You hit your 60s. Maybe you're even sliding into early retirement, and suddenly the days stretch out in a way that feels both enjoyable and… weirdly empty. For many, retirement starts after that long-awaited exhale after decades of work. But then the quiet sets in. The structure of the 9-to-5 vanishes, and the identity you built around "what you do" starts to crumble. That's when a surprising number of people decide to hit the late-career reset button, and they go back to work.

The reasons vary, and it's not always because they have to. Although money often plays a part, sometimes it's because something deeper inside pulls them back in.

A recent AARP survey shows that about 7% of retirees have returned to the workforce in the past six months, with more actively looking or planning to return. Nearly one in eight Americans over 65 either returned to work or intend to this year. And it's not just financial pressure driving the return. Much of it is mental. The mental side of a late-career reset is real. Such a move can also be surprisingly rewarding for those who navigate it well.

Why a late-career reset might be exactly what you need

"Assuming a financial plan was in place at retirement, and assuming one follows that with reasonable care, it will not be financial need that drives most people to 'unretire' but rather a need to be engaged and contribute," explains Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons, retirement transition expert, lawyer, and author of the book, Encore: A High Achiever's Guide to Thriving in Retirement. "Generally, they often find it much more motivating to define their goals according to individual purpose."

While true, your identity may take a real hit. That's because for years, your job title, salary and expertise quietly told you who you were. And, while stepping away can feel liberating at first, one morning you wake up and realize you miss the version of yourself that people turned to for answers. Retirement can trigger a quiet grief over lost purpose and social connection, according to a study published on PubMed. Phasing into retirement or going back to work, full- or part-time, can help reclaim a sense of self without sliding into a funk that hits some retirees hard.

But retirement is rarely simple and can involve a mix of fear, excitement and rethinking your future. Then there's the very real concern about workplace "ageism," a type of discrimination based on a person's age. Will younger hiring managers see your experience as an asset, or will you be seen as overqualified and disconnected? Your confidence can also take a hit when you realize you might need to learn new tech and platforms or fit into an entirely different work culture.

What can often be even more unsettling is the internal tug-of-war: Do you still have what it takes? Are you too old to start over, and will you regret not just staying retired?

Studies on midlife and later-life career changes show that people who leap often end up happier and less stressed, and even report a renewed sense of purpose. One older study found 90% of career changers over 40 felt more successful and content afterward. In fact, experts overwhelmingly agree that when the work aligns with your skills or values, it boosts mental sharpness and provides social connection and structure that help deter cognitive decline.

The practical side mixed with the mental

Some people "unretire" into bridge roles — temporary jobs taken to transition between careers or to fill a gap — such as consulting gigs, mentoring, or part-time positions. Others might take bolder steps. For example, the former corporate executive who becomes a community college instructor, the retired nurse who contracts to help families navigate long-term care, or the engineer who teaches workshops via YouTube.

What they all have in common is intentionality — deciding to reset a career thoughtfully and on purpose, rather than reacting to outside pressure. Although unretiring can be a reaction to boredom or a way to pay the bills, most often a successful reset simply answers the question, "What matters to me now?" What kind of contribution still feels meaningful?

Of course, not every late-career reset goes smoothly. Sometimes you find yourself back in a toxic environment, or you struggle with younger team dynamics. All the extra stress can make you wonder if returning to work was the right call.

But employers are finally starting to wake up. In today’s tight labor market, more companies are dropping the “overqualified” label. Boomers and late Gen Xers bring something valuable to the table, like institutional knowledge, being calm under pressure and the kind of mentoring younger teams sometimes need. Flexible hours, part-time roles, and remote options are becoming more common as organizations recognize that experience really does matter.

So how can you mentally prepare for a late-career reset?

Start with honesty. Parsons has found that some entrepreneurs seeking a career reset reprioritize their goals from profit to purpose, with many entrepreneurs transitioning from a profit-driven role to a mission-driven role. "This allows them to easily align their skill sets with organizations driven by values." Second-act entrepreneurs often find it much more motivating to define their goals in line with their individual purpose. "Instead of scaling for maximum revenue, they build businesses or return to jobs that matter, either to targeted communities or to the world at large."

Talk to people who've done it. Update your skills through free or almost free online courses and volunteer projects to rebuild confidence. Small wins rebuild confidence fast. Rethink the narrative — you're not starting from zero; you're bringing decades of wisdom to the table.

Most importantly, permit yourself to try something new. A late-career reset doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. It can be a consulting gig, a passion project with pay, or even a freelance position that keeps you engaged without the full-time grind.

It's only the beginning

A late-career reset isn't always just about the paycheck. For many, it's about staying connected to people, to a purpose and to the part of yourself that still has something valuable to offer. With longer lifespans and shifting attitudes towards age, phasing back into the workplace or unretiring isn't a sign that you can’t hack retirement. It's simply a smart and healthy way to stay engaged.

"The reset might feel daunting at first, but overcoming these barriers requires a mindset shift away from the "starting from scratch," says Ilir Salihi, Founder at IncomeInsider. “Late-career resets most always work best when framed as redesigning your career around your strengths and longevity rather than as an attempt to catch up.”

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I can’t think of two words that generate more excitement and fear at the same time than “I quit.”

If you’re leaving for a better job, starting a business or stepping into retirement, the words can be thrilling. But if all you have is a dream and a blank calendar, they feel very different.

That’s the position I found myself in. After 10 years in a finance job, I took a leap and decided to write full-time. In this job market, I fully understand why people reacted with some version of concern or disbelief, as U.S. layoffs hit their highest October level since 2003.

Still, I’d rather know I took the risk than wonder for the rest of my life what might have happened if I hadn’t.

Behavioral researchers have long found that people regret what they don’t do more than what they do. And throughout history, leaps like these have preceded many well-known success stories. Jimmy Iovine left a stable career in recording studios to launch Interscope and eventually Beats. Howard Schultz left a rising corporate career to buy a small Seattle coffee shop.

Of course, not everyone ends up in a bestselling biography or on a magazine cover. Most people are just trying to build a stable life, save for retirement and avoid getting blindsided.

As someone who covers retirement professionally, I wanted to understand what this choice might mean for my long-term finances, especially my retirement prospects.

What happens when you step out of full-time work, whether by choice or by circumstance?

The financial impact of leaving work

The first reality is that leaving a job, even for a short period, can create long-term financial consequences.

Economists have studied this for decades, and the impact can be significant. For instance, research from the Brookings Institution shows that workers who lose a job see their earnings fall sharply, dropping by more than half in the first year after displacement. Earnings do recover over time, but not fully. Even ten years later, displaced workers earn roughly 25% less than similar workers who weren’t displaced.

Wealth takes a hit as well. A Department of Labor report found that household wealth remains about 8% lower six years after a job loss.

As advisor Melissa Caro, CFP® and founder of My Retirement Network, told me, "A break from steady employment hits you in two ways: lost contributions and lost compounding. You’re not just trying to replace a missed deposit; you’re trying to replace years of growth you never got."

I’m moving into freelance work, which means inconsistent income while I build up my client base. Until the work steadies, I’ll rely on my emergency fund as needed. If things become too tight, I may have to entertain tapping retirement funds. That’s something I know the numbers strongly discourage, yet it is relatively common.

A survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies shows that 37% of workers have taken a loan, an early withdrawal or a hardship withdrawal from a retirement account such as an IRA or 401(k). Across generations, the most common reason was a financial emergency.

Caro says, "It’s possible to catch up, but it almost always requires either a higher savings rate once you’re working again or a meaningful reset of lifestyle expectations." Even if your income eventually matches or exceeds your previous job, she notes, you still have to contend with "the gap: the months or years when you didn’t contribute to retirement accounts and missed out on growth."

Tom Geoghegan, CFP® and founder of Beacon Hill Private Wealth, agrees. To stay on track, he suggests people "roll over old employer plans if it improves investment access or lowers fees. And if you pick up contract or consulting work, remember that a solo 401(k) can offer extremely high contribution limits and help you close the gap faster."

These are the risks you should weigh when you're considering a voluntary break. Because timing also plays a role.

Timing matters — sometimes more than the decision itself

I can’t pretend my timing was perfect.

Research consistently shows that the impact of leaving an employer depends heavily on what’s happening in the job market. In strong labor markets, wage growth for job switchers (gray) often outpaces that of workers who stay put (red), as tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In weak markets, that flips: displaced workers take longer to find new roles and earn less when they do.

Age also plays a major role. Research from the Urban Institute has found that workers in their 50s experience longer unemployment spells and steeper earnings losses than younger workers. Expertise, it turns out, doesn’t always insulate you. In some cases, it makes you more expensive to replace.

I’m in my 40s, which gives me a bit more room. But the rapid rise of AI and automation means even workers with secure jobs may find their industries shifting faster than expected. That thought is both discouraging and oddly reassuring — change is coming for everyone, not just the people who step off the treadmill voluntarily.

Whether you quit or get laid off, it typically pays to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. As Caro points out, “The people who manage voluntary breaks well are the ones who model it years in advance and run worst-case numbers, not just the optimistic ones.”

The emotional and practical fallout

The financial math matters, but it’s only part of the story. Losing or leaving a job also affects health, habits, confidence and identity in ways that aren’t visible on a spreadsheet.

A wide body of research shows that job loss correlates with worse mental health outcomes and higher mortality risk. Without a work structure, people’s routines and social ties often fall away. Studies have documented increases in risky behaviors such as gambling and substance abuse following job displacement.

Caro told me the first emotional hurdle for many people isn’t financial at all. “Work becomes a proxy for stability, competence and purpose,” she said. “Losing it, especially without warning, feels like your foundation cracked overnight.”

The practical side can be overwhelming, too. The moment someone loses a job, their benefits clock starts ticking.

Jim Shagawat, CFP® and partner advisor at AdvicePeriod, described a client navigating this recently. Before anything else, he helped her assess cash flow and estimate how long her reserves could last while she planned her next move. “Before benefits ended, I advised her to complete any medical or dental visits and review health insurance options, including COBRA, a spouse’s plan and marketplace coverage,” he added.

In my case, I'm lucky that my wife is fully employed, so the plan is to join her benefits. Still, what has surprised me most about leaving a job is just how many balls you suddenly have to juggle. Caro calls this phase “financial triage,” in which the goal is to strip spending down to essentials, protect cash and avoid letting emergency measures, like using credit cards, turn into long-term habits.

Moving forward — the part you can control

The advisers I spoke with said the biggest determinant of long-term recovery isn’t just income or age, it’s mindset.

Geoghegan said something that stuck with me: “Behaviorally, momentum is just as important as math.” He says small wins, such as restarting contributions, consolidating accounts and clarifying next steps, can help restore confidence and build structure again.

For me, the choice to leave a steady job wasn’t made blindly. I have a plan, a path and a body of work I’m committed to building. Still, I understand exactly how large the bet is. It could blow up in my face. Or it could lead to something far more meaningful.

Retirement math rewards discipline, but life rewards courage. And in money as in life, rewards only follow risks if you take them.

The key, I remind myself, is to keep playing the game, even when the rules change.

There are two other powerful words that matter just as much as “I quit.” When you hear that the top regret of the dying is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me,” the goal becomes simple.

I want to be able to say, at the end of all this, “I tried.”

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The trend of working part-time in retirement keeps growing, partly because digital and remote work has made it easy for U.S. seniors to log in and make a buck. But it’s not only about technology and geography. More retirees than ever say they need the extra cash in their golden years.

According to the Pew Research Center, 19% of Americans aged 65 and older held some kind of paying gig in retirement in 2023. That’s nearly double the amount in 1987, Pew reports. Their earning power has grown, too: Senior workers earned an average of $22 an hour in 2022, against $13 an hour in 1987.

And research from Northwestern Mutual reveals that around 60% of future retirees expect to need a monthly income that's the same or more as their current monthly income to retire comfortably. That’s mainly because they have insufficient retirement savings, the study notes.

But retirement and finance experts say these trends are positive ones for retirees, and for multiple reasons.

“Working in retirement can be hugely beneficial, both financially and psychologically,” says Ilir Salihi, founder and senior editor at Income Insider. “Many retirees, like my parents, find that complete leisure gets to be too boring after the initial honeymoon period, and part-time work or volunteering provides structure, social interaction and intellectual stimulation.”

From a financial point of view, even modest income around the minimum wage can significantly extend retirement savings' longevity. “That could delay the need for larger portfolio withdrawals during downturns,” Salihi notes.

Getting ready to work in retirement

U.S. seniors looking to get back into the working world should first take a reality check and then develop a strategy that makes sense for them.

“Before a retiree can decide to work or not after leaving their day job, they have to figure out what they want from the bigger picture,” says Mary Lee Gannon, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based executive coach who specializes in working with older career professionals. “That takes planning — and not just financial — as seniors reorient themselves to a new way of spending their time.”

If supplementing your retirement income is your highest priority, you should consider the roles that can generate the best pay. In general, the highest-paying side gigs for retirees are those that leverage your professional background, such as serving as a board member or corporate director, or being an instructor or guest speaker/lecturer.

Jordan Mangaliman, owner and adviser at Goldline Wealth Management in Fullerton, California, says: “Any of the above would be a great way to earn extra income while monetizing… expertise.”

There’s one caveat, and it’s a big one. Mangaliman points out that there are tax considerations for retirees working part-time, particularly regarding Social Security.

For retirees who have not yet reached full retirement age, and whose income is more than $23,400, $1 is withheld for every $2 earned, he warns, adding: "Your part-time income also counts towards provisional income, which may make more of your Social Security taxable.”

While full retirement age depends on the year you were born, it's 67 for everyone born after 1960.

The seven top-paying gigs for U.S. retirees

With those important considerations in mind, the next phase of planning is deciding which role would best suit your talents and experience. Here are seven high-paying roles, in order of highest to lowest hourly income:

1. Business and executive coaching

Pay range: $100-$200 an hour.

Retirees with specific corporate experience in talent acquisition and management, or in human resources management, can set themselves up as executive coaches.

“The best-paying side-gigs are professional service-related because there’s no overhead and you’re likely already an expert in a popular career field." Gannon says. “You can coach in your area of expertise and be in demand because most organizations don't have someone on staff with your niche knowledge. You can also be a trainer in corporate America in a specific area of expertise.”

Retirees can also create an online platform for coaching where individuals subscribe to content or pay for your services on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Gannon is living proof of how this can work. An ex-CEO, at age 64, she’s now an executive coach for people in their 50s and 60s, many of them in retirement. “I do this as a side gig,” she says.

2. Data recovery services/IT consulting

Pay range: $30-$40 per hour on the low end, $100-$200 an hour for higher-level gigs.

Chongwei Chen, president and CEO at DataNumen, Inc., a data recovery technologies company in Sheridan, Wyoming, said he’s seeing a big demand for freelance data recovery services.

“I've seen retirees with technical skills successfully offer data recovery services to local businesses and individuals for up to $200 an hour,” Chen says. “We’re also seeing a big demand for technology consulting, which could appeal to retired IT professionals who can offer specialized consulting in data recovery, cybersecurity or system optimization. Many small businesses desperately need this expertise and will pay up to $150 per hour to get it.”

3. Other professional consulting

Pay range: $100+ an hour.

Consulting can be extremely profitable for experienced professionals in retirement.

“My dad was a tax attorney and during tax season could easily pull in $10,000 to $20,000 for seasonal work during retirement,” Salihi says. "I know of a retired real estate agent who still gets $150 per showing if they want to take on a one-off listing."

4. Freelance writing

Pay range: $22 to $74 an hour, depending on experience and subject matter.

While artificial intelligence is an emerging threat to professional writers, businesses, professional organizations and the media still value human-generated content.

Jeremy Merchant is co-owner at Mad Mango Marketing, an SEO agency in St. Petersburg, Florida, that relies heavily on blogs written by experts. Merchant says his best writers are often retirees looking to make good money, simply recapping their knowledge from decades of specific industry experience.

“Seniors looking to find this type of work should try reaching out to SEO agencies online or on freelance writing job sites, in particular, to find a need for quality writing with decent pay per hour,” Merchant advises.

5. Bookkeeping/Financial services

Pay range: $25-$50 an hour.

AI is chewing into back-office functions, too, but companies still need humans with an understanding of business finances to pitch in as bookkeepers or financial data management specialists. “These financial professionals are always in demand, especially for small businesses,” Chen says.

6. Online selling

Pay range: $25-$50 an hour.

Sales jobs will prioritize the ‘hustle’ side of ‘side hustle,’ but if you have a particular set of sales skills or in-depth knowledge of a product, working part-time in retirement as an online seller can generate a decent amount of cash.

E-commerce is projected to be a $7.4 trillion industry in 2025, and established platforms, such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy, offer a good entry point if you're keen on selling handmade arts and crafts or wholesale merchandise.

If you know how to work with trusted suppliers and can build a robust brand, online selling could enable you to add a decent amount to your household budget in retirement, without leaving your home.

7. Teaching and tutoring

Pay range: $26 an hour.

Teaching and tutoring are among the best gigs for retirees. Many younger workers can't take teaching jobs that conflict with their 9-5 hours, or because they're busy with their young children in the evening and at weekends.

“Retirees tend to have grown children and plenty of time to set their own schedule,” says Ian Gardner, director of sales and business development at Sigma Tax Pro in Delray Beach, Florida.

“Parents trust the wisdom that comes with age, and if you're an educational expert on any subject, you can likely find an opportunity to teach it, whether in-person or online.” The average salary for a tutor is $26 an hour, according to Indeed.

If you’re a retiree with no teaching expertise, however, a good option could be teaching English as a second language (ESL) online. “While the rates are lower than high-end teaching gigs, they're well above minimum wage, and teachers can make more money the longer they work, particularly if they find their own clients and teach specific types of ESL, like business English,” Gardner says.

The best-laid plans lead to the best-paid gigs

Once you've identified your motivation for going back to work in retirement — and what compensation you need to make it all worthwhile — then comes the process of actually finding work. And it's not much different than when you looked for work during your career.

“To find the best-paying retirement side gigs, leverage your professional network,” Salihi advises. “Former colleagues often need temporary help or at least know of other opportunities, and LinkedIn remains invaluable for keeping in touch with old colleagues and employers who could point you in the right direction.”

If those options don't work, consider local Facebook groups. “Those tend to have higher success rates for gig work than national job platforms,” he adds.

Retirees should highlight particular workplace expertise and availability.

“That includes updating your LinkedIn profile to reflect that you are currently available for work, especially professional work like consulting, and to leverage referrals from people you already know who can open doors for you,” Mangaliman says.

Excellent places to search for jobs are local chambers of commerce, professional associations, FlexJobs, Retired Brains, Workforce 50 and the AARP Job Board, he adds.

Even more importantly, remember that, as a seasoned professional, you bring a lot to the table — and smart companies know that.

“Companies worldwide are calling on retirees to take on work on a project-by-project basis,” says Dan Zautis, a director at global talent firm Korn Ferry. “It's the strengths retirees provide that are in demand, from their meaningful career experiences and leadership skills, to their flexibility in the workplace.”

Companies also appreciate that most retirees don’t want to work full-time and, along with the passion that they bring to the business, "that's a plus," he says.

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Call it boredom, call it opportunity, or even call it inevitable. Not only are U.S. retirees heading back to work in retirement — they're also running the show.

Take Jim O’Connell, a New Orleans-based newly minted charter boat captain for GetMyBoat.com, an Airbnb-like boat rental company that allows entrepreneurial boat owners to rent out or charter their vessels to customers.

"I’d been sailing for many years by the time I retired, and I had wanted to have a way I could supplement the maintenance costs of the boat," he says. "So I decided I would go get my captain's license and do sunset charters on Lake Pontchartrain."

O’Connell, who duly earned his U.S. Coast Guard Captain's license and began hosting sailing charters on his boat, says now he gets to meet people, earn money and enjoy being on the water.

"It’s a great option for many retirees who may own a boat but don't have a reason to go out on the water as much as they'd like," he notes. "By hosting charters, you have the opportunity to use your boat, meet new people and earn money in your retirement."

He's not alone.

According to Teamshares, an employee-owned business services company, 40% of small business owners are Baby Boomers. A separate study found that between 1996 and 2007, U.S. citizens aged between 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20 to 34.

So what's giving older entrepreneurs the edge?

Benefits of age and experience

Having a successful career to lean on and learn from gives older business owners a big advantage.

“Our recent report on 'solopreneurship' shows that Americans aged 65-plus make up about 15% of all solopreneurs,” says Andrew Chamberlain, principal economist at Gusto, an online payroll, benefits and HR software platform for small and medium-sized businesses.

Chamberlain says Baby Boomer and Gen X solopreneurs — business owners with no employees — often launch businesses with higher starting salaries than younger founders.

"While solopreneurs in general see revenues grow from about $290,000 in year one to over $500,000 by year five, older founders tend to pay themselves more in the early years compared to Millennials and Gen Z (who often reinvest in growth)," he says.

"These experienced entrepreneurs may launch with stronger networks, existing client relationships, or initial credibility, advantages that often come with age and career history," Chamberlain says.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Those who’ve launched businesses in retirement have real tales to tell, often covering the emotional side of the journey they took — and how they're thriving because of it.

Here are five retirees who started their own businesses and are loving the experience, regardless of their age.

Dawn LaFontaine, owner of Cat In the Box LLC, Ashland, Mass.

Dawn LaFontaine started her pet products business, Cat In the Box, when she was 59 years old.

"My husband had just lost a job he'd held for 15 years, and I'd applied for several jobs I was overqualified for and didn't even get asked back for a second interview," LaFontaine says. "I decided that I was going to have to take control over my own working future, even though I hadn’t been working, if I was going to have one."

LaFontaine says she’s never looked back.

"My products have been featured in the Boston Globe, Parade Magazine and Fox News, among many others, and are in boutique pet stores around the country and in Europe," she notes. "Last year's sales were up 84% and are on track to double this year."

Her advice for retirees thinking about starting a business in retirement is twofold:

"Just start," she says. "Don't wait for the perfect idea to come to you. It's more about execution than product, and you'll probably need to pivot at some point anyway."

She also advises older Americans to stop analyzing and start doing, but with a plan. "Start very small so you don't jeopardize your life savings," she adds. "It's possible to start a business on almost nothing."

Janice Costa, owner of Canine Camp Getaway, East Durham, N.Y.

Janice Costa turned a side gig into something much more profound when the global pandemic forced her into an early retirement.

"I’d been dabbling with the idea and I decided to grow it into a real business rather than either just retiring, or going back into the workforce," she recalls. "Essentially, I went from a hobby to an S-Corp running Canine Camp Getaway, a business that plans vacations for dogs and the people who love them."

After working nearly 27 years in a corporate job for a company that required long hours and changed hands every three to five years, Costa says she was, well, dog-tired.

"When the pandemic pretty much forced me into retirement, I had mixed feelings," she says. "I'd started doing an annual dog vacation years ago, largely because I traveled a lot with my job, and felt it was unfair to leave my dogs behind for vacation when I was gone so much already."

Costa turned that idea into Canine Camp Getaway, feeling people might share her desire to go on vacation without leaving their dogs behind. She was right on the money.

The idea was to create a vacation where people could meet like-minded dog lovers while enjoying dog sports, activities, classes, vet seminars, dog-friendly evening entertainment and dog-focused charitable initiatives.

"I revamped the structure to become an S-Corp, started using QuickBooks, and began advertising in earnest,” she says. “I began doing more with selling [branded] merchandise at my events, and I added a second location, with multiple vacations a year in both New York and Pennsylvania."

Today, Canine Camp Getaway brings together as many as 130 guests per event and, depending on the size of the gathering, it offers anywhere from six to 11 classes every hour of the day during vacations, with courses on agility, nose work, hiking, swimming, dock diving and barn hunting, among others.

"I not only get to work with dogs, which I love, but I get to feed my creative spirit, coming up with new classes, craft ideas and event themes," Costa says.

Michael McCaman, cofounder and chief strategy officer of Orion Therapeutics, Union Bridge, Md.

Michael McCaman worked in the biotech industry for 35 years, always as a team member and team leader, but never a project owner.

"I was doing consulting at the time and met a young man with an idea and a patent application that I felt I knew how to develop and apply to the new gene editing field," he says. "We talked and agreed to make a startup out of it."

The company, Orion Therapeutics, was founded to develop nanoparticles for delivering RNA, like Moderna or Pfizer's COVID vaccines. "The special lipids (fat molecules) used to make those vaccines are painfully expensive to access, so we thought we could be a disruptive force in the growing mRNA delivery field and offer a safer, cheaper lipid option," McCaman says.

McCaman felt his knowledge and network with the industry were sufficient to make a go of it. "I had the luxury of saying I do not need any salary (yet) since I had and still have consulting income," he says. "That made it a pure play of passion and curiosity for me, which is really nice and allows me to stay calm all the time."

Age played a part in the decision, too.

"To attempt something like this as a younger man with a family to raise would have taken a lot more confidence than I had at that time," he explains.

Karen Hastie, founder of the Chamber Perks App, Sudbury, Ontario

Karen Hastie launched her technology startup business at 60, an age when most retirees or people approaching retirement have a different mindset; primarily, they want to slow down. "I realized I didn't feel that way," Hastie says. "I didn't feel 'done' yet, despite being a small business owner for 30 years. I felt I had more to give, both to myself and my community."

As Hastie phrases it, she realized that her age was her strength.

"I wouldn't have to start this business to put food on the table, so I could bring more purpose and passion to it," she says. "Moreover, my wins and failures as an entrepreneur have taught me enough to do this with confidence. I didn't think I was crazy to be levelling up at 60. If anything, I felt ready for an exciting chapter of life."

Hastie’s business, Chamber Perks App, a Canada-based Chambers of Commerce services provider, is thriving. "We’re doing well, both in numbers and in the value it is creating for small businesses, local Chambers of Commerce and communities," she says.

Hastie advises entrepreneurial retirees to steer their own path and ignore the naysayers.

"Don't live your life meeting society's expectations, and this applies especially during retirement," she advises. "While you might feel intimidated by all the new skills out there, remember that your wealth of experience and knowledge is a unique strength that will take you farther than you can imagine."

Drew Parker, creator of The Complete Retirement Planner (TCRP), Seattle, Wash.

Before deciding to retire, Drew Parker knew that he needed a detailed financial plan to ensure the timing was right and that he was financially prepared.

"I couldn't find a planning tool that didn’t rely on misguided assumptions and generic benchmarks, and that didn't require a math degree or 75-page user’s manual," Parker says.

"I also learned that 75% to 80% of households had no written financial plan and had no idea how to create one."

Parker saw that knowledge gap as an opportunity to not only help himself, but others, too.

"Having experience building financial planning tools for a $5 billion company, I created a planning tool for individuals based on the same financial planning principles used by professional advisers."

He created The Complete Retirement Planner (TCRP) for less than $600, as well as starting a corporation, designing an e-commerce website and making TCRP available for everyone online.

Parker describes TCRP as "easy for anyone to use, with plenty of notes and explanations, so calculations can be followed/understood, and all the detail needed for a comprehensive financial plan."

"Sales were slow at first, but word spread and within a year we had customers in every state," he says. "TCRP has grown every year since, with new features being added."

Parker says that retirees shouldn’t hesitate to use their skills and experience to make a difference for others. "It’s a good idea to challenge yourself, and to have some fun," he says. "You can always 'build a better mousetrap' or provide a better service, as long as you are passionate about it."

Will there be roadblocks? Sure, Parker says. "But you can overcome them, as you have in the past."

Related content

• Your Retirement Side Hustle Starter Kit: The Essential Tools and Apps You Need
• 7 Online Side Hustles Worth Your Time, Including In Retirement
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Navigating a job search can be stressful and exhausting at any age. However, older individuals face an added challenge: the job market often favors youth.

As of this past November, there were approximately 7.1 million job openings nationwide. In theory, this could create a wealth of opportunities for adults over 50 seeking a new job or exploring a different career path. Yet, for many of these workers, the reality of ageism hits home. Skepticism about a job-specific skill set, technology aptitude and expectations for pay can keep older workers on the sidelines when, in fact, they are itching to get back into the game.

The BLS also reports that among 55- to 64-year-olds, an impressive 65.9% are still active in the workforce, with projections showing a rise to around 68.6% by 2034, partly due to slowly phasing out of work or delaying retirement. From traditional full-time positions and hybrid settings to remote roles and freelance gigs, older workers are staying on the job or returning to the labor market.

It's illegal for employers to discriminate against applicants due to their age, thanks to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. However, the challenge remains for someone in their 50s or 60s to get a job.

Here is a look at seven tips for getting hired after 50.

1. Age-proof your resume (assuming you still have one)

Your experience may span decades, but it’s probably best to focus on the last 10-15 years and omit older roles unless they are relevant to the new role. Remove graduation dates but include your achievements and tailor your resume to the position you’re seeking. It's fine to mention earlier positions when appropriate, but try to focus on the more recent past.

Dr. Kyle Elliott, Founder, Tech Career Coach, & Mental Health Expert at CaffeinatedKyle.com, offers this advice. “If you're an older job seeker, you typically want to limit your resume to the past 10 years," he says. "Highlight your most relevant experience, but don't stop there. Emphasize what sets you apart from other candidates."

2. Target a few roles instead of dozens

Although it seems logical to apply for as many jobs as possible with hopes that at least one turns out well, it's best to target only one to three specific roles, instead of splattering applications everywhere. Pick a "target" role that matches your strengths and experience, then tailor your resume and cover letter (if needed) to show exactly why you're the best fit. Quality over quantity wins every time.

3. Leverage your network

Former colleagues and bosses can be your biggest advocates, so reach out to them for job leads and referrals. Utilize social media platforms or attend webinars and virtual events to expand your professional network.

Elliott also acknowledges that, as a more experienced worker, you've had more time to develop your professional network than someone earlier in their career. He says, “Now is the time to leverage it. Don't be afraid to reach out to former colleagues, clients and vendors at your target companies to set up informational interviews, learn about company culture and see how they might benefit from your background and skills.”

4. Upskill your knowledge

Taking online classes, some of which are free or nearly free, can give you a head start on learning new technologies and combating stereotypes about older workers. Earning certificates that are relevant to a particular position can also help demonstrate your versatility and willingness to go the extra mile.

“For those over 50, one powerful differentiator is your deep industry expertise,” Elliot says. He adds that it is always best to demonstrate you’re adaptable and committed to continuous learning.

In fact, in a 2025 randomized clinical trial, researchers aimed to determine whether older adults could still learn new things, even after age 65.

They recruited a group of people aged 65 and older and had them play challenging computer-based brain-training games for about 30 minutes each day. After 10 weeks, these older adults showed vast improvement in that part of the brain that handles attention and memory. It’s never too late to learn new things or improve your brain.

5. Write a targeted cover letter

A cover letter is nearly always required when applying for a job and gives you the chance to elaborate on your skills and abilities, while explaining why you want the position. It can also be used to address a hiring manager’s concerns about any potential over-qualifications. Keep it to one page only, but focus on why you’re a good fit for the role.

6. Prepare for interviews

Interviews can be tricky, as hiring managers sometimes prefer to conduct them in person or online through platforms that use your computer’s camera for video conferencing. If you find yourself in this position, address ageism tactfully by emphasizing your skills and expertise, as well as your eagerness to learn from younger colleagues.

JW Heflin, partner and recruiter with ThinkingAhead, spins this new narrative. “It’s not about age. It’s about value. Employers aren’t asking how old you are; they’re asking, ‘Can you solve our problems?’ If you’ve ‘been there, done that and got the T-shirt,’ show it off, but only if it’s relevant to the role today. Skip the war stories from 1997 and highlight instead how your recent wins align with their needs.”

7. Explore flexible roles

Already retired? Returning to work doesn’t have to be burdensome. Consider freelance, work-from-home, side gigs or contract work that will bring in a paycheck while also giving you the freedom to enjoy your retirement.

To start, check out the AARP Job Board using filters like flexible/remote/part-time from age-friendly employers. Go to FlexJobs or Workforce50.com for jobs curated for 50+ workers. You can also find age-friendly employer lists via the Age-Friendly Institute for companies committed to older workers.

Here are a few more:

• Rent a Grandma
• Retired Brains
• RetirementJobs.com
• Seniors4Hire

Why people age 50 and over are returning to work

More and more older adults are returning to work, with 37.9% of those 55+ in the labor force in December 2025, per the latest BLS Employment Situation report and AARP digest. In contrast, the BLS reports that only 19% of people 65 and older were in the labor force in 1983. Although reasons vary, returning to work for some is simply to fortify their retirement savings. Especially since the 2025 Planning & Progress Study by Northwestern Mutual puts the figure for a comfortable retirement at $1.26 million.

Although you may be able to (or think you can) live off Social Security as your only source of income, it likely won’t be enough to replace your pre-retirement standard of living and pay all of your expenses.

A September 2025 Bankrate survey found that more than half of American workers feel behind on their retirement savings, with confidence in reaching their goals declining year-over-year. Another study by Allianz Life, released in January 2026, reported that 51% of Americans have stopped or reduced their retirement contributions in the past six months due to economic pressures. In a recent update from Resume Builder, one in eight retired senior citizens is expected to return to work in 2025. Why? To pay their expenses.

Although having enough money for a comfortable retirement isn’t the only reason why people over 50 are returning to work, it certainly ranks as a top contender.

Landing a job over 50 is hard, but not impossible

Figuring out how to generate enough retirement income and replace that old paycheck can be challenging — even more so if you’re over 50. Work on your resume, connect with old colleagues, and stay positive, then check out Kiplinger’s Retirement Calculator to estimate the future value of your retirement savings and determine how much you need to save (or earn) each month to stay ahead of the game and enjoy a financially secure retirement.

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This year is poised to move fast — and not in the way you might think. Dreams of professional mobility are making many people wonder about climbing a new career ladder.

According to Gallup, the proportion of Americans seeking new job opportunities is the highest it’s been in the last decade. Meanwhile, people’s satisfaction with their current employer is at a record low.

Moreover, employees’ expectations for their employers are rising. Today’s talent is looking for better compensation and recognition, work-life balance and development opportunities in roles that make a difference.

