We all enjoy earning a bit of extra cash. Whether you are topping
up your pay cheque or your pension income, it’s often this money we feel
we can justify spending on treats or luxuries instead of just paying
the bills.
Research from Sun Life
shows that as many as 17% of over 50s are making money outside work and
it’s not just those on low incomes. The numbers rose to 23% of those
earning between £40,000 and £50,000, compared to just 10% for workers
earning less than £10,000.
Ian Atkinson, marketing director at Sun Life, says: “Our Big 50
research reveals that 17% of people aged 50 and over earn money in ways
other than through their main job or pension, such as selling things on
eBay or through Airbnb, while a further one in 12 says they plan to find
a new way to make money.”
He adds: “The most common way people are earning extra cash is
by selling things and renting out property, but other ways include
private tutoring, freelance writing, selling cakes, dog walking and taxi
driving.”
Your job will limit just how much time you’re able to spend topping
up your income, but if you have already retired or downsized your
career, it’s easy to find ways to earn a bit of extra money. Some could
bring you in a few extra pounds a month, while others could bring in
hundreds. Get inspired, with a few ideas from Moneywise.
Take care of pets
Looking after people’s pets when they go on holiday or are at work is
a great way for animal lovers to earn some extra money. This usually
involves visiting the owner’s home as often as is required to make sure
their four-legged (or otherwise) friend is fed and gets the exercise –
and attention – it needs.
Jacqui Summer (pictured below), 64, has been getting work taking care
of other people’s dogs through Pawshake.co.uk, which matches owners of
cats and dogs who need help with local pet sitters.
“I was working as
a dental receptionist and gradually started reducing my hours, but I
saw an advert for Pawshake and thought I would give it a go to
supplement my income,” she explains.
Now fully retired, Jacqui has left her former home of Gosport in
Hampshire and moved to Kendal in the Lake District earlier this year.
However, as she promotes her services online, it has proved easy to take
her work with her.
“I was able to take all my customer reviews with me and all I had to
do was update my address on my profile – it has been a lifeline for me,”
she says.
A couple of months down the line, Jacqui has a couple of regular
clients. “I’m looking after a nervous dog that has just been rehomed and
another whose owner travels overseas,” she says.
To provide care for a dog, Jacqui charges £25 for 9am to 5pm or £40
for 24 hours, with 19% of this fee going to Pawshake (it’s free for pet
sitters to list their services on the website).
For Jacqui, the work has helped her get to know her new local
area and keeps her fit, but she admits it’s not for everyone. “I’ve been
able to fit the work around my lifestyle and as you get older it is
important that what you do gives you pleasure,” she says. “But it’s not
all glory; it’s hard work especially if you are taking care of dogs in
your own home.”
It’s also important to check you have adequate insurance –
particularly public liability insurance, which covers you if a dog you
are responsible for causes damage or injures somebody under your
supervision. If you’re using a site such as Pawshake, this may well be
included but if you are making arrangements privately, check what the
owner’s pet insurance will cover – for peace of mind, you may wish to
set up your own specialist insurance with a pet insurance company.
Appear on TV
If you have time to spare during the working week, you might be able
to get work as an extra in a TV show or film. You don’t need experience –
all you need is to be able to turn up when you are required and follow
instructions from the director.
The best way to get work is to register with a casting agency such as
Casting Collective (Castingcollective.co.uk) or Ray Knight Casting
(Rayknight.co.uk).
At the time of writing, Casting Collective, was looking for men and
women in Bristol of all ages for a 1950s Laurel and Hardy film being
shot in Bristol, as well as men and women of all ages and ethnicities
for a major new feature film in and around Cardington, Bedfordshire.
You’ll need to provide a selection of photographs, your
measurements, passport details and a national insurance number. Also
tell them about any skills you might have that could get you more or
better paid work – for example, whether you can dance or play a
particular sport.
They will also want to know the ins and outs of your wardrobe – in
particular, whether you have any uniforms. Ray Knight Casting, for
example, promotes the fact it has lots of people on its books that can
supply their own police uniform.
Rates depend on where in the country you are working, what you will
need to do or say and which of the three main union agreements the
production uses. As a guide, extras working in the South East can expect
between £70 and £100 for a nine-hour day, however a slice of this will
be taken by your agent as commission (Casting Collective charges a 15%
commission).
Become a life model
Richard Jordan (pictured below), 68, from Bristol, was lucky enough
to retire from his job as an operations director for a haulage company
in his early 50s, but he’s still earning money to keep his income topped
up.
Richard, a naturist, regularly models for still life art classes. “I
do it about two to three times a week at the moment with art schools and
colleges. I was lucky to get £7 an hour when I started, but now it’s
between £12 and £15 an hour.”
Although he finds the work therapeutic, he says it’s not easy money.
“You need to be able to think about what you are doing and hold a pose
for up to an hour. I’m always tired at the end, but I do put down much
of my fitness to the modelling.”
Richard says anyone can model for art classes and that it’s your
attitude that’s more important than your body shape. “Being waxed and
toned isn’t what it’s about,” he says. “It’s about the human body in all
its forms.”
He also says there’s a lot of demand for the right models. “Colleges
find it difficult to find people who are reliable and have the right
attitude,” he says. If this is for you, give your local art college a
call.
In addition to modelling, Richard also runs a naturist campsite from
land he owns south of Bristol. “It’s not a big money maker, but it means
that our holiday home is paid for by the campers and the Christmas
trees we sell down there,” he says.
