might add, have sonce inception have used it as their own private slush fund for every little project that has come down the pipe from wars to bailouts. Had they left it alone to run on it’s own merits we’d all be far better off now but coulda woulda shoulda is never much good at fixing anything.
As capitalism depends so heavily on a constant supply of cheap and easily renewable labor on the lower end of of that food chain I’m more than a little concerned for the future of my SS benefits when current immigration attitudes are putting such a bind on businesses need for that labor pool. One which pays a disproportionate percentage of their wages into the fund?
HOWEVER, due to my infinite wisdom on the matter I took my retirement early and it’s working out GREAT…as long as I, as with all the other men on both sides of my family have for generations now, die of a massive heart attack within the next 4 years.
If not, I’ll be right back where I started when my dad threw me unceremoniously out of the house at 19. Living alone, in my van with my surfboard and a loving dawg that eats better than me. Looking back on it all…I might well have been better off staying right where I started hand might well have if only the beaches hadn’t gotten to crowded for a strole.
But there again, all the could woulda shoulda’s in the world won’t change any of that now.
Wow…retired in 99! You’re older than dirt! I’m glad it’s workin for you as it must be because you are still here and presumably not living…On the Beach.
Catman, you make a good point about the raiding of the social security funds, but I have to agree with LCC. SS is very definitely a Ponzi scheme and after a while they fail. How do you think the coffers are doing right now with so many people not paying in? George Bush had the excellent idea of privatizing SS, having people pay into a 401K sort of instrument, but couldn’t get enough support. SS is expensive to administer. I agree that a safety net is a good idea, but 401Ks with extra rules like not being able to empty it out when you reach retirement age and still with some tax contributions, etc. would be great. Also it would be another step away from the socialist guaranteed income schemes the left espouses. The more we can get government out of our lives, the better off we’ll be.
Well govgal…I guess we have to disagree. It’s been years now since I was in my economics class at the University of Kentfield (Local JC) in the 70’s but the basic numbers haven’t changed. There has always been more people working in the system than collecting. Life expectancy has been droping like rock since I was in college which changes some of the numbers but historically, the average time SS and pensioners collect is about 18 months. We have started tampering with immigration lately and that does wonders for those stirring up the hatres of ethnocentric nationals who like to blame them for all our problems but those arguments don’t stand up to well in the light of day. The simple FACT is that, all politics aside and economically speaking, the very MOST successful economies are the ones with the most liberal immigration policies. A short time with google will clearly show that. It’s this flow of cheap exploitable labor that keeps the Ponzi scheme of capitalism afloat. Coal miners blame them and “liberal environmentalist’ because they incorrectly perceive their job losses on them. Someone who wants their vote can easily appeal to those base instincts and use those jobs losses to stir up the hatreds as long as he keeps them busy looking at him they won’t notice the truth…their jobs have been lost to animation and good old capitalistic greed, also called competion. Coal can’t compete any more. Natural gas, Nuclear and green energies have forever doomed the coal industry. That is, unless government interventions step in and prop it up in what is in FACT much closer to communism than it will ever be capitalism.
Seriously, we know who won the last election and what was promised to the coal miners. Their jobs have NOT come back. They can’t, no one in the private sectors is putting ANY money into those companies. NO ONE wants to lose the jobs they love and even MORE people do not want ANY change in their lives, it’s human nature. With that said and hindsight being 20-20 dont you have to ask yourself wouldn’t they have been much better off with a candidate willing to spend OUR tax dollars on educating those workers for the green jobs of the future insuring a lifetime of work instead of being lied to by a leader giving away 10 times that amount of money in huge tax cuts that only profit their billionaire friends who own big business?
The biggest problem we have with all of these talks are that most of these issues are not ruled by logic and well researched educated insights. They are ruled by emotions based on presonal opinion and extremly subjective points of view where actual facts have nothing to do with the equation.