Those trends are tailwinds for the financial adviser profession, where we expect to see thousands of new entrants in 2025.

Making an impact

Financial advisers help people identify their blind spots and protect what matters most: their families, their ability to retire comfortably and the goals that define their purpose. In 2024, 64% of Americans who worked with a financial adviser said they felt financially secure compared to a mere 29% without an adviser.

Moreover, 75% of Americans who worked with a financial adviser said they’ll be prepared for retirement compared to 45% of those without one. People with a financial adviser also expect to retire two years earlier with double the retirement savings of those who don’t work with one.

Interested in more information for financial professionals? Sign up for Kiplinger’s new twice-monthly free newsletter, Adviser Angle.

This is a career where professionals can meet people where they are, help positively change the trajectory of their lives and build a plan for the creation of intergenerational wealth.

Our advisers are there for families when they are needed the most — helping ensure loved ones can come together in difficult moments and grieve, knowing their finances are in order. And while that opportunity for impact is enough for many mission-driven individuals, there’s more.

Work-life independence

While other professions may require set hours, advisers have control over how they work and who they choose to work with. It’s an opportunity to help others live their best life — and for talented advisers to start living their best life, too.

Financial advisers have the freedom to own their own business and organize their own career. But unlike other entrepreneurial roles, they never have to feel like they are by themselves. Supportive team members and experienced advisers are always lending a hand and offering guidance.

Potential for income and equity

Most Americans believe when they work harder and deliver stronger results, they should earn more money. But for many salaried employees, that connection between effort and rewards isn’t always clear.

On the other hand, for financial advisers, hard work pays off — literally. If they help more Americans build financial security, they build more value for themselves. Our most successful advisers build generational wealth for themselves and for their families.

This earning potential is especially attractive for people who are successful in their current roles but feel like they’re reaching the top in their current careers and want to push higher.

In my role at Northwestern Mutual, I’ve met successful advisers from a wide variety of backgrounds: from accountants and lawyers to teachers, nurses, electrical engineers, athletes and even actors.

Through ample training and mentorship opportunities, countless career-changers have been able to break through ceilings and reach higher in a new profession that’s ripe with opportunity.

Growing need for financial guidance

More than 100 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. The gap between Americans’ retirement goals and savings continues to grow. And 30% of U.S. adults say they feel financially insecure.

Meanwhile, America’s financial adviser population is aging — and many see retirement on the horizon. The average age of financial advisers today is 56, with 44% of advisers over 55 and only 10% under 35. According to a Cerulli report, 37% are expected to retire this decade.

To put more Americans on the path to financial security, the industry must grow the number of advisers who can make a positive, sustainable difference in people’s financial lives and meet the needs of the marketplace for comprehensive financial planning.

We are doing our part at Northwestern Mutual, by setting a goal to recruit more than 5,000 financial representative and intern candidates — from not only across the country, but across industries.

By continuing to recruit and train talented individuals who bring their own unique set of skills, perspectives and expertise to the table, we as an industry can better serve clients and help them reach their financial goals.

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• How Financial Advisers Can Build Retiring Clients' Confidence
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• Over 50? You’re a Hot Ticket in Today’s Labor Market
• Ready for a Career Change? Consider Nonprofit Work

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

Where are the accountants?

With tax season underway, taxpayers may have noticed the accounting shortage in recent years. As more accountants retire or abandon the industry, it’s been harder for folks to find a reliable CPA in their state or city. The lack of new talent climbs all the way to the IRS, as the agency has cited staffing-related problems for several years.

Those concerns may grow firmer now as President Donald Trump recently ordered a hiring freeze in the federal government, including the IRS. Putting further strain on the industry are GOP lawmakers floating plans to abolish the IRS and rewrite the tax code.

The CPA shortage may impact taxpayers like you this 2025 tax season. Here are some reasons why the accounting industry, and even the IRS, is struggling to hire.

Related: Tax Pros: Is Someone Fraudulently Using Your Expired IRS PTIN?

CPA requirements 

“Nobody wants to go into accounting anymore,” Romeo Razi, CPA and founder of TaxedRight.com in Las Vegas, Nevada told Kiplinger.

Whether or not you’re in the industry, it’s a phrase you may have heard thrown around. To some, it may ring true.

Not only are fewer students pursuing accountancy, but among those who do, fewer want to stick around. Just over 67,000 candidates sat for the CPA exam in 2022. That's down from roughly 72,000 the year prior and below its forecast of 74,000, according to the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) annual trends report.

Overall, the share of those taking the CPA exam that year was the lowest in 17 years.

So why are accounting students calling it quits? The answer is two-fold.

According to several industry experts, today’s budding accountants need some serious convincing to stay in the industry:

1. Students don't think there's enough return on their invesment

2. The 150-credit hour requireement isn't attractive

Those requirements can be jarring and a barrier for many prospective professionals, leading to existing CPA shortages.

“The CPA designation requires a 2-year apprenticeship, which is prohibitive to a lot of people,” Rus Garofalo, founder of BrassTaxes.com told Kiplinger. “I think there aren’t a lot of people going into this industry because it’s considered boring and people don’t know how to get started.”

‘It doesn’t pay to be a CPA’ 

Whether it pays off to pursue accounting can also depend on your market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), experienced accountants and auditors could earn a median salary of $79,880 as of May 2023.

But many entry-level accountants start even lower, making about $33,099 a year, data from Indeed show. For women accountants and auditors, the payoff can be slightly less.

Women accountants and auditors who worked full-time made 91 cents to the dollar men earned last year, the BLS revealed. That’s $140 out of a weekly paycheck, meaning women were paid $7,280 less doing the same job.

Whether you go into private or public accounting also impacts your salary. According to Franklin University, a public accountant can expect to earn just over $125,000 after 10 years in the profession. Meanwhile, private accountants often start lower and can climb to $103,000 after a decade.

After adding in the extra costs tied to the coursework and licensure of a CPA, it might not be worth it.

“Simply put, it doesn't pay to become a CPA,” Razi said. “At least, not in today's economic climate.”

Burnout generation 

If there’s one thing about this generation of CPAs and accountants, it’s that they are establishing barriers. And let’s face it, accounting jobs can be highly demanding.

In the days leading up to the tax deadline, the IRS can expect at least a million returns every hour. During peak season, accountants can easily work overtime, well over 40 hours a week.

“We also hear stories about new graduates leaving the accounting profession soon after entry, which further exacerbates the problem,” Dean Sonderegger, SVP and general manager, Canada and research and learning of Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting North America, told Kiplinger.

According to experts we spoke to, some causes driving burnout in the accounting profession include:

• Demanding hours and tight deadlines
• Changing tax codes
• Less flexibility than other jobs
• Outdated technology

According to Sonderegger, his clients often struggle with Gen Z employees who carry different workplace expectations from their Baby Boomer or even Gen X management counterparts. These budding accountants or CPAs prefer seeking purpose in work, expect flexibility, and as digital natives value how they leverage technology.

Old tech driving accountants to leave the industry

More room for error.

Tech has been a major hurdle for the IRS. The agency’s outdated processing systems were one reason why IRS agents were drowning in paperwork during the pandemic.

It’s also another driving force behind the accountant shortage, as newcomers don’t want to deal with old systems.

Although IRA funding helped the IRS improve its service last tax season due to 5,000 new telephone assisters, expanded in-person hours, and faster refunds thanks to paperless processing. The agency missed the mark on other factors.

For instance, the IRS revealed that its contractors and employees failed a back taxes audit this year. Staffing shortfalls and fast onboarding processes can also contribute to compliance mistakes. For example, outgoing IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told TaxNotes (paywall) that IRS employees had delivered improper ERC denials.

Though the IRS has been working hard to improve its resources, most of its technology dates back to the Reagan era. That’s a problem that could be worse off as the IRS recently lost another $20 billion in key enforcement funding.

“We find that progressive firms that invest in next-generation software — software that’s cloud-based and that leverages artificial intelligence to automate repetitive or mundane tasks — have a much higher retention (and attraction rate) with new entrants into the job market,” Sonderegger noted.

A graying workforce 

One of the most critical problems the industry is facing is imminent: an aging workforce.

The American Institute of CPAs reported that 75% of today’s public accounting CPAs will retire within the next 15 years. Census data show at least 10,000 people turn 65 each day in the U.S. through 2029. Most employees hope to retire by the age of 59 ½.

“There’s a graying of the labor force that simply cannot be ignored,” Sonderegger said. “We see our customers typically move more gradually into retirement by slowing down while continuing to work, but it’s still a staggering statistic.”

At the IRS, a sizeable portion of its workforce is entering retirement years, data from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) found.

• About 18% of IRS employees are currently retirement eligible and can leave at anytime
• At least 37% of the tax agency’s employees are expected to be of retirement-eligible age within the next five years

There’s no telling if aging workers were caught up in President Trump’s recent executive order to strip federal agencies of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) workers. Likewise, how the current federal hiring freeze will impact the tax agency.

Another worrisome number: 130,800. That’s the amount of job openings for accountants and auditors projected each year, on average, over the next decade, per the BLS. Many of those openings are expected to be a direct result of the retiring labor force.

“There’s a graying of the profession because the lack of pipeline has been longer than we probably want to admit,” Francine Lipman, an expert in tax law and professor at William S. Boyd School of Law said. “Suddenly those that decide to retire and want to sell their business have no buyers… and so clients are similarly frustrated as they are being challenged to find somebody.”

CPA shortage bottom line

As the 2025 tax season kicks off, some taxpayers are still waiting on refunds or errors to be corrected by the IRS from former tax years.

Though the number of delays isn’t as dire as in past years, there’s no denying that there are several reasons why the accounting industry isn’t bouncing back quite as quickly.

Potential solutions for the CPA shortage are still in the works. Some academics and industry experts have argued that the 150-credit hour requirement to qualify for the CPA license is too high, and hope some states will lower the threshold to close the gap.

Within the IRS, the agency has modernized some of its equipment and online systems. Most recently, the agency expanded its Direct File program to 25 participating states. However, as mentioned, the agency may run into problems soon due to a nationwide hiring freeze on federal agencies, and the recent loss of another $20 billion in key funding.

The Trump administration’s crackdown on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is another point of concern, as it may gut the IRS further from needed talent.

Still, the road to rebuilding the accounting workforce could be uphill. It will take more action at the industry and academic level to help bolster the career path.

Related Content:

• Tax Season 2025 Is Here: Key IRS Changes to Know Before You File
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It's a tale as old as time: If you want to make a lot of money, the best college major for a lucrative career is to study engineering and avoid the arts, right? 

Well, what if you studied engineering and art? A working paper from the National Bureau of Economic research suggests the best option is an and, not an or when it come to college majors. 

"Graduates with double majors seem to experience much more protection from market shocks," including mass layoffs, disruptive technology and labor demand shifts, co-author Drew Hanks told the Wall Street Journal about the results of the study. 

Like an investor with a diversified portfolio, college grads with double majors tended to have fewer fluctuations in earnings than those with single majors, the paper found. That impact was most pronounced, the paper says, in grads whose majors were more differentiated (think: engineering and art, not chemical engineering and mechanical engineering). 

The researchers believe there is good reasoning for this effect.

"First, the broader range of skills possessed by double majors may position them for different jobs that are more protected from labor market fluctuations," the paper reads. "Second, double majors may generate an option value. For instance, if one major experiences a negative shock in labor demand while the other remains unaffected, a double major can pursue a job related to the unaffected major, thereby mitigating the impact of the adverse shock to their other major on their earnings."

Personally, I'm a big advocate for double majors — and this paper is vindicating my 19-year-old self's foresight. Brag incoming: I majored in both economics and creative writing as an undergraduate, and I've found both to be helpful in my career, both for what I learned and for the credentials they've provided. 

Studying economics helped me to see the world in a different way and think analytically, while studying creative writing helped me to be able to communicate and organize those thoughts. They informed each other in ways I couldn't have predicted and, wouldn't you know it, here I am using both in my role at Kiplinger. 

Beyond earning potential, pursuing a double major made my college life more fun. Instead of having to pick one lane and funnel myself into one definition, I played with different areas of study that I enjoyed. 

My other double major classmates also kept things interesting. For instance, I'll never forget when one of my classmates, who double majored in creative writing and mathematics, turned in an essay for a writing class peppered with equations that he made poetic.

After all, your college studies are about learning and exploring, not about earning potential... right? 

But if the undergrad in your life is focused on earning potential, you can always send them the latest information on the highest paying college majors — you just might want to suggest they pair it with one of the lowest paying ones for stability. 

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Nearly half (46%) of working professionals say they are considering quitting their jobs this year, according to a new study from Microsoft and LinkedIn, which surveyed more than 30,000 people in 31 countries between February and March 2024. 

The trend is reminiscent of the “Great Resignation” of 2021 during year two of the pandemic, in which 40% of working professionals left their jobs.

On the positive side, a February 2024 survey from ZipRecruiter showed that Americans are feeling more confident about their job-hunting prospects than they have in two years. Even so, dissatisfaction with persistent high inflation and their current jobs could equally be driving workers to seek new opportunities.

Are workers planning to quit their jobs due to higher inflation?

Although labor market conditions are contributing to workers' decision to consider career changes, inflation is also still squeezing Americans’ budgets. Changing jobs typically comes with greater pay gains and benefits packages, according to new data from ADP; job switchers saw year-over-year pay increases of 10% in March, up from 2.9% six months prior. 

Do people who leave jobs regret quitting?

About 80% of those who quit their jobs during the Great Resignation regretted their decision, according to a Paychex study. This is particularly true for Gen Zers who miss working in an office environment and Gen Xers who miss the work-life balance from their previous jobs. 

What does the job market look like right now?

The labor market posted 8.5 million openings in March, with health, government, private education and hospitality industries fueling job gains, according to a monthly government report from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even so, according to Kiplinger’s economic forecast, April employment rose by a mere 175,000, a marked slowdown from the 315,000 gain in March. Health care continued its usual strong gains. Retail, wholesale, transportation and warehousing also reported above-average increases.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate inched up to 3.9%, with slightly more workers losing their jobs and a rise in the number of workers being forced to work part-time due to a lack of full-time opportunities. 

Annual job and wage growth

As many workers seek new opportunities and higher wages, Kiplinger reported that annual wage growth slowed to 3.9% in April. That’s the first time wage growth has been below 4% in nearly three years, according to Kiplinger. 

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that total employment is projected to grow by almost 4.7 million from 2022 to 2032. However, it’s worth noting that the 20 highest-paying jobs are all in healthcare fields, with most requiring advanced degrees. 

If you changed jobs in the past two years, or you’re thinking about changing jobs in 2024, higher pay is likely at the top of your list. However, other reasons to pursue a new job may also include relocation, more flexible hours, greater benefits and the option to work remotely. 

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Scams target people of all ages, from older adults to teenagers, especially as more and more of our lives play out online. In fact, people aged 18 to 59 were 34% more likely to report losing money to fraud than those over 60 in 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

Now, the FTC has put out a warning specifically to college students to look out for a particular scam targeting that group of people. In particular, fraudsters are using the lure of a job offer, like a virtual side hustle or summer gig, to get money from students.

The way the scams usually work, the FTC says, is through either a fake job ad for personal assistants on job sites or social media or through an email doctored to look like it came from someone the student knows, like one of their professors or college offices. 

If a student bites, the scammers will mail them a check to deposit. They'll then ask for the student to send some of the check money to another account, the FTC says. What will end up happening is that the check will eventually bounce, while the student has already sent money to the scammer.

How to catch a fake job scam

The obvious thing to look out for to avoid this scam, the FTC says is any job that mails the student a check before they start working. If that happens, "that's your cue to stop."

But there are also ways to look out for this scam before getting to that point. If a student is looking at a job posting or unusual email about a job, they should search the internet for the name of that company (or the person) and see if people have talked about it being a scam. 

If an email looks like it came from a professor or college office, the student should reach out to that person directly. Don't reply to the email — call, email an address they know for them, or stop by their office if still on campus. Additionally, let college students know if they're contacted about a job, they should ask for the job duties, pay and hours in writing. Scammers may refuse to send that information. 

As a final note of advice, the FTC says college students should "talk to someone you trust" to get their opinion on a job opportunity. That's your cue to use your own experience and wisdom to help them out — and if they complain, remind them that you may be helping them avoid needlessly losing money. 

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In certain industries, relevant work experience, internships, training and certifications are just as important, if not more, than a four-year degree.

Job applications usually have a minimum educational requirement — some college, an associate's, bachelor’s or master’s degree. But with average student loan debt topping $1.77 trillion (an increase of 66% in the past 10 years), according to the Federal Reserve, you might ask if a four-year college degree is worth it.

The answer will likely depend on your career choice. Some professions — medical and health care providers, lawyers, teachers, nuclear engineers — all require a degree or degrees. (Here's our look at the best college majors for a lucrative career).

However, some underrepresented career fields welcome applicants who never attended college or don't hold a four-year degree, and some of these careers pay very well.

There are plenty of in-demand careers with a salary higher than $59,228 (the median U.S. annual salary in 2024), according to "10 Highest Paying Jobs Without a Degree in 2025," a report from career resource platform Resume Genius.

The list spotlights 10 well-paying jobs and their accompanying educational requirements, based on the latest data (2023) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data takes into account a minimum U.S. median annual salary and high growth projections, as well as jobs with more stable, little-change scenarios.

Here are the 10 highest-paying jobs with high growth projections that don't require a degree this year.

1. Elevator and escalator installer and repairer (up from #3 last year)

• Median annual salary: (2023) $102,420
• Number of jobs (2023): 24,400
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 6%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma, completion of a 4-year apprenticeship and a state license or certification.
• Work experience: None. But you’ll work in tight spaces and at heights, so it’s necessary to have physical stamina and be comfortable in small spaces. Repair workers might also be on call 24 hours a day or need to work overtime.

2. Transportation, storage, and distribution manager

• Median annual salary: (2023) $99,200
• Number of jobs (2023): 211,800
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 9%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma or equivalent and vocational training
• Work experience: None for entry-level jobs, but relevant work experience in a related role and certifications are beneficial. Some employers might prefer or require a bachelor’s degree.

3. Electrical power-line installer and repairer

• Median annual salary: (2023) $85,420
• Number of jobs (2023): 123,400
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 8%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
• Work experience: Technical training is typically completed through a combination of classroom instruction and on-the-job apprenticeships.

4. Aircraft and avionics equipment mechanic and technician

• Median annual salary: (2023) $75,400
• Number of jobs (2023): 163,300
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 5%
• Educational requirements: Credentials from an FAA-approved program to earn your Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification, although some technicians start with an associate’s degree or gain experience through military service.
• Work experience: On-the-job training for most positions after certification.

5. Detective and criminal investigator

• Median annual salary: (2023) $74,910
• Number of jobs (2023): 796,800
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 4%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma at minimum, though some roles require a college degree. Most police officers and detectives must graduate from their agency’s training program before completing on-the-job training. Other requirements vary.
• Work experience: Career advancement can be influenced by experience, specialized skills and additional on-the-job training and certifications.

6. Locomotive engineer

• Median annual salary: (2023) $73,580
• Number of jobs (2023): 83,000
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 2%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma or equivalent and on-the-job training, plus earning a certification from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
• Work experience: Earning potential and career progression can improve with on-the-job experience and additional certifications.

7. Wholesale and manufacturing sales representative

• Median annual salary: (2023) $73,080
• Number of jobs (2023): 1,681,400
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 1%
• Educational requirements: If the products are not technical or scientific, a high school diploma is generally sufficient for entry into the occupation. If the products are scientific or technical, sales representatives typically need at least a bachelor's degree.
• Work experience: Experience in sales or customer service.

8. Athlete and sports competitor

• Median annual salary: (2023) $70,280 to start
• Number of jobs (2023): 25,100
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 11%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma and outstanding athletic talent and deep knowledge of the sport, although many pro athletes are drafted while in college.
• Work experience: On-the-job training

9. Flight attendant

• Median annual salary: (2023) $68,370
• Number of jobs (2023): 130,300
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 10%
• Educational requirements: Most airlines don’t require a college degree, although some might prefer it. A high school diploma is usually required, plus on-the-job training from the employer. Most flight attendants must be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
• Work experience: On-the-job training; knowing a foreign language can be helpful for international work.

10. Construction and building inspector

• Median annual salary: (2023) $67,700
• Number of jobs (2023): 142,600
• Estimated job growth (2023–2033): 0%
• Educational requirements: High school diploma and experience in a construction trade. Some states also require a license or certification.
• Work experience: Licensing (varies by state) with additional certifications.

Other jobs that pay well without a four-year degree

Here's are 10 other career fields that don't require a 4-year degree, according to U.S. News and World Report, "Best Jobs Without a Degree in 2025." Some don't quite meet the median U.S. annual salary in 2024 of $59,228, but most are a good jumping-off point for early in your career, and many offer room for advancement.

• Solar photovoltaic installer. Salary: $48,800
• Wind turbine tech. Salary: $61,770
• Home health aide. Salary: $33,530
• Electrician. Salary: $61,590
• Massage therapist. Salary: $55,310
• Community health worker. Salary: $48,200
• Hearing aid specialist. Salary: $58,670
• Pharmacy tech. Salary: $40,300
• Baker. Salary: $34,950
• Ophthalmic medical technician. Salary: $41,780

How to land a high-paying job without a four-year degree

Given the soaring cost of college and an explosion in online learning and certificate courses, it's no wonder that students are looking for non-traditional ways to join the labor force.

However, even if you choose to forego a four-year degree, having relevant work experience, certifications and on-the-job training shows employers you have what it takes to succeed in your career.

“A college degree doesn’t mean quite what it used to, and we're witnessing a significant shift towards skills-based hiring," explains Eva Chan, a career expert at Resume Genius. "This change is creating more accessible opportunities, including a range of lesser-known, yet well-paying roles."

But keep in mind, even if you don't hold a degree, you might be competing with someone who does.

That's why a having a professional résumé that highlights alternate education in the form of certifications, associate degrees, short-term courses, professional training, vocational programs or apprenticeships is imperative to get your foot in the door, even without a college diploma.

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Inflation cooling doesn't mean prices drop. Seemingly everywhere you go, prices are higher than we're used to: From the grocery store to apartment rentals and home prices. 

So it comes as no surprise that many Americans are taking up side hustles to make some extra cash. Over one-third of Americans surveyed by Bankrate reported working outside their main source of income to earn more. On average, they reported making $891 extra each month from those side hustles. And a 2023 survey from LendingClub and PYMNTS found that 53% of those workers with a side job are considered middle- to high-income earners. 

While there have been gains in salaries in recent years, that doesn't do much to help people in retirement living on a fixed income. Yes, there is a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment each year, but critics argue since the adjustment is based on broadly observed inflation, it doesn't account for costs specific to retirees. These factors can push retirees to look for side hustles — part-time work that can be done simply from home, using expertise and experience they've gained in their careers.

“The trend of having supplemental income is here to stay,” Alia Dudum, a money expert at LendingClub told Kiplinger. “With job instability becoming more prevalent — especially in the technology sector — more and more consumers are looking to control their destinies and find alternative sources of income that will provide stability should a life-altering event happen.”

There’s a lot to consider about a side hustle before you dive in. First, take stock of how much extra time and energy you actually have: You want to prevent burnout and get the biggest payday for your hard work. 

You probably also want to enjoy your side job. The difficulty there is balancing the joy against earning extra income. For example, you might like to sell handmade knits but if you only sell one every month, this side hustle might not be worth your time.

Retirees may also seek part-time jobs as a way to fill time and make extra cash, and it's worth thinking about the balance of joy vs effort there, too, if you don't necessarily need the money. Part-time jobs or "side hustles" can help retirees find fulfillment and make use of their skills, but it shouldn't be to the detriment of your daily, retired life.

Finally, take into account tax and legal implications, including taxes around hobby income, and make sure there is no conflict with your employer’s policy about working externally.

To start your search, look at “part-time” and “remote” opportunities on job boards such as LinkedIn and Indeed. Some sites, like FlexJobs, exist specifically to find remote, flexible roles. You can also start your own small business, but the payoff may take longer.

For some concrete ideas, here are seven online side hustle ideas to consider:

1. Online tutoring

Pay it forward and teach the next generation. You can go the route of web platforms such as TutorMe where the pay is $16 per hour or Preply where English tutors, on average, charge $15 to $25 an hour.

You can also search for jobs from individual organizations on ZipRecruiter and other employment sites. One other option is to consider tutoring shops that are local to you — they may be in need of people who can tutor specific topics, so bring your interests and ask if there's an opportunity.

2. Freelance specialist writer

General purpose writers typically struggle to find well-paying contract jobs. Instead, tap your industry or subject matter expertise to apply for technical or specialist freelance writer jobs. This would be especially pertinent for retirees with decades of experience to draw from.

For example, we've seen listings for writing for a tech giant that pay $55 to $65 an hour. There are also part-time writing opportunities within marketing, which look for experience with copywriting and SEO.

There are also many part-time roles that include technical writing and training AI systems. Just be sure to look out for job hiring scams. 

3. Freelance designer

If you’re artistic, consider looking for part-time design jobs through platforms such as Fiverr as well as job openings from individual companies. Again, these are opportunities that draw on some level of expertise, like knowing how to use Canva and Photoshop, or familiarity with website building and design.

For example, a company in Los Angeles was paying $30 an hour for a production artist to work 15 to 20 hours a week.

4. Turn creative hobbies into a side hustle

Want something totally different than your full-time gig? Consider turning a hobby into a money-making endeavor. 

These can range from creating your own soaps or candles to jewelry, handbags, hats and more. You can sell them on platforms such as Etsy and eBay as well as Facebook Marketplace and other sites.

Go through your closet to see what your shopping habit could earn you. Consider selling your used designer clothing and accessories to websites such as Poshmark, ThredUp and Vestiaire Collective, formerly Tradesy.

Put photography skills to good use by selling your photos to stock image companies including Getty Images, Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. 

If you like creating music, you can sell your beats — instrumental, shorter clips of music — to sites such as Beatstars and Airbit. These beats are sold to artists for remixing to create their own sounds.

5. Online data rater

Data is being collected everywhere, but someone needs to annotate data sets for artificial intelligence models to train on. As the deployment of AI becomes more prevalent, available jobs in this field will grow. 

For example, Telus Digital hires internet raters, people who analyze and provide feedback on text, webpages, images and other types of data for search engines. According to its website, Telus says it helps companies test and improve machine learning models through its community of annotators and linguists. The pay is $12 to $14 per hour, with flex hours of up to 25 hours per week.

It requires a high school diploma or GED, English fluency, frequent Gmail and social media use, general knowledge of current events, computer experience and a smartphone with internet access.

6. Online customer service or chat support

U.S. companies have customers all around the world. Thus, 24/7 customer service or live chat assistance is essential. These jobs let you work from home with flex schedules. They typically have minimal requirements and also will train you on the job.

You can also look at places and functions that interest you, which will likely make the work more enjoyable. If you like helping people with finances, one bank, for example, listed an opportunity for a customer service associate who would work remotely 20 hours a week. If you like travel, we've seen travel agencies post listings for remote customer service jobs where training would be provided and you'd get access to discounted travel. 

7. Part-time bookkeeping

Many smaller businesses do not have the resources to have an accounting department so they hire part-time bookkeepers or accountants. To attract the best candidates, several also allow remote working for this position. Pay ranges from $11 to $25 an hour or more, according to Upwork.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure the effort balances out the pay and/or joy you get from it. You don't want a side hustle to take over your life. 

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Thinking of pursuing a career in finance? Although it’s a lucrative career path, the field is highly competitive. In a recent study, Tipalti found which states were the best to pursue a career in finance or accounting by analyzing the number of jobs available, average salaries and university rankings. They also determined the best-paying jobs for finance graduates. 

Here’s which states ranked best for a career in finance. 

1. New York

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 10,213
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 9,244
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $117,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 79.70
• Finance Career Score /10: 9.65

2. Minnesota

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 2997
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 2,130
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $107,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 62.80
• Finance Career Score /10: 8.80

3. Illinois

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 6,719
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 5,240
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $114,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 35.70
• Finance Career Score /10: 8.76

4. New Jersey

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 4,472
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 3,361
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $113,000 
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: n/a
• Finance Career Score /10: 8.30

5. Maryland

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 2,997
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 2,206
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $109,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 54.50
• Finance Career Score /10: 8.20

6. Pennsylvania 

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 6,060
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 4,368
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $106,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 71.87
• Finance Career Score /10: 8.10

7. Virginia

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 4,555
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 3,185
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $104,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 33.02
• Finance Career Score /10: 7.48

8. Florida

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 10,265
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 6,468
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $115,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 34.74
• Finance Career Score /10: 7.14

9. Georgia

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 4,963
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 3,040
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $113,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 35.99
• Finance Career Score /10: 6.94

10. Connecticut

• Total Number of Accounting Jobs Available: 2,078
• Total Number of Finance Jobs Available: 1,532
• Accounting and Finance Average Salary: $101,000
• Average World University Rankings Accounting and Finance Score: 31.40
• Finance Career Score /10: 6.88

Overall, New York ranks as the top state to pursue a career in finance or accounting, with a finance career score of 9.65 out of 10. The state also has the highest average accounting and finance salary of any state - $117,000 a year. New York University (NYU) earned the state the highest score for its performance in the accounting and finance discipline.

Tipalti also found the U.S. regions with the top graduate salaries, as well as the best-paid jobs for finance graduates.

Rocky Mountain/Far West Region

Accounting Graduate Salary: $61,920

Finance Graduate Salary: $64,777

New England Region

Accounting Graduate Salary: $61,500

Finance Graduate Salary: $64,050

Mideast Region

Accounting Graduate Salary: $60,183

Finance Graduate Salary: $63,100

Overall, the highest paying job for finance jobs is a controller, someone who is responsible for a company's day-to-day financial reports. On average, the annual salary for a controller is $104,972, out-earning both tax preparers and senior accountants. 

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Who: Jim Hake, age 65
What: CEO and Founder, Spirit of America
Where: Arlington, Va.

What is the mission of Spirit of America? To engage citizens in preserving the promise of a free and better life. And we do that by working alongside U.S. troops and diplomats all over the world to help them save and improve lives and promote values that are shared by Americans and our allies. In the larger scheme, it is to demonstrate that the U.S. is  a friend of those who seek a better life. 

How did it start? I was motivated by the attacks of 9/11 to do something to stand up for what America stands for. I was a businessperson, without any government or military experience. But I have always felt that what America stands for really matters: the promise of a free and better life. What gave me the idea for the organization was  a National Geographic show about U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan doing things to help the local population in very remote villages with help from friends and family back home. I contacted people who had connections with soldiers and Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

How many people work for you? There are 35 members of our team full-time. We’ve almost doubled in size in the past 12 months, and we’re  significantly growing the organization. 

 What kind of work have you done in Afghanistan? We provided assistance in Afghanistan for more than 15 years, mostly at the village level in support of U.S. military and civilian personnel. And when the evacuation crisis began in August 2021, our team was very involved, some directly coordinating evacuations, getting at-risk Afghans out to safety. More recently, we have been supporting a school for Afghans in Tajikistan of about 500 boys and girls that had been funded by the Afghan government. But with the Taliban taking control of the country, that funding stopped. 

At what point did you begin focusing on Ukraine? Spirit of America has been involved in Ukraine since 2014, when Russia took control of Crimea and the Donbas. We helped launch Ukraine’s first armed forces media entity, an FM radio station called Army FM, to meet the needs of Ukrainian soldiers.

What aid have you been delivering since the war began in 2022? Our main focus has been providing protective aid, such as ballistic helmets, bulletproof vests, vehicles and first-aid kits, as well as food and clothing. Our support has been focused on protective aid for Ukrainian soldiers and civilian volunteers on the front lines.

Has it been difficult to deliver aid? Thanks to the relationships we have, our logistics are extremely fast and effective. For example, we have had assistance delivered into Poland on cargo planes with protective aid and assistance for the Ukrainian troops and the aid has been in their hands within 36 hours. 

Where does funding come from? We’re an entirely privately funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. And the response of Americans who want to help has been very, very encouraging. For people who donate, we have what we call our 100% promise that if people choose to support a project in Ukraine or in any other part of the world, 100% of their funds will be used to pay for the expenses of that project. People can donate to specific projects through our website or by making a note on a check. 

Who: Dr. Jorge Cavero, age 63  

What: Founder of Cavero Medical Group community health center 

Where: Chicago

Your health center serves the Latino community on Chicago’s southwest side. How did the health center come about? I came to the U.S. when I was about 6 and grew up on the south side of Chicago. A lot of the motivating part for me to become a physician came from my dad, who was a physician and very involved with the community. He had a small clinic in an area with great need for care, especially for the Latino population. I started helping out, and that’s where the idea came from. I decided to elevate the level of care. 

How did the community respond? At first, we had no support, really, from local hospitals and organizations. But you know in your heart, in your spirit, that it is the right thing to do. So we built out a space there. I think the first patient we saw was probably in about 1994. It was a very cold January—typical Chicago weather. And I believe that the patients just came in to really stay out of the cold. Word in the neighborhood spread, which confirmed the great need for a clinic. Everything we did was with the community in mind. We had extended hours. We had weekend hours. We were doing things that others weren’t doing at the time. After about six or seven years, we grew to be the largest Latino primary care office in the state of Illinois. We were seeing about 26,000 visits a year, probably 99% Hispanic. We’re now in the process of buying two buildings next door, and we’re going to expand it into a 20,000-square-foot facility.

How would you describe your patients? In the early times, it was first-generation immigrants, working-class poor. Many of them had government insurance, and that just wasn’t something that a lot of physicians favored. But we took all comers. We worked very good deals with some of the lab corporations and some of the local x-ray companies. Our patients are all largely still at the poverty line or below. And we continue to welcome all despite insurance. 

Do you use volunteers? No, they’re all employees. We’ve recruited them from the neighborhood. Many of them had no medical training and we taught them how to be medical assistants and front desk people. And we paid for their certifications. If they had to go back to school and take some classes, we covered that, too.

