A big key to how to retire without money is having one or more alternate income resources to replace the income from your job or pension. This can come from one stream or multiple streams, including investments, rent, royalties, contracting, consulting, brokering services, selling information, earning commissions, and franchising. Here are a few income ideas to help you with your retirement planning. We’ll start with some more passive income ideas and proceed to methods that require more active involvement.

Savings and Retirement Accounts

One of the most fundamental ways to earn income passively is by saving a portion of your income and depositing it into interest-earning savings and retirement accounts. Automatically transferring a portion of each deposit into a savings or retirement account should be a cornerstone of your plan for earning money after you retire.

Investing in Stocks, Bonds, and Hard Assets

Another way to turn your savings into passive income is by investing them in stocks, bonds, other liquid assets, and hard assets.

When investing in stocks and bonds, a strategy that yields good returns at low risk is to balance your portfolio by putting about 60 percent towards stocks and 40 percent towards bonds. Lay a low-risk foundation by investing in stocks from high-quality sources and large companies and bonds from the US government, municipal sources, and larger corporations. Devote a smaller percentage of your investments towards moderate-risk mid-size corporate and international stocks and junk bonds. Reserve the smallest portion of your investments for high-risk speculative stocks and sector funds. Also consider cash, cash instruments, and annuities.

Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing–in Only 15 Minutes a Week!

When investing in hard assets, some good choices to consider include local and non-local real estate, gold coins and gold shares, diamonds, other precious minerals, and collectibles.

Renting Out Real Estate and Equipment

Renting out real estate is another good way to retire without money in the classical sense of earning a weekly paycheck:  generate passive income. It does take some work to set up and manage a property, but you can hire a manager to do this if you don’t want to do it yourself.

You can also earn money renting equipment, including vehicles. For instance, if you own a boat and live near a fishing area, you might rent your boat out. Likewise, you might rent out a lawnmower, snow plow.

Renting and Flipping Online Real Estate

You can also rent out online real estate. Advertisers will pay for space on websites with high traffic volume. Or you can turn a profit buying in-demand domains, building their value, and reselling them, a practice known as website flipping or domain flipping.

Collecting Royalties

Collecting royalties is another way to generate passive income without much work beyond laying the initial foundation. You can collect royalties on copyrights for works you’ve written, patents you’ve invented, trademarks you own, or licenses you’ve acquired the rights to. The Internet and resources like Amazon Kindle have made it easier than ever to collect royalties on publications. You can also commission an author, inventor, or artist to create intellectual property for you to collect royalties on, or purchase the rights to sell existing intellectual property. Or you can find something in the public domain and repackage it in a new format.

Contracting and Consulting

Moving into more active income generation methods, we come to contracting and consulting. If you possess a skill such as construction, plumbing, or electrical wiring and have the required licensing, you can contract out your services. Or if you can offer consulting services if you possess a skill like marketing, writing, design, or accounting.

Brokering Services

In addition to selling your own services, you can broker the services of others in return for a percentage. Simple services like grass cutting, snow plowing, and window washing are needed by homes and businesses everywhere. Find qualified workers, schedule them with clients who need their services, and keep a percentage of the profits.

Selling Information

You can also sell information about your area of expertise or other areas you have knowledge in. There’s a perennial demand for how-to information about topics like cooking, home repair, gardening, business skills, and all kinds of hobbies. And every technological innovation creates new demand for learning how to use the latest software, Internet technology, or mobile device. Package your skills in e-books, Kindle format, CDs, DVDs, or seminars, and profit from sharing your knowledge with others.

Earning Commissions

Earning commissions is another way to boost your income. If you have skill in sales or copywriting, you can put your skill to use selling others’ products and services in return for a commission. You can become an affiliate of an online vendor like Amazon and set up a website to earn you commissions from helping them reach their target audience. Or you can help brick-and-mortar businesses network with joint venture partners in return for a finder’s fee.

Leasing a Franchise

Finally, leasing a franchise is another way you can generate income in retirement. Most franchises require $15,000 or more in start-up capital, which you may be able to secure through a business loan, but some can be started for less than $2,000. Larger franchises like Subway and McDonald’s require considerably more. Whatever the size of your franchise, the key to success is good business know-how and follow-through, so plan carefully before launching into a franchise. But if you’ve got the right skill set and work ethic, or can afford to hire someone who does, franchising can be a good opportunity for extra income.

These are just a few examples of ways you can generate income streams in retirement. You can combine these ideas to generate multiple income sources, or branch off from these examples into new ideas. Retirement gives you the freedom to explore different options and pick the ones that fit best with your income needs, goals, and lifestyle.

Worthy Retirement Resources

CNNMoney Retirement Tips
Forbes.com Guru Insights
John T. Reed Real Estate Investment
Flippa
Licensing Consulting Group
How to Start a Consulting Business
Franchise 500

Related Posts

1. Retire Without Money: Get Out of the Rat Race