Image via Wikipedia

The news is full of stories about the thousands of boomers who will be retiring every day beginning this year and much of the political discourse seems to be centered on the viability of Social Security and Medicare entitlements, causing concern among many middle-aged citizens

Before Social Security was enacted in 1935, men and women who became physically handicapped or too old to work depended on relatives who often didn’t have much to share; children who lost their father were often treated as a burden to others or sent to an orphanage.

There are some big lifestyle differences between those first generations of Social Security beneficiaries and the present generation of retiring boomers.

Well into the third quarter of this past century, workers avoided accumulating debt and aspired to pay off their mortgage before they reached retirement age. It wasn’t until sometime in the 1970′s that the banks started
stepping up the promotion of credit cards and home mortgage refinancing.

Offsetting this dreary financial situation is this generation of baby boomers’ attitude… they generally believe in staying fit and keeping their mind and social life active. Many of them are thinking about producing an extra income to supplement their Social Security check.

In earlier days, producing some extra income wasn’t easy; it meant getting a part-time job in a company or the local hardware store, teaching a skill or providing a needed service, such as small house repairs, gardening or cleaning services. Starting a small business could be an option, but that required some capital and a big time commitment. Any of those endeavors required some commuting!

Today, the Internet is providing practically unlimited means of communications with no geographical limitations, making it fairly easy to start a successful home business. A boomer facing retirement could be looking for answers to the following questions:

* How does my view of retirement differ from my parents’?
* How could I get some kind of home business up and running?
* How does knowing that I’m probably going to live longer than previous   generations change my outlook on life?

With plenty of time to do research answers to those questions and many more can be found on the Internet;there are many dependable websites and blogs offering free or low cost step-by-step instructions for planning a home business and making it work.

Here at Apprentice Marketer Gazette, I share information I’ve learned over the past four years and continue to get through daily contact with other bloggers and marketers.

What are your thoughts about extra income possibilities? Do you have some
suggestions other readers would like to read about?  Please share!

Fran

Photo: Ida Mae Fuller, the first SS recipient, photo information at Wikipedia

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What’s that saying? Be careful what you wish for?

Retirement, the beacon of hope that winked at you for the past four or five years? Well, it finally was more like blinking and getting dimmer amidst more pressing signals: emails, telephone calls, 401k after shocks, official forms to fill out, and then finally goodbyes, laughter and tears, well-wishers envious or gloating in their youthful and blissful ignorance.

After a long and fulfilling work life, this is it … you’re free!

No alarm clock, no deadlines, no demands on your time! Is that great or what? Yes it is, at least for a few weeks or months, especially if you have a partner to share this new independence.

Times when you miss your busy life?

There are days though when you’re feeling lonely, lost and at odds with the perspective of having twenty or more years to look forward to … You do look forward, don’t you? Well yeah and when you do, you realize that a social security check does not meet all your needs – you’re eligible for Medicare but a Supplemental Policy is needed in order to have full coverage benefits.

Boomers who follow healthy eating and exercising guidelines, can expect to live until at least age 85!

If you’re the kind person who enjoys shopping with friends, playing a little golf, visiting the gym, there is plenty to fill your days but they take money! On the other hand you might be one of the boomers who contribute to children’s or grandchildren’s education … you’re involved in sports, you like to travel … you like nice clothes, you want to enjoy this wonderful new phase of your life, but how long can you afford it all?

You realize that having  a part-time job might be the answer

For the 65-yr old boomer who would like to get out of the house and spend a few hours a week interacting with other people, it’s good to know that many companies these days only need part time help and they usually value the work ethics and experience a mature person brings to a company.

Seeking a part-time income could be a sweet experience devoid of all the urgency and pressing worries of earlier years when being able to pay the next month’s rent or mortgage interfered with the freedom to wait for a better opportunity.

What if you’re one of the boomers who doesn’t want to commute?

Not ever again,  not for money,  friendship,  companionship or personal satisfaction!  You’ve looked forward to this time of your life and you’re darn well going to make the best of it! You’re in luck, there are many ways to make money from home on the Internet.

You can have it all, retirement plus extra income and the freedom to be your own boss … finally!

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Although it’s generally thought that these jobs don’t pay as well as you would wish, it’s a fact that you need some client feedback to help you get writing gigs and if you don’t have that or some work to show a prospective client, getting an order for a writing project will give you valuable experience and the opportunity to get a good rating from a satisfied client.

ELance

As a  follow-up to my last EzineArticle about ’7 Ways to Grow Your Writing Business’ I want to share information about how to navigate the Elance Job Site.