You also invest in scholarships for Latino medical students? I realized that when you looked around the residency programs and the medical centers in the city, there were very few Latino people studying medicine. There are many reasons, but the thing that we could fix was that many of these people didn’t want to go to school because of the cost. So I went to the University of Illinois’s head of the Hispanic Center of Excellence responsible for recruiting Latinos to study medicine, and at the time they were supporting about six to 10 Latino students out of a freshman class of about 300. I gave him a check for $25,000 right there and said, “This is my first check to you, and we’re going to start a scholarship fund.” As time went on, we raised it higher and higher. We were able to attract a lot of interest from companies, and everybody started giving $10,000 and even $20,000 per year. Over the years, we’ve given the university well over $1.5 million. 

What motivates you? People ask me if I invest, and I say, “I’m investing in the youth studying medicine.” I give my money to scholarships instead of the stock market. What does that give you at the end of the day? A thank you. But when I take that thank you home, it means that I’m going to help this kid get through medical school, and he’s going to become a doctor. He’s going to go out to the community and see 25, 30 people a day for the rest of his professional life, and he’s going to take away pain. He’s going to help control disease, educate people on how to have a better, healthier life. We have helped over 130 kids get through medical school. My wife, a pediatric E.R. doctor at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and I have this motto: We would like to leave this place better than we found it.

Faye Fiore, 65, started working for a small newspaper right out of college, and 35 years later, she was a national correspondent at the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest newspapers in the country.

She loved her profession. But about a decade ago, while raising two boys and feeling torn between work and home, she left the news business to become a marriage and family therapist. "Everyone -- my financial adviser, my brother -- told me not to do this," says Fiore, who lives in Arlington, Va. "We were not that far from the recession, and I had a well-paying, prestigious job."

Still, she felt the time was right, so she embarked on a long journey to a new career. Studying for the GRE, which the graduate school she applied to required, and returning for a three-year master's program were daunting. Looking back, she says, "part of me was confident and part of me was really, really scared."

Little data exists on older workers changing careers. A 2015 survey, "New Careers for Older Workers," by the American Institute for Economic Research found that anywhere from 16 million to 29 million people attempted a career change after age 45. Of those late-in-life career changers, the survey found that 82% succeeded in making the shift, which came with a nice payoff. Most of the survey participants reported they were happy (87%) and less stressed (65%) after the change.

For some people, pursuing another profession is a long-held dream; for others, it's an unexpected leap into the unknown when a job disappears. Sometimes, boredom motivates a retiree to explore a new occupation. Whatever the scenario, before changing your life and livelihood around, think about why you want to take this step and what the driving force is behind it, says Toni Frana, career services manager at FlexJobs, a website for flexible and remote jobs. Do you need a new career or just a new job? FlexJobs's website has a four-step assessment to help you decide which one it is. "It's amazing how many people grow disenchanted with their jobs because of their colleagues or managers," says Nancy Collamer, a retirement coach in Langhorne, Pa. If you like what you do but dislike the people you work with, it's probably time to leave your job but not necessarily your field.

If you know a career change is right for you but don't know exactly what you want, you'll need to do more soul-searching. For instance, do you want to work for someone else or run your own business? Remote or in person? Full-time or part-time? Once you know what you want, here's the most important question you'll need to answer: Just how do you plan to launch a new career? One way or another, you're going to need a roadmap to navigate this journey.

Financial Realities

You can blue-sky the next possibilities all you want but your dream job will remain a dream if you can't earn enough to survive. You may not have to earn more or even as much as you did in your past career, but be realistic about the lifestyle you expect to maintain and how much it will cost. According to the survey by the American Institute for Economic Research, half of respondents earned more in their new career, 31% earned less, and the rest made about the same.

There are also the costs, both time and money, associated with transitioning to a new profession, such as enrolling in school, finding investors or building up a clientele. "We say a job search can take three to six months, but a career change can take much longer than that depending on where you're starting from and what is required in the field in terms of certifications," Frana says.

Research has shown that people with extra financial resources during the transition usually felt better about their new career than those who made the switch without those resources. "People do read stories about the person who goes from accountant to owning a vineyard, and it sounds really attractive. But the reality is it's hard to do," Collamer says. For radical shifts, you'll need "financial flexibility, because it's generally going to be some time before you can generate income."

That proved true for Cathy Miller, 57, of Ontario, who worked for 22 years in marketing and public relations for the home décor store Crate and Barrel in Canada and the U.S. She was laid off during a downsizing in 2016, and although she was upset about losing her job, she didn't want to do the same thing. A small family inheritance allowed her to hit the pause button before jumping into another career. After mulling it over, she went back to school for a nursing degree. "I was interested in it, but it was also a practical decision," she says. "There are lots of jobs for nurses and should be for a while. I knew I would be able to find work."

Paying for four years of college, however, was out of the question. Miller found a two-and-a-half-year degree program and is now a nurse. She credits that financial cushion for letting her take so much time off.

Fiore and her husband, who worked full-time as a journalist until retiring this year, took out a home equity loan to pay for her three years of tuition and cut back on everything else. "I started clipping coupons. I canceled the house cleaner, and we didn't take any trips," she says. "We got rid of anything we didn't need. We eked it out."

A Good Match for a Lifetime of Skills

A career shift doesn't have to be radical. When coaching people who are considering a different career, Collamer asks them about their work history and meaningful volunteer experiences. "What are the skills and projects and accomplishments that you are happiest doing, that you find most meaningful, that you really value?" she says. "When people have an opportunity to sort of step away from the anxiety and the frustration that they have with the job and really begin to analyze, they often discover there was a lot about the work that they enjoyed." Build on those parts and pieces you enjoy, she says, to find the path forward.

John Myers, 65, of Albuquerque, N.M., a former vice president at a utility, was already accustomed to thinking this way. "I started off as an engineer, but every time I was promoted, I would think, what skill sets can I bring to this job and what are the skills I need to be successful?" he says. "I would acquire the skills I didn't have, monitor my own progress and make adjustments."

He just hadn't planned on needing any special skills when at age 53 he retired from the utility company. It was a short retirement. "After three months of playing golf with my buddies, I needed something to challenge my brain."

Myers took a one-year job in Florida for a company that built wind farms, but he didn't love it and returned to New Mexico. By then, the country was in the midst of the Great Recession, and Myers knew what he didn't want -- to work for a corporation. His strategy for finding a new line of work was unusual to say the least: He considered which businesses getting crushed by the recession would probably bounce back.

Even though real estate was tanking, Myers had found his new career: buying and selling properties. "The market was horrible, and everyone thought I was an idiot," he says. "But people always have to have a place to live. I jumped in with both feet."

He earned his real estate license and purchased bank-owned properties and turned them into rental property. He flipped homes. He took a class to learn how to do short sales, and when the real estate market recovered, he started Myers and Myers Real Estate (there is no second Myers; he just thought it sounded classier that way).

His wife worked, but if the housing market had continued its downward spiral, they could have faced serious financial hardship, says Myers, who often put in 80 to 90 hours a week at the time. To learn what he needed to thrive in real estate, he turned to everything he could find -- books, webinars, videos and podcasts. He invited everyone he could think of to lunch or coffee for their advice. "Most people are happy to share information," he says. "Now I share as much as I can."

When figuring out the talents you bring to a new career, think beyond specific, concrete skills to broader abilities, such as relationship-building, leadership and time management. "One thing everyone is looking for is adaptability and flexibility to deal with disruption," says Marc Miller, founder of Career Pivot, in Austin, Texas. "Reflect back on your career and how you've dealt with disruption," he says. Then ask yourself how you might apply that resilience in a new profession.

Test Drives and Footholds

Learning new skills or boosting existing ones is much easier now than in the past when that training often involved returning to school for two or four years to earn a degree. Community colleges, online education providers such as Coursera and industry groups offer in-person or virtual short-term courses that lead to certificates.

It's also simpler to test drive a new line of work. For example, one of Collamer's clients, a retired executive, wanted to bring in some income and loved walking his dogs. He read that dogwalkers can make pretty decent money, so he went on rover.com -- a website that offers all types of pet services -- put up a profile and started getting gigs walking dogs. "It was an easy way to test out doing it," Collamer says. "He did end up starting his own dog walking business." Websites built around the gig economy, such as flexjobs.com, fiverr.com and taskrabbit.com, are great places to try a new occupation without a long-term commitment, and sidehusl.com reviews and rates these gig economy sites. For other jobs for retirees, see our Great Jobs for Retirees.

Of course, not all fields make it easy for newcomers without experience to get a foot in the door. If that's the case for you, consider offering your services free for a short time. You may also need to be creative about getting some experience. For instance, someone who wants to become a professional photographer might ask a friend who is getting married if it's OK to supplement the professional photographer by taking pictures at no charge, suggests Collamer. That can help build a portfolio. But move away from freebies as soon as you can. Too often, career changers "end up working for very little money and feel taken advantage of," says Career Pivot's Marc Miller.

The transition from being an expert in your old field to a novice in a new one can also be rough on the ego. "I was so nervous the first few weeks in school. I wondered if I could do it," says Cathy Miller, who went back to school for a nursing degree. "I had been a great student, but it had been years since I was in a university. You really have to be humble and ask for help, and that's not easy."

At one job, the learning curve was so steep that she wasn't sure she could do it. What she discovered, though, is that while not all nursing positions are to her liking -- she doesn't want to work in a hospital, for example -- there are others she is great at and loves. "I'm so glad I did this," she says. "Stepping out of your comfort zone is so rewarding."

Finding Fulfillment

For some people, a career change is not about seeking a challenge, but a more satisfying life outside of work. Lisa DeMers spent two decades working in the financial service industry for major banks in California. In November 2020, with the pandemic roiling employment everywhere, she was laid off. DeMers, then 57, knew she didn't want a job with as much responsibility and stress. She wanted to leave work behind when she left the office for the day. "I was more interested in time off and schedule flexibility than salary," she says.

Her husband, who is retired, had been wanting to move to Boise, Idaho, for years, so they decided to take the plunge. DeMers started looking on job websites and applied for a number of positions in Boise, but nothing was clicking until she found one that seemed to check all the boxes: client experience coordinator for an accounting firm.

DeMers landed the job. Her colleagues are pleasant, the work environment positive and her schedule as flexible as she had hoped. She did take a large pay cut, making one-third of her former salary, which even with the lower cost of living in Idaho is a lot. "I had to really adjust what I was willing to settle for," DeMers says, but she likes where she ended up.

So does Fiore, the journalist turned therapist. Although she misses aspects of her old job, she now has a successful practice, is her own boss and makes more money while working three-and-a half days a week. "I know I will be able to do this work, barring health problems, until I'm 90," she says. "I really love it, and that makes the risk worth it."

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• Gas Prices Around the World
• Gas-Saving Tips That Actually Work
• IRS Increases Mileage Rates Because of High Gas Prices
• Beth Hendler-Grunt/Next Great Step
• Career Advice For New College Grads
• Kiplinger’s Economic Outlooks: Jobs

Transcript

David Muhlbaum: Welcome to Your Money’s Worth. I’m kiplinger.com senior online editor David Muhlbaum, joined by my cohost, senior editor Sandy Block. How are you doing, Sandy?

Sandy Block: I’m good. How was your road trip last weekend? I think you went to Chicago.

David Muhlbaum: Yes, there and back in one weekend to pick up a kid from college. A lot of miles. There’s a lot of bug jerky still plastered on the front of my car.

Sandy Block: Well, in Michigan we get fish flies and that’s worse. But you used a lot of gas, right? I hope you got the most out of all of your fuel-saving tips.

David Muhlbaum: Well, I can choose what metrics I want the car to show on the dash, and yeah, I had miles per gallon up there. The MPG I’m getting right now, the MPG, since I last filled up, the MPG for the whole trip. Yeah. I had my navigator, my daughter, next to me checking GasBuddy the whole time to find the lowest prices which, as you know, can vary by state.

Sandy Block: Mostly because of taxes.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah. Mostly. As we’ve heard here on the pod, environmental regulations and infrastructure, that matters too.

Sandy Block: Right. I’ve been thinking about this a lot because of an article we posted that’s getting a lot of traffic and was actually very interesting to me. It’s a very straightforward title, Gas Prices Around the World. Looking at that list as a reminder, well, and this was even true before, anyone who’s gone overseas knew this, things could be a lot worse. Americans are paying more for fuel these days, but they’re still paying a whole lot less than most other countries.

David Muhlbaum: Hah. I’m glad you saw that piece because I just updated the numbers in it. The simple answer is yeah, we’re in the bottom half for the data source that we used, which is a site called globalpetrolprices.com, petrol being British-speak for gasoline. We are the lowest of what that site calls economically advanced countries.

Sandy Block: Right. You can get gas pretty cheap some places, but they’re not necessarily places you want to go.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah. So Venezuela, Libya, Iran. Yeah. Those are the outliers, the places where gas is sold for — sometimes in limited amounts — for pennies, because of government subsidies. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that those places are oil-producing countries. That’s a significant factor as well. So even though oil is a global commodity, this can matter. But actually just because you have and produce oil doesn’t mean you’re going to make gas cheap. The biggest example of this is Norway, which has oodles of oil and gas, but they tax the heck out of it when it’s sold domestically.

Sandy Block: Right. The other example, and this is from personal experience, is Canada which has always had higher gas prices than we do I think basically because of taxes and other things. Years ago-

David Muhlbaum: Right. Another big oil producer.

Sandy Block: Another big oil producer. Years ago, we went there on vacation. We pulled into a gas station and I thought, "Well, that’s not so bad. Gas prices aren’t that bad here. It looks about the same." Then I realized, of course, Canada is on the metric system and what I was looking at is liters.

David Muhlbaum: Is a liter.

Sandy Block: Not gallons. Once you converted it to liters, you realize that we were paying about twice as much for gas as we would’ve paid in Detroit. The same thing happened with beer. What I thought was a pretty good price turned out to be for a six pack not a case.

David Muhlbaum: Canada, they produce oil, they produce beer. I think that there’s a significant flow of gasoline from the United States to Canada — in cars.

Sandy Block: Fill up.

David Muhlbaum: This is a real phenomenon. People in Windsor, Ontario, they buy their gas in Detroit. They might throw in a 5-gallon for the lawnmower in the back too.

Sandy Block: Oh yeah. We’ve got lots of stories about that from my husband’s family who used to actually have a vacation place in Canada across from Detroit and would fill it up with groceries and then throw a blanket over the top so people didn’t know. I don’t know if this qualifies quite as good news, but maybe sort of, is that the other thing that just happened is that the IRS announced that it’s increasing the amount that you can deduct for mileage. This mainly applies to self-employed people or people who may be reimbursed for business miles effective July 1st. This is pretty rare. Usually, the IRS sets the standard mileage rates at the beginning of the year and that’s it for the year. But as our colleague Rocky Mengle explained in a story on kiplinger.com today, because gas prices have risen so much, the IRS raised the standard mileage rate from 58.5 cents per mile to 62.5 cents per mile, which means if you deduct mileage, you’ll get a bigger deduction this year.

David Muhlbaum: Percentagewise that doesn’t seem like a huge jump. Is there any chance they’re going to do it again, like within the year?

Sandy Block: I doubt it. Like I said, it’s pretty rare for the IRS even to do it midyear. Usually, they do it for the whole year. So it’s hard for me to imagine that they would do it again. I mean, it’s kind of a record-keeping administrative hassle for folks and businesses in particular. So I don’t see them doing it again. It’s not a huge increase, but it is an increase, and what I would tell people, if you work for yourself, keep track of your miles because you’re going to want to deduct them.

David Muhlbaum: Well, okay then. We’ll just have to keep an eye on what happens because it doesn’t look like gasoline prices are going to go down anytime soon, at least per the forecast from Jim Patterson, who we’ve heard a lot from here on the podcast of late. He mentioned today in a meeting, the only thing he saw lowering gas prices would be a recession.

Sandy Block: Ooof!

David Muhlbaum: So yeah. Careful what you wish for. All right. Well, safe travels to everyone going out this weekend and check your tire pressure. Coming up next. We’re going to talk with a career counselor about how those new college graduates can get gainful employment. Stick around.

Finding a Job After Graduation with Beth Hendler-Grunt

David Muhlbaum: Welcome back to Your Money’s Worth. We are speaking today with Beth Hendler-Grunt, the president of Next Great Step, a career counseling service in Livingston, New Jersey. We asked her to join us because this is early June and a new crop of college graduates might be sitting down at the family dinner table back home eager to talk about the job they’ve already landed, or they might be up in their room talking to their old stuffed animals about how they have no idea what to do with their lives. So Beth’s business is trying to encourage and create the first situation, connecting new graduates with fulfilling careers. In fact, she’s got a book coming out about it, the title is the same as her firm’s name, The Next Great Step. Welcome Beth.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Thank you for having me.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah. How many days until the book drops?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: I think it’s like three months and 11 days. So very excited. I just got yesterday kind of the final or the preliminary for me to read through. Just got into my hands. So I’ve not yet been able to actually read it with a hard binding. So I’m very excited.

Sandy Block: That’s exciting.

David Muhlbaum: Oh, like a printer’s proof kind of thing?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Yeah. So it’s the proof. So I still have to do another final proof of it, but it’s like physically in my hands.

David Muhlbaum: Right. You can hold it. You can feel it. It’s tangible. That’s great.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Yeah. Yeah. It’s very, very exciting.

Sandy Block: So Beth, David is going to be your target audience in a couple of years. So I think he’s going to want to get maybe an advance copy. What year is your older daughter, David?

David Muhlbaum: She’s what they call a rising junior. She has two years to go in college and then become a, well, I guess we’ll see.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: I think you’re actually in the target market right now. I wouldn’t wait for two years.

David Muhlbaum: Okay. Okay. Okay.

Sandy Block: So to the point, Beth, your book’s subtitle is The Parents’ Guide to Launching Your New Grad into a Career. So it sounds like you’re trying to reach parents who want to help their graduates succeed in the job market. The basic question is why the parents, why not write to the kids directly, because they’re the ones that are actually going to be looking for a job.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Such a good question. So I speak with hundreds of parents who contact me who are concerned and worried about their young adult launching. I think they really, parents, understand the importance of taking this education that they’ve either contributed towards investing in or that their child has taken on debt for and how important it is to really leverage it into a career. I think they see that they know how hard it is or maybe they’re not sure how to guide their young adult into the job market because they themselves haven’t looked for a job in 20, 30 years. I think they’re understanding that this is maybe a little bit more complicated than they understood. It’s not the way it used to be.

I’ll speak for myself as a parent who has a son who graduated last year and I also have a college sophomore. I think they’re looking for some outside guidance, and candidly, kids at this stage don’t always want to listen to their parents’ advice, so sometimes it helps to have a third party.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah. That’s one of the things that struck me. I mean, I really want to get into the nuts and bolts of the job market today, both for new graduates and maybe old coots like me. But that dynamic, mom and dad, they want to help. But what if the kid doesn’t want their help? I mean, I assume in the book you provide some specifics and nuts and bolts on how to do this.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Yeah, no question. No, that’s really common. That’s one of the things that I say to parents all the time. My first question when I call is, "Does your child know that you’re calling and are they open to coaching?" So those are the first two very important questions. Sometimes the answer is, "No, they don’t know. I think they’ll be open, but I’m going to convince them." My answer is that no matter what is they have to want it.

So sometimes young adults have to go through the process and they have to experience difficulty and some pain and a little bit of suffering or realizing how hard it is before they say, "You know what, I have tried what I thought was the way to do it. I have tried to either apply online or make connections with the network that I thought I had and nothing’s happening and I’m really struggling and now I’m ready for some outside help."

Beth Hendler-Grunt: So sometimes they’re not. Sometimes I talk to parents and then they come back six months, nine months, a year later, sometimes young adults have to go through the process themselves, because I will never take on a student who doesn’t want to be there. That’s not good for anybody. They have to really want it.

Sandy Block: I think one of the barriers to your point, Beth, though, is, I mean, and we talked about this in the interview I did with you for the August issue of Kiplinger’s is that these graduates are going into a really good job market, certainly nothing like anything I ever experienced. I could see a young person saying, "Oh, come on mom. They’re practically dragging me into coffee shops to work there. There’s jobs all over the place. I got this. I don’t need any help."

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Well, let me just say a couple things. One, yes, it’s a good market. It’s funny. I just had a livestream last night for my community and it’s kind of like a boomerang market. So all the things that I told people a few months ago, even like, oh, streaming, logistics, retail, these are great areas. Then all of a sudden the last few days, you hear about Target and all these companies and Netflix that are pulling back. So you kind of are not sure where to focus.

I think what I have found after doing this over seven years, it doesn’t matter if the market is challenging or if the market is red hot, it is still what I’m finding, there’s this disconnect where so many young adults don’t fully understand what it takes to get into the job that they really want. They are not always taught networking. They don’t understand about the scope of all the jobs that are out there. So I think once they start getting into it, it’s a little bit more complex. As we always joke about, they’re just pressing the easy button on the easy apply and thinking that "Someone’s going to find me, they’re going to think my resume is amazing." I think they’re starting to realize you have to really differentiate yourself to really be noticed in this market.

David Muhlbaum: Well, I think you broached right there what seems sometimes like the black hole of online applications. It’s become very easy in some ways to say, "Well, I applied." But I think you’re also saying that’s only goes so far or maybe not very far at all.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Yeah. I mean, my opinion is that if you are only applying online, that’s not really a great use of your time because you are competing against hundreds of other candidates, number one. Number two, usually it’s some kind of algorithm who’s looking for keywords, and candidly as a recent grad, you’re not going to have all those keywords. You’re not supposed to, by the way. Your job was to go to school and get an education and learn. You’re not going to have all those keywords and be magically found.

People say, "Oh, well, I’m on LinkedIn, I’m on LinkedIn and I’m going to be found." And I’m thinking, LinkedIn is great, I love it, but don’t wait around to be found. That’s not how you’re going to be identified. You really need to find the people first and you want to target them, who you want to have find you, but you have to reach out to them. I think that’s where there’s a lot of this fear of like, "Well, I don’t know what to say and I don’t want to talk on the phone. On the phone? You mean I have to actually call someone on the phone, not text them?" Yeah, it’s hard because they just don’t know. They just don’t know how to do it.

Sandy Block: Well, and I think one thing you mentioned in our interview, Beth, that is something that a lot of young people do by mistake is just, and this is something their parents probably couldn’t do, because back in the day you actually had to put your resume in the mail and put a stamp on it, but they can send out a hundred applications easily in an afternoon. But you say that’s not really a good idea.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: No, I don’t think it’s a good use of your time. Sometimes there’s this feeling, and even parents, because sometimes I’ll say collectively, don’t always understand the process and they’ll say, "Well. more is better. Don’t do 10. Do 20, do 50, do a hundred." But that’s actually not useful. Employers, if you really think about it, they don’t want someone who’s kind of like, "Oh, I just applied because it seemed good or it seemed interesting."

Sandy Block: It looked like fun!

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Right. This would be fun or....

Sandy Block: Close to my house!

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Or the ones who are studied sports management like, "Well, I love the Mets and I love sports." I’m like, "Okay, don’t ever say that as to why they should hire you because it’s a business. It’s 100% a business." You have to understand. Take a step back. They just have to have some better clarity about themselves and knowing what are the skills that they have that they can bring to an employer that would add value. And it’s not saying, "I’m hardworking." Everybody says, "I’m hardworking."

Beth Hendler-Grunt: It’s saying, "I’m analytical. I am great at research. I know how to problem solve." Then thinking about, okay, what are the types of companies that need those skills? Let me think about what I enjoy doing, what I’m competent at and how can I bring that to an organization. They may not have a job posted on the job board. That’s the whole thing. There’s this hidden job market. 80% of jobs are never, many times are never posted or they’re found by referral because someone wants to know someone who’s in that field. I have this 10 and 10 technique and we’ve talked about this. It’s pick 10 companies that are of interest to you. Then of each of those companies or just amongst those, pick 10 people who are doing the job that you would want to do.

Don’t pick the vice president. You can pick someone like yourself who graduated in the last three to five years, who’s doing something entry level, who can really give you some insight of what it is they do, what it took to get there, what are some of the skills that you need, and you’re going to have so much more insight about it. Maybe I like that job, maybe that’s not interesting to me, but at least you have better information, and the person knows you now and could potentially refer you internally which is how you get yourself into a job.

David Muhlbaum: That’s a lot of work.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: That’s a lot of work. Who said finding a job would be easy? Who told you that?

David Muhlbaum: No, no, no. I never really believed that. But you do have to step back and go, "Wow, that is a lot of work." That’s what it takes. It was a lot of work in my day. It is a lot of work now. What do you think these parents who haven’t been in the job market for 20 years, what has changed the most?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: What has changed the most? I’m also one of those parents, right? I’ll say we’re collectively in this together. I found my job out of college. I actually was very fortunate. I had an internship 25-plus years ago, but that is what launched my career. I think what’s changed is that there’s such a dominance of technology, and that there’s this thinking that, well, if I just understand that the algorithm or if I just understand the technology, then it will be easy. The truth is, I’ll say we collectively as parents know what it takes. We know that talking to someone and networking with them and understanding what they need and potentially how we could help them, those are the ways that relationships are formed and how people do it.

The part that gets confusing for parents is that they think, and their kids are telling them this too, that the technology will solve for that, that if I just go on Indeed who took my profile and I just apply to a hundred jobs, it will know me and it will then match me to someone else. Or I’ll just go on LinkedIn or I will be on a Slack channel, there’s still that human... As I say to everyone, people hire people, not a computer and not a tracking system, but it’s finding your way through the technology to get to the people who hire. I think that’s one of the biggest misnomers of how do you use technology in the search.

Sandy Block: Well, speaking of technology, Beth, one thing that I found absolutely fascinating in our conversation earlier is I asked you about some techniques for doing a Zoom interview, which is increasingly common and we definitely want to talk about that, but before we get there, you told me there’s something called a one-way interview and the way you described it I found absolutely terrifying. So can you tell us what that is and how someone can sort of nail that process?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Sure, sure. The one-way interview has become the de facto screening method over phone calls to screen candidates. Basically, there’s a number of companies out there that are doing it, companies like HireVue and VidCruiter, Spark Hire, and it is software that a company, the recruiter or anyone in HR can go in and record a number of questions or they can just type out the questions. They don’t have to even give you a personal feel to it. They could just type the question, tell me about yourself or tell me what are your greatest weaknesses or tell me why do you want to work for us and there is no one on the other side. It is just-

Sandy Block: You’re just talking into a camera, in other-

Beth Hendler-Grunt: You are talking to a camera, which by the way is not natural.

Sandy Block: No.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: I mean, we’re on video, but most people, by the way, there’s so many nuances. We’re having a conversation. It’s over video. We’re looking at the screen. Well, you can’t look at the screen. You can’t look at yourself. You have to look at the camera because you want to create that eye contact and that connection with the person. You have to make sure that you have good lighting, that they can hear you, all the things that maybe wouldn’t happen, if you were just on the phone or just met somebody in person. Then the preparation, a lot of these are timed. Sometimes you’ll have multiple chances to record yourself. Sometimes you don’t.

Getting it right, and that practice, if you are not someone who’s comfortable let alone talking about yourself or talking to a computer or a camera, it has a very high level of stress for a lot of candidates. I mean, a lot of our students tell us how much they dislike it, but I say, "Hey, this is here to stay." So we’ve integrated it into our training. We’re going to help. Well, you practice with us so you can get comfortable. But yeah, this is really a massive technology that’s out there in the market of how you screen candidates for the initial call.

Sandy Block: Then going forward from that to the Zoom interview where you actually are talking to somebody, you had some good tips on how to make a good impression that way. My favorite one is that you need to dress from head to toe.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Oh yes. So sometimes there’s this feeling of, obviously we’ve all been home for a couple of years and used to doing our Zoom calls a certain way or taking class. So we tell our students and grads that when you interview over Zoom or any video, that you want to be dressed as if you’re in person. You want to be dressed from head to toe because we have heard of circumstances where sometimes they’ll say, "Can you just stand up for me?" If you’re dressed from the waist up, but you have pajama bottoms on, I don’t know if that happens all the time, but-

David Muhlbaum: I think "Can you stand up?" is actionable. Like, "What are you looking at?!"

Sandy Block: Actionable.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Yeah. I think it’s more of a mental state of mind. I think when you’re dressed from head to toe with the shoes on, even though you’re sitting in your bedroom or home office, it’s like a mental state of you’re going to hold your body differently, you’re going to speak differently because you know that you’ve got your act together and you’re ready to have that conversation.

David Muhlbaum: Do you find that the groups that or the graduates that you’re working with now are more comfortable because they’ve essentially... They’re almost native to that format?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: I think they are more comfortable with video. I mean, clearly we’ve had to embrace it. But I think sometimes they still forget this is not a class where you can have a messy bed behind you or you have the window right behind your head and then all of a sudden your face looks darkened, you can’t really see what you look like. So I think even though they’ve used it, they don’t always have to be the one facilitating or really being clear about making sure the other person is hearing what they have to say. One other thing we tell people that video tends to dull you down. So you really have to over-emote, you need to smile, even if this is not your disposition because people are trying to make that connection with you over a screen.

Sandy Block: Backing up a little bit on this Beth. The other thing we talked about is networking. Back in the day, and I’m thinking just two years ago, you’d meet people for coffee, you’d go to events. A lot of that still isn’t going on, or maybe you are trying to network with somebody who’s not nearby. What are some good networking tips if you really are not in a position to do a lot of person-to-person stuff?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Sure. Networking in my belief is the number one way of how people get hired. Just because you aren’t able to maybe see them in person, maybe there’s not that networking event where 50 or a 100 people gather doesn’t mean that you can’t network. An interesting way, especially I felt in the beginning of the pandemic, is that people are almost more accessible because either they’re working remotely or they have more time or they just understand that this is how people will reach out.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: What I tell young adults is that I rarely meet someone, and I’m pretty confident that rarely will you meet someone, if you’re a recent grad and say, "I’m a recent grad and I’m really interested in what you do. Can you spend 10 minutes to talk with me and just tell me how you got there or I’d love to learn about your path?" Very rarely is someone going to say no to that. I mean, it’s different if you say, "I really need a job. I really, really need a job. Do you have anything for me?" You’re asking them to a yes or no question, which is not great, but that seems like desperate and cringey.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: So we just want you to be more consultative. You want to get to know somebody and what are they about and let them learn about you in a way that enables you to connect with people. People are very willing to help out recent grads. I think even my own clients are shocked at how many people actually reply to the request to connect on LinkedIn or the request to then follow up and have a 15-minute conversation like, "Wow, I can’t believe they actually said yes." I’m like, "Yes, because you did it in a way that was professional. It was thoughtful. You looked up their background ahead of time. So you made it easy for them."

Sandy Block: You also mentioned taking advantage of your alumni networks, I believe.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Yeah. I think alumni, who doesn’t love to talk to someone who just graduated from the same school you went to, right? They’ll talk about what was on campus or the sports. So who doesn’t want to be brought back to those times when you were a student? Usually alumni is are our first go-to, and it’s very easy whether it’s through your own university portal, but again, LinkedIn has a tool. I don’t know if a lot of people know about it. It’s called the LinkedIn Alumni tool and every single university is on LinkedIn, pretty much.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: In their LinkedIn presence page, there are these tabs. One says people, jobs and there’s one that says alumni. You can filter by the year they graduated, the jobs they have, what they studied, what their skills are, where they work, who they’re connected to. It’s such a great way to see who’s at the companies that you want to be at or who has the same major as you and what are they doing, what are some other ideas that you maybe haven’t thought about that would give you some direction. So there’s some great tools, free, free resources inside of LinkedIn that I think a lot of grads don’t even realize it’s there.

David Muhlbaum: That’s interesting given how much time and money and effort many institutions have invested in their own essentially proprietary alumni networks. I wonder how those will integrate in the future. I have a kind of challenging question maybe. I’m wondering as you went about being someone coming from the situation as you did with your background and working with students or graduates, I should say, what was something that where the students pushed back and said, "Yeah, that’s not working," or, "Whatever this guidance was doesn’t work anymore?" What was something you had to adjust?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: I don’t think there’s a lot of pushback. Well, let’s just start with this. The students who come to us know that whatever they were doing wasn’t working for them. So they’re ready for a new approach. We say that and be like, "You might hear us teach you things and you’re going to question this. So I love a skeptic. Be skeptical." Sometimes they come to us like, "I’m going to do this. I’m not sure how you’re actually going to help me. I think I know what I’m doing, but okay. I’m in." I think what they don’t realize, I think it’s more of what they’re surprised about. Actually, I mean, we constantly tweak and make sure it’s relatable and they understand it.

Some of the concepts come from my previous actually work as a consultant when I’ve worked with CEOs and we’ve helped them with strategic planning and how do they differentiate themselves and articulating your value. A lot of that I bring into just helping grads in a really simple way. What I think they don’t understand, or maybe they think is hard is, that I’m asking them to sell themselves. I’m actually asking you to talk about yourself in a way without bragging, but you’re stating the facts of the skills and talents and the experiences that you had. That’s hard for our young adults. For some reason, they are very uncomfortable telling someone why they are the right person or why they have the right skills. I’m not saying that you’re the best or the most or the greatest, just the fact that you are competent, you have a skillset, you have an example, you have a story to tell, and they’re uncomfortable doing that.

I attribute that more, I don’t know if this generation just more struggles with mental health, self-confidence, believing that they are worthy. There’s an element where they feel like they had to do it by themselves and that now I’m getting some help and I didn’t really want help. Then there’s also this whole feeling of like, "I want to save the world. I want to be with the company that creates impact and how do I do that?" But I think the concept ultimately that they have to sell themselves in a way that adds value to the company. It’s not like hire me because I had the best GPA and I had the best resume, although they would like that to be the case, it’s really because you’re going to solve a problem for a company because you have a certain skillset and that’s how you have to... It’s like the rephrasing of how they’re able to be of value to an organization I think is probably the hardest part for them.