Rent a room
If you’ve got the room to spare, taking in a lodger can be a
fantastic money-spinner – especially as the government’s rent a room
scheme enables you to earn up to £7,500 each year without paying any tax
on your rental income.
Jan Knight (pictured below), 64, who works in charity management,
lets out two rooms in her home in Willesden Green, north-west London,
via the website Spareroom.co.uk. “We’ve got two sons in their late 20s
and since they’ve moved out we’ve had the space to do it,” she says.
“It’s a good form of income, but when the government introduced the
rent-a-room scheme it became even better as that income is now tax
free.”
Jan, and her husband Keith who has retired, charge £550 a calendar
month for one room and £480 for the second, which is only available
Monday to Friday, so that they have space for their sons to visit at
weekends. Jan says: “The extra money allows us to spend money on the
house – it makes a noticeable difference to the family finances.”
But Jan and Keith enjoy other benefits than simply cash. “The people
we’ve had are mostly great and, in some cases, you end up loving them to
bits! There is also such a shortage of housing in London that it feels
good to be doing our bit,” says Jan. “Another perk is that there is
always someone at home to feed the cat when we go on holiday.”
Jan and Keith have found it quick and easy to fill their rooms. “When
we’ve advertised a room late on a Thursday, it’s generally gone by the
end of the weekend,” says Jan. “The fact that Spareroom.co.uk has a
downloadable contract to use is great too.”
Sell homemade crafts
If you’re artistic or crafty, it’s never been easier to sell your
wares. Rather than relying on stalls at fetes and fairs, sites such as
Etsy and Folksy enable you to bring your creations to the masses, 24/7.
Etsy charges 16p to list an item and then you pay a 3.5%
commission and a 4% plus 20p payment-processing fee. Folksy’s basic
package charges 15p plus VAT per item listed plus 6% plus VAT in
commission.
Alternatively, you can sell for free on social media platforms such
as Facebook – join local groups and networks so you won’t be limited to
selling to your own friends or contacts.
Clear clutter
Ebay is an easy way to earn money from the contents of your loft or
the kids’ old bedrooms. There are also plenty of people that actively
search out bargains at car boot sales and the like and then sell them on
to the highest bidder online in the hope of turning a profit. But there
are other ways to cash in on your clutter too.
Carole Edge (pictured below), a 63-year-old retiree from Sandhurst in
Berkshire, has taken clutter clearance to a new level by selling what
she regarded as junk via the website VintageCashCow.co.uk. “We moved
house a while ago and had so much clutter,” she says. “There were things
of ours and from both sets of our parents.”
Carole saw an advert for the website on Facebook and although she was
a bit dubious at first, she decided to give it a go because it was
free. “I packed up a shoebox of things such as watches and old
jewellery, most of it broken and not working. There were some cut-glass
candlesticks, old coins, some pearls that I didn’t know were real or
not. It was just junk really.”
Carole sent the box off using the prepaid labels and packaging that
Vintage Cash Cow sent and on receipt of the items she was offered a
quote which she decided to accept. “There was nothing in the box that I
was sorry to lose and I got around £400. I was gobsmacked!”
Now that she’s seen how smoothly the process works, she’s
considering packing up another box of items that she knows are of
greater value. “I would recommend it to anyone who has all this sort of
stuff accumulated,” she says.
Take online surveys
If you like voicing your opinions, why not get paid for them? Online
survey websites will send surveys to your inbox and the more you
complete, the more you will earn. You could be quizzed on anything from
your political views, to TV, radio, new product launches or an
advertising campaign.
Each site operates differently, so make sure you know how it works and how you’ll be paid.
Among the most popular sites is I-say.com, which is run by Ipsos. It
pays between 5p and £1.80 per survey and once you’ve racked up £10 you
can claim your payment in vouchers for retailers including Amazon,
Argos, Boots and John Lewis.
Other ways to boost your income
- Experienced medical secretaries can top up their income by
typing up letters and medical reports for doctors through websites such
as DICT8, which says that you can earn from around £500 to £1,000 a
month working a couple of hours a day.
- Teachers can get extra income from private tutoring. According to
Tutorpages.com, the average rate for academic tutoring up to age 14 is
between £30.40 and £32 an hour.
- Musicians can earn around £33.20 an hour teaching musical instruments (Tutorpages.com).
- If you have car parking space, you don’t need and live close to a
train station, airport, town centre, hospital, sports or entertainment
venue, plenty of people will pay to use it. JustPark.com matches space
owners with drivers that need to park, and it’s free to list your space.
A space near St Alban’s train station in Hertfordshire, for example,
which is a 20-minute commute to London, would net you around £5 a day.
- If you have time to spare in May and June, why not look into
becoming an exam invigilator at a local school or college. Experience
may not be required, but you will need a DBS check. Average earnings are
around £10 an hour.
- Your home doesn’t need to be stately to make it appealing to
film-makers. You can market your home to production companies via
agencies such as Amazingspaces.co.uk or The Collective
(Location-collective.co.uk). Homes around London are most in demand.
Amazing Spaces says earnings start from £100 a day for a small
photoshoot to £2,000 a day for filming.
Do I need to tell the taxman?
In the current tax year (2017/18), everyone is able to earn £11,500
before they have to pay tax. However, for the first time this personal
allowance is being boosted by two separate new income tax allowances for
so-called ‘micro-entrepreneurs’.
The new property and trading allowances, which were introduced
in April this year, enable people to earn £1,000 from property and
£1,000 for selling goods without paying income tax on those earnings.
