Gigging Your Way To A Successful Retirement

By Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist

The New Yorker ran a very long article titled Is The Gig Economy Working ? You’ve probably heard the term. it amounts to cobbling together a (hopefully) sufficient income without necessarily working in a traditional job but that isn’t exclusive. The article devoted a lot of real estate to people who Airbnb some or all of their home (the article uses Airbnb as a verb) along with the countless businesses that have popped up to help people Airbnb their place. The article’s intro was about working through something called Task Rabbit where people list their skills and consumers hire from the service to meet immediate needs. A handyman is probably the easiest example to create understanding.

Uber also has a seat at this table.

I started writing about this concept long before the term came into being in a retirement context with my now former neighbor who did backhoe work. He charged $60/hour, we just had our road regraded and based on the invoice the new guy charged $100/hour. I don’t know if the new guy considers himself to be retired but he is of retirement age.

In last week’s post about tiny houses I mentioned my belief that a young person living this lifestyle exclusively is more likely than not to wake up one day at 40 without much accumulated and without much in the way of marketable skills. Doing gig work on the side, as a young person, is a different story. At the end of the work day, why not Uber someone from close to your work to close to where you live? You’d cover your commute expense.

Over the weekend, I went to the Overland Expo in Flagstaff to take pictures of some very neat extreme adventure vehicles. Please check my Instagram feed for more pictures. I got to meet and talk to quite a few people including the owner of this converted ambulance. He created more overhead space, redid the inside including adding a bathroom. On the outside, you can see that little dome on the back left which is his satellite TV.