Sandy Block: So Beth, kind of following up on that, what are some of the biggest mistakes that new grads make when they are not just applying for job, but maybe going through... Let’s say you’ve gotten in for an interview, what are some of the biggest mistakes that grads make when they’ve made it that far?

Beth Hendler-Grunt: The biggest mistakes is just lack of preparation. I mean, Google is the easiest, most amazing resource that can give you so much information in literally 60 seconds. Make sure you know what the company is, what they do, who’s the CEO, what’s the stock price. I always tell them, "Type into Google XYZ company in the news." What is the latest press release or announcement? Did they merge? Did they acquire? Are their numbers up? Are they down? Whatever is the latest information.

Sometimes they’re so in the mode of "I just want to focus on my job and all I have to worry about is the role that I want to interview for." I’m always like, "Think bigger, because they want you to be interested and concerned about the company as a whole and how you can help them and solve their problems and achieve their goals." So I think really the preparation, and they assume that they’re like, "Oh, it’s just a conversation. I can be casual."

Beth Hendler-Grunt: I’m like, "It’s never casual. You’re assuming incorrectly. People are always looking at you. They’re always judging. They’re always deciding from the very first word that you utter, they’re going to make an assessment. So you want that entire persona to be professional, practiced, rehearsed, thoughtful and someone that they know can help their company be successful."

David Muhlbaum: You got to sound like you’re going to do on that three-minute video right off the bat.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Oh yeah. You got to nail it.

David Muhlbaum: Thank you for hopefully reassuring some both students or graduates and their parents that it’s going to work out — if you do the work. Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to your book.

Beth Hendler-Grunt: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Sandy Block: Thank you, Beth.

David Muhlbaum: That will just about do it for this episode of Your Money’s Worth. If you like, what you heard, please sign up for more at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your content. When you do, please give us a rating and a review. If you’ve already subscribed, thanks. Please go back and add a rating and review if you haven’t already. To see the links we’ve mentioned in our show along with other great Kiplinger content on the topics we’ve discussed, go to kiplinger.com/podcast. The episodes, transcripts and links are all in there by date. If you’re still here because you want to give us a piece of your mind, you can stay connected with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Thanks for listening.

Beth Hendler-Grunt is the president of Next Great Step, a career-counseling firm for recent college graduates, and author of The Next Great Step: The Parents’ Guide to Launching Your New Grad into a Career.

New college graduates will be looking for jobs at a time when many employers are desperate to fill openings. How can they take advantage of these favorable labor conditions? Before applying for a job, recent graduates should really think about the skills they have and what they’re really good at so they can explain to an employer the value they can bring to a company. A lot of young adults will say things like, “I’m a hard worker,” but that’s not a skill. Think about the top three things you want to be known for, and be able to share an example of how you demonstrated that skill.

A lot of young adults go to the online jobs boards and send out 100 applications because they think, The more job applications the better. That’s not how to get a successful outcome. Target and research the kinds of companies you want to work for. Once you go down that path, the company will be more excited to interview you because you’ve taken the time to figure out how you can help them be successful.

Is networking still important? What’s the best way to do that when many managers are still working from home? LinkedIn is a great way to network, but instead of just going on LinkedIn and asking to connect, take a few minutes to look at someone’s profile. Once you connect, you should have access to their e-mail. Send them an e-mail telling them that you’re interested in the work they’re doing and would like to speak with them. Many people are willing to give you 15 to 20 minutes on the phone or on Zoom if you’re thoughtful about it and explain what you’re looking to accomplish. Also, many graduates underutilized their alumni network. People love to talk to fellow alumni.

Speaking of Zoom, any advice for job seekers who are asked to conduct an interview through Zoom or a similar virtual tool? Some companies are using one-way interviews to screen job candidates. Instead of a call from HR, they’re sending a link to job candidates and telling them to go on video and record answers to three questions. There’s no one on the other end. It’s very stressful, but it’s a big money saver for employers. But whether it’s a one-way or two-way interview, be prepared. Practice recording yourself answering questions and to see what you look like. You want to have eye contact, and to do that you need to look into the camera. Don’t have a messy bed in the background. Don’t put your back to the window because your face will be darkened. Dress the same way that you would for an in-person interview from head to toe, because dress is also a state of mind. We’ve heard crazy stories where employers have asked people to stand up to see if they have on pajama bottoms.

What are the biggest mistakes new grads make in job interviews? The first mistake is that they don’t prepare enough. They research the person who is interviewing them but don’t research the company. With the resources we have now, it’s so simple: Type the name of the company in Google and then type “in the news.” Are they public? Who is the CEO? What’s their latest stock price?

The second mistake is that job candidates get nervous and ramble, or they don’t listen to the actual question. People aren’t going to hire you if they can’t talk to you.

About half of America is unhappy in their jobs. A raise or talking with your boss can improve things — but, for many, the only answer is a new career. Changing careers is stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. My own career change — from psychologist to financial planner — took three years between full-time jobs.

Below are some lessons I learned, including how I set myself up financially to make the move.

Networking

You know the cliché: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. If you’re having trouble meeting folks, here are some tips on how to network effectively (I had great success using LinkedIn). Here, I’ll focus on networking specifically for career changers.

If you just decided to make the switch, you may have analysis paralysis – I can’t do that until I do this, but I can’t do this until I do this other thing, and no one will let me do that unless … Stop. Focus on the life you want after this transition.

What career and life do you want in, say, five years? Find people who are already there. What was their journey? What were they doing a year ago? Five years ago? How did they get started? Their journey can be your journey – look to these experienced people and consider a similar path. This is especially helpful if they are also career changers out of your current career!

Also ask, who else should I talk to? The people they know are people you should know. Some are gatekeepers — people who might hire you, let you into a degree program or otherwise control your ability to advance your career. At the networking stage, you’re not yet asking for a job; you’re asking what they are looking for in a candidate. And, what to do to improve your chances of being hired.

Getting Your Foot in the Door

Eventually, you’ll shift from gathering information to making your move.

As a career changer, it’s important not to discount the skills and education you already have. You will have a mixed skill set that blends your old and new careers. This isn’t a liability; it’s a strength. Yes, it’s likely you will need to obtain some new skills and education. What is the minimum you need to get a job in your new field? Get that minimum and then start looking for opportunities that match your unique, blended skill set. If those jobs don’t exist, use your network to create them.

I spoke about my own blended skillset and path on a recent episode of the New Planner Podcast. I started with a background in psychology and teaching. During my career change, I focused on technical financial planning skills. My job now uses a mix of these backgrounds: for example, when I teach about how psychology affects how people manage money.

Don’t assume you need to start from scratch or work your way up from the bottom. Yes, your income and job prestige will probably take a hit — temporarily. Meet those minimum job requirements, then leverage your network and unique skillset to rapidly climb in your new career.

Preparing Your Financial Life

Personal finances may be one of your biggest barriers. Developing new skills is expensive, and your income may suffer if you quit your current job. These costs and the associated stress can derail even the most motivated change.

A key factor is whether you are moving into a higher-paying or lower-paying field. If you expect to make more, you can be a little more risk tolerant. You can spend more on education, go longer between jobs, and so on. On the other hand, if you will make less in your new career, save more, cut your expenses and be ready to work side hustles.

Before making the jump, try to:

• Build a large emergency fund, perhaps 12 months of living expenses.
• Separately save for career change expenses. Your emergency fund is for living expenses. A new degree or designation can cost thousands more. All this extra cash will help you avoid taking on expensive debts or pulling money from qualified retirement accounts.
• Continue at your current job. Your job provides you income, employee benefits, résumé fodder, and a safe harbor in case you decide not to change careers. Can you work part time? Can you develop your new career at night or during weekends?
• Find part-time work in your new career. Increasingly look for paid opportunities. Contract work, internships, and consulting gigs provide income and develop your résumé. Ask your network what’s available in your new field.

Changing my career was one of the best decisions I ever made. That’s easy to say in retrospect. At first, it felt like packing a parachute after jumping out of an airplane. If making the leap for yourself is too terrifying, take just a small step and reach out to folks who can help. Start networking and talking with the people you already know and get introductions. If you need help from a professional, consider hiring a career change coach. You may have a long road ahead of you — there’s no need to go it alone!

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

Who: Jared Goldberg, age 30

What: Olympic alpine skier

Where: Salt Lake City

You’re headed for your third Winter Olympics. In which events will you compete in Beijing?

They had not decided who will be on the teams as of early January, but I’m preparing for the downhill and super-G races.

How did you become a world-class skier?

My family and I moved to Salt Lake City from Boston when I was 4 years old. I spent a lot of time skiing at Snowbird Mountain Resort. It was a really cool upbringing because I got to spend my time on a ski team that was like a big family. I went to high school in Salt Lake, and I was able to work it out with my teachers that I would leave for weeks at a time. They fully supported me; I just told them I had a dream that I would go to the Olympics someday. And then when I was 19, I made the U.S. ski team. At 22, I was the youngest member of the Sochi Olympics U.S. men’s alpine team.

What’s life like for a professional skier?

It’s a 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. job with a lot of traveling. We’re on the road about five and a half months of the year, if not more. It’s really cool because we get to see the world and ski on different mountains all over the world. We’re working hard and strength training when we’re on the road. These days, it’s hard to work out in public gyms, so in Europe we’ve been carrying around a whole set of weights and equipment. We have to constantly exercise and do physical therapy. We also watch video when we’re done with training.

What COVID protocols are you following for the Olympics?

Right now, we’re in our downhill team bubble. We’re almost a bubble within a bubble, actually, because we also limit our contact with the other guys on the U.S. ski team. And when we’re out in public, we’re not able to do as many autograph signings, and family members aren’t even allowed to stay with us at the races this year. That has been the protocol for basically the whole year. If we’re around other people, we have to wear a mask—sometimes even within our own meetings with our downhill team.

You need to be vaccinated to go, and on our team, you need to also have a booster. There’s going to be a lot of testing before we fly and when we get there. The workers are going to be wearing hazmat suits on the plane, I’ve been told.

How do you support yourself?

I have sponsorships with Snowbird Mountain resorts, and I have equipment sponsors. My skis, my helmet, my goggles, my Spyder outerwear, those brands are my other source of income. There’s also prize money. You get paid for your position, and you get points for your positions as well. If you’re in the top 30, you get World Cup points—100 points for first place all the way down to one point for 30th place. I make a little bit of money on Cameo, too. I do shoutouts, happy birthdays, give people advice and things like that.

I also dabble with cryptocur­rencies for fun. I started investing in crypto about four years ago. A couple of buddies on the team and I started playing around with it, not with big numbers or anything. It has just been kind of fun fooling around and learning more about it.

What are your thoughts on the political situation with China now?

I think that it’s a good call to not pull the athletes out of the competitions, because we’d give up a lot of medals. We don’t want to make it easy for the other countries.

Have the challenging past two years inspired you to think differently about your life, your work and your finances? You are not alone:

• 50.3% of U.S. adults age 55+ now consider themselves retired. Before the pandemic, up from 48.1% of those adults before the pandemic.
• More than 24 million U.S. workers quit their jobs between April and September 2021.
• For the 11 million open jobs listed in October 2021, only 7.4 million unemployed people were available to fill them.

Whether you have been thinking about a job change for decades or have been motivated by recent events to make a career move, it is imperative that you manage your transition with careful, calculated financial planning.

To start the process, here are five financial pointers (my five “Bs”) for changing jobs:

1. Budget

Before you make a career move, you need to be able to answer these questions: How will your career change impact your income, expenses, savings and current investing? How much of your current income are you saving and investing today across taxable (e.g., brokerage), tax-deferred (e.g., traditional IRA) and tax-free (e.g., Roth IRA) accounts? And how is your income projected to change in the immediate term (the first 12 months) and intermediate (12 to 24 months) period of your professional transition?

If a decrease in savings and investing is anticipated, when will you resume saving and investing, and how will you hold yourself accountable to this deadline?

2. Business impact

Will your professional change have tax and/or financial planning implications? Will you move from being an employee of an organization to owning a business? Are you becoming a partner in a firm? Will non-cash equity be part of your compensation?

As you understand the business impact of your career change, chat with your existing financial adviser to ensure you are accounting for the change in your tax and financial plan.

3. Benefits

What perks do you receive today from your current employment, like insurance, deferred compensation and/or equity-based compensation? How will these benefits change with your new opportunity? Are there tax considerations associated with your current benefits that might influence the timing of your professional move?

If benefits you rely on today will not be readily available through your next opportunity, how will you meet the needs that no longer will be covered, such as disability insurance?

4. Buddies

Who are the people — whether they be relatives or friends — that will be affected by your professional decisions? How will a career change impact the time that you have available to spend with these people, as well as the lifestyle you can afford for yourself and them with your total compensation?

As you transition to your new role, will additional time and money be required to facilitate the move, prompting a change in daily life for you and your buddies?

5. Buffer

Typically it’s good to have three to six months of expenses in your emergency savings. If you are moving from a salary-based position to a more commission-based or entrepreneurial role, it may be important to build up a larger cash reserve prior to making the transition.

To complement your emergency savings, what additional sources of cash and liquidity are available to you? Before you make the move, ensure that you have a clear picture of the financial buffers available to you to provide cushion throughout your transition.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

Who: Mahna Ghafori, age 25

What: Travel photographer

Where: Anyplace she wants

What was your life like before you embarked on your journey as a digital nomad? I was born and raised in northern Virginia and went to college at Virginia Tech. I followed the rules, got good grades and got my degree in computational modeling and data analytics—and pushed my passions for travel, photography and the outdoors aside. I got a corporate job, working at Ernst & Young in the Washington, D.C., area.

What made you decide to be remote? I had a four-hour commute each day, two hours in and two hours out in D.C. traffic. I was starting to feel really, really drained. I’ve always loved photography and the outdoors, but I wasn’t making any time for travel or for photography, and out of nowhere I found this Instagram account of traveling photographers. I had also just read the book The 4-Hour Work Week, which really inspired me to explore this whole remote working, digital nomad lifestyle. So in January 2020, I told my employer, “I’d love to still work for the firm, but my fiancé and I are planning to move out to Colorado, and I’d like to work remotely.” And they said yes.

What has it been like juggling working remotely and traveling? I would work my remote corporate job during the weekdays, and then on the weekends, or even some days after work, I would go hiking, take photographs or road-trip somewhere. Thankfully, both my fiancé and I were given the flexibility to continue to work remotely. While we were based out of Colorado, we were able to explore all the surrounding states. We went to Utah, Wyoming, even down to Arizona and out to Lake Tahoe. We were working East Coast hours in Mountain time at first, so we would start our days early and work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. It was more challenging when we moved to Hawaii at the beginning of 2021 and the time difference became even more dramatic.

You left your job in September? Even though it was a terrifying choice to make, I knew I had to take the leap. Originally, I decided to do an unpaid leave of absence so I could try it out for the summer and then see what direction I wanted to go. And then, come September, I was able to replace my corporate salary with my travel-photography income.

How do you manage the cost of the lifestyle? Finding a furnished place to stay as your home base with a flexible lease is key. In Colorado, when we were road-tripping, we would often stay at campsites or motels. We’ve found ways to make air travel more affordable, too. We’ve found that flights are a lot cheaper if you are looking and booking on Monday and Tuesday mornings. We try to travel on weekdays, if possible, because typically the prices will be lower.

How do you get internet access while on the go? We have been able to use a mobile hotspot, for the most part. But when we traveled to Iceland, the car rental company gave us a portable Wi-Fi booster, which was great. So we have also been looking into using that for international travel.

Where are you off to next? We haven’t really been planning anything more than a month out these days because we’ve had so many plans canceled or changed in the past couple of years. But we have ambitious plans to travel for eight months—fingers crossed that the pandemic doesn’t get in the way of that. We were recently in Quebec City, Canada, and plan to go to Costa Rica next. It’ll be a big change from the snowy climate to the tropics. I’m very excited.

See more of Ghafori’s adventures at www.mahnatravel.com.

More than half of Generation Z and millennial workers say the ability to work remotely and/or have flexible working hours is more important to them than higher pay, according to a recent survey by Bankrate.com. Although I work in a hybrid situation, I have friends who have recently relocated and never go into the office. Some are even exploring a digital nomad lifestyle, in which they travel from place to place while they work (see A Life on the Road).

Before you hit the road. First, review your company’s remote-work rules and get the go-ahead from your employer. Even if you’re already working from home, it’s important to be sure that relocating won’t violate any workplace policies.

Once you’ve decided where you’d like to live, make sure you can do your job there. If you venture too far off the grid, you may not have consistent cell-phone and internet service. Although efforts to expand broadband access are under way, wide swaths of the country still have spotty or nonexistent internet service. Visit the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband map to review coverage for specific areas at https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov. If you choose to use a mobile hotspot, shop around for an affordable cellular data plan that provides reliable service.

Create a budget with your new lifestyle in mind. The most important expense to track is the cost of housing. If you own a home and choose to become a digital nomad, renting it out will help cover your costs. You can rent your home for up to 14 days a year without reporting income to the IRS, and there’s no limit to how much you can charge. If you rent out your home for more than 14 days, you must report the rental income, but you can deduct rental expenses.

Whenever you move to another state (or states), you also need to consider how it could affect your state taxes. If you work remotely from a state where you don’t have your legal residence, you may have to file an income tax return with that state and pay tax on money you earned. However, you can usually claim a credit from your home state for any income tax you pay to another state while working there.

Some states have reciprocal tax agreements in which employees who live in one state but work in an office in another state are exempt from tax being withheld in the state where they work. If you’re required to file returns for more than one state because you moved during the year, check the reporting rules for those states.

Globe-trotters should keep in mind that every country has different rules when it comes to working within their borders. Even if you’re still working for a company in the U.S., you may need to apply for a work visa if you relocate abroad. Some countries, such as Costa Rica, Taiwan and the Bahamas, are offering visa programs tailored to remote workers who want to temporarily relocate. Use the key words “Digital Nomad Visa” to search online for countries offering these programs.

U.S. citizens owe U.S. taxes no matter where they live. However, if you remain outside the U.S. for a year or more, you may qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, which allows you to exclude up to $112,000 of foreign earnings from your income in 2022. Some states will continue to levy taxes on your income.

Who: Selin, age 25

What: Afghan refugee and former attorney

Where: Fort Dix, N.J.

What was your life like in Afghanistan?

I was born as a refugee in Iran. My family returned to Afghanistan in 2002 when Hamid Karzai was there and the U.S. had taken control of everything. I started university in 2013. I studied physics at Kabul University and after that I studied law at American University in Afghanistan. After I graduated, I got a job as an associate attorney at a corporate legal firm. I was paying for my rent, I was paying for my own expenses and compared to many people in Afghanistan, I had a good income.

How did you get out of Afghanistan?

When the Taliban took over, I was in Kabul and I was like a prisoner. I was at home, I couldn’t go to my job, I couldn’t wear what I wanted. My family and I couldn’t sleep at night. We are Hazaras; we’re not considered Muslim by the Taliban. We were afraid of the possibility of being killed by the Taliban. It was very scary.

I was working day and night on applications and sending emails to embassies to get me out of Afghanistan. I described how my life was in danger. Eventually they issued me a P1 (Priority 1 status) because it was the kind of visa that was for people with close contact with the U.S. Embassy and I was a U.S. Embassy Scholar from the American University in Afghanistan. After that I began reporting on the situation in Afghanistan to a journalist friend. I told her how it was, what I saw out my window, how I felt. One day, I went to Kabul’s airport gates because I wanted to pass by the door with my uncle and his family who had SIVs (Special Immigrant U.S. Visas for Afghans who were employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government). But I couldn’t pass the airport gates.

The situation was very bad. The Afghan units at the airport were not letting us in. They were shooting and they were beating people with sticks, with cables, and by electric shockers. I was there for three or four hours before I went back home. On my way home, my journalist friend called me and I told her what I saw and that I was shocked and terrified. And she understood that I cannot live under Taliban rule, so she put my name on a list of flights to France.

Was that all it took?

No. My journalist friend called me one night to get out and go to the airport. I went there with my family. I was hoping that my family also would get into the airport and go to France with me, but unfortunately we couldn’t do that. The crowd was too large for me to pass through to the main entrance. I tried many times to get the attention of a French soldier but the French soldiers did not pay attention to me. Although I was telling them repeatedly that I was on the journalist’s list from the French embassy, they weren’t letting me in still. My name was on the list, but the list was not with them. Then an American soldier took my hand to push me back but I said, don’t touch me, in English. And somehow they stopped pushing us backward so much.

Eventually, the French soldiers got me into the airport and took me to a car that went into the French compound. Inside the French compound, I broke down in tears. I wanted to go back and get my family inside, too, but the French soldiers were not letting me go out. The last time that I saw my family—they were standing behind me, calling to me, “Go and don’t come back because you are at risk. Your life is in danger. You shouldn’t be here. Go, go,” they said. Inside the French compound I could only think of them. It was the worst day of my life.

You couldn’t take your family with you?

No. I called my journalist friend and asked about the immigration laws in France. I learned it is not possible to bring your parents there. At that moment I decided to go to the U.S. compound. I started talking to one of the French soldiers who knew English, and I told him I wanted to go to the U.S. but my name is on the list for French flights. They took me to the U.S. compound. I spoke with a woman there and told her that my family was standing outside of the airport. She said that she could not do anything, unless my family could push through themselves. So my family went back home and I got on a plane. When I got into the plane, there were many people sitting around me, and they told me that they had been inside the camps inside the airport for five or six days.

The situation in those camps was very bad. They said they saw many children die inside of those camps because of the bad conditions. Many people were dying at the gates because it was so crowded. Once they opened a door of the airport, people would push and run to the gate, and some people would fall down, and when they fell down, others stepped on them to pass. And that is why some of the people died, under others’ feet.

I took a flight to Qatar that day and stayed there 15 days. In Qatar, I talked to my family and I really didn’t want to put them in danger so I told them not to go to the airport. The only reason I didn’t encourage them to was that there was so much chaos and there was the possibility of getting injured or even getting killed. They also have P1 referrals and eventually they decided to go to the airport anyway, but the day that they decided to go, an explosion occurred there and many people died. I saw photos and the moat outside the airport was red. And there were many dead bodies, in pieces. After that explosion, I again told my family not to go there. And they were scared. Now they are stuck in Afghanistan. They do not have a passport. They’re there.

How did you feel when you arrived in the U.S.?

It was the first time that I was the person in need. I’m really grateful for all that we have in the U.S. We are safe now. But being a refugee, it has a feeling that you cannot understand unless you are a refugee. All the stuff I took with me from Kabul is a laptop, its charger, my phone and a tee shirt. I couldn’t bring anything else. And I’m one of the luckiest people inside this camp because I have a laptop with me.

How long have you been at the military base?

I moved in on September 8. I am getting used to it. We have food, we have clothes, we have beds to sleep in, but we’ve all gotten tired. Everyone wants to get out soon. And the IOM (International Organization for Migration) and the State Department are working very hard to get us out of here as soon as possible.

How do you spend most of your time?

I wake up early in the morning and I email the U.S. embassy and other people that I know can help my family evacuate. I send some emails and I reply to emails and if I hear something positive from them, I’m very happy during the day, but if I hear something disappointing, I get disappointed and very sad during the day. After that, I spend most of my time teaching English classes here.

Have others that you know already been resettled?

Yes, there are many people that I know whose resettlement has started. Every day, many families get out of the base. I am not sure how many people are here now exactly, but at the peak it was about 13,000. I am waiting for my turn. Every day they post a list with ID numbers of people who are going to get out and going to be interviewed again. After the interview, maybe in a week or two, they leave the base.

Will you have any say in where you are resettled?

Not much. The state department and IOM are saying they are out of resources to resettle us in any state we want. In the first interview cycle, you can state your preference of where you want to go. Then it is possible that they send them to the state that they want but it is also possible that they send you to another state.

Will you be given any kind of financial support?

What you get differs, person-by-person, state-to-state. I believe we are going to have welcome money and our rent is going to be paid for six months, but some people are saying it is going to be one year. I don’t know. And they are going to pay for our food and clothes for six months. This support is from the government, but after that if you want support, it depends on you to apply to the NGOs and have them help you.

Once you are resettled, what are your hopes for the future?

I have a degree in physics and I want to join Space Force and work with NASA or SpaceX. I also want to advocate for Afghanistan, Afghan women and the Hazara ethnicity against which there is a genocide going on. But the first thing I wish for, the most important thing, is to bring my family to a safe place. To bring my family with me here to the U.S. is my greatest hope.

Who: Noah Savage, 35, and Alyssa Wolff, 35

What: Comedians

Where: New York City

How did you become comedians?

Alyssa: I was working at a job that was kind of going nowhere, and I decided that I needed to do something else to explore my creative side. I signed up for a class and then I really lucked out and started doing shows and festivals.

Noah: I walked down to the New York Comedy Club in sweatpants in 2009 and asked, “How do I get on stage?” Pretty quickly I got into doing “bringer” shows, where I had to bring a certain number of audience members every Wednesday.

How has the pandemic impacted comedy?

Alyssa: All of the industry was shut down—every single bar and venue. And stand-up comedy is really only good if you’re in-person. Even when you watch a special on Comedy Central or Netflix or wherever, they have an audience there; you’re watching people react in real time to the comedy. It has been a truly challenging year for the entire industry. People who were more successful comedians than me or Noah before the pandemic basically lost their entire livelihood last year.

Noah: I have two friends who had just made the leap into full-time comedy, and they were opening for some pretty big names. Then all of their shows got canceled. For me, as a college basketball announcer as well, I did 40 games the year before, and then last year I did six. Zoom comedy shows and shows in the park weren’t for me. I chose instead to make a web series on YouTube called Breaking 90 about golf. And I just spent my time pouring myself into that and into our podcast, The World According to Noah Savage (with Alyssa Wolff now as well).

Do you have a plan to do comedy full-time?

Alyssa: I have done stand-up full-time, and it’s basically being a full-time freelancer. The only time you’re making real money is when you are touring and doing a ton of shows and bringing a crowd. You have to be a well-known name in order to make that work. The financial side of it is extremely challenging. You think of New York City as a huge comedy town, but if you do three club spots in one night, you’re probably only making maybe $100.

What advice would you give to wannabe comedians?

Noah: I think this pandemic has just revealed what a lot of comics already knew about gatekeepers and people telling them no or that they need an agent: You actually just need to go make what you think is funny. And then if people like it, people like it.

Alyssa: If you’re getting into stand-up comedy to make money, you’re in the wrong game. But if you are doing it because it’s something you love, then it’s like a part of who you are. There’s still not a guarantee that you’re going to make money from it, but there is more of a chance that you’re going to figure out a way to build a career. Comedy is “competitive,” some say, but there is actually room for everyone, especially now that the internet exists; you can carve out your own path that’s not going to look anything like the next five comics in line.

What is everyday life like with two comedians?

Noah: I hope every couple laughs a lot and that we’re not unique that way. But I actually don’t know if other couples do all the things that we do.

Alyssa: I think that if there was another person here all the time, they would find us to be extremely annoying. If one of us does the smallest, stupidest thing it’s like, cancel our plans for the day, because we’re just going to make fun of the other person for that for the next 24 hours.

Profile

Who: Lisa Mariko Gretebeck, age 33

What: Veterinarian at animal hospital

Where: Alexandria, Va.

The pandemic pushed pet adoptions to new records. How has that impacted your work? The good side is that we’ve been very busy with a lot of pet owners. The bad side is that if the caseload goes up, sometimes it can compromise the quality of care we can provide. Quite a few times the caseload was just too high, and we went into something called limited admission status (L.A.S.) in the veterinary world. I would call other hospitals to see if they could take patients from us, but usually by then all the other clinics were also overwhelmed.

How did that affect the care you gave? Different doctors practice medicine differently. But for me, especially with emergency patients—they’re usually pretty sick, serious patients that come in—I like to do follow-ups directly with the owners to make sure their dogs or cats are doing okay. But it was so busy that I had to pick and choose which clients I was following up with. And hand in hand with that are long hours and all the medical records that you need to write when it’s literally case after case after case, nonstop.

How did it go early in the pandemic? We were doing more communicating over the phone, like telehealth. We would bring only the animals in, examine them, and then call the owners. I actually spent the beginning of 2020 in Japan with my husband, who works for the U.S. State Department. When I was there, I worked for a telehealth company called AirVet, seeing the overnight cases in the U.S. We moved to Japan just before COVID, and at that time, it was not a very busy job at all. But when COVID hit, many owners took advantage of it. The longer I did that, it really told me that telehealth has the potential to grow.

What kind of problems were you seeing with the new owners? We’ve had a lot of first-time pet owners come in saying, “There’s a problem with my dog. It’s just peeing everywhere!” They don’t know how to communicate with their pets. It’s not so much neglect; it’s more ignorance. And during COVID I was discussing finances with a lot of owners, because many people lost their jobs or could barely pay their rent to stay in their homes. So if they were coming to the hospital and paying more than a hundred dollars just to talk to a doctor, I thought it was really important to change my way of speaking about finances. I became very blunt about how much it cost and how to manage it.

Why do you think so many people adopted pets during the pandemic? I think with stay-at-home orders and quarantining, there are a lot of feelings of isolation. I think that has made humans feel very anxious and lonely. Pets have this ability to provide companionship and comfort. They can actually provide people with therapy and give them more confidence and a sense of purpose. The other thing I think is that people have just generally had more time—people who were always saying, “I want a dog, but I just don’t have time” were suddenly able to telework, which gave them the ability to raise a puppy. I think that pet ownership generally will continue to increase. And I think that owners will likely be taking advantage of telehealth appointments, and vets should be encouraging of that. Telemedicine gives opportunities to triage cases that don’t need to come in immediately. We can better prioritize.

COVID-19 upended the job market in multiple ways. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, saw their salaries reduced or were sent out of the office to work from home. But as uncertainty surrounding the pandemic continues, many workers have decided it’s time for a change. In a January survey of unemployed Americans, Pew Research Center found that 66% have seriously considered pursuing a different career because of the pandemic. One-third said they had enrolled in training programs or other educational endeavors to sharpen their skills.

The internet is filled with tales of restaurant workers, hairstylists and corporate employees who have jumped ship in hopes of finding more meaningful employment. But switching careers isn’t easy, and figuring out what your new gig will be is a job all by itself. In addition to retraining, you may need to rebuild your network—which may take more time than usual because the pandemic has limited the ability to meet people in person.

Career changers must also adapt to the permanent changes the pandemic brought to office culture. Flexible schedules, remote work and virtual hiring are here to stay. And if you’re an older worker interested in switching careers, you should get comfortable with the possibility that you’ll report to a younger supervisor.

We’ve profiled four people who have made a career switch, including two who say the pandemic, along with recent social upheaval, gave them the courage to take the leap.

What do a model/retail store manager and a police officer have in common? They both walk a beat. But in all seriousness, for Ponce Garner, 29, of Ypsilanti, Mich., who was recently accepted into the Wayne County Sheriff’s Jailer’s Academy and the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, both occupations have a common theme: customer service.

With protests erupting across the country after the death of George Floyd and other instances of police violence, Garner wanted to change how his community views police. His goal is to be one of the police officers who genuinely care about the community they’re patrolling.

Like many people, Garner had a high school teacher who helped nudge him toward his dream career. After he wrote about his goal of becoming a police officer for his sophomore English class, his teacher introduced him to his sister, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The conversation helped seal his conviction that policing was the right career path for him.

However, his family urged him to consider a less dangerous job, so he turned to fashion, his second love. He studied fashion at Eastern Michigan University while he worked his way up to becoming a comanager at a Guess store in Auburn Hills, Mich. In 2018, he moved to Atlanta, where he managed another Guess store and started modeling, working five shows for Atlanta Fashion Week.

But policing never left Garner’s mind. He moved back to Michigan in April 2020 and applied to the police academy via the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and the Detroit Police Department. Applications were put on hold because of the pandemic, but in June, Garner heard back from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office. Next came health screenings, background checks and a final interview.

In July, Garner was notified that his first round of training would start in August. He has to complete nine weeks of correctional officer training, followed by six months of standard police training. The career change couldn’t have come at a better time because, he says, working in retail and modeling doesn’t leave a lot of room to move up. Moving into policing will eventually provide him with better pay and more opportunities to advance. But even dream jobs come with challenges.

Garner must hit the gym consistently to prep for the academy’s physical requirements. He also needs to prepare his family for his move into a career field they originally discouraged. And once the correctional training is complete, Garner will be required to work in the Wayne County jail for a year while simultaneously going to regular police academy training. After his year is up, he will be eligible to transfer into another department. While the prospect of working at a jail would make some folks anxious, Garner says he’s ready.

“I’ve talked to former Wayne County officers about their experiences, and they say working at the jail isn’t as crazy as it sounds,” he says. Garner has also been assured that the county provides mental health resources if he becomes overwhelmed by the job. Garner is expected to graduate from the academy in February 2022.

Melanie Martin Ebel, 39, of Toledo, is no stranger to switching careers. Before she started working in the mental health field, she was a sports journalist for a newspaper in a small Ohio town, where she was hired in the early 2000s after graduating from Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Although she enjoyed her time at the university’s newspaper, even working her way up to be its editor in chief, journalism in the real world proved to be a disappointment.

“They very much had the small-town mentality of, ‘Oh gosh, we have this woman who’s writing sports,’ and there was a lot of resistance,” she says. She says she also experienced sexual harassment from football coaches and other people she covered.

Deciding on what she wanted to do next didn’t take long, because Ebel had gained extensive ex­perience in the field of mental health during her teenage and college years. However, she feared that she had wasted her time by majoring in journalism, and she worried that potential employers would doubt her commitment to her new chosen field.

“People would question why I didn’t get a degree in the mental health field if that’s what I wanted to do,” she says. And it didn’t help that she was jumping from one low-paying field to another.

But she persevered and started at Unison Health, an outpatient community mental health clinic, in 2009; she eventually earned her master’s degree in social work in 2017. By the time the pandemic hit in 2020, Ebel was working as a day treatment and hospitalization program manager at Unison and had completed Ohio’s work requirement to apply for an independent clinician license (which, along with her master’s, will qualify her for management positions and allow her to open her own practice down the road).