My thoughts here are slanted toward a write-for-pay business because that is what I do but Elance has many, many work categories listed.

Getting an order for a project will give you valuable experience and the opportunity to get a good rating from a satisfied client. It’s not unusual to have a mutually satisfactory client/worker relationship continue outside of Elance,and save the fees!

I have checked around the internet for opinions about Elance and found contradictory opinions:

It takes too much time to submit bids … answered by ‘they’re trying to get results with a free  account’.  The cost of the Professional category is $10 a month … that allows for:

• Submit Proposals to Clients: up to 25

• Profile Keywords: 10 (appear in more search results)

• Hosted Portfolio

• Add More Categories and Proposals

• Preferred Placement in Search Results

I think it’s worth investing the $10 for one month membership to check the ins and outs of this freelance job site,and find out if this is the path to enhancing your life with some extra income.

You could also get up to 40 proposals to clients with 15 profile keywords for $20/month.

One comment was that it takes up to 20 bids to get an job awarded! I wonder if in those cases,it could mean that the job seeker didn’t:

• Use adequate criteria in picking jobs to bid on?
• Or was the submission missing important information, based on the assumption that the client would take the time to read the bidder’s profile
• Or was the information in the proposal relevant to the job, without any superfluous details?

If you decide to try Elance out make sure you are not making these common mistakes:

• Assuming the buyer is going to read your profile. They might, but they might not, so always include pertinent information in your proposal!

• Not responding to specific points in the job description!

• Not reading the entire job posting so you can address the buyer’s specific requirements!

• Not providing relevant samples of your work with your bid, although you have already included those in your portfolio!

You cannot be sure buyers will check out your Elance portfolio so it’s a good idea to include one or two great samples with your proposal. This saves the buyer time, and reflects well on you!

If you want more, I highly recommend a home study course on how to make money on Elance.  The course features Trish Lambert, a 6-figure Elancer who won $20,000 worth of projects on her first six weeks on Elance.

Trish spills the beans on her strategies, such as:

• How to find quality projects in Elance (they’re not all junk!)
• How to make prospects want to hire you, even if you bid higher than others
• How to get feedback even if you’ve never won a bid before
• A formula for determining your professional rates

And much more. You’ll find that the same principles Lexi and Trish
teach will work in other bidding sites as well, such as
ODesk and Rentacoder.

You’ll be a few jumps ahead of most newbie bidders when
you’ve read: How to Make Money on Elance …  Just check it out
and decide!

Fran 

PS. I will be glad to answer any questions you leave in a comment … don’t hesitate to ask! 

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Image via Wikipedia

Thousands of baby boomers are hitting 65 beginning this year and going on for the next 19 years – and many are not cash-ready to retire! Many of them are turning to the Internet to look for work at home job opportunities, and there are plenty of options.

Finding a way to boost their income is almost mandatory for most retirees. With the rise in cost of living, medical needs and the economy in a downturn, boomers are thinking about  new careers that will supplement their income and keep their minds active.

Some knowledge and talents from former careers or jobs can be turned into a money-making home business on the Internet.  Unless you’re thinking that you need more social interaction, meaning an online business  may not work for you. However, if chatting online with others partly fulfills your socializing needs, it may be a good fit.

Just a couple possibilities to get you thinking are:

* eBay – there are many ways to make money on eBay, selling products you are somewhat knowledgeable about, with classified ads or even your own store and managing the whole thing online.

* Tutoring – Taking advantage of all that you’ve learned in the past and teaching  others. It can all be done online and in the comfort of your home choosing your own hours and without any special equipment, besides a computer and a broadband connection.

* Writing – Good writers can definitely find jobs on the Internet.  At first, you may have to charge less than you know you’re worth to establish a reputation. Sites such as elance.com cater to writers and those who need their services. Grant writing and technical writing are especially valued on the Internet.

• Web Content and Web Design – If you’re one of the boomers who is  fluent in ‘computereze,’ you could put healthy sums into your bank account by helping the many less experienced internet beginners.

Of course, those are limited examples but you know what your own skills are and when thinking about work at home jobs after your retirement, you probably have considered your motivation to work and how many hours you want to put in to your new career.

There may be skills you haven’t quite mastered but would love to learn and you’re in luck! If you have time to invest in research, there is unlimited information on the Internet, both free and some sites offer free or inexpensive step-by-step training in a chosen area.

Begin by entering your search words in Google and you will get lists of websites and blogs to scan through … as you familiarize yourself with the overwhelming amount of information, you will become adept at refining your searches … I did it a few years ago and you can do it too!