A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
To be clear, the coal industry is s good example of what we are talking about here…
CAPITALISM…Ruled totally by the markets which are ALL controlled by the people who run them, billionaires. When a business fails in their world, they declare bankruptcy, take their profits and move on. They owe their workers, the ones who produced those profits, nothing. The workers are nothing more than tools owed nothing more than the equipment the closuer leaves behind. LESS EVEN, they can sell the equipment, it still has value. All from the comfort of their gated communities where they never even have to come into contact with the destroyed lives their exploitations left behind. Make no mistake about it EXPLOITATION of EVERYTHING is the very foundation of capitalism. All money flows directly to the top and in every case will eventually leave the people at the bottom with NOTHING. Tell me again, what’s the definition of Ponzi scheme?
COMMUNISM…an equally, if not far worse economic alternative. All the money flows up there too, only it goes to the state, that is to say, the people who run the state. Billionaires in that world are called oligarchs. People Trump seems to admire ad he sucks up to them while shunning all leaders who put the needs of their country ahead of their own selfishness. I can live with capitalism because a huge part of that is in the hope. People at the bottom can tolerate it because they have some hope of upward mobility.
I would kill myself before I’d live under communisim. It litterally steals the soul of those on the bottom because they have no hope of ever getting out of a life totally dependent on the generosity of people with no concern for them what so ever.
SOCIALISM… In it’s many imperfect forms is an attempt at finding a balance between the two. It’s gar from perfect in fact, but their are nearly 8 billion people on this planet. The goal of the economic policies that government use should be one’s that protect the most amount of their citizens in an attempt to meet the needs of them all.
Millions of your fellow Americans woke up today in the purest form of capitalism this nation has ever known. Your prayers have been answered. Trump has done an EXCELLENT job of tearing the government you say you want less of totally apart. Oh, all the departments are still there but are now run NOT JUST by people unqualified for their posts but actually have a lifetime of documented hatred for the departments and have done everything possible in their lives to destroy them.
Y’all on the right WON!
Congratulations! You got your cake and get to eat it too! Now let’s see if you can swallow it.
Trump has made it PERFECTLY clear that the American people are ON THEIR OWN!
155,000 people are DEAD from COVID-19 with one more dying now EVERY MINUTE. Trump had done next to nothing.
100’s of millions of Americans are out of work, the benefit package that the DEMOCRATES pushed through for them ran out TODAY and 100’s of millions more face homelessness TOMMOROW and your less government Trump and his GOPTO have done NOTHING TO HELP.
IN FACT…9 out of 10 of them are out playing FUCKING GOLF TODAY!
When the Right wing fascist now in power took office we were all living in the strongest economy this nation has ever know. In just 4 years our nation is in flames and it along with most of the people in it will be in bankruptcy by Christmas.
Less government?
Yea, you bet…tell me how you like it when starving people start coming up your driveway, heavily armed and nothing left to lose.
Govgal…more to consider as your neighbors die as a result of your ‘less gov’
I guess we need yo get rid of all these other things those filthy scum bag SOCIALIST liberals and their bloated big government had done to improve YOUR LIFE…note these are just.a few of the things AND…to save him from mail in votes he has nearly guaranteed the destruction of the last one.
Doesn’t it just piss you off…your being able to vote?
The 40-hour work week, and thus, weekends!
Overtime pay and minimum wage.
Paid Vacations.
Women’s Voting Rights
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The right of people of all colors to use schools and facilities.
Public schools.
Public libraries
Public transportation
Public universities
Public broadcasting
Public police and fire departments
Worker’s rights
Labor safety and fairness laws
Child-labor laws.
The right to unionize
Health care benefits
National Parks, Monuments, and Forests, “America’s Best Idea”
Interstate Highway System
Safe food and drugs (via the FDA)
Social Security
NASA
The Moon Landing and other space exploration
Satellites
The Office of Congressional Ethics.
The Internet
National Weather Service
Product Labeling/Truth in Advertising Laws
Rural Electrification/Tennessee Valley Authority
Bank Deposit Insurance
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Rights of the disabled (via Americans With Disabilities Act)
Family and Medical Leave Act
Clean air and water (Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency).