Like many Americans, Ebel worked at home during the pandemic and met with clients and coworkers over video calls. But with her four kids, ages 4 months to 12 years, staying home because of day care closures and virtual school, Ebel says she thought it was time for another change. She asked her supervisor if she could reduce her hours so she could focus more on her children. “I didn’t feel like I was giving 100% to anything, and I knew I needed to recommit,” she says. Her agency’s management and her husband supported her decision.

Now, Ebel works part-time, helping to oversee the day treatment and partial hospitalization program she used to manage full-time, and she continues to offer individual therapy. Although Ebel took a pay cut when she reduced her hours, she and her husband are saving money on day care bills. And even her 12-year-old daughter likes her being at home—most of the time.

“There’s a lot of stress being home with the kids—but it’s the stress that I would choose,” she says. “We have opportunities to make really good memories.”

Tracy Akresh Stone, 47, of San Francisco, got her first certification in career coaching 15 years ago, but she had been coaching folks informally long before that. Early in her career as an equity research analyst on Wall Street, she remembers counseling her cubicle partner, a more senior analyst, after the analyst was unable to present her ideas at an important meeting.

“I remember giving her this pep talk, telling her what to do,” Stone says. “She was so much more experienced, and yet she needed a coach.” After that, coworkers regularly came to Stone for advice on how to manage their careers.

Eventually, Stone realized she didn’t want her boss’s job and decided to take some of her own advice. But she didn’t leave cor­porate America in one big leap. First, she tried different roles outside of equity research, even working her way up to director of finance at a start-up. The position was short-lived, however, and she left the start-up and corporate America for good in 2011. Because she had started career coaching on the side, she already had a clientele and a savings cushion.

“I tell all my clients that they really need to sit down with their finances and figure out how they’re going to make the career switch work,” she says. “It can take time to ramp up, especially if you’re going solo.” That meant Stone had to learn how to market herself.

Now, Stone has a steady roster of clients, from large corporations to small start-ups that bring her in to work with managers who are seeking to be more engaged in their careers. And although the pandemic initially affected her business, companies have now started hiring her to help their leaders manage remote teams.

David Pfeifer, 61, remembers a time when he knew everything there was to know about technology. As a semiconductor engineer during the 1980s, he says he could manually expand the RAM—or memory—of his desktop computer, leaving peers and colleagues to constantly ask, “Can you show me how to do that?”

But four decades later, the tables have turned. As the director of finance and administration at Futures and Options, a nonprofit organization that places minority and other underserved New York City high school students into paid internships, he’s surrounded by a new generation of technologically savvy and gifted youth.

“This generation has just grown up with technology in a way that I haven’t,” Pfeifer says. “Every day, I am in awe of what’s so natural for them.”

Pfeifer spent most of his career in the private sector, moving from an engineering job at a semiconductor wafer fabrication plant to chief financial officer of an e-commerce company that sells women’s bathing suits. He has also worked as an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School in New York, where he received his MBA.

As Pfeifer neared retirement age, he and his wife struggled to decide what they wanted to do next. “At this point, it’s not so much a financial decision. We’re not working to get to some number in the bank and then boom, that’s the day we retire,” says Pfeifer. “Are we having fun working?” is the better question to ask, he says.

One day, his wife stumbled upon an article in the New York Times about Encore.org, an organization that matches veteran professionals with positions in the nonprofit sector. “I knew nothing about [nonprofits] from the private sector. I didn’t even know where to start,” Pfeifer says.

After an extensive ap­plication process, Encore matched him with Futures and Options. Because the nonprofit centers around youth mentorship, working there has introduced him to people who have dramatically different life experiences than the people he encounters near his Upper West Side residence.

“Working with younger people makes you young again, because it exposes you to a whole different level of energy,” Pfeifer says.

Pfeifer joined Encore in January 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic halted its in-person operations. But he says he has been surprised by how quickly Futures and Options was able to adapt to remote work. In fact, transitioning to remote career development coursework helped more students finish the program.

To adjust to the learning curve of a new industry and working environment, it’s important to understand why you want to pursue a career change and what you can contribute to a new sector, Pfeifer says. He believes veterans of the private sector can become overconfident after years of calling the shots. In his case, he says, humility and listening to those with more experience helped him adapt to his new role.

Pfeifer says he continues to enjoy assisting with the nonprofit’s financial reports, as well as helping it provide internships to the program’s high school students. “There is a unique quality of doing something like this,” Pfeifer says. “It’s different from just producing a low-cost product or a very good product for a demanding customer base.”

Whether you’re thinking of switching careers or you’re just interested in a new job with your current employer, identify the skills you have and how they can help the organization. If you need help figuring that out, consider consulting a career coach.

Start by visiting your alma mater’s alumni website, which may provide a list of career coaches that partner with the university. When looking for a coach, make sure their experience aligns with your own goals. A good coach will assess your strengths and your background to help you evaluate your career decisions, says career coach Daryll Bryant.

Alternatively, you can look for group coaching programs. The Grand offers group coaching programs on topics ranging from becoming an effective manager to making a career transition. Programs usually run for 14 weeks. The cost ranges from $1,200 to $2,400, depending on the program. To view current offerings, go to www.thegrand.world/experience.

Profile

Who: Elisabeth Kramer, age 30

What: Wedding planner

Where: Portland, Ore.

How has the pandemic complicated your work? In early March 2020, I had a wedding the same week that Portland shut down, which meant that we went into quarantine. For that couple, their whole plan completely blew up. That was the beginning. In April through September of last year, I was just taking my entire client load and trying to figure out what the heck we were doing. Every wedding I had changed plans.

What about this year? Entering 2021, I had an in-box filled with leads, which is not abnormal for a wedding vendor. In the wedding industry, it’s called engagement season, from Thanksgiving to St. Valentine’s Day. They were for weddings with a minimum of 50 guests, often 75, 100 or 150 guests, for the next four to five months. Those weddings could legally not happen in January.

You have been educating people about the rules? I’ve been trying to answer the question, Can I have a legal wedding in Oregon right now? That is also the title of a blog post I have on my website. I also created a suite of 33 resources about pandemic wedding planning, including a variety of communication templates for how to create a COVID safety policy for a wedding in 2021 and how to share it with the two groups of people that are at a wedding in person—guests and vendors.

Has there been a crush of weddings this summer? There is this sense that everybody who wanted to get married is now getting married, and couples are out of luck if they didn’t book anyone. This is the narrative right now. I don’t believe it’s true. Yes, lots of people are busy because this summer there are a lot of legacy clients—people who moved their plans from 2020 to 2021. But I get e-mails every day from couples for whom this isn’t over. They’re immunocompromised, they have children under the age of 12, they have family members who are refusing to get the vaccine, and they’re asking what they should do. So, as much as I feel that things are getting better, we have to continue to talk about this stuff, even when it’s not fun.

You must have taken a big financial hit. This has been the hardest year of my professional life. I have seen revenue losses between 80% to 90%, and I am on unemployment. I’m not working with clients in person until September. That’s when my season officially starts. Vendors are just completely wiped; they are entering a season completely drained.

Do you think the wedding industry will change post-COVID? The wedding industry is a very unregulated space. Through my work as the cofounder of Altared, an event for wedding vendors who want to change the wedding industry, I speak regularly with people who are in the industry all over the country and internationally. Regulations for weddings have been very unclear throughout the pandemic. And of course, as we have all learned during COVID, what is legal (if there are even any regulations, which sometimes there are not) is not always what is safe. But COVID has taught us a lot about boundaries. And that is a long overdue conversation in the wedding industry. In a lot of the conversations I have with wedding professionals, people are much smarter now about what works for them financially, emotionally, for their families and for their health.

So, you think you might want to serve on a board of directors? You'd like to contribute in a different way. Or broaden your expertise. Or keep active and engaged in retirement.

All good reasons. But just like applying for a job, there is a right way to go about it and a wrong way. You need to know what type of board -- public company, private company or nonprofit -- you're interested in and understand that it might take a while to find that perfect seat.

Deborah Diaz, 63, of Alexandria, Va., who retired in 2016 from NASA, where she was a chief technology officer and deputy chief information officer, was eager to serve on a corporate board. "I have had a long history in government service and thought my skills would be best used on the industry side, and didn't want to focus on just one company," Diaz says. "I liked the idea of being in a strategic governance and advisory position."

Diaz had stellar credentials, including an MBA, experience serving on nonprofit and advisory boards and a directorship certification from the National Association of Corporate Directors. Diaz was in the NACD program's first graduating class of certified directors in 2019. But it took her about a year to find the right board match. Once she did, with Primis Financial Corp., it took another year of vetting by the company to close the deal. Some of that lengthy process was because of the pandemic, which made coordinating interviews difficult, but Diaz says it's not unusual for a search to take longer than expected.

One reason: "There's a tremendous supply and very little demand," says Peter Gleason, NACD's president and chief executive officer. The number of publicly traded companies in the U.S. dropped from 8,090 in 1996 to 4,744 at the end of 2019, according to the World Bank. Most boards don't have term limits, although many have mandatory retirement ages, such as 70 or 75; however, only 16% of S&P 500 company directors are within three years of hitting that cap, according to Spencer Stuart, a global executive search and consulting firm.

Women and people of color, who are substantially underrepresented on most boards, may find it a little easier to become a director. In 2018, California became the first state to require all California and foreign public companies whose primary executive officers are based in the state to have two to three women board members, depending on board size, by the end of this year. Other states are following California's lead. In addition, there is both litigation and shareholder activity aimed at increasing the representation of people of color on boards, says Susan Muck, a partner and lawyer at the law firm WilmerHale, who has written about how to join corporate boards. That, she says, "is likely to open the door to additional diverse candidates."

The Differences Between Private, Public and Nonprofit Boards

The most difficult seats to land are on public corporations, especially the very large ones, while the easiest are nonprofits, with private companies somewhere in-between. Although serving on a nonprofit board can be fulfilling, it's unusual to be paid. "Only 2% of nonprofit organizations pay their board members, and they tend to be really large, such as hospitals," says Andy Davis, associate vice president of education and outreach at BoardSource, a nonprofit that researches and advises nonprofit boards. "There may be reimbursement for expenses, but actual salaries are pretty rare." Of the 1.6 million nonprofits, the vast majority have less than $1 million in revenue and often want you to pay for the honor of serving on the board by making a donation to the organization.

Private companies can range from tiny startups that offer board members only equity to multibillion-dollar corporations that pay a salary. According to the NACD, overall annual director compensation at a large private company is about $115,000 per year.

Public companies, whose boards typically meet more often, pay the most; according to NACD, the median package for a director's compensation is $214,115. A Spencer Stuart 2020 board trends report says the average total compensation for a nonemployee on the board of an S&P 500 company is a little more than $300,000, usually a combination of cash and stock. That amount varies not just among boards but within one depending on, among other things, the board member's leadership role and the number of committees the director serves on.

What do you have to do in return? A director works a median of 205 hours annually on a private board, according to NACD, and 250 hours on a public board. Diaz says her board meets once a month, and it's usually a day-long event. She also sits on two different committees that meet quarterly, with often a fair amount of homework to do between meetings.

What Boards Look For

Landing a seat on a company board calls for research and some introspection. Julie Daum, the North American board practice leader with Spencer Stuart, suggests asking yourself, "What do you want to do and why do you want to do it?" Also, "What do I bring to a board and where would I be of value?"

Nonprofit boards require something different. One thing we know from our research, Davis says, is that "what [nonprofits] look for is standing in the community, networks and passion for the nonprofit's mission." You can demonstrate that passion by doing volunteer work for the organization and attending fundraisers.

Must-haves when applying for a company directorship are a board resume and bio that differ from your job-seeking ones. A board resume should show "an ability to collaborate effectively and to contribute comfortably," Muck says. It's not a catalog of jobs or skills. In fact, says Shannon Gordon, chief executive officer of the Boardlist, "I really encourage candidates to distill their experience down to two or three areas because if you're really seasoned, you can have pages of experience, and you risk looking like a jack of all trades, master of none." The Boardlist is an online platform that connects diverse candidates with board vacancies.

A number of sites, including LinkedIn and Women on Boards, offer guidance on writing a board resume, which should focus on achievements rather than responsibilities. For example, instead of highlighting that you once worked in operations and marketing, Gordon suggests identifying that three out of five companies you worked for went through an acquisition to demonstrate your expertise in that area. "It's much stronger than saying I've done 50 different things in my career," Gordon says.

If possible, share your expertise freely with a company because you never know where it might lead. Take the example of Marge Wyrwas, who lives in Fairfield County, Conn. She was a chief communications and marketing officer with various companies for 23 years before retiring in 2015. After serving on a number of nonprofit boards and a joint venture board, she was interested in a directorship at a for-profit company. A former colleague asked Wyrwas to give occasional pro bono marketing advice to senior management at Pan-Agora Asset Management, and when the company was looking to add its first independent, paid director -- one with no previous ties to the company -- it invited Wyrwas to consider applying. After a vetting process, she was nominated and then elected to the board, where she has served since 2018.

She so enjoys the work that she is now interested in finding one more company board to serve on. With that goal in mind, she drew up a two-page board resume that emphasizes her board, rather than executive, experience. "You're transitioning from being a manager to an overseer -- that shift in mindset is really important." Wyrwas also beefed up her credentials with education, including a week-long Women on Boards program at Harvard Business School and an NACD Governance Fellowship, which required her to take classes on how to be a director.

Although prior board experience is helpful, Gordon says public boards are more likely to consider someone who has served on a private board rather than a nonprofit, which tends to be run differently. One way to get your name out there -- besides updating your LinkedIn profile to reflect your board ambitions -- is through companies such as the Boardlist. It lists profiles of board candidates on its website for free as long as they have for-profit board experience or a recommendation from a for-profit board member. And network, network, network.

Diaz says she knew she wanted to work on the board of a financial services company, so she attended industry events hosted by organizations such as NACD and corporations around the country. "I sought areas of synergy and experts that were putting on programs that I could participate in and meet others," she says. "You can have the best credentials, the best academics in the world, but it wasn't until I expanded my networks that it led to a corporate board."

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Links and resources mentioned in this episode:

• Kiplinger's Inflation Forecast
• Sidehusl
• Unemployment Tax Break: Don't Amend Your 2020 Tax Return to Claim the New Exemption
• Taxes on Unemployment Benefits: A State-by-State Guide

Transcript

David Muhlbaum: The side hustle. Originally, it was something you did in addition to your main job. Increasingly, people are patching together side hustles to be their primary income. Kathy Kristof, who runs a website that helps people find good gigs, joins us to talk about the changing field of contract employment. Also, are you afraid of inflation? Or would you rather not talk about that? All coming up in this episode of Your Money’s Worth. Stick around,

David Muhlbaum: Welcome to Your Money’s Worth. I’m Kiplinger.com senior editor David Muhlbaum, joined by my co-host, senior editor Sandy Block. How are you doing Sandy?

Sandy Block: Hi, I’m doing great.

David Muhlbaum: Excellent. I want to start out talking about something and whether we should be talking more about it. I know that sounds a little bit cryptic. So here’s the topic in question: inflation.

Sandy Block: Like the economic topic, not tire inflation, which is what you tend to go on about at great length.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah, right. I could do tire inflation and how you need to check pressures with a gauge, even though cars have TPMS, but no, I mean inflation in the U.S. economy, the general increase in prices and fall and the purchasing power of money.

Sandy Block: Ah, okay.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah, well I’ve heard that reaction before. In truth, not everyone here at Kiplinger agrees inflation is a good topic to talk about on a podcast. In part, because while it’s both real and can affect everyone, there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. And some people think it’s boring.

Sandy Block: Except for inflation hawks.

David Muhlbaum: Yes. Inflation hawks, closely related to the deficit hawks we talked about earlier this year. In fact, these two creatures share a lot of DNA, and they’re both squawking these days, but I’m going to stop now and say, dear listener, this is supposed to be a two-way street. We spend a lot of time stroking our chins, deciding what to feature each week on this podcast, but you can let us know, too. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and of course, good old email, podcast@kiplinger.com. So, do you want us to do a full-length feature on inflation risks with a guest? An interesting one, I hope. Speak up! In the meantime, we’re going to take a quick crack at it anyway. And so you can also write us and say that was enough, or too much, no more on inflation, thanks.

Sandy Block: Or just say hi, or suggest something entirely different. But inflation, then, it’s a staple of the Kiplinger Letter. They can’t avoid the topic, what with having to put out regular economic forecasts.

David Muhlbaum: Exactly. They’re stuck with it, but even so, we’re in a time of heightened inflation talk, as the Letter laid out last week. And no, I didn’t say we’re actually in a time of inflation. We’re in a time of inflation fear. The fear that in the future, prices will start rising and cutting the ability of people, particularly those on fixed incomes to afford things, and making it hard for businesses to plan, and devaluing investments, bonds in particular. That’s what people are afraid of with inflation.

Sandy Block: Right. And in fairness, a lot of the conditions that can set off inflation are in place. I’m harking back to my econ classes, and these things would all be written on the blackboard. Government spending, as we’re seeing with another round of economic stimulus. Another big factor is pent-up demand. People coming out of lockdown, itching to spend on everything from meals to travel, to haircuts, to clothes for the office. But just because inflation could happen, doesn’t mean it will.

David Muhlbaum: Maybe part of the reason that inflation danger draws so much eye-rolling is that these warnings, they’ve been sounded so many times before, and yet over the last dozen years or so, it’s been deflation, falling prices that’s been the bigger risk.

Sandy Block: Right. Now I’m back to Econ 101.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah. I brought in another term. I’m sorry. I’ll wrap this up by doing my best to summarize the Kiplinger Letter’s take then. They agree that the ingredients for inflation are in place now, and they think inflation will rise enough for consumers to take notice. In part, because we measure prices by where they were a year ago. And frankly, last year, in 2020, things were weird. I mean, think about the price of gas during the pandemic, but the letter editors, they have faith that the Federal Reserve, whose job it is to keep inflation in check can get it from getting out of hand.

Sandy Block: Right. And Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell is testifying in front of Congress as we speak.

David Muhlbaum: Yeah, you’re correct. I will try some listening instead of more talking. But as we said, if you want us to come back and wrestle with inflation fears some more, we might. Let us know. When we return for our main segment, we’ll talk about the gig economy, how the pandemic has changed it, and a key way to find good jobs in it.

David Muhlbaum: We’re back for our main segment with another Kiplinger alumna, Kathy Kristof, who might be familiar to some of you for her Practical Portfolio series, where she put her own money to work trying to beat the market, and she brought us along for the ride. But her main endeavor for the past few years has been a company called SideHusl. And that’s spelled S-I-D-E H-U-S-L because, well, this is the internet. SideHusl, no T and no E around the L. It’s a site that helps people find and vet gigs. And we’re going to talk about how it’s doing, but Kathy, as with so many things, we want to talk about pandemic effects. And so what would you say are the biggest changes the corona economy has had on the gig economy? Maybe you could give us one good and one bad.

Kathy Kristof: Well, it’s eliminated certain types of jobs, jobs in entertainment and travel, pretty much just disappeared over the past year. And then meanwhile, jobs in delivery, shopping for other people, all sorts of artistic gigs went absolutely nuts, which is fun. All sorts of people who basically were out of work because of the pandemic ended up using their free time to do some crafty thing. And I’ve talked to people who not only replaced their previous income, but made hundreds of thousands of dollars because they somehow connected with people who wanted their t-shirts that were maybe mocking the pandemic or that were connecting to a particular group or people who make puzzles, puzzles were giant during the pandemic. So you think about millions of people stuck at home and getting sick of Netflix. And so now you create a product for them to hang out with their family.

So it changed the world. And I think it also made people way more aware that even stable jobs are not quite as stable in the real world. And so we saw a giant increase in interest in side hustles, our site traffic doubled over the course of the year. And it’s kind of maintained that.

David Muhlbaum: Wow, that’s impressive. The delivery thing, well, I knew about that. The games and design, frankly, I didn’t. And so you’re able to see what’s happening, not just by site traffic, and congratulations on that. But I presume also by categories, you’re having to add categories of things that are side hustles that weren’t before.

Kathy Kristof: Oh yeah, yeah. And the online tutoring platforms have gone absolutely gangbusters, as you probably are not surprised, right? Because distance learning has really failed kids. So parents, and particularly now as more and more school districts are talking about going back to in-person learning, and you have testing, and a lot of kids, you just would call the last year, a lost year for them. And so now they have to catch up. And so again, the tutoring platforms that were gangbusters at the beginning of the pandemic are again gangbusters now, because again, you realize, okay, we got to catch up, we got to get back to something that’s close to our grade level.

Sandy Block: So Kathy, why don’t you tell us a little bit about what SideHusl does and how it sort of helps people who are interested in gig jobs particularly now, because maybe they need the extra income, just maybe a little bit about what you do.

Kathy Kristof: Sure. Well, it kind of helps to tell you how I started. I was reporting as a freelance reporter, and I was writing for all sorts of different publications, including Kiplinger and Reuters and whomever, CBS News. And I was constantly getting pitched by these companies that were purporting that they were onto some new way to make money in the gig economy.

David Muhlbaum: The Uber of so-and-so.

Kathy Kristof: Oh yes, everything was the Uber or the Airbnb of whatever it was. And so I started digging in, as a reporter will do. And I wanted to just get more detail, of how much money do you make, and where is this available? And what are the risks? What are the rewards? All that stuff, what are the parameters? You get their answers. And then you read the terms and conditions, because I’m actually a reporter. And when you read the terms and conditions, what you realize, first of all, is this whole industry, this whole gig economy is unlike a normal employment arrangement like with normal employer/employee relationships, where you’re governed by labor law. With side hustles, you’re governed by contract law. And so if it’s in the contract, if it’s in the terms and conditions, they can do almost anything. And there’s no disclosure requirements. So people get into these gigs, and way later they find out, oh, guess what? It’s totally like a credit card deal.

So you build up points with a credit card arrangement. You think you have $500 built up in points. And then the credit card company says, “Oh, you violated our terms. We’re taking away that $500.” And that’s what they’re doing with people’s income, or some of these platforms were doing. And so I was horrified. Because I’m like, first thing kind of seduced by this thing, I think is kind of cool. You have a lot of freedom, like whatever. And then when you start reading the terms, again, on the surface, you can’t tell the difference between a great side hustle and a bad side hustle. And that’s when I decided I had to create, because I was gathering information just for my own edification. And then I thought, “Oh my God, people need to know this.” I mean, these two online platforms that supposedly give you the same opportunity, one is really good, and one is abusive, and people wouldn’t naturally know that.

And so that’s what I started doing is just trying to create a standard format like you would have when you wanted to buy a mutual fund, so that you could actually go this is what the performance has been. This is the risk, this is the rewards. And so that’s what I was trying to do with SideHusl is just to have a really standard format. This is what the job is. This is what you should expect to earn. This is the commissions and fees taken by the platform, where it’s available, what the requirements are, just basic information. And then we do a review that takes all that stuff and we give it a Husl$core, which is our best evaluation of how well this serves a freelancer. And over the past, it hasn’t been quite three years, but almost three years since we went live, we have 350 online platforms, research reviewed and rated. And we add more every week, we added six last week, it’s an ongoing process. And we’ve just, this is the tip of the iceberg. I mean, this is just a giant and growing part of the economy.

And where like the bad things are that there are some of these platforms that are really abusive, one of the good things is that there are also platforms that are awesome. And there’s so many opportunities. There’s so many opportunities for kids who are in deep debt, and for retirees who didn’t save enough. I mean, everybody can find something that they can do to earn money, which is really, really cool. And then, just on what we do, the thing that really makes me happy is over the past year, I’ve started getting emails and complaints and threats from companies that we have reviewed poorly, because we are showing up in search results, very high in search results, and they’re pissed off. And so I get to say to them, and in some cases this actually had an impact. I say, “Well, if you want a better review, be better to freelancers. Do a better job.”

Sandy Block: Well Kathy, let me ask you this. Because I don’t think, obviously you are reviewing these gigs, these outfits, and you’re not paid by them. So how does your venture make money?

Kathy Kristof: Well, advertising, like a typical, independent publication, we run ads on the site. They’re unrelated to us. Frankly, it’s all Google AdSense. We’re syndicating our copy. We also make money from that.

Sandy Block: But you don’t get paid for good reviews.

Kathy Kristof: No, no.

David Muhlbaum: Let me ask you another sort of industry at large question, if I might, which is, you’re noticing through SideHusl all these new companies and all these platforms and you’re reviewing and making categories for and describing, are you seeing any sort of consolidation, where essentially the big fish are going to start eating up the little fish, and the platforms are going to become more like the way things have gone down in say, online retail?

Kathy Kristof: Yeah, absolutely. There’s already a certain amount of consolidation. There’s a huge amount of movement in this burgeoning industry, as I think is true of almost any young industry. You see a lot of companies starting, and a lot of companies failing. A lot of companies that have done pretty well, getting eaten up by a bigger competitor. Some of that’s good, some of it’s bad, but yeah, it’s a dynamic market. And our goal is to review pretty much everything that’s widely available, and then go international.

Sandy Block: So you’re scaling up too. Well, Kathy, sort of following up on what you just said, given how this industry is so dynamic and so changing, have you had to alter or change your rating system, or any updates or new considerations when choosing and vetting a side hustle, just given how much things change in this business?

Kathy Kristof: Yeah, no, our rating system, it’s not an algorithm. It’s an individual rating system. And that allows us to pay attention to what the competitors are doing in that particular industry. And so you may, say if you’re in online tutoring, which is a pretty good job for your average side hustle, right? Because you can do it from home, you earn a decent amount of money, you can set your own hours. You can choose your own topic, all those things. But because online tutoring is generally a pretty decent side hustle, now, even if you’re a little bit off of what the standard is in that industry, we can rate you against the standard in that industry. And so you don’t want to have all the tutoring sites be way up here on the ratings scale, and all, say the driving and delivery way down here because you’re using your own car and using your own gas. So you get a relative rating as well. So it is complicated, but we think it’s fair.

David Muhlbaum: So tell me a bit more about the process then. How are you getting input and feedback from the people who are actually doing the jobs on these platforms? The independent contractors?

Kathy Kristof: That is a big portion of our ratings, because essentially what we do is, so we go in, we get all the details of the side hustle. We read the terms and conditions. And then in those terms, normally you will see one or two or five red flags that you think, ah, that could be a problem. And then we go and look for the people who’ve actually worked with that platform to find out whether those red flags, how those have played out in real life. And in certain cases, you find out that they’ve played out just as you would have suspected, as a big problem. And in other cases, you find out that the site while at that is in its terms, actually treats people better. And so that it plays big in how sites were rated. And in some cases we have about 70 reviews that have not been completed. And some of that is they’re waiting, getting enough people that have actually tried the platform in order to rate it accurately.

David Muhlbaum: You know, it’s interesting how you approach this. Like the journalist you are, you’re digging into primary documents, you’re looking to find sources who can tell you what’s really happening. And then you’re being the intermediary, the filter who sorts it all out. But frankly, these days, there’s a lot of disinformation out there. I’m thinking specifically about fake reviews.

Kathy Kristof: So yeah, it’s like any journalist, you learn what is a real review and what is a fake review? I would say in the marketplace as a whole, there are more fake reviews than real ones. And so you actually learn what to look for. It starts with reading the terms, and then looking at the reviews, because by reading the terms, you know what to expect, and then you start looking for detail, what sort of detail do you get from these people who are talking about it, and does that detail match up with what you already know? And so you end up, I think getting a very accurate picture, and you also find, yes, you can say anything on Glassdoor, but 99% of the fake reviews are basically, “This site is awesome, I love it.” No detail-

Sandy Block: No specifics

Kathy Kristof: Yeah, exactly. Because they’re getting paid for the review, and maybe they’re even getting paid by the word. And so they say, “This site is awesome!” In four different ways, and in 50 words, because that’s what they were paid for. But yeah, I think the longer you do it, the easier it is to recognize what’s fake and what’s real. Just kind of like, I mean we’ve all read technical documents before. And you very quickly learn, okay, I can skip from here to here because that’s boilerplate. This is not boilerplate. This is how you go to get this information, but it’s also why you need, really, a professional investigative journalist to be doing this job.

Because you, if you’re trying to have a side hustle, you are already stressing your normal day by adding an extra job. And you’ve probably got friends and family and other people who want to use your time as well. And so now to find the right platform to work through, you don’t have the time to read the 30-page terms and conditions, and then go out looking for other people who’ve actually tried it. That’s an incredibly time-consuming thing. That’s why somebody actually has to make it their job to do it. And again, that’s what we’re here for.

Sandy Block: So Kathy, a personal confession here, I’m working on a story for an upcoming issue on the value of working longer in terms of how it adds to your retirement savings and that sort of thing. And I’m wondering, I don’t know that many older folks, maybe some who don’t want to drive Uber or do DoorDash, but what’s out there in the gig economy for older folks who maybe are looking to leave the nine to five, but need some extra income, and what should they be looking for when they come to you?

Kathy Kristof: Oh gosh, there are some wonderful consulting sites. And so specifically, Kiplinger readers are very intelligent, and often high-level professionals.

David Muhlbaum: Flattery will get you anywhere.

Kathy Kristof: Hey, I talked to Kiplinger readers all the time when I was doing my column, and I just love them. And so, yeah, I feel like I know the market and there are marvelous consulting platforms that will, you can sign up, and it’s not like every day, but you can get a high-level consulting position in almost any field. You can be accounting, technology, at law, everything, depending on the platform. I did a blog post on some of these. Some of them tell you to set your hourly rate at like five times what your normal hourly rate was before, you set your own hourly rate. Others suggested you set it closer to what your hourly rate is, and you’re going to get more gigs, but you absolutely can get gigs in consulting. I also know a number of retirees who decided that they would tutor, and it wasn’t necessarily tutoring in an academic subject, but in dance or music or whatever.

There’s a marvelous online platform called Lessonface. It’s specifically geared to people who want to tutor in music and the arts. They operate all over the world. So we talked to a gal who lives in Spain and teaches people a very specific type of guitar playing. And is very busy with this, but she’s doing it from her home. They have a great online interface that allows them to do it that way. And so it’s, I would never suggest to a retiree, “Oh, drive for DoorDash.” It’s like, no, come on. There’s such better options. There are also really marvelous options from renting your home or your car or your driveway or your storage space. It tends to be that those of us who have reached a certain age, we also have a certain amount of assets. I’ve done this myself a couple of times, there are online platforms who will rent your house by the hour.

Why do they want to rent your house by the hour? Well, because there are photographers and movie producers and whomever who want, they need a set. And so you rent your house out as a set. And my house, I priced at $150 an hour. But then I also require that they pay for a site rep who is onsite to handle everything, make sure nobody breaks anything, whatever. They have to have insurance, they have to have all this stuff. And so in the course of the day, you make $1,500, $2,000 for a movie production. And it’s fun. It’s actually really fun. And so that’s the sort of thing where I go, okay, yeah, retirees, you have so many options. The art options are really fun too. I mean, if you have some art or craft that you’ve always wanted to do and you want to sell it online, you can upload your art to one of these print on demand sites. So Fine Art America, Society6, Redbubble, you upload this stuff, very simple, it just has to be in proper format, but that’s not hard to do, even for me. And I’m not technologically savvy.

Then you decide what you want to sell it on. Do you want to sell this artwork on puzzles? Do you want to sell this artwork on coffee mugs, or iPhone cases or whatever, and then they do everything else, and then they just pay you a royalty. That’s kind of a fun little retirement job if you have that artistic bent. But there’s just a million of them. I mean, the thing is, is I’m always looking for things that I would find fun to do. And I’m really excited when I find one that I absolutely love. There’s actually an engineering firm that has, they call it ToD, it’s Talent On Demand, and they have a list of different professional level jobs. So you’re talking about earning between say $50 and $150 an hour consulting on a building project, geology, whatever. These are great things, virtual assisting. It’s essentially what we used to call secretaries, but they’re online, and they choose their own hours. They choose what they do. And so they might be doing your email or they might help you with your social media.

David Muhlbaum: All this talk of consulting in what are traditionally white-collar professions is making me think about how people get work these days, and also how the pandemic has changed things. The pandemic didn’t just upend people who were already in the gig economy, quite a few people who had full-time jobs don’t have them anymore, and are finding that to work in their field again, they’re having to do it by gigs. So this could be a new audience for SideHusl.

Kathy Kristof: I mean, no question. I started out thinking that my audience was going to be millennials, and Gen Z or just kids basically. And I was kind of intense about it because I felt like, okay, some of these platforms could be misleading people like my own children. And I wanted to let them know when these guys were bad actors. But I have discovered that we definitely have that young worker that’s in our readership, but we also have a very big retiree and near retiree segment of our readership that is looking for ways to supplement the retirement income, or retire a little bit earlier, but keep something coming in. This whole pandemic has been extremely stressful for people in all sorts of ways.

Kathy Kristof: And people have also looked at, you have a lot of parents who are trying to keep their main job, and then if you’re the grandparent and you weren’t really ready to retire, but your kids really need help, you still need a little bit of income. What can you do to keep a little bit of money coming in, but semi-retire? We’re seeing a lot of people looking at side hustles as a way to kind of finance that people who go into retirement, not like, okay, one day I retire, they kind of phase into it.

Sandy Block: The phased in, yeah. Phased in retirement. Sure.

Kathy Kristof: And so I’m seeing a lot of people who are kind of using side hustles as way to phase into retirement. And so maybe by the time they’re 75, they’re truly retired, but at 65, you’re pretty dang young.

Sandy Block: Sure you are.

Kathy Kristof: And you have a lot of time in the world. And you’ve got a lot of energy. And so maybe you get your pension at 65 and you think it gives me a lot of flexibility. So now I’m going to just consult six months a year and travel six months a year, or I’m going to do, you have so many options right now. And really it’s one of the things that I find so fun about side hustles. Really you get to decide, you get yes, the flexibility to decide how you want to live your life. And that’s marvelous. That’s really marvelous.

David Muhlbaum: I have one oddball question for you. Why did you spell it SideHusl, H-U-S-L?