But beware of online ads for work at home jobs that require start-up fees – you really can get started on a shoestring budget.

As you head out for an ‘encore career choice‘,  it’s important that it be  satisfying for you as well as something that will fatten your bank account.

What are your thoughts and comments on the subject?

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RetirementGiftShop.com announced today that it is expanding its retirement gifts to include additional retirement party supplies and more personalized retirement gifts. RetirementGiftShop.com has been selling retirement gifts for over 10 years. They sell a variety of different retirement gifts, including retirement gifts for women, retirement poems, retirement t shirts, retirement party supplies and more.

“The growing trend in retirement gifts is to offer more personalization options to the customer,” according to Lisa Klima, owner of RetirementGiftShop.com. “We are committed to giving customers more choices in retirement gifts via prices, product selection, and personalization options to give customers the best retirement gift buying experience.”

In the retirement gifts section, they have added more retirement gifts for women and retirement gifts for men. For example, the retirement gifts for women gift basket includes retirement mugs, retirement candles, a retirement frame, and many other retirement gifts for a woman. The gift basket is ideal for company employees to buy together as a joint retirement gift to be given to someone leaving the company.

For the gentlemen, similar retirement gift baskets are popular retirement gifts for men.

Also in the retirement gifts section, they offer a retirement afghan with retirement quotes on it, a retirement photo album, and a personalized retirement frame, where the buyer can add the retiree’s name to the bottom of the frame.

For retirement gag gifts, RetirementGiftShop.com sells a retirement countdown clock, which counts down the days until someone retires. For funny retirement gifts, they sell funny retirement doormats, and several other retirement gag gifts like retirement pills, a retirement cane and other humorous retirement gift ideas.

In the retirement party supplies category, they sell retirement party supplies such as retirement decorations, retirement plates, retirement napkins and other helpful retirement supplies to organize a party. If the buyer needs additional decorating materials, there is retirement confetti to decorate table settings and retirement cake toppers for the cake. For party guests, there is a retirement signature plate which will give the guests a place to make their retirement wishes for the newly retired employee.

The biggest product expansion from RetirementGiftShop.com is in the area of retirement poems. In each retirement poem, the customer now has the option of altering the title of the retirement poem, and also personalizing the bottom of the retirement poem. In addition to customizing the retirement poems, the customer can now choose from two poem versions: a talking or regular version. The talking version of the retirement poem comes with a 10 second recorder unit attached to the back, that allows customers to record their own 10 second message to the poem. For example, they could say “Congratulations on Retiring John from the Acme Company” into the recorder unit and the message would play back whenever the button is pressed. The recorder unit is an enhanced feature available for a small additional charge. The regular version of the retirement poems means that the poem comes framed and personalized but with no recorder unit attached.

In addition to regular retirement poems, they offer military retirement poems. The military retirement poems are available for anyone serving in the Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marines. The military retirement poems are printed on artwork representative of the branch of service they belong to. For example, the navy artwork shows a naval aircraft carrier on the artwork. The customer can choose from an army poem, navy poem, marine poem, or air force poem. All the military poems can be personalized with the serviceman’s name, rank, branch of the military and can include a thoughtful message about the importance of their service at the bottom of the poem.

For a lighter retirement gift idea, RetirementGiftShop.com has added additional retirement shirt ideas and retirement hats to choose from. These retirement t shirts include funny retirement shirt slogans such as “I’m Retired, Do it Yourself” or Retired- Every Day is a Weekend,” designed to make the retiree laugh when they receive the retirement present. One of the most popular retirement hats is the retirement day planner cap, which has an amusing spinner on the cap that the retiree can spin to find things to do during their day, such as “golf,” “nap” and more.

For a more affordable retirement gift, or a retirement gift for someone who is more of an acquaintance, RetirementGiftShop.com has a variety of retirement mugs and retirement coffee mugs. These retirement mugs vary in terms of slogans between funny retirement mugs, such as “Retirement- no worries, no stress, no paycheck,” to sentimental retirement quotes such as “Life Begins at Retirement.”

For teachers and nurses retiring, RetirementGiftShop.com sells teacher poems that students can give their teacher as a teacher appreciation poem or teacher thank you poem. The teacher poem can be personalized with the teacher’s name, school name, the number of years they have taught there, and can contain a personal message from the child to the teacher at the bottom of the teacher poem. Retiring nurses are covered too. They offer a nurse mug with a sentimental slogan about nursing on it as and a nurse shirt that lest everyone know how tough it is to be a good nurse.