Civilian Conservation Corps
Panama Canal
Hoover Dam
The Federal Reserve
Medicare/Medicaid
The United States Military
The FBI
The CIA
Peace between Israel and Egypt
Peace between Israel and Jordan
Veterans Medical Care
Federal Housing Administration
Extending Voting Rights to 18 year olds
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion/Separation of Church and State
Right to Due Process
Freedom of The Press
Right to Organize and Protest
Pell Grants and other financial aid to students
Federal Aviation Administration/Airline safety regulations
The end of slavery in the USA (The Emancipation Proclamation, The 13th Amendment)
Unemployment benefits
Smithsonian Institute
Americorps
Mandatory Foo Labeling
Peace Corps
United Nations
World Health Organization
The Lincoln Tunnel
Sulfur emissions cap and trade to eliminate acid rain
Earned Income Tax Credit
The banning of lead in consumer products
National Institute of Health
Garbage pickup/clean streets
Banning of CFCs.
LGBT rights
Erie Canal
Bailout — and thus continued existence — of the American Auto Industr
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Established the basis for Universal Human Rights by writing the Declaration of Independence
Miranda Rights
Banning of torture
The right to a proper defense in court
An independent judiciary
The right to vote
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Fair, open, and honest elections
The right to bear arms
The founding of The United States of America
The defeat of the Nazis and victory in World War II
Paramedics
Woman’s Right to Choose
The Civil Rights Movement
National Science Foundation
Vehicle Safety Standards
NATO
The income tax and power to tax in general, which have been used to pay for much of this list.
911 Emergency system
Tsunami, hurricane, tornado, and earthquake warning systems
The Freedom of Information Act
Water Treatment Centers and sewage systems
The Meat Inspection Act
The Pure Food And Drug Act
The Bretton Woods system
International Monetary Fund
SEC, which regulates Wall Street (weaked by conservatives)
National Endowment for the Arts
Campaign finance laws (weaked by conservatives)
Federal Crop Insurance
United States Housing Authority
School Lunch Act
Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act
Vaccination Assistance Act
The creation of counterinsurgency forces such as the Navy Seals and Green Berets.
Voting Rights Act, which ended poll taxes, literacy tests, and other voter qualification tests (weaked by conservatives)
The Brady Bill (5-day wait on handgun purchases for background checks)
Lobbying Disclosure Act
“Motor-Voter” Act
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Job Corps
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
Teacher Corps
Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966
National Trails System Act of 1968
U.S. Postal Service
Modern
Catman, Your view of this republic and mine are very different.
First of all, the government does not give us anything. There is no such thing as government money. It is all our money and every single bill that requires the expenditure of money, which includes most measures, not just appropriations, should have the words Taxpayer- Funded in the title to remind our collective representatives just who is footing the bill.
A number of the accomplishments on this list were started by individuals and the ideas were so good, our representatives decided to make them bigger or national. One example is public libraries conceived of and begun in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and largely initially funded by Andrew Carnegie, a capitalist through and through.
Another example is 911, many of the efforts of which were funded by Robert Woods Johnson via a 15 million dollar investment. The idea was created in the UK a couple of decades before. Ronald Reagan as Governor of California was the first to implement it statewide.
There are a number of activities on this list I oppose. One is Motor- Voter, especially since in a number of states illegal aliens can drive and vote in local elections. Just as our census is being adulterated, so are the voting rolls and many states do not exercise due diligence when allowing people on the voting rolls.
When I worked at the food stamp office, during Obama’s presidency, we were required to give a voter’s registration form to every person we talked to even if they were not a citizen, even if they were underage and we were required to document that we did so.
Peace between Israel and Egypt was facilitated by President Jimmy Carter, but the lion’s share of credit must be given to Begen and Sadat, two extraordinary leaders.
Some of the things on the list are just plain bad, such as Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Protection Agency is just another bloated agency unnecessary since consumer laws were already on the books.
I think you would agree that there is a great deal of overreach in the government and things like the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Science Foundation spend too much of our hard-earned money of crap.
Your beloved socialist leaders allowed the union to run over them and now in the postal service we taxpayers pay Union reps in many facilities whose time is devoted 100% to union activities.
Government needs to be scaled back, big time.
About 4 years before I retired at the age of 62, I lived on what I believed I would be getting from SS and pension. I also have a 401k but it is primarily for the time that my rent out paces my income. So, I would suggest 2 things: determine (on the low side) what your SS will be and what you will need to withdraw from the 401k to live on; 2) get any debts paid off and keep them paid off.
I went from earning $65K to income (SS/pension) of $25K and am living quite comfortably right now.
Well done! You thought ahead, planned ahead, executed the plan, and so far so good. Congrats.