Kathy Kristof: Well, first of all, it’s phonetic, and secondly, you can’t trademark the proper spelling of a name. Yeah. So there you go. In reality, you don’t want everybody using-

David Muhlbaum: It creates some confusion, but that confusion might actually be helpful at times.

Kathy Kristof: Well, you know, we’ve all gotten used to Google and what did Google mean? Nothing until it became you Google something. And that was because they decided to create a name that you could trademark. And so, yeah, the web world is odd and unique in that, I mean, you can have the proper spelling of side hustle, but again, you can’t trademark it. And so it is a toughie.

David Muhlbaum: That’s fun. It’s fun to finally get, to confront someone and ask why do you do that? Because we’re running a podcast, where we have companies with what we would describe as funny names, we have to stop and spell them out, because this is audio, but, that makes perfect sense.

Kathy Kristof: Yep.

Sandy Block: But that’s why we have show notes.

David Muhlbaum: Right. And we will put lots of links in, thanks again for joining us, Kathy.

Kathy Kristof: Thank you. I appreciate it.

David Muhlbaum: Before we leave you today, we want to come back to a topic we’ve discussed a good bit of late, taxes on unemployment benefits.

Sandy Block: Right. So part of the stimulus package passed earlier this month includes a big change for people who received unemployment benefits in 2020. In short, up to $10,200 of benefits per person isn’t taxable anymore, at least not by the federal government.

David Muhlbaum: That’s going to affect a lot of folks, I mean, I think something like one fifth or one quarter of Americans received unemployment benefits in 2020.

Sandy Block: People probably already know about the stimulus provision, because if you earned unemployment in 2020, you may be aware that it at one point was taxable. And for them that’s good news. If you got unemployment in 2020, and haven’t filed your taxes yet, it’s pretty straight forward. You’ll get a bigger refund or you won’t owe as much. But if you’ve already filed your 2020 taxes, well, how do you get your money?

David Muhlbaum: Yeah, Congress doing all this in the middle of tax season seems a little bit nuts.

Sandy Block: I’d agree, and I bet a bunch of IRS administrators would agree too, but that’s how it is. Now the usual way to deal with something like this is to file an amended tax return. And there’s a form for that. It’s called 1040X. And we even have information on our website about how to file an amended return under normal circumstances. But the IRS is specifically asking people not to do that this time

David Muhlbaum: To wait.

Sandy Block: To wait until the IRS issues additional guidance.

David Muhlbaum: “Please hold, additional guidance will be coming soon.”

Sandy Block: “And your call is very important to us.” Pretty much, but one possible option is having the IRS, the overburdened IRS, automatically adjust the reported taxable income, and issue refunds to people who already filed their 2020 tax return and reported unemployment compensation. This is what a group of 21 democratic lawmakers requested in a recent letter to treasury secretary, Janet Yellen and IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig.

David Muhlbaum: So it’s not impossible that a solution for people in this situation will show up between the time we’re recording, and the time this drops. And if that happens, I will do my best to put our latest news in the show notes. Senior tax editor Rocky Mengle has been all over this topic, and he’ll have an update as soon as we know.

Sandy Block: And you should also note that how states treat the taxability of unemployment benefits is also changing in some cases. Arkansas, Maryland, and Delaware have already made changes to exempt some of this income, and Rocky thinks other states may follow suit, so stay tuned.

David Muhlbaum: We’ll put in a link to our piece with state-by-state unemployment tax policies, which we keep current. And if the IRS gives word the next few days about what people who have already filed should do, we’ll include that as well. Of course, you can always go to kiplinger.com/taxes.

And that will just about do it for this episode of Your Money’s Worth. If you like what you heard, please sign up for more at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your content. When you do, please give us a rating and a review. If you’ve already subscribed, thanks. And please go back and add a rating and review if you haven’t already. To see the links we’ve mentioned in our show, along with other great Kiplinger content on the topics we’ve discussed, go to kiplinger.com/podcast. The episodes, transcripts and links are all in there by date. And if you’re still here because you want to give us a piece of your mind, whether it’s about inflation or something else, you can stay connected with us at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or by emailing us directly at podcast@kiplinger.com. Thanks for listening.

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Who: Joanne Swenson, age 64

What: Senior minister, Church in the Forest

Where: Pebble Beach, Calif.

How did you end up at Church in the Forest? I was working on an independent ministry in Stamford, Conn. Out of the blue, I got a phone call from someone who had been a parishioner of mine when I was a minister in Boston. He said that a church in California had been looking for their next pastor for almost two years, and he felt like I might be the person. I hardly knew one thing about Pebble Beach, but I really missed being at the pulpit. So I began to talk to this church, and it has been just a wonderful place.

Where does the name Church in the Forest come from? We are in a historic forest, called the Del Monte Forest, which is part of Pebble Beach. Church in the Forest is a nondenominational Christian community, honoring the diversity of the Christian tradition, striving to worship and live by its sacred treasures.

How would you describe the congregation? We have about 450 members. But pre-pandemic, probably about 120 regularly attended worship services; many are second homeowners. It’s definitely an empty-nester congregation, and we’re not embarrassed about that. They’ve raised their children, they’ve grown past some of the anxiety of career and professional status, and they’re ready for a lot of spiritual growth. I’d say our youngest members are in their mid fifties. I just said a memorial service for our oldest member a few days ago. She was 108 years old. She attributed her long life to never using a golf cart.

Did the church have in-person worship at any time during the pandemic? We had to shut down in mid March. But the second we could, in June, we tried to return to worship. We had two services in order to spread out our congregation, and we marked out places on the pews with masking tape. We required face masks, and we took temperatures at the door. We were allowed to keep that up for about five Sundays. Now, we do have little outdoor memorial services when someone dies. We call it Kaddish, borrowing from the Jewish tradition of saying Kaddish over the dead.

Your Sunday service is available online? We record Sunday worship on Thursday, and we post it on our website and YouTube on Sunday. We have an amazing music director who brings in her best friends, and they perform for about 15 minutes before each service. They’re extraordinary musicians. We also have a podcast. Between the podcast and the video, about 80 people tune in. It’s a little disappointing that it’s not more, but our congregation is older, and they just aren’t crazy about anything digital. They want to be in the room. That’s been one of the challenges of this time.

How has Bible study and fellowship been affected? Bible study and prayer have con­tinued virtually; they have even thrived. It’s almost as if people dug their toes in the ground and said, I am not going to let this pandemic and quarantine stop my spiritual life. And even though fellowship isn’t happening at the chapel, our people are calling and talking to each other, getting together on the golf course, or getting together for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

Do you imagine churchgoing may be changed by the pandemic? Yes, I do. Although people can become content through virtual means, people want connection. So, more than ever, we’re going to have to make that Sunday morning experience one of open hearts. Right before the quarantine, we had a sermon series on rituals of the church. I preached about healing and rituals of healing in the church, and I invited people to come forward to be anointed and to be prayed over for healing. I was cautioned that no one was going to come forward. But the front of the church was packed. So, it makes me know that there is a hunger for that. I guess the question will be whether we design worship in such a way that people will say, I just don’t want to miss it.

Who: John Dillman, age 73 Occupation: Owner of Kaboom Books Where: Houston, Texas

How did you become a used bookstore owner in Houston? It all started about 43 years ago, when I lived in New Orleans. I had too many books, and it behooved me to get out from under them. So I sold books at the flea market in the French Quarter for about a year and a half, at which point I recognized that the customer base was interesting and intelligent and that I was good at selling stuff. So I opened my first shop in the French Quarter, which my wife and I ran for more than 30 years. Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I had just finished remodeling our store. After Katrina, I realized business would go into the toilet for about 10 years, and so it seemed to me that the only logical thing was to come to Houston.

How has the pandemic impacted your store during the past year? The first quarter was excellent, but the second quarter, we immediately shut down because Houston became a hot spot. We stayed shut down for the second and the third quarter. But if you’re in small business for a certain amount of time, eventually you understand that some years there are untoward events that just aren’t predictable, like Katrina. We had some money put aside, and we folded that money back into the business to keep it going. And we spent our time just tidying up, making sure we had the maximum use of space, and hoping that we could open back up.

How has business been since you reopened? When we reopened in October, I told myself, if we do half of what we would normally do this time of year, I would be accepting of that. We changed our hours to just three days a week, six hours a day, and we’ve done as much business in those shortened days as we would with our usual eight-hour days. It makes it a bit hectic, but I’ve been very pleased. Thankfully, we have a very loyal clientele. And it seems people are reading a lot more this year.

Bookstores have long struggled to compete with Amazon. How do you do that during a pandemic? I don’t try to compete. What I do is handle what I know, and I don’t handle what I know other people are long and strong in. As a used bookstore owner, the service is having stuff that people aren’t finding elsewhere, in very good condition and for a reasonable price. My customers are delighted by this and only with the internet do they express their disgust.

So, you don’t sell online? We did try selling online for a while, but I never did like that type of selling. We make enough money out of the shop that we don’t have to. We have been using much more social media. I’m a pretty private person; I’m not really nuts about being on social media. But my wife handles it, and it has become a much larger part of our sphere.

What’s it like to shop at the store? My basic layout for a bookshop has confirmedly been, from the beginning, labyrinthian. We’ve got 84 sections, from Earth Sciences to Astronomy, Physics, Social Sciences and so on. But if you’re less than 4 feet tall, it really does feel like a labyrinth. Children love it, and I think adults find it cheerful as well.

Profile

Who: Jewel, age 28 What: Rapper and cofounder of Good News Threads, a T-shirt company Where: Washington, D.C.

What was your life as an artist like before the pandemic? I discovered my love for songwriting and recording in college. And my school’s variety shows are what got me started out performing, too. Since college, I’ve been going back and forth between recording music and performing and curating performances. I was throwing my own shows, called “The Kickbacks,” mostly in D.C. I would be the one pretty much spon­soring the show and I would use all the money we earned to throw the next one. I was also getting paid for streaming music, on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. But that’s not really where artists’ money comes from unless you’re looking at millions and millions of streams. It’s the performances and the merch that help an artist financially.

How did Good News Threads come about? We couldn’t do live shows anymore. I got into the Good News Threads thing with the cofounder, Alyssa. Her sisters are super artsy, and during quarantine they had me doing a million and one arts and crafts. One of them was tie-dyeing and bleaching shirts. Then we started selling them, and eventually buying from thrift stores and selling even more. There are some newer ones, but a lot of them are nicer vintage things we thrifted. I had never bleached or tie-dyed a T-shirt before. So this is definitely a joint venture.

What items sell best? What’s selling best has been changing with the seasons. Good News Threads started off with just T-shirts. But recently, as the weather has gotten colder, we have started to create more long-sleeved shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants. And we also have tote bags.

How much do you charge for your tees? The average shirt base price is about $30. At first we weren’t really paying attention to the costs because we got the shirts for free; they came out of my closet or they were donated by a neighbor. But eventually we started keeping track, and I believe we have turned a profit. Being familiar with social media with my music has definitely helped promote the business.

Who’s buying your merchandise? Everybody that has supported my music has supported Good News Threads. They’ve either bought a tee or followed or reposted. Some have even had their photographs taken in the shirts for us. And I have noticed, even with customers that I don’t know, I can usually place them from a show or something like that. They’re definitely supporting Good News Threads.

Where do you see the business going? We’ve done three pop-up shops so far and we have more planned. The first time we did a pop-up, it was hosted by another local brand in the area, and it was a very good turnout. We didn’t really expect to do much, maybe sell five tees. But then just after a break, someone walked up to us and bought two tees, and from there it was a roll. But I’d love to see Good News Threads go as far as having our own storefront. We could have a venue where you sell your clothes out front and then also have it be a hub for artists.

What’s next for your music career? I was doing less recording before the pandemic because I got so deep into the shows and throwing shows for other artists. But I still push my past projects, and I still write. And I have started to record again. I’ve gotten into learning how to record myself. I bought $800 worth of studio equipment for around $200, set it up in my basement and started playing around with it. And so I’m slowly but surely creeping back into the music.

In my January column, I promised to respond to a request from reader Michael Brletich. After two years of an enjoyable retirement, “my sense of purpose remains elusive,” Brletich writes. “I would appreciate any insight you might have about finding one’s sense of purpose in retirement.”

That’s a tall order, Mr. Brletich, and a very personal one, but I’ll give it a try. First, let me assure you that you are not alone. In a joint study on retirement by Edward Jones and Age Wave, 31% of respondents who had been retired for less than five years said they have struggled to find a sense of purpose.

In general, the solution falls into one of three buckets, says Age Wave CEO Ken Dychtwald. “For a sizable portion of the population, it means getting involved with your place of worship or spiritual pursuits,” says Dychtwald, coauthor with Robert Morison of What Retirees Want. “For others, it means using your talents in service to others. And for some it means doing what you’ve always wanted to do.”

How to find your niche? Start by talking to other retirees to gather ideas. “Ask yourself what gave you a sense of purpose before and what you can carry over into your new life,” says Mary R. Donahue, coauthor with Alexandra Armstrong of Your Next Chapter.

Then make a list of all the things that pique your interest and organize them based on your preferences: Would you like to continue working for pay, or do you want to make a contribution to your community? Would you like to work with young people, the elderly or some other group? Do you enjoy spending time at the computer or outdoors? Do you prefer structure or flexibility? Would you like to try your hand with something completely different?

Donahue has arranged her categories on a vision board, using pictures and other visual reminders of things she’d like to do in retirement. But that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. For her retirement, Armstrong, chairman emeritus of the financial planning firm she founded in Washington, D.C., chose several nonprofits that would value her knowledge of investing and finance.

The point is, focus on your interests and visualize them. “If you can envision it, it helps it become real,” says Donahue, a psychologist. (Note: I’m compiling my own list of possible post-pandemic volunteer activities.)

Keeping the faith. Don’t underestimate the role of religion in helping you find a sense of purpose. “People in their older years tend to become more active in, or return to, the religion of their childhood—or investigate new religions,” says Donahue. “It’s a way of coming to terms with the whole life experience.”

Besides spirituality, faith communities offer opportunities for socializing, volunteering and other activities. Kiplinger’s reader Douglass Lewis is active in A Christian Ministry in the National Parks, an interdenominational ministry that sends several hundred young adults into national parks to work in hospitality jobs and lead weekend worship services for park visitors and residents. “The experience is challenging and en­riching for these young people,” says Lewis.

Lewis’s work combines religion and mentorship, another fulfilling path for retirees. “So many people leave behind a satisfying career and wonder how to make their retirement years as meaningful,” says Marci Alboher, vice president at Encore.org and author of The Encore Career Handbook. “One way is by being a mentor or coach.”

Alboher says the best way to find mentoring opportunities is to talk to people in your area (or sign up for the communications stream at encore.org). She is an adviser to Girls Write Now, a group of girls in New York City who are interested in writing. Says Alboher, “It’s a way of finding purpose by connecting across the generations.”

Ellen Braaten, a child psychologist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, fell in love with Prague when she spent seven months there on a sabbatical in 2018 and 2019. Following her sabbatical, she went back a few times to finish research she had done there, and she began thinking about how she might spend even more time in Prague while still keeping up with her Boston-based work responsibilities.

Then the coronavirus pandemic struck. Like many other professionals, Braaten found herself working from home—and that presented her with the perfect opportunity to try managing her job full-time from overseas. “There was no excuse for me not to go back to Prague and work there,” says Braaten. “I had a choice to be in a place that I love.” Last fall she spent more than two months in Prague, where she used videoconferencing to attend meetings with her colleagues, teach classes, meet with patients and speak at virtual conferences.

Although there are trade-offs—for one, teaching an evening class at Harvard requires her to be on task from midnight to 3 a.m. in Prague’s time zone—Braaten has found that the situation suits her, and she plans to spend the first few months of 2021 working from Prague. She’s hopeful that employers will continue to accommodate remote work even after the pandemic has passed. “I have a feeling there might be more openness to it because it really works,” says Braaten.

A recent survey from the American Institute of CPAs found that 42% of employed Americans worked remotely at some point during the pandemic. If you’re among them, you may be taking advantage of the ability to work from somewhere that’s not your usual residence—perhaps so that you can enjoy your vacation home for longer periods or spend time with family in another city. But depending on where you go and how long you stay there, you may run into complications when it comes to your taxes, health insurance and other aspects of your financial life—even if you stay within U.S. borders. (For more on how to manage your financial affairs from abroad, see below.)

Check state tax rules

If you work remotely from a state where you don’t have your legal residence, you may have to file an income tax return with that state and pay tax on money you earned from your job while working there. “Some states have a tax-filing obligation that begins the first day you do any work in the state,” says Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects for the Tax Foundation. “Anyone who spends a significant amount of time in a state other than their own likely has an income-tax obligation to that state,” he says.

The good news is that to avoid double taxation, you can usually claim a credit from your home state for any income tax you pay to another state. If you work for a while from a state with no income tax, you’ll pay income tax to your home state without a credit for the time you were away, says Walczak. Plus, more than a dozen states—including Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—are not imposing taxes on workers who relocate to those states temporarily because of the pandemic.

One potential stumbling block: the “convenience” rule. Six states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Nebraska, New York and Pennsylvania) have rules under which employees may be taxed by the state where their office is located—even though the employees don’t live or work in that state—if they telework for their own convenience rather than because of employer requirements. In addition, Massachusetts is imposing similar rules during the pandemic on those who live and work outside the state if they’re employed by a Massachusetts employer.

Most states with convenience rules have not issued guidance as to whether they will apply the rules to those who are working remotely because of the pandemic, says Eileen Sherr, director for tax policy and ad­vocacy for the American Institute of CPAs. However, New York has said that nonresidents who telecommute during the pandemic for primary offices based in New York are con­sidered working in the state unless the employer has established an office at the nonresident’s location, too.

If your employer’s office is in one of the states with a convenience rule, that could create a situation in which the state where you live and work remotely refuses to credit you for tax paid to your office’s state, says Walczak. Some states, however, are granting leniency to workers; for now, New Jersey, for example, is offering credits to workers who live and telework from New Jersey for offices located in New York, says Walczak.

One other point to keep in mind: Some states have reciprocal agreements through which employees whose offices are in one state but who live in another state are exempt from tax being withheld in the state where they work. For example, if your company’s office is in Washington, D.C., but you live in one of the bordering states of Maryland or Virginia, all of your income is taxed in the state where you live. If, say, you started working remotely from your home in Maryland during the pandemic rather than going to the office in D.C., your tax withholding won’t change.

If you spend time working remotely from a new state, notify your employer’s human resources department of the change so that it can make any necessary adjustments to your state tax withholding, says Sherr. That will help you avoid interest and penalties at tax time. Track the number of days you spend working in each state. “You don’t want a rude awakening when you go to your tax preparer, casually mention that you spent six months in another state, and find out that you should have a lot more detail than you do,” says Walczak. If you stay in a state for more than six months, that may be one indicator to the state that you’re a resident and should be taxed as one. (The state may also consider such factors as which state issues your driver’s license and voter registration.) But usually, you won’t be deemed a resident of a state you are visiting temporarily without intent to become a permanent resident, he says. Most accountants should be able to help you file tax returns in multiple states.

Make a health care plan

It’s wise to brush up on how your health insurance plan covers care outside your home region. Your plan must provide the same coverage for emergency care regardless of where you are in the U.S.; if you have a 20% coinsurance payment for emergency-room visits, for example, that rate applies even if you get emergency care at a hospital outside your plan’s network. Make sure to bring your health insurance identification card with you to your temporary location, as well as phone numbers to contact your insurer.

Whether routine care is covered outside your region depends largely on the type of plan you have. With a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan, you may have nationwide access to in-network care, especially if your plan is sponsored by a large employer through a carrier such as Aetna, Cigna or UnitedHealthcare, says Mark Hope, senior director of the health and benefits group at consulting firm Willis Towers Watson. So if you are spending time away from home and want to see, say, a primary-care doctor or a specialist, you may be able to find an in-network physician and pay the same co-payment or coinsurance that you would with your in-network doctors at home. Plus, PPOs typically cover out-of-network care to some degree. For example, if you see a physician whose office is out of your plan’s network, you may have to pay a higher deductible and a larger amount for coinsurance or co-payment than for in-network care. PPOs are largely the domain of employer-based insurance plans and are hard to come by in the individual market.

If you have a health maintenance organization (HMO) plan, coverage is likely limited to your home region, and such plans typically do not provide coverage for out-of-network care (except for emergency-room visits). With an exclusive provider organization (EPO) plan, you may have nationwide in-network coverage if the plan is through a large employer, says Hope. Like HMOs, EPOs don’t provide coverage for out-of-network care. If your plan does not provide coverage for prescriptions at pharmacies outside your home geographic area, you may be able to have drugs delivered through a mail-order service.

Take advantage of telehealth. Regardless of the type of insurance plan you have, consulting with your doctors via video chat or phone call is a strong option for care that can be managed remotely, such as attending a session with a mental-health therapist or getting a prescription from your primary-care doctor for a minor but somewhat urgent need (say, for a rash or allergy symptoms). You may even be able to get virtual assistance for physical therapy or diabetes management.

Usage of telehealth surged during the pandemic as social distancing became the norm. To encourage people to stay home, some insurers waived co-payments or requirements to meet a deductible for telehealth visits, although some policies have resumed standard cost-sharing. Still, you may owe the same amount out of pocket that you would have if you had visited your doctor in person. For insurance plan years that start by December 31, 2021, insurers are permitted to cover telehealth services before the policyholder reaches his or her deductible on a high-deductible health plan paired with a health savings account.

Some online platforms offer telehealth services for a fee without insurance. If your insurer does not provide coverage for consultations with Teladoc (www.teladoc.com), for example, you pay $75 per visit for basic, non­emergency issues, $95 for a dermatology consultation or $99 for a session with a mental-health therapist.

Other considerations for remote workers

If you were managing your financial accounts online before you started spending more time working from a new location, you may not have to change much about how you handle them. But if you’ll be away for a while, have a trusted person regularly check your mail and forward any important documents that come through. The Postal Service’s free Informed Delivery service (https://informeddelivery.usps.com) e-mails images of mail headed for your mailbox. You can ask your local post office to hold your mail for up to 30 days or forward it to a temporary location for up to one year. Or, for a monthly fee, you can have your mail delivered to a service such as PostScanMail (www.postscanmail.com), which sends you images of the outside of each letter and, upon request, forwards you items of your choice or opens them and sends you images of the contents.

Whether you work remotely from your primary home or from a new location, you may save money on the expenses associated with commuting. But don’t overlook other costs. For example, your utility bills may increase as you spend more time in the house. You may also wind up paying for equipment or services that you’d typically use at the office. If that happens, see whether your employer will help. According to Willis Towers Watson, 44% of remote workers said their employer provided some coverage for supplemental computer equipment (such as a monitor or headset), 39% got assistance for wireless mobile devices and services, and 34% got help with computer or laptop expenses.

Managing home and auto insurance. If you’ll be away from your primary home for more than a month, you may want to get a vacant-home insurance policy or endorsement because standard homeowners policies typically deny claims if a home is left unoccupied for at least 30 days, says Michelle Megna, of Insure.com. Or, if you’re spending more time in your house, ask your insurer whether you can get a discount. Some companies offer discounts to retirees because they tend to be home more than working folks, and your insurer may be willing to offer you a similar perk.

Not using your car to commute? You may be able to save up to 20% on auto insurance premiums if you qualify for a low-mileage discount. Or consider using a pay-per-mile program, such as Allstate’s Milewise or Nationwide’s SmartMiles, in which your insurer sets a base rate and then charges a few cents per mile. Your insurer tracks miles with a dashboard plug-in device or with photos of your odometer that you submit. You’ll likely save money if you drive no more than 10,000 to 12,000 miles per year, says Megna.

Taking your job abroad

If the freedom to work from anywhere lures you to another country, lay the groundwork to keep your financial life running smoothly. (And before you buy a plane ticket, check on coronavirus-related restrictions for travelers from the U.S. as well as visa requirements; see www.travel.state.gov for more information.)

Unless you stay overseas for an extended period—typically about a year or more—how you pay taxes to the U.S. won’t likely change, says Katelynn Minott, a certified public accountant and partner with BrightTax (www.brighttax.com), which provides tax services for expatriates. If you do stay for a longer stretch abroad, you may qualify to exclude your foreign earnings (on up to $107,600 of income for 2020) from U.S. taxation—and that might include income you earn from a U.S. employer while working abroad. If you establish temporary or permanent residency in another country, it may tax you—in which case you may be able to take the foreign tax credit, reducing your U.S. tax obligation.

Your U.S.-based health insurance policy may not take effect in other countries—and if it does, coverage is likely limited to emergency care. (Medicare generally doesn’t extend coverage in countries outside of the U.S.) Because of requirements related to her visa, Ellen Braaten, a child psychologist who spends a few months at a time working remotely for her U.S. employer from Prague, buys local insurance in the Czech Republic. She pays about $300 for six months of coverage that provides emergency and some routine care.

If you’re healthy and will be abroad for a short time, you may get by without ad­ditional insurance. In many countries, the full, out-of-pocket cost of health care is much lower than it is in the U.S. If you want some coverage, consider a travel insurance policy, which may cover medical emergencies as well as the costs if your trip is canceled or interrupted for other reasons. Search for a policy at InsureMyTrip.com or SquareMouth.com.

In theory, managing your bank, credit card and investment accounts from overseas should be simple—after all, many institutions let you view your accounts and make transactions online. But if you try to log in from a foreign country, the institution may suspect fraud and block you. One solution is to use a VPN, which provides a secure connection and hides your device’s IP address and location. One well-regarded service is ExpressVPN (www.expressvpn.com; $8 to $13 a month, depending on how many months you buy). Before you pick a place to stay overseas, investigate how strong internet services are in the area—faulty Wi-Fi will cause a lot of frustration both in handling your financial accounts and performing your job from afar.

Making purchases or withdrawing cash abroad with your U.S. bank account often results in hefty fees. Consider using the no-fee, online Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking account, which offers unlimited rebates of out-of-network ATM fees worldwide and charges no foreign-transaction fee for debit card purchases. You must link the checking account to a Schwab One brokerage account, but it requires no minimum balance and doesn’t charge a monthly fee. Another good option for overseas purchases (but not necessarily cash withdrawals) is a credit card with no foreign-transaction fee. That’s the case with many travel rewards cards and all cards from Capital One and Discover.

Profile

Who: Larkin Martin, 57 What: Farm owner and manager Where: Courtland, Ala.

How big is your farming operation? We have about 12 employees who help farm owned and rented land. I am the seventh generation of my family to manage a continuous operation. We grow cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat, although the size and crop mix has changed many times over the years.

Who are your buyers? The corn we raise tends to have a very local market, to the people who supply the poultry industry. Most of our wheat is barged out to New Orleans to be exported. And a lot of cotton is exported in raw form to manufacturers of yarns all over the world. Asia—especially China—is the largest region of textile manufacturing. We sell soybeans mostly to a big industrial facility close to here.

Has the pandemic affected you? Farm work was deemed essential, so we’ve had to change very little about our operational procedures. And the nature of the work is socially distant—although I’ve had a member of my family come down with the virus, and I had to isolate from the employees. Luckily, we haven’t had an employee come down with the virus so far. But the pandemic disrupted trade and supply-chain patterns that were already under strain. Preceding COVID, we had a downturn in prices for most of the commodities we raise. And in some cases, this downturn was exacerbated by COVID’s impacts on trade.

Did tariffs imposed by the Trump ad­ministration affect your production in recent years? The tariffs disrupted trade patterns—significantly with China. And China’s purchases of U.S. commodities declined dramatically in response to them. So there was a price downturn. But recently, China’s purchases have come back significantly in volume, and there has been a positive price impact.

Have farm bill programs supported your operations? They have helped to offset the negative implications of the price declines. While we’re grateful for the taxpayer assistance, we would expect that cannot continue. I’d much prefer to have prices that offer profitability for our operation, and most farmers would probably agree.

Has severe weather like we’ve seen in Iowa and elsewhere had an impact on your crops? Variable weather always has an impact. This year has been very wet. We’re inland enough that we haven’t had too much impact from wind, which can be devastating closer to the coasts, but we have had rain from the hurricanes. And in Iowa, because so much crop was lost in that weather event, corn prices went up.

You have advocated for more technology for family farmers. What’s holding that back? The ability to use technology widely is inhibited by a lack of internet connectivity and access to broadband in rural areas. And it’s a very fractured and splintered customer base for someone developing farming technology; it can be very hard to reach. Most of the data is coming in from various machines or sensors or service providers and is in multiple file formats. Combining it in a way that helps you assess cost and profitability is like piecing together a difficult jigsaw puzzle.

What are your hopes for the coming year? That Washington will work to improve the disruptions from COVID and the tariffs and rebuild a system of predictable, multilateral trade. It’s very difficult to build confidence in supply chains when the political system disrupts them in a random manner.

Profile

• Who: Theresa Hammons, 59
• What: Owner, Ashley’s Pastry Shop
• Where: Oakwood, Ohio

When did Ashley’s Pastry Shop open? We opened in June 1982 in Oakwood, a suburb of Dayton. At the time, I was pregnant with our first daughter, Ashley, so that’s where the name comes from.

What are your most-popular items? We make everything—doughnuts, Danish, muffins, cakes, cookies, breads. Our signature cookie is called a sand tart, a brown sugar cookie with meringue and cinnamon sprinkled on top. When actors Allison Janney, Rob Lowe and Martin Sheen (who are all from Dayton) were on The West Wing, they loved those cookies. They were served on the set for the cast and crew year after year.

How has the business grown over the years? We have been blessed. Initially, we had 12 employees, and now we have 17 full- and part-time workers. Dayton is a tremendous community to support our business. And food is something you can always celebrate with. From a new baby to a promotion at work, it is central to life’s special occasions and making memories.

Are revenues down for 2020? We have a retail side and a wholesale side, baking for restaurants, hotels and universities. The wholesale side has been down, but our retail side is actually up over 2019.

Did you apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan? We did apply for a PPP loan and successfully secured one in April 2020. We used the PPP financing to retain employees and hire new workers. Before the pandemic, I was a strong proponent of forging connections with our partners, and our relationship with our bank proved invaluable. Within a couple of days of our PPP loan being processed, our financing was available to us.

How have you adapted your business during the pandemic? Each and every day, we were reinventing the wheel, trying to figure out how we could continue to offer our products to customers. We offered curbside delivery and home deliveries. We’ve used social media to engage with people and link people to our website. We also created “Surprise Boxes” with treats to get people through the day, donating a box to first responders for each box that was sold. We did a similar offering with cookies for front-line workers.

Do you enforce mask wearing and social distancing at your bakery? From the beginning, all employees wore masks and gloves. We started with social distancing, limiting the number of people in the store at a time. And we’ve followed all of the CDC guidelines in order to keep our doors open.

How have customers reacted? I can count on one hand how many customers have resisted it. And if you don’t feel comfortable with the mask, we have other options. We’ll bring your order to your car. Or even your home. Families with younger children especially appreciate that.

The stories about older adults going back to school usually focus on people like Jim Kruger, a college dropout who, after retirement, worked his way up from a community college to a master’s degree in public policy and now at the age of 71 is on track to receive his doctorate by his next birthday.

Kruger’s experience is inspiring but not necessarily typical of returning learners, who increasingly have lots of options besides traditional degrees, such as certificate programs for specific skills.

“The environment today presents substantially more choice than we saw a decade ago,” says Rovy Branon, vice provost for the University of Washington Continuum College, which includes professional and continuing education. “The right education increasingly depends on the individual. For some, a graduate degree is the perfect accelerator into a final act of one’s career. On the other hand, certificates from reputable institutions can provide a shorter path to signal new and ongoing skills development.”

People go back to school for myriad reasons. They want a degree or the expertise to land a promotion or pay raise; they want to switch careers; they have been laid off and need to retrain; or after retiring, they want to return to work in a new field or fulfill a lifelong dream.

The number of older Americans enrolled in higher education is unclear because the statistics often don’t include nondegree programs or isolate 50-plus learners. But there’s a sense the number is growing.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions by students age 35 years and older increased 23% between 2000 and 2014 and is projected to rise 20% between 2014 and 2025. That anticipated growth is greater than for younger students.

Anecdotally, many in the field say more adults later in life are seeking further education. Branon notes that his school’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, designed for those age 50 and older, is seeing increasing membership and is one of 122 similar programs across the country.

New Ways to Learn

Higher education has changed dramatically in the past few decades while tuition has soared, so investing the time and money in a degree may not be the best option.

You may be better off with a certificate program, which continuing education can provide for a variety of skills that enhance your employability. For example, the University of Washington Continuum College offers 87 certificate programs, as well as graduate and undergraduate degree tracks. The certificate programs typically last about nine months part-time and are offered in everything from fundraising management to health care analytics to digital marketing. The cost of each program usually runs less than $5,000.

Community colleges are another great place to look. “They’re our best-kept secret,” says Becky Klein-Collins, associate vice president for strategic communication and collaboration at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning. “It’s where some of the best technical training is going on for high-demand fields—programs that will be the engine of the economy as we start to rebuild.”

Increasingly, four-year universities also are offering certificate programs. Take Adelphi University in New York. It currently has about 30 different certificates and will probably double that number over the next year, says Andy Atzert, the university’s dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Studies. A certificate course in the College of Professional Studies consists of six workshops of six hours each, so a certificate is awarded after 36 hours, with most costing between $1,200 and $3,000.

Adelphi will offer something that an increasing number of higher education institutions are looking at, Atzert says: a digital credential. That means your certificate would be part of a digital portfolio that an employer can click on to see the list of skills you learned in the course.

“We’re really looking to tell employers what you actually accomplished,” he says.

Janet Ferone, 65, thought she wanted a degree but ended up with a certificate instead. After retiring from her job as a long-time administrator in the Boston Public Schools, she was eager to get her doctorate in education at Harvard University.

“I’ve always loved school,” says Ferone, who graduated high school when she was 16, was the first girl in her family to go to college, and got her master’s degree at 22. Back then, she received little guidance and, in retrospect, felt that if she had known more, she would have aimed higher.