For the retiree who is a golfer, the customer can choose from two retirement golf gifts. There is a funny golf shirt about the love hate relationship between golfers and golf, and also a pack of three retirement golf balls with happy retirement wishes stamped on the retirement golf balls.

RetirementGiftShop.com offers exceptionally fast shipping for their poems and all retirement gifts. All orders to customers ship out the same day if ordered by 3PM eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Lisa Klima, is the owner of RetirementGiftShop.com, which has sold retirement gifts for over 10 years online.

# # #

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In the Industrial age people planned to survive their retirement by means of a pension income. These pension plans were funded by the next generation of workers contributing to the pension plan of the former generation. The flaw in the system was that it did not account for declining population. As the industrial age came to an end the population declined and therefore there was less labor force to contribute to the pension funds. Some pension funds went bankrupt leaving a large number of retirees not knowing what to do next.

There are some things that you can do
to ensure that your retirement income is not solely dependent upon a pension income from the former job. One of the most strategic moves that you can make would be to start some kind of a business of your own. The advances in the Information age have made it easier than ever to ensure a successful retirement income for you and your family. Thanks hugely to technologies like the World Wide Web, setting up a small business to fund your retirement and create your own ‘digital pension income’ can be the answer you seek to secure a financially stable retirement.

As a boomer near retirement age
or if you are already there, you should consider setting up a small business to supplement your pension income. Many types of Internet businesses can be built or even bought to generate passive income, very similar to retirement in that you will get a check each month that is generated from work you did once but no longer do. There are other types of web businesses that will require management and perhaps even operations, but they are quite lucrative and can be used to leverage the necessary tasks for creating, buying, or building the types of web businesses that offer passive income.

The Internet has created so many new industries
that the opportunities to create income, both passive and earned, are surpassing the opportunities created by any other industry in history. The need to depend on pension income in retirement is no longer the only way you can plan to retire in comfort. You can be responsible for your own retirement income and not live with the dark cloud of fear of your former employers pension program going bankrupt.

Another important note on setting up a Internet home business
to create your own digital pension income is that you aren’t limited to making only a percentage of what your pay at your former company once was. By setting up an Internet business based income, you can create as much income as you want to.

With The Pension Plan the limits have been removed.

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You see it every day – posts in Internet marketing forums from people who can’t “get it” or from someone who finally made their first sale (after months of trying with no luck).

They have no idea how to repeat that single sale, so eventually they’ll quit – like 99% of the other affiliates who can’t figure out what the Super Affiliates already know.

There are a million ideas you can tack on to explaining affiliate strategies.  But what I’m going to divulge to you in the coming pages is all you need to succeed and generate profits for your online empire.

If you’re a Boomer facing retirement and thinking of making online income, the first lesson you need to remember is to quit trying to reinvent the wheel! There is no need to come up with some mind-blowing concept that no one else has done … Just as a salesman in a brick and mortar company had to learn the right way to work the system, you can learn simple  steps that will get you on the road to short and long term extra income.

This is true-life plug-n-play affiliate profit, where all you’re doing is setting up machines that work for you on autopilot. Don’t get possessive about your content, trying to perfect every little detail and hoping to become best friends with your readers.

Company salesmen did have built-in motives to establish long-term relationships with clients, but I’m seeing you as someone seeking to reap some benefits from recommending a product to prospects who visit the blog he has built for that purpose

Build-and-Move-on is the name of the system I will be describing.

In that system anything that doesn’t contribute to the conversion and sales you hope to make is superfluous, perfectionists who get bogged down in unimportant details that sap your time and concentration will have a hard time being successful in the affiliate marketing field.

If you’re new to this let me tell you that the most important thing to focus on right from the moment you consider getting involved is a niche or a few niches that interest you. (see recommended resources)

If you don’t have one area of expertise that your sights are set on, then testing different niches can help you see what you’ll enjoy most in the long run and that will help you make more money, too.

I’m going to tell you about the basic plan and then deliver a step-by-step implementation for you to see so you can follow along with your own site!

I hope to make this a daily blog post … so if you’re interested be back to read more.

Fran:)

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boston1782 — April 10, 2008 — Respected journalist Paula Zahn marks her return to national television as host of the innovative PBS series, Retirement Revolution. The documentary, sponsored by MassMutual, offers practical considerations that can help Americans prepare for retirement on their own terms. Revealing anecdotes from “real people” are coupled with expert perspectives to educate and empower viewers to take control of their financial futures. To find out when Retirement Revolution is airing in your area, visit http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,41

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