3 Best-Paying Work at Home Jobs for Retirees
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Earning money at home is an ideal situation for many people, especially retirees. When you retire, you may need – or just want – to earn some money to supplement your retirement income but you probably don’t want to relive the hassle of commuting to work and the stress of answering to a boss every day. Freelancing at home can be the perfect way to earn retirement income without hassle or stress, no matter where in the world you live when you retire.
If you’re working in your retirement years, even if it is at home, you probably want to make it worth your while. Some freelance work can be quite high paying so that working even very part time you can earn enough to nicely supplement your retirement savings.
The following are what I believe are the 3 best-paying work-at-home jobs for retirees. I’ve worked in two of these jobs myself and made quite good money. Work at home in these freelance jobs and you’ll be able to add some money to your bank accounts rather than watching your retirement funds drain month after month.
3 Best-Paying Work-at-Home Jobs for Retirees
These work-at-home jobs are excellent for retirees because you:
- can work when you want
- can work only as much as you want
- don’t have to have a home office setup
- can add money to your bank accounts rather than watching them drain
- will have as much time as you want to pursue other interests
SCOPING FOR RETIREES
Scoping is a flourishing field that’s been around a long time. The people who do scoping are called scopists. A scopist is a behind-the-scenes freelancer who transcribes the legal transcripts that court reporters produce on their steno machines. This online job can be a great fit for retirees who are interested in court cases and are good at typing as well as listening.
How much do scopists make? Linda Evenson, creator of Internet Scoping School, says: “A well-trained scopist can earn $30,000 fresh out of training, but he/she can work up as their speed improves to $50,000 per year or more. I’ve even had students earn over $60,000 in a year before.”
You probably don’t want to have to work that hard in your retirement. Working even less than one full day a week as a scopist you can earn enough money to nicely add to your retirement income.
I myself earned good money as a scopist for a couple of years while I was traveling. Here is an accurate, detailed look at exactly how much you can earn as a scopist.
Scoping is not a job you can jump into. Accurately transforming spoken sworn legal testimony into written words is serious business, and if you want to do it, you have to receive training. Proper training in how to be a scopist allows you to do this job well so that you can produce accurate transcripts quickly and efficiently and earn good money.
Internet Scoping School offer very thorough self-paced course which covers everything a scopist needs to succeed, Linda Evenson says. Linda herself has been scoping transcripts since 1971 and knows exactly what she is talking about. Retirees can learn a lot more about the high-paying field of scoping by enrolling in Internet Scoping School’s free mini-course.
PROOFREADING FOR RETIREES
Proofreading is one of the best work-at-home jobs for retirees. Books, chapters of books, website content, legal documents, medical documents and really almost everything that is written should be proofread before it is published. Proofreading is a great job for people who love words, love to read and can’t stand seeing spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.
How much do proofreaders make? I myself have earned income as a freelance proofreader. I proofread court reporter transcripts and earned about $35 to $50 per hour.
Before you start proofreading, you really need to know what you’re doing. Although anyone can pick up a document, make corrections and call themselves a proofreader, they won’t necessarily be a good one or be able to make good money. You really do need some sort of training to proofread well so that you can earn a nice income and win repeat clients so you don’t have to waste precious time looking for new business.
The popular Proofread Anywhere program offers General Proofreading and Transcript Proofreading self-paced online courses which teach you how to proofread well so you can earn a good retirement income. Caitlin Pyle, the creator of these courses, worked as a proofreader herself for many years and understands exactly what it takes to succeed in this job.
If you’re a retiree interested in proofreading, sign up for the Proofread Anywhere free online workshop to get a taste of proofreading along with helpful insight into these courses.
TRANSCRIPTION FOR RETIREES
Transcription is a growing field that is in need of more freelancers and a great way for retirees to earn money working at home. Transcription can be an excellent fit for retirees who are good at typing, good at listening and like to work on computers.
How much do transcriptionists make? Janet Shaughnessy, creator of the Transcribe Anywhere online courses, says: “The average median annual income for a general transcriptionist is currently $45,000. Legal transcriptionists can earn around $60,000.”
As a retiree you can earn that much if you want to hustle, but you’re probably not going to want to work that hard. Even working less than one full day a week as a transcriptionist you can pull in some good money to supplement to your retirement savings.
“Not only is transcription in demand,” Janet says, “it’s in demand all over the world in all types of industries.” Retirees can definitely earn money doing transcription work. You can read what I wrote about exactly what you need to know about the niche of legal transcription here.
Transcription is not only about being a good typist, though. “You can’t land high-paying general transcription clients if you think that’s all there is to it,” Janet says. “Time coding, excellent punctuation, and knowledge of how to format a useable, useful piece of content — a transcript — for your client is paramount to keeping your clients happy.”
Transcribe Anywhere has a great seven-lesson free mini-course for you to learn more about general transcription and legal transcription. You can sign up for their free mini-course right here.
These 3 work-at-home jobs are really great ways for retirees to add a layer of financial security to your retirement lives.
Images by Succo, Andrian Valeanu and Lorenzo Cafaro
Sabina Lohr is a lifelong freelancer turned entrepreneur who created World of Freelancers to help others discover how to work for themselves online and live the freelance lifestyle. She’s always really enjoyed the freedom that freelancing brings, including several years on and off of working online while traveling and living abroad.
Proofreading could be good option for retirees to work from home. There are a lot of tools available online that could be very helpful.
Yes, definitely!
Amazing tips. Proofreading is an amazing idea to go with. Very insightful. Thanks for sharing!