Once you stop working, you find that your out of pocket expenses miraculously go down! It’s amazing how expensive it is to go to work to earn a living!
City Chick: Until you hit a certain age.
Even with Medicare and a supplemental policy which, by the way is fairly expensive, I have spent far more on medical care in the last 20 years than I did in the first 50. So, I would suggest not to get too comfortable if you are younger than 70 because from there on out you will get to know all the office staff at your doctors’ (plural) offices better than, perhaps, you really care to know them in a professional setting.
I am not quite the Million Dollar Man, but closing rapidly on that title.
Left Coast Chuck, Already been there. Done that! Here in the city, we have the best medical services, no shortage of experts in the medical field, and ready availability in case of any emergency.should I need help, it’s here at my door in less than 5 minutes. Maybe expensive and you may need to do without other things,, but in an emergency, it’s priceless!
There are a lot of caveats with regard to Rich’s suggestions.
I assume he is not a writer in the PDRK which has recently made working gig employment such as writing articles precarious at best. I haven’t bothered to check to see how many articles you can write for the same buyer, but it is fairly limited and he is well over his limit with Ask A Prepper. All the folks who drive for the various companies are now employees under the recent legislation passed last year — or once again unemployed as that is what happened to the majority of them.
One helpful thing about the CoVD epidemic is that the legislators are all hiding out in their favorite drinking spots and not doing mischief in the halls of Schizomento.
I don’t know about the laws in other states, but before one commences selling food prepared in their home kitchens, they need to do serious studying of the CA Health and Safety Code and local county and city ordinances regarding the preparation of food at home for sale. This applies whether you are selling at a farmers’ market or by mail order.
The same applies to child care. Child care is really regulated in the PDRK. This is mainly a residue of the child molestation mania that swept through the state — and the country too, for that matter — in the 80s where child care facilities were accused of mass child molestations. Most of the cases were too bizarre to really be credible, much less lead to criminal prosecution.
For example in San Diego Superior Court a mentally retarded worker who worked as the clean-up guy was charged with running a satanic cult out of the child care center. Among the allegations was the accusation that he had anticipated in the sacrifice of a giraffe. Say what??? I haven’t been to Petco recently but I don’t ever recall that any of their ads included giraffes for sale. Where does one acquire a giraffe? Not only that, how many child care centers have ceilings that can accommodate a giraffe? In addition, the prosecuting DDA must have never killed a game animal. A giraffe is a pretty sizable animal. After you kill it do you field dress it and quarter it right there at the day care center? That should leave some trace evidence of girafficide. If not, how do you get that beastie out of the building? The logistics of the whole idea are so ludicrous I am surprised that a superior court judge allowed the trial to go forward. It did and fortunately the poor guy was acquitted. Others charged were not so lucky. The San Diego case was so bad the bailiff in the courtroom and the deputies who took the guy to court every day chipped in and paid for cab fare for him to go back to wherever he wa staying before being jailed for months prior to his acquittal.
Anyway, I digress.
And, once again in the PDRK, if you rent a room to the roommate from hell, short of killing them and secreting the body out in the desert someplace, it is almost impossible to get them out of your house. Eviction is a time consuming process involving the courts and appeals and stays of execution and the sheriff and don’t dare resort to self-help where you move their junk to the curb. They will wind up owning your house and forcing you to move.
So, yeah, you can find work after you are past the “use by date”. There is always greeter at WallyWorld or clean-up at Mickey D’s. Right now seniors are finding work sanitizing shopping carts at the various markets that provide them. Hey, it’s not too bad. You are outdoors, so your chances of getting infected are slim. You don’t have to interface with the customers. Your sole companions are shopping trollies and they don’t complain a whole lot and pretty much follow directions unless one of their wheels is bunged up. And the pay is $15.00 an hour and it is only part time. What’s not to like?
Well, I will leave my comedy routine for this morning. Just make sure you check carefully before you head off into self-employment land. For those who urge not paying attention to stupid rules and regulations, I will repeat my mantra. Whether you follow the rules or not is your decision. I merely urge that you know what rules you are flouting and the downside to flouting them before you wander off into that jungle.