“Living in Boston and seeing Harvard—it was wow!—I wish I had aspired to go to an Ivy League college,” she says. When Ferone retired as an administrator for special needs students, including those in gangs and on drugs, she couldn’t shake the idea of getting her doctorate there.

“It kept nagging at me,” she says. Besides, the advanced degree would burnish her credentials in her current job as an education consultant.

So she met with the admissions counselor, but the program seemed too restrictive and didn’t click with her. Then someone mentioned the Certificate in Advanced Education Leadership through Harvard’s School of Education. After hearing more about it, she decided the part-time program was for her. As a result, she will be done in a year rather than three (although she can take two years to complete) at a lower cost. Plus, the program attracts international students, something Ferone was particularly interested in.

Still, she hesitated when she found out it was all online because she loved being on campus. “But online means people from all over the world participate, which is fabulous,” she says.

Ferone started in February and is surprised at how different it is from her schooling so many years ago; for example, homework is not necessarily the written papers she expected but can be a student-made video. She finds the new approaches stimulating and is glad she chose the certificate program over getting a Ph.D.

“I really went with my heart,” she says. “I had the luxury of going with what resonated with me.”

Virtual Classrooms

For older students balancing work, health and family, the obstacles for returning to school can seem insurmountable. One is technology. Even pre-pandemic, many classes were online, and it’s not unusual for people who went to school before the internet was created to be flummoxed by a virtual classroom.

“I’ve taught online primarily for the past 12 to 14 years, and that’s one of the biggest challenges for adult learning—the technology brick wall that they perceive is there,” says R. Lee Viar IV, president of the Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education and a college instructor. “Even though online platforms offer a host of opportunity and are extremely convenient, it scares them to the point where they won’t even contemplate going back if it’s online.”

Even if the course is taught in a real classroom, the technology can feel daunting. Janice Wald, a middle school teacher in California, went back to college 12 years ago at the age of 50 for her master’s degree in education. When it came to technology such as Google docs, Dropbox or other programs used in class, “I was behind the 8-ball on everything,” she says.

But she says an educational technology class, which was required, helped her both personally and professionally. While she still teaches middle school (and received a raise after earning her master’s degree), her goals have changed. She pursued the degree, thinking she would teach college after retirement but embraced technology instead by launching a blogging career, something her professors encouraged.

“Now I have the confidence to pursue my blogging, which I wouldn’t have had if I had not taken the program,” she says.

If technology feels like an insurmountable hurdle to pursuing higher education, ask the university or community college if they can provide you with a counselor or coach to navigate the first few lessons, particularly if they’re online, suggests Klein-Collins, who also authored Never Too Late: The Adult Student’s Guide to College ($19.99, The New Press).

“It’s worth asking, because they will want to make sure their students are comfortable with the program,” she says.

If you have children who can help, turn to them. Or consider hiring a local college or high school student to walk you through the process (either virtually or perhaps at a social distance in your own home) before the class begins.

Of course, not all older adults are apprehensive about technology. “We’ve found this population has really taken to remote learning” during the pandemic, says Branon, of the University of Washington. There’s no driving, and some courses are recorded so students can catch up on lectures or watch them again. “Many ask us to continue this form even when in-person options continue,” he adds.

The Money Question

If finances are a stumbling block, don’t give up on returning to school. Just realize it may take research and creativity to make it happen.

It’s worth speaking to any college or university you’re interested in to discover their options for financial aid. For those applying to undergraduate or graduate courses, “I always encourage folks to fill out a FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid),” says Susan Norton, who directs the Office of Adult Learning at Wichita State University. “I would do that before looking at any scholarship information.”

Because most federal grants, scholarships and student loans are based on financial need, too many people say, “‘I’m not going to be eligible; I make too much money,’” she says. “That drives me nuts. You never know, and it’s fairly simple to fill out. It takes one evening to do it.”

If you take out student loans, beware of taking on too much debt.

“A little debt is fine if you have a long work-life trajectory ahead of you,” Klein-Collins says, but be cautious. In particular, for-profit colleges often push students to take on student loans to pay for courses. There are many good for-profit institutions, but research has shown that far fewer people who enter for-profit colleges graduate in six years, compared with nonprofits, and 14.3% of the students default on their loans, more than double those who attend nonprofits.

As Klein-Collins says, “If a program administrator is pressuring you to take out student loans, it’s time to hit the pause button and explore some other alternatives before getting into debt.”

Some of those alternatives can help you save money, reducing or even eliminating the need to take out a loan. For instance, many higher education institutions offer college credit for life experience, which doesn’t necessarily have to closely match the degree you’re pursuing, Klein-Collins says. “If you find the right institution that really knows how to help you leverage the learning, it can shave a lot of time off your degree.”

Adds Atzert: “People may not realize that if you had a leadership position in the military or experiences as an EMT, you can get college credit for that.”

Take Andrea Schenkel, 58, who decided she wanted to get her bachelor’s degree. Growing up in Germany she had left high school after 10th grade, something that was not unusual then. She now splits her time between New York and Germany, and last year decided she would finally apply to a college in the U.S.

An award-winning novelist, Schenkel got into John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a part of the City University of New York system, and received a year of credit for her life experience. At $9,500 for 15 credits (the out-of-state tuition), that’s a good savings. By going to summer school, she hopes to finish her B.A. in English in a little over two years.

If you are employed, ask if your company has a tuition assistance or reimbursement program. Over half—56%—of respondents to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2019 Employee Benefits Survey said their companies offered undergraduate or graduate educational assistance.

“Assistance runs the gamut,” Klein-Collins says. “Some employees require the program of study to be 100% aligned with their corporate interests; other employers offer a little more freedom as long as the postsecondary program is accredited.”

If you are negotiating an exit package, “it’s definitely worth asking for assistance with retraining” she adds.

Be sure to clarify if it’s tuition assistance, which an employer pays directly to a university, or tuition reimbursement, which requires you to put out the money first and then get reimbursed for some or all of it.

Much of that aid is just sitting there unused. The percentage of workers taking advantage of such benefits is estimated at about 10%. No one is sure why so few people use the assistance, but experts say it’s probably a combination of lack of knowledge about the programs, no time to return to school and not enough money to make up any financial shortfall the company doesn’t cover.

Don’t ignore government programs. Although many are stretched thin now, some promising options may exist at the local, state and federal levels. Kruger, the Ph.D. candidate in his 70s, says Maryland’s Golden Identification Card Program paid almost all his tuition. The program is available for those over 60 years old who are working 20 hours or less weekly.

If you’re unemployed or about to be unemployed, the Department of Labor’s Career One Stop can connect people to short-term training for high-demand occupations at low or no cost.

The IRS allows $5,250 in tax-free education assistance from an employer; anything above that is usually considered taxable income. Fellowships, grants and scholarships for tuition, fees, books and other supplies are generally tax-exempt if you’re attending an accredited program and studying for a degree.

Hard Lessons

Like any journey, going back to school is bound to have bumps along the road that require adjusting initial expectations. That’s what happened to Hope Venetta, 46, who works in Durham, N.C., at a trade association for mental health professionals, planning professional development conferences. She decided she wanted to become a counselor herself and thoroughly researched all the options in her area.

Although she knew it would be tough, she planned to both work and attend school full time. Happily, she found a program offered online and in the classroom that would only require her to be on campus on weekends, when she wasn’t working. It met all her other requirements, and she signed up three years ago.

“I talked to people who had been through the program before and to the admissions folks, and they all seemed to hesitate when I told them my plan,” Venetta says, but she ignored any doubts. “I thought I’ll just buckle down and do it.”

But she couldn’t. The homework and readings were more than she expected. She couldn’t miss any weekend in-person classes or she would have to begin the semester again, and when she chose attending class over a conference she had organized, her employer wasn’t happy.

The cost of tuition and books—about $10,000 a year—meant “instead of going on vacation, we’re paying for grad school,” she says. The financial sacrifices, as well as the time away from her husband “is a lot to ask from a spouse.”

So Venetta reluctantly decided to attend school part-time. She will still earn her license, but it will take five years instead of three.

Changing your education plans is not unusual, says Viar, 53, who has a doctorate and is going for his second master’s degree, but “there’s a difference between totally walking away and stepping off the path. If you look at all the course credits you have to take, it’s overwhelming. But one credit at a time, it’s attainable.”

That’s also what Kruger learned. A former pipefitter, who started his own company, Kruger had dropped out of college in his youth to get married. Once retired, he found that playing golf wasn’t enough so he took classes at a Baltimore community college. He then attended the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, where both his daughters graduated from, to get his bachelor’s in political science in 2013.

Watching his daughters walk across the stage for their master’s degrees inspired him. “I thought I’d like to get one of those.” So he did and assumed his doctorate would go just as smoothly.

But after a grueling weekend-long examination that he “failed miserably,” he couldn’t advance to the dissertation portion of his Ph.D. program.

“I was discouraged but still hopeful about doing other things,” he says. “I knew with this old brain I could not pass that test.”

Health problems and family issues pushed school to the side for a while. But then he discovered that UMBC had changed its requirements—he could take a course, instead of a test, to continue the Ph.D. program.

He passed, and in March, he defended his dissertation proposal (on an aspect of solid waste). He expects to have his doctorate this time next year.

And there are other unexpected rewards. “It’s made me feel so much better about myself,” the novelist Schenkel says. “I think both sides benefit—the younger students see that even when you’re older, you can go back to school. I learn from them, and they learn from me. It’s a wonderful exchange.”

Things were hard enough for Jennifer Galluzzo before the pandemic hit. Four years ago, the full-time working mother of three became a full-fledged member of the “sandwich generation” when her father-in-law joined their household in Brewster, N.Y. But things got harder in March, when schooling for her three children, ages 5, 8 and 10, abruptly went online in response to the spread of the coronavirus. Galluzzo, a digital marketer, and her husband, David, a lawyer, started working from home. Her child care disappeared, as did her cleaning help.

Her father-in-law, who has Parkinson’s and dementia and is used to spending most days quietly at home with his caregiver, was increasingly agitated by the full house. “He doesn’t like loud noises, and we were all here 24/7,” says Galluzzo, 46. “I had Zoom calls. My husband had Zoom calls. Someone needed to make sure the kids got their work done. I had a schedule that didn’t work very well—it was more about who needed what fire to be put out at that moment.”

Sandwich generation caregivers are typically in their thirties, forties or fifties, taking care of younger children and parents at the same time. But the definition can be far broader: About 11 million people nationwide are multigenerational caregivers, helping full- or part-time with children and parents, grandchildren and grandparents, siblings with special needs, even extended family, friends and neighbors. And during the COVID-19 crisis, the usual stresses of multigenerational caregiving have been exacerbated.

Be realistic

Galluzzo had thought her father-in-law’s stay at their house would be temporary, lasting only until they could figure out their next steps. That is typical—and usually wrong, says Chris Cooper, a certified financial planner in California who often consults on the needs of the elderly and disabled.

Families “start out thinking they’ll take care of Mom for a year or two,” says Cooper, “and 10 years later they are still together.” Such situations can lead to divorces, family estrangement and financial devastation, he says. That’s why he suggests that before you make a major decision about selling a house or moving in together, you should discuss your options with a third party, such as a social worker, a minister or a financial planner—or all three.

A 2019 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving and Caring Across Generations produced some sobering statistics: Sandwich caregivers spend an average of 22 hours a week—the equivalent of a part-time job—providing help while often simultaneously juggling work. One-third report emotional distress, and one in five say they have a high level of financial strain.

Cheryl Albright, 40, of Bradenton, Fla., found herself suddenly responsible for making long-distance care arrangements for her ailing father and a brother with severe autism. After her father became seriously ill, she spent nearly six months going back and forth between New York and Florida. Albright, who runs her own business as an occupational therapist, thought she would have her father live with her and her husband, “but he needed 24-hour supervision,” she says. Eventually, she found respite care for her father, and she was able to move her brother from his group home in New York to one near her, just as the pandemic was starting to peak.

None of it was easy. She had to sell her father’s house and take care of a multitude of tasks. “There are a lot of things you don’t think about, such as how to turn off the cable if you’re not listed on the account,” she says.

Her work was complicated because her father never talked about his financial or estate plan—his power of attorney, health care proxy, advance directive and other documents. “He had all of his legal ducks in a row, but when the hospital social worker asked for his health care proxy, I didn’t know who he had chosen or where the document was,” she says.

Understand the financial toll

A survey by Haven Life Insurance found that 59% of sandwich generation caregivers expect to support their parents or in-laws financially as they age. And according to T. Rowe Price’s 2019 Parents, Kids & Money Survey, nearly one-third of dual caregivers spend $3,000 a month or more to care for an aging parent or relative. Nearly three-fourths say they do not receive any kind of support from social services or any financial aid.

In addition, sandwich caregivers are more likely to have pulled money from retirement and college savings. That’s a bad idea, says Eric D. Brotman, a certified financial planner and chief executive officer of BFG Financial Advisors. “To a great degree, each generation needs to take care of themselves before taking care of someone else,” Brotman says. “Raiding your own retirement to help your kids or parents will eventually put you in need of someone else’s help.” Instead, he suggests borrowing against assets, such as with a home-equity loan.

What’s more, to perform all of the duties required when caring for multiple generations, sandwich caregivers must often use any paid vacation or personal days they have. When those run out, caregivers may have to turn to unpaid leave or quit their jobs.

According to a MetLife study of the financial toll caregiving has on workers, women experience average lifetime losses of $324,044 in forgone wages, Social Security benefits and reduced pension benefits. For men, the figure is $283,716. Another study notes that almost 40% of caregivers leave their job to have more time to provide care.

If you have been employed for at least a year (it doesn’t have to be consecutive days or months), either by a private company that has 50 or more workers or by any government agency or school (no matter how many employees), you should be covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Workers can take 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for qualified family needs—for the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for a child, spouse or parent who has a serious health condition. The unpaid leave can be extended if you need to take care of a military servicemember.

Since the pandemic hit, the federal government has also passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires certain employers to give more paid leave to employees who are taking care of someone affected by the coronavirus. Among other provisions, the law requires that employers covered by the legislation pay two-thirds of a worker’s salary for two weeks (or 80 hours) if the worker needs to take care of a child whose school or child care facility is closed. In some circumstances, that can be extended another 10 weeks.

Find support

Reaching out for help—ideally, before you’re completely overwhelmed—is crucial. That can take the form of therapy, online peer support, professional assistance in managing logistics and finances, or all of these.

According to the Haven Life Insurance survey, caregivers say the top three types of assistance they want (which are also what caregivers think would reduce stress the most) are having access to a mental health professional, decision-making support for their family and a financial adviser.

Albright’s lawyer suggested that she hire a geriatric care manager. Her case manager, who charges by the hour, assisted in finding a facility for her father and helps take care of insurance claims. “I didn’t know these people existed,” she says. “My case manager has been worth her weight in gold.”

Albright says she also relies on the Facebook group SibNet, for siblings who have brothers or sisters with special needs. AARP, besides offering its own page for caregiving, and has its own Facebook page for family caregivers. The organization started the page a year ago, and it is now up to 3,000 members, says Amy Goyer, AARP’s family and caregiving expert.

Part of the reason people don’t seek support for caregiving is that they simply don’t think of themselves as caregivers, says Chris Cooper, the California CFP. “You may be mowing someone’s lawn, taking her to doctor appointments and the nail salon. It’s a skewed idea that caregiving is just going to be care at the end of life.”

The National Alliance for Caregiving report notes that 80% of sandwich caregivers help with transportation, 76% with housework and 62% with preparing meals.

Pandemic pressures

Support is always important, but during these challenging times, it’s more necessary than ever. In one week in July, 300 people joined AARP’s family caregiver Facebook site. Goyer says members vent and exchange advice, but most important, they reassure each other that even when life seems overwhelming, they are doing the best they can.

One of the biggest topics on the Facebook page right now, says Goyer, is being unable to see their elderly relatives. “People have now gone many months without visiting. It’s agonizing,” she says.

That’s true for anyone who has a close relative or friend in a facility that is closed off because of coronavirus. But those who take care of multiple generations also have to balance the needs of older and younger generations. For example, should a family with children take the risk of letting them see Grandma or Grandpa?

And while some school districts plan to be completely online in the fall, others have left it up to the family to decide whether their children should return to the classroom or learn online, and some are requiring in-person classes. That adds another layer of concern—especially for those who have both generations under one roof.

Charlotte Dodge, 36, is worried that if her daughter returns to preschool, it may put her mother, who lives with them, at greater risk of catching the virus. And then there’s her father-in-law, who has Parkinson’s and is in his late sixties. He lives in a continuing care facility. In normal times, they shop for him and assist him with other needs.

“With the pandemic, we have a whole elaborate process of getting groceries to him,” says Dodge, who is policy manager at the nonprofit Caring Across Generations and lives in Maryland. Her father-in-law also has limited capacity to use technology such as FaceTime, and less access to the professional caregivers who would typically help him with such tasks. “It has been very hard for him not to have visits with his adult children,” she says. “It has been very hard for all of us.”

Galluzzo says that relatively small tasks have become more difficult because of COVID shutdowns. It was hard enough to grocery shop for the seven people in her house (her family and a live-in caregiver) before the pandemic, she says. “Then COVID hit, and suddenly we were forced to have one person shop for seven people who ate every meal at home.” That meant either trying to push two shopping carts at once or going to the supermarket twice.

The pandemic also affected care­givers who may have needed support and a break from intensive caregiving. Most adult day care centers and respite options—in-home care or care given in a facility—shut down in March. But as procedures have been put in place to safeguard both clients and employees, some have reopened.

Other support options

If you can find a program still operating, respite care can be invaluable to help reduce stress, says Jill Kagan, director of the ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center, which provides respite information and a respite locator. Even in normal times, there are far too few respite programs available for those who need them. And finding them can be difficult, because they tend to exist through a patchwork of government, for-profit, faith-based and volunteer programs, Kagan says. But it is worth investi­gating options nearby.

Another option for the sandwich generation caregiver is intergenerational care. Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, says the organization works on “supporting the oldest and the youngest and making it easier for the middle generation to do what it needs to do.” The focus is not just on caregiving, but on engaging people of all ages and believing they all have something to contribute. One way to do this is via intergenerational shared sites, such as child care and adult day care (or senior centers) located in the same place. Butts says more than 100 of these multigenerational day care centers exist around the country. These also include senior housing facilities with child care or pre-kindergarten or kindergarten classrooms.

Although Galluzzo doesn’t deny the difficulties of being a sandwich caregiver, she says having several generations under one roof has also been a gift. “I watch my 5-year-old doing a dance in a princess dress for Grampy, and he gets a smile on his face from ear to ear. Little moments like that make it all worth it.”

How to handle the stress

Every sandwich caregiver has to discover her own ways to cope with the psychological toll. Here are more tips to cope:

Get help. If you can, find a geriatric care manager, a financial planner or another professional to help you navigate insurance, Medicare and financial planning, as well help you find potential assisted care facilities or other placements. A useful tool is Eldercare Locator, run by the Administration on Aging, an agency of the U.S. Administration for Community Living. Type in your zip code to find a wealth of resources from caregiving to housing to transportation to insurance help. If you can afford it, also outsource some of your parenting duties with child care, camp planners or college counselors.

Seek support. That can come from online peer groups via social media and in person from those who are going through the same thing you are.

Set aside time for exercise. Even if it’s only a walk outside, or meditation or anything else that helps you feel calm. It may seem as if piling on one more thing to do is the last thing you need, but such activities reduce anxiety and make you more productive and calmer.

Let the kids help. Your children, especially as they get older, can help with chores, cook dinner and drive younger siblings. Giving them an opportunity to build relationships with older generations, even when it’s difficult at times, can be a privilege.

Be honest. Realize that being a caregiver is a job, and sandwich caregiving is two jobs. Don’t minimize it.

• Who: Philip Sabado, 29
• Occupation: Social studies teacher
• Where: Ponte Vedra High School in St. John’s County, Fla.

How did you adapt last March when you began to do full-on distance learning? Some teachers recorded lectures and had them posted for students to watch on their own time, but I felt that I needed to do something more interactive. So I would invite everyone to online conferences, where I would walk through my slides, mark them up and then have students ask me questions, either in a chat or on a mike. Two days a week, I did a lecture or tried to do a writing activity—which is really hard to do online.

How did the students respond to this sort of learning? The term that the district uses for what I do is brick-and-mortar schooling. My class typically is, “listen to me lecture, and let’s practice some writing.” The kids who are going to try hard and do very well in a brick-and-mortar school will continue to do well in distance learning. But distance learning made it nearly impossible for me to reach my lower-end students. Some students simply wouldn’t attend certain things or wouldn’t complete the assignments. Even coordinating with the deans, administrators, guidance counselors and parents, there’s only so much I can do.

How can distance learning be effective? If students have devices and a solid internet connection, it gives them the freedom to work at their own pace—more so than with brick-and-mortar schooling. The downside is maintaining motivation and keeping students invested in the process. That was really hard to do.

As a teacher, how has the pandemic affected your life? Seeing my students is really what I miss the most. I miss it every day. I thrived in the classroom setting. All my students know how hard I work for them and how much I care about the learning process. And I didn’t have the type of closure with them that I normally would. There are traditions that I normally do to end the year on a high note, but it ended on a somber, sad note.

Your school delayed classes until August 31. How else will school be different this fall? We have plans for both brick-and-mortar classes and distance learning. Students who have chosen to attend classes will be required to wear face masks if they can’t social distance.

With Florida’s virus cases surging, what do you think about the teachers unions’ objections to returning to class? I understand the desire to go back to a sense of normalcy and to get students back in school. There are arguments for doing that—giving the parents the freedom to work without a babysitter, for instance. That said, we need to value the lives of our students, teachers and parents. We need to try to keep everyone safe. From speaking with other teachers, the overwhelming majority would say to play it safe. As much as we want to go back to brick-and-mortar schooling, it just doesn’t feel safe yet.

Working as a real estate broker wasn’t giving Cort Howard the steady income he wanted or enough time with his family, so last October he began looking for a new job. In addition to networking, Howard, 54, hired Joe Konop, owner of One Great Resume, to help him craft a resume that highlighted his relevant experience and skills, not his age.

The ageless resume omitted key dates while emphasizing Howard’s sales experience and the 15 online technology courses he’d recently completed. The $350 Howard spent for the resume, cover letter and an edited LinkedIn profile produced a big payoff: By late December, Howard landed a salaried position as a territory sales manager with a software manufacturer.

Even in the best of times, older workers may have difficulty attracting prospective employers, who typically prefer tech-savvy younger generations that can be hired for less money. But these are not the best of times. Between February and May, unemployment soared from 3.5% to 13.3% because of the pandemic.

Although some businesses have started hiring, many jobs may be slow to return, if they do so at all.

Whether you’re looking for work later in life to advance your career, supplement retirement income or replace a job lost to the pandemic economy, you’ll need to market yourself to prospective employers without scaring them off. That will require a LinkedIn account as well as a resume that will get past the computerized applicant tracking system, which most major companies use to winnow down candidates.

As a result, 75% of resumes are never seen by human eyes, and if yours does get past these electronic gatekeepers, the initial glance at a resume is just 10 seconds, says Amanda Augustine, a certified professional career coach and resume writer with Talent Inc., a career services company.

Emphasize Recent Experience

In an age of social media, networking through professional and personal contacts to land a job matters more than ever, but to secure the initial interview you’ll still need a resume. Howard had to submit one even though he knew someone who worked at the company that ultimately hired him.

Professional resume writers describe three types of resumes: the chronological (organized by dates), the functional (jobs grouped according to skills), and a hybrid of the two, which Augustine considers the ideal format. Using a functional resume can signal to employers that you are trying to hide something, whether it is age or employment gaps, Augustine says.

At the same time, older job seekers should provide only select details to guard against age discrimination, Augustine advises. “Cut back on what you’re sharing,” she says. Generally, it’s best to remove dates of graduation unless they are within the past year or two.

Your resume also shouldn’t list every job you’ve ever had. Only the past 15 years of work experience belong on the resume. If a position you’ve held in that time began earlier—say, in 2000, lasting until 2013—include it anyway. Older relevant experience can be noted in a short paragraph with the heading “earlier roles,” “career notes” or “earlier career experience” to show the progression of your career, Augustine says, but describe the role or title without dates.

Age discrimination isn’t the only reason to limit work experience from long ago. Technology and industries evolve rapidly. From an employer’s perspective, it’s not just what you know that counts but how current that knowledge is, says Rich Feller, a professor of counseling and career development at Colorado State University and a past president of the National Career Development Association.

Highlight Your Selling Points

A resume is a marketing tool with you as the marketed product, so think about the details that might catch an employer’s eye. A professional summary at the top of the first page or a list of key skills in the top third of that page should give a quick snapshot of why you qualify for the position you seek.

The resume should also tout major accomplishments at each job. Hiring managers want to see how you have used your skills and qualifications to the benefit of past employers. Did you generate savings and profits, or develop new ideas and products? Show what you accomplished for a particular employer such as “grew sales by 25%” or “saved the company 30%,” says Dawn Fay, senior district president for the Northeast at staffing agency Robert Half.

Keep it short; limit the resume to two pages.

Use Key Words

Although it’s useful to have a base or foundational resume, make sure it will “suit the role you are going after today,” Augustine says. That will require tailoring the resume as much as possible to each position. Because that takes more time, only apply for jobs that are a good fit. “Slow down to go faster,” Fay says. “You may apply to fewer positions but may get more traction.”

One way to tailor a resume is to pick up many of the same key words used in the ad to describe the skills, training, education and experience the position requires. “Go into the job description and take out all the competencies and put them in your resume,” Feller says. Check for descriptors, even the kind of lingo used in the job description, adds Fay.

The more key words the resume has, the better the chances are that it won’t be eliminated by the applicant tracking system in a search for skills and experience that match the position. But don’t just parrot essential words; you must be able to document the skills you have, experts say.

If you don’t have a key requirement, take a course in it right away. “You have to demonstrate that you’re learning,” Feller says. Search coursera.org for an online class from a top-tier university, or obtain a certificate in a specific technology or area of expertise that improves your qualifications. This is particularly important if you are segueing into a related or different field. If so, you may want to research the qualifications employers seek. Websites like onetonline.org describe different types of work and the specific skills required.

Keeping skills current is a good way to go even if your career isn’t changing direction. Researchers have found that age discrimination is higher for women and for those in lower-skilled positions such as administrative assistants, retail salespeople and security personnel. “With higher-skill jobs, recruiters are looking for skills and fit rather than demographics,” making age discrimination less likely, says Patrick J. Button, an assistant professor of economics at Tulane University.

Still, age discrimination only worsens in a bad economy. “When unemployment increases, discrimination increases,” he says. Many employers believe “it’s more difficult for older workers to work safely” during the pandemic. Recruiters and hiring managers think older workers will be bored in a job that requires less experience and won’t stay long, adds Augustine.

Although it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing “‘nobody’s going to hire me, I’ve been around too long,’ don’t assume the objection,” Fays says. “You have so much knowledge and experience to add value to an organization.”

Make Your LinkedIn Profile Ageless, Too

In a digital world, a LinkedIn profile rules. Although it began as a networking tool, the profile, which describes a person’s experience and accomplishments, has morphed into something more.

“LinkedIn is clearly the new resume,” says Rich Feller of Colorado State University. “Employers look for that first. They think you’re not tech savvy if you don’t have one. It’s a screening device. It was the college degree; now LinkedIn is.”

Some employers encourage candidates to apply for a job through LinkedIn, and it’s also where recruiters go to fill positions. If your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles don’t match your resume, the discrepancies will raise red flags, and recruiters look for them.

Here’s how to ensure your social media profiles and your resume tell the same “ageless” story:

• Change the privacy settings on your social media accounts so that any information that might give away your age, such as photographs of you or your grandchildren, is limited to friends and family.
• If your resume is limited to the last 15 years or so, edit your social media profile to match. “Don’t focus on the length of time you’ve been in the field,” says One Great Resume’s Joe Konop.
• If you’re not working full-time, keep your skills sharp with temporary, consulting or pro bono work and webinars. Just as you would include those things on a resume, make them part of your LinkedIn profile. “We see people get hired permanently from doing consulting work,” says Dawn Fay of Robert Half.

Lauryn Williams is a certified financial planner with Worth Winning, in Dallas, and an adviser for Student Loan Planner, which provides consulting and refinancing services for borrowers. She is a three-time Olympic medalist in track and field and the two-woman bobsled, and the first U.S. woman to medal in both the Summer and Winter Games.

What led you to become a certified financial planner? I didn’t get the kind of service I wanted from either one of the two financial advisers I had during my time as an Olympian. They didn’t help me with my budget. We didn’t have conversations about my short- or long-term goals or savings. I was earning more than $200,000 in sponsorships before I was old enough to drink. I knew I needed more information to be better equipped to handle my finances. As I started educating myself, I thought I could help other people.

What got you interested in finance? I was always in­terested in math and very entrepreneurial. And I was always looking for a way to earn money. I raked leaves, sold candy in sixth grade, worked at a catering company on the weekends when I was 8, and started working at Wendy’s on my 16th birthday. When I got to college and browsed through majors, I asked someone about finance. They said that it dealt with math and money, and I love both of those things. So it was easy from there.

African Americans take out student loans at higher rates and have higher default rates than their peers. What can be done to close the wealth gap, not just for borrowers but for African Americans in general? A lot of African American students are the first in their family to go to college. Their parents may not be familiar with all of the options available to fund higher education. Students are signing on the dotted line for loans because they don’t know the difference between loans, grants and scholarships, but they know education is important to continue to move forward in the future. Technical schools that prey upon low-income students shut down and leave the borrower high and dry. High school students need to have discussions with their parents about the most cost-effective way to receive an education before making a decision about where to go to school. If student loans are a part of the decision, they need to discuss how they’ll pay them back.

What can the financial industry do to bridge the racial wealth divide? We’re in a unique time in history right now in which the conversation on race, racism and the racial wealth divide is happening at a level that has never happened before. And we’ve started having conversations about diversity in the financial industry. The financial planning industry right now is only made up of 3.5% people of color, of which 2.2% are African American. Financial advisers should consider going into diverse high schools to get students interested in financial planning.

Mentoring people of color currently in the financial industry is important, too. If you’re an employer hiring African Americans, create an environment where they can flourish and feel welcome. You can’t just hire a minority planner to check a diversity box. You need a plan and strategy to retain them.

Though most recent graduates aren’t technically millennials, both Gen Zers and millennials who are new to the job market face unprecedented challenges in 2020. Hiring has picked up as the economy reopens, but even so, the class of 2020 is entering one of the most depressed job markets in decades.

I was hired as a staff writer at Kiplinger in March, just weeks after I graduated from Middlebury College (full confession: I am a member of Gen Z, not the millennial cohort). As an employed recent graduate, I feel very fortunate. But I can’t say the same for many of my friends. Much of the tried-and-true advice for job seekers no longer applies. You can’t, for example, stack your calendar with networking coffee chats and obey social distancing guidelines at the same time.

Hone your strategy. Though unemployment is high across the board, people age 18 to 34 have been disproportionately affected, according to a recent Axios-Harris study. One-third of people who are 18 to 34 have been laid off or placed on temporary leave, compared with 22% of those who are 35 to 49, and 15% of those who are 50 to 64, according to the study. But even in this environment, many companies still need employees, and firms are eager to hire recent college graduates. Even if you’re unable (or unwilling) to travel, keep an eye out for virtual networking events and remote job postings. “We have definitely seen an increase in remote postings as well as remote events,” says Christine Cruzvergara, vice president of higher education at Handshake, an online platform that connects recent graduates with employers.

Steer clear of cluttered job-posting sites that will send you down a rabbit hole to out-of-date or filled jobs. And you don’t have to pay an expensive service to get access to the jobs that are suited to your skills. Websites such as LinkedIn and Handshake allow you to filter your searches by location, industry and job type so you can connect with employers who are hiring. To access Handshake, you’ll need to sign in with your academic credentials and have an .edu e-mail address.

Hiring is up in several employment categories, including delivery services, call centers, e-commerce warehouses and online tutors. Among major companies, Amazon fulfillment centers, Facebook product and engineering teams, and Nestlé factory/distribution and corporate sites are hiring. You can find a comprehensive list of companies hiring recent grads on Handshake’s 500 List, a compilation of the top 500 hiring employers.

If you’re living at home while you search for a job, get your finances in order, says Lori Atwood, a certified financial planner based in Washington, D.C. If you have earnings from a temporary or part-time job, use the money you’re saving on rent to build up your cash reserves. That way, you’ll have an emergency fund when you move out.

You may need to be flexible about location, too. The job market is shifting, and the best places to find a job might surprise you. Some of the best cities for job seekers right now are Madison, Wis., Charlottesville, Va., and Fargo, N.D., according to a study by Zippia.com, a career expert website. These cities have low unemployment, which means less competition, and a high number of jobs in essential industries, such as health care, telecommunications, information technology systems, and public works.

College is often considered the surest path to a lucrative career. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, bachelor’s degrees are required for 169 occupations in this country. People with higher levels of education generally earn higher salaries. Specifically, people with bachelor’s degrees had a median weekly paycheck of $1,493 (more than $77,000 a year) in 2023, compared to $899 (or $46,748) for workers with a high school diploma.

But not all college degrees are created equal. And with student loan payments looming for many, we thought it would be good to know which college majors pay best.

To determine which majors typically come with the best hiring prospects and salary, we consulted with compensation research firm Payscale, which ran data for us from its salary survey of more than  3 million workers with bachelor’s degrees. We looked for courses of study that tend to lead to fat paychecks—both right out of school and further along their career path. Plus, we factored in the percentage of workers who feel their jobs have a positive impact on the world, as having a sense of purpose can be just as important as having a good payday. 

This year, PayScale looked at nearly 159,000 salary profiles submitted over the past year and culled a total of 50 college majors. Across those majors in this survey, the early career pay was $60,000 with mid career pay coming to $92,100. Asked if their jobs made the world a better place, 54% said yes, or "very much so."

