Different Ways to Make Money From Home

We all know about the online businesses of affiliate marketing (selling someone else's products) and also network marketing schemes in which the goal is to get as many other people selling your products or the company's. However, there are a lot of other things that you can do from the comfort of your home that will certainly bring in some instant cash and perhaps some longer term funds too. Here are some creative ways to pay those bills.

1. Get paid to use your mobile phone camera - using various free apps you complete easy tasks, like taking a picture of yourself drinking a Starbucks coffee, taking a picture of a restaurant menu, a sign of a road closure - you get the idea. Here are some companies to contact: Juno Wallet, Gigwalk, CheckPoints, WeReward.

2. Find jobs on Zaarly such as walking a dog, giving guitar lessons with buyers who are looking for these services.

3. Teach English online - Italki.com, openenglish.com, jobs.ispeakuspeak.com, and skypeteachingjobs.com are just a few of the thousands of schools. Getting $20/lesson is typical.

4. Post a job on Fiverr - you will only get $5/job but you can suggest almost anything, taking a picture of yourself holding a sign, singing a song in Russian - the sky's the limit and it's fun to just scroll through the various posted jobs to see what zany things people are willing to do.

5. Online surveys - research companies are always looking for people to fill out surveys and test new products. According to Owen Burek, here are some to try:

Toluna, Vivatic, The Opinion Panel, MySurvey, YouGov, Valued Opinions, Pinecone, iPoll,SurveyBods, Global Test Market, Hiving, PanelBase,YourWord, Harris Poll, IPSOS, New Vista

6. Searching the web - companies pay you to go on certain websites to find information such as Swagbucks and CashCrate

7. Review music for money - Here's Owen Burek again.

If you love music, make it your business by reviewing unsigned bands and artists for cash. I know… we couldn’t believe it either.
It can take a while to build up your reputation but some users of the site have said that they have earned £40 a month. This may not sound like much but if it’s something you enjoy then it shouldn't be hard work and is another thing for your CV. Money you earn will be in $US but anyone can sign up and review.
To get started, head over to Slicethepie now

So you can see that just sitting in front of your TV or computer screen can benefit you greatly and your spare time can be filled productively. This is especially handy for students, people who have suddenly lost a job or even for retiring folks with some free hours. They can all make money from home.

Baby Boomers are Retiring Later

A recent survey by the Federal Reserve showed that more people 55+ years are now working. This is a reversal of the trend of a few decades ago. It seems the Baby Boomers are not retiring as early. There are a couple of reasons:

1. They can't afford to retire. Between higher living expenses and salaries not increasing to keep up with inflation, there are fewer people able to save for retirement.
2. In the U.S. size of the national debt may mean a disappearance of social security benefits sometime in the future. The large number of people eligible for payments is increasing as well. Government benefits might not be a reliable source of income.
3. With such a large number of retiring workers and fewer younger workers to fill the jobs, it leaves job vacancies for the older workers to take. What company would not want experienced, already trained workers in every field?

Josh Zumbrun writing for The Wall Street Journal has pointed out that Americans are working longer but eventually they do get around to retirement. We haven't returned to the Dark Ages when people worked till they collapsed and died.

The change in labor force participation that has happened at each age has been biggest for workers in their mid-60s. From age 62 to 65, women are about 10-12 percentage points more likely to work today than in 2000, and men about 6-8 percentage points more likely. These are precisely the years when decisions to continue to work help optimize the size of Social Security payments and the years where some workers may choose to continue working until becoming eligible for Medicare.
Americans’ retirements have been delayed, but not abandoned entirely. Having the financial means to retire is a big part of the story. But the vast majority are still getting to their golden years eventually.

It should be pointed out that the trend to work longer holds true for both men and women. What will the future hold for those reaching their 60's? Will they retire at 65 as their relatives did? It's doubtful as people are also living longer now. Retirement for 30 years is bound to be expensive and for some people, rather boring. I suspect there will be more people changing careers in mid-life, much as the retiring military do now. The community colleges already provide good training and refresher courses. We see an increase in online course packages as well. Leave a comment about what you think is ahead for retiring workers and what you plan to do.

Baby Boomers Want Skills-Based Volunteer Work

In April of 2013 the US Government's Volunteering in the United States report showed that there the number of volunteers had dropped from the 2011 report for the age group of seniors (45 years - 64 years). Why is this in a time when people are living longer and in better health than former generations? Let's look at some possible reasons:

1. Too Busy - with pensions disappearing people in this age group are still working and might have to way into their 70s or until their health slows them down. However, there are many people who have free time and are looking for meaningful activities.

2. Obligations to parents and children - Baby boomers are really caught as the "sandwich generation" with aging parents still alive but often needing help and children who can't find work and are still at home or needing financial assistance. In former generations parents died earlier and children had jobs they were eager to pursue, often away from their childhood home towns.

3. Desire for skills-based volunteer work - Richard Eisenberg writing for Forbes points out that seniors want meaningful work, not just busy work.

But I think a key reason is that many boomers haven’t found ways they can volunteer the way they want to, by putting their talents and skills to use, rather than by stuffing envelopes, answering phones and donating food.
Here’s some evidence backing up my contention that boomers like providing meaningful assistance when they volunteer: According to the Volunteering in the United States survey, “providing professional or management assistance, including serving on a board or committee” is the second most popular form of volunteering for Americans over 55, after “collecting, preparing, distributing or serving food.”

He points out that people who have retired from $500/hour jobs don't want to work for $10/hour type jobs. While the upper echelons of wage earners might stay on a consultants or better yet, continue to work part time, there are still plenty of workers who are required to retire at 65 or at least 70 years of age.

Here are some great resources for people who are looking for meaningful, challenging work that will keep their minds and bodies active, remove isolation and enable them to "give back" to their communities. These are community directories that steer baby boomers to skills-based volunteering. One is Points Of Light that handles 250 service projects in 29 different countries. With age comes life wisdom and a stability that is so useful to others living in less fortunate situations. Two other organizations working with Points of Light are Generation On and Hands On Network.

With Google at the service of everyone these days it's easy to find such organizations in local communities - everything from volunteer teaching to helping unemployed to achieve career success to helping the elderly stay in their homes. Minnesota has started Minnesota Boomer Corp and recruit people who can commit 10 hours per week. The US government has developed a Senior Corps Program, modeled after the Peace Corps, based on skills-based volunteering. Everyone has become aware that here is a great resource of free skilled labor that can be used positively.