Let me close with a concrete example. I was the Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee for a national printing association. One day I received a call from a semi-hysterical printer in Texas. He had printed a chain letter for a customer. Some of you who are more mature may remember the popularity of chain letters back in the early 90s. Lo and behold, the next thing he knew the federales were marching into his business, arresting him for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and the conspiracy fraud statue that was used to bring down the Mafia whose name escapes me right this moment but it carries very significant penalties and, of course, complete with the local newsies and their video equipment taking shots of the infamous perp walk as the hapless printer was hauled out of his print shop in manacles. And, as a follow along, it must have been a slow news month because every time he appeared in court for anything, it made the headlines of the local media which had a deleterious effect on his business.
I suggested that he have his attorney engage in serious bargaining with the deputy attorney general handling the case about a plea deal. He moaned that is what his attorney had suggested. I replied that it was good advice. He cried that he didn’t know that the printer could be held liable for printing a chain letter that was mailed out and that he hadn’t made that much money on the printing deal anyway. No kidding, Dick Tracy. That’s what happens when you don’t know where the alligators are in the swamp. There are all sorts of pitfalls for printing the wrong stuff and the printer is usually the one who takes the fall because he has a business and, of course, must have made a bundle in the commission of the heinous crime as everyone knows all businessman are crooks at heart, and he has assets and just before his bust was a stand-up citizen, member of the Chamber of Commerce, supporter of Little League and general all around good guy and now he is accused of some serious felonies and people are voiding him like he has bubonic plague, AIDS and leprosy all at once. The crook who bought the illegal printing is long gone or has no assets at all, so is hardly worth the time of the federal prosecutor. No money for fines; no assets to seize and sell; waste of taxpayer money to prosecute him. But the printer, aha, fair game. Target defendant. Couple days in jail until he can arrange bail and he is putty in the prosecutor’s hands despite his attorney’s best efforts, especially if the prosecutor threatens to have his wife arrested, booked and in the meantime, kiddies are scooped up by the child kidnapping service under the guise of protecting them from criminal elements.
So, yes, it’s okay to flout the law, but it is in your best interests to know the downside to it. Not knowing that you broke the law, no matter how arcane and obscure, and no matter how infrequently it is prosecuted, you need to know where the alligators are. General Flynn pled guilty to violating a law that was passed in 1782 and has been prosecuted probably less than a dozen times since its enactment. He was compelled to enter his plea, even though it turns out the Deputy AG and the “Justice” Department realized he had not actually violated the law, because they threatened to prosecute his son too. He pled guilty to save putting his son through the same ringer he was tangled up in. The federal system isn’t about justice. It’s about getting your picture in front of a mike on the six o’clock news or the same doing the perp walk with your victim being escorted by swat team members because he or she is such a vicious criminal like the lawyer who just got his prison sentence commuted by Trump.
Well, now that I have left comedy and turned to tragedy, I will finally bring this long missal to a close. Stay safe no matter what you do to raise money. Know the law, even if you do choose to not follow it.
Well, my memory banks kicked in. The unfortunate printer in Texas was charged with a RICO conspiracy which are really serious charges. May not have stood up for a conviction with heavy emphasis on “may”. The burden of proof in a criminal enterprise allegation is not that difficult. It was deliberately designed that way to make conviction of Mafia members easy. It was never intended to be used against some hapless, ignorant printer who did a $200 printing job for some customer, neither of whom realized they were breaking some the law.
The phony, fakenews fabricated planndemic covid hoax has made all of these suggestions moot!
I’m thinking that “media/politician Sniper” would be a much more lucrative “Hobby” to make a few extra bucks
TAL…You posted this on July 16th the very same day the death rate for the ‘covid-19 hoax’ broke 150,000. Since it is a hoax so you should be immune! Why don’t you head on down to just about any hospital in America and volunteer? I can tell from you post that your compassion for your fellow human beings is so…measured, that it shouldn’t bother you to hold someones hand as they gasp for their last hoaxy breath! Someone is dying from the hoax every minute in America so you could have lots to do. They NEED people like you. Without any soul you shouldn’t feel the emotional devestation that has led so many of our health professionals to commit suicide.
Hey…you won’t even need a mask!
