If you’ve retired, or are close to retirement age, this doesn’t have to mean you give up working altogether.
Plenty of people reach retirement age and still want to earn some money, without going back to a full-time job. Others simply miss the routine, the social side, and the sense of satisfaction that work can provide.
Starting a small business gives you control over how much you work and when you work. It can also make good use of skills and contacts you’ve built up over several decades.
You don’t necessarily need much money to get started either. In many cases, you’re selling your time or experience rather than buying stock or moving into a serviced office.
Here are 10 business ideas from the ByteStart team to consider if you’re retired or approaching retirement.
1. Consultancy
If you’ve spent 30 or 40 years working in the same industry, there’s a reasonable chance somebody will pay for what you know.
Former managers, engineers, HR professionals, accountants, IT specialists, marketers and people from dozens of other professions can all work independently as consultants.
You don’t have to recreate your old working life. You might take on one or two clients, work on short projects or provide a few days of support each month.
Your existing contacts are the obvious place to start. Let former colleagues, customers and suppliers know you’re available and see what comes back.
Consultancy also has very low startup costs. A laptop, phone and somewhere to work may be all you need.
2. Tutoring
You don’t need to stand in front of a classroom to teach.
If you’re good at maths, English, languages, music or another subject, you can offer private tuition to schoolchildren or adults. Lessons can take place at home or online.
Your previous career may give you other options. A retired accountant could teach bookkeeping, for example, while somebody who spent their career using Excel could offer one-to-one training to local business owners.
You can find customers yourself or use one of the large tutoring platforms, although the latter will usually take a share of what you earn.
3. Bookkeeping and small business admin
Lots of sole traders and small businesses need a few hours of administrative help each week but don’t need another employee.
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The work might include raising invoices, chasing payments, organising receipts, updating spreadsheets or dealing with routine paperwork.
This can work particularly well if you’ve previously worked in accounts, office management or administration.
You can run the business from home and take on as many clients as you want. If you do bookkeeping work, make sure you understand any professional and anti-money laundering requirements that apply to the services you provide.
ByteStart has a separate guide to bookkeeping for sole traders.
4. Pet sitting and dog walking
If you’d rather spend less time behind a desk, pet care can provide regular local work.
Dog owners may need somebody for weekday walks, while pet sitting can cover weekends and holidays. Once you’ve built up a group of regular customers, much of the work can come through word of mouth.
Startup costs are modest, although insurance is worth having. You’ll also need to be realistic about the physical side of the job. Walking several dogs every day is quite different from taking your own dog around the park.
Read more in our guide to setting up a dog walking or pet sitting business.
5. Gardening
You don’t need to set yourself up as a full-scale landscape gardener.
There is plenty of smaller work available: cutting lawns, pruning, weeding, planting, clearing leaves and generally keeping gardens under control.
Older homeowners can be particularly good customers because they may want to keep their garden but no longer want to do all the physical work themselves.
If you already have basic gardening equipment, you can start without spending very much. A car or van will be useful if you need to carry larger tools or dispose of garden waste.
If you’re using your own vehicle for work, read our guide to mileage expenses for sole traders.
6. Selling at markets, fairs and online
One thing that many retirees have compared to younger people running a side business is time.
That can make buying and selling a surprisingly good fit. You might deal in antiques, records, books, collectables, clothes, tools or anything else you know well enough to spot at the right price.
You can sell through eBay and other online marketplaces, at local fairs or use a mixture of both.
Don’t assume that selling online is automatically tax-free because you’re retired or only doing it occasionally. Selling your own unwanted possessions is one thing; regularly buying goods with the intention of reselling them for a profit can amount to trading.
We explain the distinction in our guide to side hustles and HMRC’s online platform rules.
If you’re selling face-to-face, also check whether you need public liability insurance for markets and fairs.
7. Handyman and home maintenance services
If you’re the type of person friends and family already call when a shelf needs putting up, or a gate needs fixing, you may have inadvertently put yourself in a strong position to start a new business.
There is steady demand for straightforward household jobs that don’t justify calling in a larger building firm.
You can choose the type of work you take on and keep the business within your own physical limits. There’s no reason to be climbing ladders or carrying bags of cement if you’d rather stick to smaller indoor jobs.
Be careful not to take on electrical, gas or other work that requires particular qualifications or registration unless you have them.
You should also consider appropriate business insurance. Our sole trader insurance guide covers the main types.
8. Freelance writing, editing or proofreading
If you’ve had a long career, you are highly likely to know quite a lot about something in particular.
Trade publications, business websites and specialist companies often need people who can write accurately about their industry.
You may have a great advantage over a general freelance writer if you have strong knowledge and real-life experience.
Editing and proofreading are another option if you’re good with written English but don’t particularly want to write articles from scratch.
You can work entirely from home, and the initial costs are minimal. Finding the first few clients is usually the difficult bit, so previous employers, professional contacts, and industry publications are good places to start.
9. Local home services
Cleaning, ironing, house-sitting, and running errands can all bring in useful extra income, particularly if you build up a regular group of local customers.
Customers are often buying reliability as much as the service itself. Turning up when you’ve said you will and doing a decent job can go a long way towards building a regular client base.
You can start within a very small area, which keeps travel time and costs down. Local Facebook groups, community noticeboards and recommendations can bring in your first customers without spending much on advertising.
If you work in customers’ homes, public liability insurance is worth considering.
10. Turn a hobby into a small business
You might already have something you enjoy doing that other people will pay for.
That could be photography, restoring furniture, sewing, baking, picture framing or repairing things. In many cases, you’ll already have the tools and know-how, so there’s not much to spend before you get started.
See if you can find a few customers first. If the work starts coming in and you enjoy doing it, you can decide later whether you want to make more of it.
If you need to buy tools or equipment, some of the costs may be allowable for tax purposes once you’re trading. See our guide to claiming for equipment and tools as a sole trader.
Do you need to register as self-employed if you’re retired?
Retirement doesn’t give you a separate exemption from the normal self-employment tax rules.
If you start trading, the same basic rules apply as when someone starts a business at 25 or 45.
The £1,000 trading allowance means you don’t normally have to tell HMRC about small amounts of gross trading income within the allowance, although there are circumstances where you may still want or need to complete a return.
Once your gross trading income goes above £1,000, you’ll usually need to register for Self Assessment. Our guide explains how to register as self-employed with HMRC.
Most very small retirement businesses start life as sole traders. You don’t have to form a limited company simply because you’ve started working for yourself. If you’re unsure about the difference, read our guide to sole trader vs limited company.
You’ll also need to keep records of your income and business costs. Our beginner’s guide to self-employed accounts covers the basics.
What happens to your State Pension if you work after retirement?
You can continue working or become self-employed while receiving your State Pension.
Your State Pension doesn’t stop because you’ve started earning money from a business. However, your pension counts as taxable income, so earnings from self-employment can affect the total amount of Income Tax you pay.
The National Insurance rules also change once you reach State Pension age.
For more information, read our guide to the State Pension and self-employment.
Start with something manageable
You don’t have to turn your post-retirement work into a big business. For many people, earning a few hundred pounds a month or working a couple of days a week will be enough.
It’s also worth keeping your costs down while you find out whether the idea works. Use the skills and equipment you already have where possible, and see if you can find some paying customers before spending much money.
Also worth a read: 10 businesses you can start for under £100!