I had been in education and the restaurant business. I had lived in most of the larger Eastern cities. I collected menus, match books, and blues and jazz and posters in general. I am now 70. They were going to end up in a yard sale if anything happened to me, so I sold them on Ebay. Some thousands later, down to the last.
I did stained glass and leaded glass in the 70’s, still had some hanging around. A recent acquaintance liked them, has bought two made for her and am making another. So now back into that.
Also re-purposing 1900’s windows.
So look back to see what you have that may apply today.
I worked various construction and trade jobs during and after I got out of college, it was a good living for awhile until the Politicos, starting with GHW Bush and continuing to the present, allowed the country to be over run with illegal labor and wages (and the quality of work) spiraled down out of sight. There aren’t many licensed trades in Texas but I decided to get an Irrigation License thinking wages would be protected by the strict Licensing regulations passed by the State Government. Wages were protected, to the point the Gov quit enforcing most of the regulations to lower prices. Nevertheless it has been a great self employment gig for me, and great part time work in retirement. I’m doing no work now because I qualified for that 600.00/week Federal Unemployment check, but when that runs out I can earn money sitting in my office producing CAD irrigation plans because they require a license.
Early retirement takes planning, my sweetie and I never married because being single and self employed, declaring less than 25,000.00 every year, I qualified for free Platinum health care plans under ObamaCare. Now I have Medicare and the useful supplements. I detest Government at all levels, but you can use the system to your profit, just like the rich folk do. Man, I love to cook, if the Pelosi-McConnel Beast comes forth with another stimulus check I’m buying a fancy new induction cooktop. They are so cool you can cook giraffe on ’em.
The most important consideration on what you can do depends on where you live. Look at my neighbors in rural Texas, we’re allowed to operate any business we want on our property, 2 full service mechanic shops, a gunsmith, 2 irrigators, 2 landscapers, three HVAC companies, half a dozen independent truckers, couple of electrical contractors, a commercial masonry company, a crazy Pakistani who rebuilds classic RVs. More livestock than people, and most of us experimenting with our Covidia Survival Gardens. No HOA, no fire or police services, water and electricity from rural Co-Ops, sewage is on-site aerobic. Gunfire all the time, don’t shoot across a road or toward a house, that’s the law. Pretty nice place to live.
Mike: I’m looking. What county in Texas? I promise, no Kalifornikation ideas. I’m like John the Baptist out here in Kalifornikation. I just hope I don’t lose my head.
Hunt Co., which is a large county, sadly I am in the part that is too close to the urban paradise of DFW. Kalifornikation is not a problem here, instead we have wealthy individuals and corporations buying huge tracts of the best land and turning it into high dollar private hunting preserves. Like the 30,000 acre Cibolo Creek Ranch in West Texas where Scalia died (I know many are hoping RGB has reservations there). Rich men are even buying up whole towns here, like Tim Crowley buying up a majority of the property in my hometown, Marfa. Sefdom ain’t so far away as we think.
You wouldn’t be (and John The Baptist wasn’t) the first fella to lose your head because of a young girl.
Rich- I liked your article because it acknowledges the problem which is better than lying awake at night worrying about not having enough money. It also prompts people to think outside the box. I would like to offer another suggestion. Right now there are employers who can’t compete with $600/wk unemployment and are having trouble filling jobs. Do not assume you can’t get traditional work! Apply for the job and tell them you will show up everyday, on time, that you learn quickly and can follow instructions willingly and cheerfully. It won’t be as good a job as you had before and it will pay less, but don’t assume that avenue is closed.
If you sign up with an temp agency, there are lots of ways to make money on the side. Best part is they find the work and you get to decide if it is something you want to do, if it suits you and meets with your schedule. These day most agencies get their fees from directly from the hiring company. Have not done this myself, but have had some great folks say it’s a good way to supplement their retirement.
Should you decide to venture into the consulting field these days, you will probably be required to be incorporated, have active memberships and certifications from relevant professional assoxiations, including but not limited to such organizations as The Institute of Management Consultants, and carry $1M in professional liability insurance.
One avenue of income that was not mentioned is being a driver for a company. Examples would include courtesy vans for car dealerships and health care facilities. Although I have multiple sources of retirement income, I still enjoy being active (and out of the house). If you enjoy driving and have a clean record, there are many places that are in constant need of company drivers.
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