Our list presents the best shots at success and satisfaction in the workplace, complete with generous incomes and an abundance of job opportunities. Check out the best college majors for a lucrative career. (Spoiler alert: STEM majors—that is, fields in science, technology, engineering and math—dominate.)

See if something on our list appeals to you.

• Starting salary: $97,500
• Mid Career Salary: $212,500
• Job Has Meaning:  61% (Percent who said yes to, “Does your work make the world a better place?")

Petroleum engineers partner with geoscientists to find oil and gas reserves and then  develop the most effective methods to extract that oil and gas. This includes designing the drilling equipment as well as the facilities on land or sea to support the extraction. While some petroleum engineers may participate in the entire process, within the category there are specialized engineers who may focus on just one aspect. This includes drilling engineers who focus on the drill equipment and process and production engineers who focus on the oil and gas production. 

The BLS states there are 21,400 petroleum engineers, and expects the category to grow about 2% during the next 10 years, on par with the average for all occupations. As of May 2023, the national median annual wage for petroleum engineers was $135,690.

• Starting salary: $98,300
• Mid Career Salary: $191,800
• Job Has Meaning: 21%

Breaking it down according to the BLS, operations research uses math to problem solve, while industrial engineering creates systems that bring together personnel, materials and equipment to make products or provide services. Together, they use scientific methods to make the most of production with the resources available to the company. 

To get a degree in this field, expect to study a lot of math and science, such as applied mathematics, statistics and computer science. Other coursework likely includes production systems planning, manufacturing systems design and related classes. While many employers may accept a bachelor’s degree for those starting out in the field, some may require a master’s degree as well.  

• Starting Salary: $74,700
• Mid Career Salary: $173,600
• Job Has Meaning: 54%

Interaction designers focus on the relationship between the user and a product or service. According to Indeed, “An interaction designer ensures products function properly when users interact with them. They're responsible for understanding a user's needs and creating software, applications, websites and even physical products like smart devices.” Job responsibilities could include developing design strategy, improving digital functions and conducting user research. 

While the BLS doesn’t list interaction design as its own occupation, a look at web developers and digital designers shows this category is expected to grow 16% from 2022 to 2032, which far exceeds the average for all other occupations.

• Starting Salary: $76,500
• Mid Career Salary: $164,400
• Job Has Meaning: 54%

Applied economics and management combines an education in management with a specialty in applied economics. According to Cornell University, “applied economics and management is all about using data, reasoning and elements of economic theory to make informed business decisions.” An applied economics and management degree can be used in numerous careers. Examples include investment banking analyst, vendor manager, finance manager, business development associate and risk management analyst. 

While every degree program is different, courses for an applied economics and management degree could include business management, statistics, resource economics and management communications, among others. 

• Starting Salary: $69,000
• Mid Career Salary: $163,100
• Job Has Meaning: 47%

Building science is another major new to this year’s list that many may not be familiar with. According to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, “Building science is the study of how buildings are designed, maintained and built or retrofitted as a system of components that interact with each other and the outdoor environment.” Earning a degree in building science means studying architecture, engineering, physics, chemistry and the life sciences. 

According to ZipRecruiter, the national average salary for jobs in building science is $98,146 per year. The majority of these jobs have salaries ranging from $78,000 to $120,000.

• Starting Salary: $70,000
• Mid Career Salary: $160,000
• Job Has Meaning: 52%

Mathematics put the “M” in STEM. It’s one of the school subjects valued for its potential to point toward a career path that is beneficial both to the student and the country. In short, we need STEM majors to help us advance as a nation.

But some students may avoid the major because they think it only equips them to teach math. But that’s not the case at all. In fact, most actuarial mathematicians work for insurance companies, where they help determine policy premiums. Some actually work as consultants helping small insurance firms or auditing the work of internal actuarial mathematicians at larger insurance companies.   

In other words, math majors are prepared to do a lot. 

• Starting Salary: $92,200
• Mid Career Salary: $160,100
• Job Has Meaning: 57%

What is an operations research major? It’s a huge field that is expected to continue to grow. But for specifics, let’s go to the BLS: “Operations research analysts use mathematics and logic to help organizations make informed decisions and solve problems. Operations research analysts may be involved in many aspects of an organization. For example, they may help managers decide how to allocate resources, develop production schedules, oversee the supply chain and set prices.”

According to the BLS, operations research analysts earn a median annual salary of $83,640. And the field is expected to explode through 2032, growing 23% over the next decade. So anyone entering this field should feel confident that they will find a job upon graduation. 

Even without the pandemic, the need for nurses and other healthcare professionals is being driven by the aging population, as well as advancing technology helping people live longer, healthier lives. And prospects for registered nurses (RNs) are promising with their numbers expected to grow by 9%, over the next decade. RNs earn a median $77,600 a year. There are more than 3 million registered nurses in the U.S, with that number expected to grow by more than 276,000 this decade and 194,500 openings a year.

To reach RN ranks, nursing students must take many science courses, including anatomy, chemistry, microbiology and nutrition. You also get supervised clinical experience in various specialties, such as pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery. And you'll have to pass the National Council Licensure Examination to get your license (additional requirements vary by state).

• Starting Salary: $87,000
• Mid Career Salary: $159,100
• Job Has Meaning: 58%

If you are someone who not only loves complex operating systems but also how to improve those complex operating systems, systems engineering could be for you. According to Indeed, “systems engineers design, integrate and maintain complex systems and product lifecycles that support complex problem-solving and product development in a variety of industries. Systems engineers may work in technology, transportation, product development and manufacturing, and their duties vary accordingly.”

The national average annual salary for systems engineers is $99,770. While a bachelor’s degree may help you land a job, you may need to earn a master’s degree to advance your career. 

• Starting salary: $79,600
• Mid Career Salary: $158,300
• Job Has Meaning: 73%

Not sure what optical science and engineering is? It brings together optics and lasers with engineering in a variety of industries, including space exploration, consumer products, medicine, communications and manufacturing. According to the University of Arizona, research opportunities for optical science and engineering include applications ranging from virtual and augmented reality displays to endoscope design for cancer detection and treatment to creating lasers that can machine, mark and process metals and plastics, and so much more. 

The median annual salary for someone with a bachelor’s degree in optical science and engineering is $130,000, increasing to $145,000 for those with for-profit employers. 

• Starting salary: $76,000
• Mid Career Salary: $157,800
• Job Has Meaning: 63%

Yes, the second spot belongs to another field of study that starts with “computer.” The difference? This is more software than hardware. Computer science can help prepare you for a number of jobs in the hot tech field, from app developer to systems analyst—both of which are among our picks for 30 of the best jobs for the future. Learning to program is a key part of this major. Some classes you can expect to take include the theory of formal languages, intro to program design, digital system design and artificial intelligence.

According to the BLS, computer and information research scientists are expected to grow at a rate of 23%, much faster than the average for all jobs, with 42,800 jobs projected to be added this decade. About 3,400 jobs are projected to open each year.

• Starting salary: $88,200
• Mid Career Salary: $156,900
• Job Has Meaning: 56%

The sky is not the limit for those in aeronautics and astronautics; these are the ones who help us explore beyond the confines of our planet. These degrees can lead to careers in science research, engineering design, software development or marketing, and more. People who work in the field design and build aircraft, missiles, national defense systems and spacecraft. Jobs may require security clearances.

According to EducatingEngineers.com, “The two main branches of aerospace engineering degrees are aeronautics and astronautics… Aerospace engineering majors should be prepared to engage in a significant amount of actual design and implementation in addition to coursework.” Interestingly, the recommended coursework isn’t all science; the web site encourages students to consider learning Russian, Japanese or German, given those countries’ deep involvement in spacecraft development.

BLS says there were 63,800 jobs in this field as of 2022, with a projected growth rate of about 6% a year for the next decade, about average for all jobs. The bureau projects about 3,800 openings a year.

• Starting salary: $62,600
• Mid Career Salary: $154,300
• Job Has Meaning: 55%

Aerospace studies prepares students who plan to go into the military and serve in such specialties as aviation, intelligence, logistics and medicine. In most cases, the students already participate in the school’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). Classes could include military history, national security, philosophy of warfare and military communication. 

While the BLS doesn’t offer any insights on aerospace studies majors or jobs, one thing is certain: Students completing ROTC and earning an aerospace studies degree will have a job waiting for them in the military.

• Starting salary: $69,400
• Mid Career Salary: $154,000
• Job Has Meaning: 79%

One of the primary pharmacy jobs is working as a pharmacist, the person who dispenses prescription medications and educates patients on those medications. However, pharmacies also employ pharmacy technicians, those who help pharmacists dispense prescription medications. 

According to the BLS, the median annual wage for pharmacy techs is $40,300. For pharmacists, that increases to $136,030. Looking ahead, the BLS estimates the need for pharmacists will grow 3% between 2022 and 2032. For pharmacy technicians, growth is expected to reach 6% during the same time period. While both positions require training, pharmacists will need a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

• Starting salary: $78,000
• Mid Career Salary: $153,800
• Job Has Meaning: 43%

As the name implies, cognitive science focuses on the structure and processes of human cognition and their computational simulation or modeling, according to the University of California Berkeley. Possible career paths include education, linguistics, artificial intelligence and the health sciences. 

In attaining this degree, expect to study a variety of subjects, covering both the physical labor of the related work and the business side of the industry. That includes courses such as construction materials and systems, blueprint reading, cost management, labor law and electrical and mechanical systems.

• Starting salary: $74,700
• Mid Career Salary: $153,300
• Job Has Meaning: 38%

Majoring in economics is another way to benefit from growing opportunities linked to the big-data boom. Like statisticians, economists are mostly employed by the federal government, which may be a limiting factor. In fact, there are just 17,600 economist jobs in the country. But the field is projected to grow faster than average, with 1,200 openings expected each year. In addition to government, you can also find work with employers specializing in consulting services, scientific research and finance — though you’ll likely need an advanced degree to move beyond entry-level positions. 

Economists can expect a median salary of $115,730 a year. Employers also look for people with economics degrees to fill positions as financial managers, purchasing agents and data analysts.

You can, of course, expect to take a variety of economics classes in college, including micro- and macroeconomics as well as business economics and economic theory. Economics degrees are often awarded as a bachelor of science (with a focus on math, statistics and other quantitative studies) or as a bachelor of arts, where you can expect more classes in theory as well as requirements for foreign language and liberal arts study. 

• Starting salary: $74,500
• Mid Career Salary: $152,700
• Job Has Meaning: 43%

Math and STEM jobs continue to be in high demand, and quantitative economics is just another on this list that falls into this category. So just what is quantitative economics? According to Ohio Wesleyan University, “Quantitative economics prepares you to analyze economic issues, explore theories and predict future conditions using statistical procedures and mathematical models. The major incorporates a balance of economic theory, mathematical tools and field applications, while emphasizing the development of analytical skills.”

Once you have your quantitative economics degree, expect to find a job as an analyst. This includes research analysts, economic analysts, investment analysts, and analysts in many other fields.

• Starting salary: $72,000
• Mid Career Salary: $152,100
• Job Has Meaning: 35%

As the name implies, econometrics brings together economics and metrics. As Boston College explains, “Econometrics is a subset of economics, applying statistics and mathematical techniques to ‘justify’ a theoretical economic model with empirical rigor. In other words, econometrics transforms the often arcane discipline of theoretical economics into policy and decision-making tools in the public and private sectors.”

The BLS refers information on econometrics to economists, which shows a projected growth of 6% through 2032. This is faster than the average job growth for all occupations.  

• Starting salary: $62,900
• Mid Career Salary: $152,000
• Job Has Meaning: 32%

If you have an interest in American foreign policy and international relations, a degree in foreign affairs will put you on track for a career in this field. Course requirements for a foreign affairs degree could include American politics, political theory and international relations. A common career option for those with a foreign affairs degree is joining the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Department of Defense. Other jobs are available with the military, civilian organizations and other government departments. 

Those jobs could include positions as policy analyst, crisis manager and foreign relations officer. According to ZipRecruiter, the national average salary for a foreign affairs job is $106,182. 

• Starting salary: $85,600
• Mid Career Salary: $151,800
• Job Has Meaning: 55%

This major takes the study of chemistry and materials science one step further into the process of producing commercial goods by adding engineering. As a student of this field, you’ll learn how to use raw materials to create products from antibiotics to weed killer. Typical courses for this path include biochemistry, chemical kinetics and thermodynamics, as well as many other types of math and science.

One obvious career goal when studying this field: Become a chemical engineer, a lucrative profession. But it’s a small market with just 20,800 or so of these professionals now working in the U.S. Still, the field has seen growth. In fact, it’s expected to rise 8% over the next decade. Other jobs this major can help prepare you for include: chemist, materials scientist or petroleum engineer.

• Starting salary: $69,700
• Mid Career Salary: $151,200
• Job Has Meaning: 47%

Public accountants specialize in preparing financial records, such as tax returns, as well as assessing financial operations to identify risks and challenges to help provide solutions for reducing costs and improving profits. They typically work for businesses, nonprofits, governments and individuals. Some public accounts opt to specialize in forensic accounting, wherein they investigate to determine if a financial crime has occurred. If you love numbers and detective work, this could be the right fit for you.

The median annual wage for public accountants is $79,880, and the industry is expected to grow 4% during the next decade. While having a bachelor’s degree could help you land a job, you may find that becoming a certified public accountant could improve your job prospects, and your income. 

• Starting salary: $73,100
• Mid Career Salary: $150,600
• Job Has Meaning: 31%

If you have a love of politics and economics, a degree in political economy could be for you. To earn a political economy degree, “Students study the social, political and economic factors that affect and are affected by systems of production, exchange and distribution, as well as the mix of values reflected in them,” per Georgetown University. Coursework could include international relations, economic statistics and analytical tools for political economy. 

Once they have a degree in hand, political economy majors could find jobs with businesses, government entities, research firms, consulting firms and international organizations.    

• Starting salary: $76,800
• Mid Career Salary: $149,600
• Job Has Meaning: 50%

At Kiplinger, we totally get that money matters can be complex, and many of us—especially the growing number of people rapidly approaching retirement age—need help understanding and managing them. No wonder workers with financial knowledge are in such high demand. New regulations, more products and increasingly complex investment portfolios don’t hurt either. And that need translates into plenty of opportunities and generous pay for workers in this field. Financial analysts, who evaluate investment opportunities for businesses, earn a median salary of $81,410 a year and are expecting 6% job growth over this decade.

Finance isn’t strictly considered a STEM field, but you can still expect to work with numbers a great deal. High school students interested in finance can prepare for this major by studying statistics and calculus. In college, you'll add to your schedule accounting, financial markets and investing, as well as microeconomics, macroeconomics and economic theory. If you pursue a bachelor of arts degree in this field, you likely have to take liberal arts and foreign language classes, too.

• Starting salary: $89,100
• Mid-career salary: $148,500
• Job has meaning: 46% (Percent who said “very much so” or yes to, “Does your work make the world a better place?")

Computer hardware engineers research, design, develop and improve computer systems, as well as components including circuit boards, networks and routers. According to CompTIA, computer engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and systems analysts make up the second-largest category of tech jobs. According to ComputerScience.org, computer engineers combine “electrical engineering and computer science to develop new technology. Computer engineers design, build, and maintain hardware in modern computers…Along with personal devices, computer engineers have a hand in creating robotics, networks, and other computer-based systems. This role tends to include a high amount of research and development, testing, and quality assurance. Computer engineering might appeal to problem-solvers and technology enthusiasts.”

To complete this major, plan for a math- and science-heavy schedule, including classes in computer architecture, digital-logic design and systems programming. And given how rapidly this field advances, plan on plenty of ongoing education throughout your career.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the field of computer hardware engineering should grow faster than average at 5%, with about 4,600 job openings a year, primarily because of the need to replace workers who move to different occupations or leave the labor force.

• Starting salary: $84,700
• Mid Career Salary: $148,300
• Job Has Meaning: 72%

Our gadget-driven world has a high demand for people who can design, build and improve electronic and electrical devices. The coursework looks very similar to that of computer engineering students, a field which is considered a branch of electrical engineering. That’s because of the proliferation of computers being used to operate all sorts of products. Expect to take courses such as circuit analysis and design, digital systems, electric components and tools and semiconductor technology.

The BLS predicts growth in this field to be faster than average at 5%, with about 17,800 job openings each year, mainly to replace those who move to different occupations or leave the labor force.

• Starting salary: $76,700
• Mid Career Salary: $149,000
• Job Has Meaning: 42%

Actuarial science is yet another STEM major that brings together math, statistics and finance. According to Indeed, “Actuarial science is the practice of collecting data, performing calculations and using statistics to estimate and minimize financial risk for a business.” They use this information to help determine risk and consequences of future events. Typical jobs for actuarial science majors include evaluating and determining risk for insurance accounts, pensions, employee benefits and investments. 

According to the BLS, demand remains high for actuarial science majors, with an expected growth rate of 23% through 2032. And the median annual wage for those jobs is $120,000.  

For each of the college majors, compensation research firm PayScale provided median annual salaries for entry-level workers (with three years or less of work experience) and mid-career employees (with at least 20 years of experience). Payscale also provided “high job meaning” scores, which indicate the percentage of workers with each college major who say their work makes the world a better place. Information about the number of positions in each field, projected growth and further salary numbers were provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Indeed.com.

With the U.S. unemployment rate near a 50-year low, it’s a great time to be looking for a new job. Employers have plenty of openings to fill, and wages are even starting to rise after remaining stubbornly stagnant for years. But exercise caution before blindly switching careers. Even as the economy prospers, some occupations continue to fade as the evolving employment landscape leaves them behind.

To help today’s job seekers better grasp the realities of the labor market and avoid dying professions, we analyzed 773 occupations, considering their pay rates, growth potential over the next decade and educational requirements. The bottom of our rankings are littered with jobs that pay little at present and are expected to shed positions in the future. Take a look at 20 of the worst jobs for the future, along with our suggestions for alternate career paths that utilize comparable skills or satisfy similar interests while offering better growth and pay prospects.

Unless otherwise noted, all employment data was provided by Emsi, a labor-market research firm owned by Strada Education. Emsi collects data from dozens of federal, state and private sources, including reports from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau. The total number of jobs listed for each occupation is for 2017. Projected 10-year job growth figures represent the percentage change in the total number of jobs in an occupation between 2017 and 2027. Annual earnings were calculated by multiplying median hourly earnings by 2,080, the standard number of hours worked in a year by a full-time employee. Jobs are listed in reverse order by ranking, from 20 to 1.

• Total number of jobs: 4,093
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: 0.4% (All jobs: 9.7%)
• Median annual salary: $42,786 (All jobs: $43,992)
• Typical education: Associate’s degree

Speaking of dying professions, you’d think embalmers—who prepare bodies for burial—would be a sure bet for steady employment given the certainty of death. And while positions in this occupation are, indeed, expected to hold steady over the next decade, that’s following a decade of drastic cuts. Over the past 10 years, the number of embalmers in the U.S. sank 53.1%. One big reason: The rise of cremation, a more affordable and less labor-intensive option for laying the body to rest.

Alternate Career

As a funeral services manager, you can actually take advantage of the inevitable and make a solid career out of helping others carry out their final goodbyes. It is still a relatively small profession with 10,357 current workers, compared with the most widely held occupation, retail salesperson, with 4.5 million workers and the median of 56,103 for all jobs in the U.S. But the ranks of funeral services managers are growing: By 2027, their count should increase by an estimated 8.8%. Plus, the pay is generous with a median salary of about $70,470 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 36,648
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -0.7%
• Median annual salary: $26,130
• Typical education: High school diploma

These positions have already suffered big losses, with the total number of pharmacy aides in the U.S. dropping 29.3% over the past decade. So at least the decline is significantly slowing, and growth will be pretty much flat over the next decade. A major reason for the cutbacks is that pharmacy technicians, who also assist pharmacists, are absorbing many of the tasks aides would be responsible for, such as answering phones, manning the cash register and stocking shelves.

Alternate Career

If you can’t beat ‘em, become a pharmacy tech yourself. The projected growth rate for this job is a much better 12.6% for the next 10 years, and the pay is more generous, too, with a median income of $31,762 a year. You may be able to land the job with just a high school diploma and on-the-job training, just like pharmacy aides. But you might opt to do a specialized education program in pharmacy technology, usually offered by vocational schools or community colleges and lasting for a year or less, to give yourself an edge over the competition. You may also face some state regulations, depending on where you work, that may require formal education or training and passing an exam and criminal background check.

• Total number of jobs: 12,458
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: 6.3%
• Median annual salary: $24,449
• Typical education: High school diploma

Gambling establishments, including casinos and racetracks, are becoming more popular and widespread as more states are considering building them to boost tax revenue. That helps drive demand for gaming-related jobs, which are all expected to grow over the next decade, albeit at a slower rate than jobs overall in the U.S. The Supreme Court’s decision in May that effectively allows states to legalize sports betting may also boost demand for gaming and sports book writers and runners, who handle bets on sporting events. Still, given its low pay and few positions (even after projected growth), this particular job does not seem like a good bet.

Alternate Career

As a gaming surveillance officer or gaming investigator, you can still keep tabs on gambling transactions and collect more cash while doing it. The projected job growth rate is 8.6% over the next decade, and median pay is $33,342 a year. You typically need just a high school diploma to get started, but certain assignments may require experience with video surveillance technology. And don’t worry: This job is mainly about people watching from behind a desk and identifying would-be cheaters—no fisticuffs required.

• Total number of jobs: 31,503
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -12.9%
• Median annual salary: $34,408
• Typical education: Bachelor’s degree

More radio disc jockeys, talk show hosts and podcasters are under threat of going off air indefinitely. Consolidation of radio and television stations, as well as the increased use of syndicated programming, limit the need for these kinds of workers. Plus, streaming music services offer fierce competition to radio stations and their workers. On the upside, online radio stations may provide new opportunities for announcers.

Alternate Career

If you’re committed to this career track, consider keeping it local. While national news stations are on the rise, audiences still want to hear about what’s going on in their own communities, driving demand for stations to maintain local elements to their broadcasts. Otherwise, you might consider addressing even smaller audiences and becoming a party DJ or emcee. These other types of announcers make up a small field of just 17,813 workers currently, but are expected to grow their ranks 4.5% by 2027. They typically earn slightly less with a median $33,738 a year, but only require a high school diploma to get started.

• Total number of jobs: 51,787
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -8.3%
• Median annual salary: $24,443
• Typical education: High school diploma or equivalent

People are still stopping to smell the flowers—and buying them. But where they’re stopping is what’s changing career prospects for floral designers. After a surge of new flower-shop openings in the 1980s and '90s, their numbers have fallen dramatically as budget-conscious consumers are opting to buy loose, fresh-cut flowers from grocery stores instead of elaborate bouquets and arrangements from the specialty shops. Plus, the rise of the Internet has allowed some florists to operate more efficiently and reduce the number of brick-and-mortar shops.

Alternate Career

If your heart is set on a floral-focused future, apply for a position at a grocery store, where employment of floral designers is expected to grow 6%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Otherwise, consider casting your eye for arrangement from flowers to furniture. Positions for interior designers are expected to grow 6.0% by 2027. To take this path, you'll need additional education — usually a bachelor's degree—and possibly a license or certification, depending on your state and specialty. But you may also expect to earn more; interior designers have a median pay of more than $43,451 a year. If further education isn't in the cards for you, consider being a merchandise displayer. These positions are projected to increase by 6.4% this decade, typically pay about $26,978 a year and require just a high school education.

• Total number of jobs: 11,969
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: 2.1%
• Median annual salary: $27,739
• Typical education: High school diploma or equivalent

Smokey Bear is going animatronic. While developing, maintaining and protecting forests remains necessary, many of the tasks performed by forest and conservation workers—such as tree counting and identifying—can now be done by new technologies, such as remote sensing. That means fewer people will be necessary to accomplish the same amount of work. On the other hand, the increasing frequency of wildfires may fuel greater demand for these workers because only they can prevent—and suppress—forest fires.

Alternate Career

If you don’t mind focusing on fire prevention—in forests or elsewhere—becoming a firefighter is a safe career choice (setting aside the physical dangers, of course). The job’s ranks are expected to grow 8.2% by 2027, and the median pay is $49,088 a year. It typically requires just a high school diploma, as well as training in emergency medical services. You also need to go through rigorous fire academy training, which takes a few months, and pass written and physical tests.

• Total number of jobs: 11,707
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -12.8%
• Median annual salary: $37,458
• Typical education: High school diploma or equivalent

Metal and plastic may be durable materials, but the U.S. labor market for people who work with them is proving more malleable. Many of the old metal- and plastic-production jobs are now being done more efficiently by machines or more affordably abroad. Lower-skill positions that involve manually setting and operating machines such as these are becoming increasingly scarce.

Alternate Career

While less-skilled manufacturing jobs are declining, more high-tech positions within the manufacturing industry are on the rise. For example, programmers of computer numerically controlled metal and plastic machines are expected to multiply by more than 14.8% over the next decade. The pay is also better with a median salary of about $52,541 a year.

*Bolded data at top refer specifically to drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators and tenders for metal and plastic products.

• Total number of jobs: 7,369
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -5.5%
• Median annual salary: $29,929
• Typical education: No formal education credential

This niche construction job saw positions cut by 51% over the past decade—a time which notably included the housing bust—and it’s expected to continue that downward trend through the next decade, though at a far slower pace. Demand may bounce back (and fall again) to track the housing market, but that kind of economic sensitivity can make for a bumpy career path. And considering the low pay, the volatility is hardly worthwhile.

Alternate Career

If you can apply your handiwork more broadly, becoming a carpenter may offer a sturdier future. While this position also suffered high employment losses over the past decade, it’s expected to add more than 48,440 jobs, or 4.6%, by 2027. This job also pays more, with a median salary of $35,818 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 13,708
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -11.5%
• Median annual salary: $33,300
• Typical education: High school diploma

This broad group of manufacturing workers puts together finished products and the parts that go in them, using tools, machines and their hands to make a wide variety of goods from toys and household appliances to cars and computers. The data listed above specifically refers to coil winders, tapers and finishers, who work on electric and electronic products including transformers, generators and electric motors. While some of the work performed by assemblers and fabricators is still done by hand, much of the work is already performed by automated systems because the parts are too small or fragile for human handling. And even more of the work may be taken on by automation or be otherwise handled in more-efficient ways, requiring fewer human hands.

Alternate Career

Try applying your handiwork to the role of industrial machinery mechanic, who maintains and repairs factory equipment and other industrial machines. You need a high school diploma to get started, and then can expect more than a year of on-the-job training. The projected job growth rate is 8.9% over the next decade, and the median pay is a healthy $50,752 a year.

*Bolded data at top refer specifically to coil winders, tapers and finishers.

• Total number of jobs: 12,201
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -15.7%
• Median annual salary: $34,512
• Typical education: High school diploma

These workers do exactly what their job title says: install and repair electronic equipment in motor vehicles. Specifically, they work on the sound, security and navigations systems in cars and trucks. Unfortunately for the electronic equipment installers and repairers who focus on motor vehicles, this specialty has been hard hit because these systems are increasingly of higher quality (thus requiring less maintenance) and are increasingly coming standard in new vehicles (rather than being installed by third parties).

Alternate Career

Electrical and electronics repairers specializing in maintaining generating stations, substations and in-service relays have far better job growth projections and potential pay. Those workers, who are employed primarily by utilities, are expected to add 5.1% more jobs by 2027. Pay is a generous median of $78,416 a year. You still need just a high school diploma to get started, but additional postsecondary classes in electronics at a community college or technical school can give you an edge over the competition. And many of these particular electrical and electronics repairers get their starts working as electricians first.

• Total number of jobs: 7,367
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -10.7%
• Median annual salary: $36,317
• Typical education: High school diploma

Remember when you had to talk to a person in order to make a phone call? How about the last time you dialed 411 to get a phone number? No? So you understand exactly what’s happened to the telephone operator. Apple's first iPhone debuted in 2007, revolutionizing how we communicate and access information. It's no coincidence that there were 71.2% more telephone operators working a decade ago than there are today. And the trend shows no signs of flagging.

Alternate Career

As a police, fire and ambulance dispatcher, you can apply very similar skills—with far more urgency—and rescue a failing career. There are currently more than 100,000 people answering 911 calls, and their ranks are expected to grow 9% over the next decade. The pay is higher, too, with a median $39,645 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 4,929
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -17.0%
• Median annual salary: $36,573
• Typical education: High school diploma

No, the logging industry is not falling because of a rise in tree huggers. Like other production jobs, many of the tasks once requiring plenty of muscle is now being done by machine. But new workers will still be needed to replace those who will be retiring—the physically demanding job isn’t exactly conducive to lengthy careers.

Alternate Career

If you're looking to work outdoors and take in the lay of the land, consider becoming a surveying and mapping technician. These workers assist surveyors and cartographers by operating equipment to collect data, measuring land and recording other descriptive information. The need for their services is closely tied to construction demand. That helps explain the 27.1% decline in positions over the past decade, which includes the housing bust. But the next 10 years should see many of those jobs return, with above-average growth of 10.3% expected. Plus, while you'll need to do some postsecondary training to learn the technology, you typically need just a high school diploma to get started, and the median pay is higher at $44,824 a year.

Bolded data at top exclude fallers and logging equipment operators, which are two specialized occupations in the logging industry.

• Total number of jobs: 4,333
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -12.6%
• Median annual salary: $30,499
• Typical education: No formal educational credential

People who hang wallpaper, as well as those who hang paper advertisements such as billboards, are losing positions rapidly. Aesthetic preferences are favoring other materials over wallpaper including good ol’ paint, and digital technology has transformed advertising.

Alternate Career

You can transfer your skills to being a painter in construction and maintenance. Over the past decade, which includes the housing bust, the number of these workers declined 16.5%, but their count remains high at 410,196 workers. And the future is expected to bring a mild rebound, with a projected job growth rate of 1.5% over the next 10 years. The median pay is a comparable $30,722 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 22,775
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -12.3%
• Median annual salary: $27,556
• Typical education: High school diploma or equivalent

Thanks to the popularity of social media and the near-universal adoption of smartphones with built-in cameras, it's become easy and increasingly common to take digital photos and share them instantly through cyberspace. A chief consequence of the shift to sharing selfies in real time: Drastically lower demand for print pictures and the people who operate the big machines that process them. Plus, when the whim arises, advancing technology has allowed people to print their own photos at home.

Alternate Career

Photographers are seeing a better career outlook than photo processors. Over the next decade, the profession is expected to grow 1.2% to 144,004 jobs by 2027. Median earnings are currently about $30,618 a year. Portrait and commercial photographers (who may work for corporations to create advertisements) are likely to experience the greatest demand.

• Total number of jobs: 5,618
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -6.4%
• Median annual salary: $22,048
• Typical education: No formal education credential

Each year, it seems fewer and fewer people are singing, “Let’s all go to the movies.” Explanations for the fall in box-office sales include high ticket prices, fewer quality movies (Marvel Studio productions aside) and shorter time between theater runs to in-home availability. Whatever the reason, results are the same—fewer theaters and lower demand for the people who work there. Plus, those manning the equipment to play the movies have lower skill requirements, given advancing technology.

Alternate Career

As an audio and video equipment technician, you can still put your AV skills to work—and enjoy greater opportunities to do so. There are already nearly 100,200 of these workers in the U.S., setting up systems in offices, arenas, hotels, schools, hospitals and homes. And that count is expected to grow 15.3% over the next decade. Median pay is $41,226 a year. Entry level workers typically need a postsecondary nondegree award or certificate, which can take up to a year to earn.

• Total number of jobs: 3,286
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -7.3%
• Median annual salary: $27,627
• Typical education: High school diploma

Consider the other shoe dropped. People who operate the machines used in the production of shoes are running into the same challenges as other low-skill manufacturing jobs: Some of these workers' functions are becoming more automated, requiring fewer people to complete the same amount of work. And many companies are cutting costs by sending these jobs overseas.

Alternate Career

You can use many of the same skills as a woodworking machine operator and enjoy a more promising career. These workers (which do not include those who operate sawing machines) are expected to see some growth in their numbers, going up 4.2% to more than 82,800 workers by 2027. The pay is greater, too, with a median $29,120 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 835
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: 2.1%
• Median annual salary: $25,062
• Typical education: High school diploma

Another low-skill manufacturing job, fabric menders are also being replaced by cheaper substitutes. Advancing technology is displacing some of these workers as their functions are becoming more automated. Plus, many companies try cutting costs by sending these jobs overseas. And while recent economic developments in China have brought some of this type of work back to the U.S.—accounting for the slight uptick in projected jobs—the major damage is already done: Over the past decade, the number of these workers has been cut in half, leaving a very small number of them today.

Alternate Career

Consider applying your mending skills to metal instead of fabric. Welders, cutters, solderers and brazers—who use handheld or remotely controlled equipment to join or cut metal parts—are keeping it together better than fabric menders. Over the past decade, their numbers declined just 1.2%, to about 411,000 current U.S. workers. And they're expected to recover those losses and then some, growing at a rate of 7.1% through 2027. Median earnings are about $39,541 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 10,129
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -23.6%
• Median annual salary: $28,288
• Typical education: High school diploma or equivalent

The manufacturing industry is a tale of two job markets. Yes, there’s been a decline in many production jobs in the U.S. But while low-skill roles are dwindling, demand for certain skilled manufacturing jobs has been on the upswing in recent years. Operators of various textile machines used for knitting, weaving, cutting, winding, dyeing and more fall into the former category.

Alternate Career

Jobs for machinists are expected to increase 4.3% by 2027. These workers use machine tools such as lathes, milling machines and grinders to make items ranging from simple bolts to titanium bone screws for orthopedic implants. While you can still get this gig with just a high school diploma, you also need specialized training, which you can receive on the job or through an apprenticeship program, vocational school or community or technical college. Machinists earn a median salary of $42,557 a year.

*Bolded data at top refer specifically to textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders.

• Total number of jobs: 3,655
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -7.8%
• Median annual salary: $29,297
• Typical education: High school diploma

Manufactured buildings and mobile homes, a.k.a. prefabs, make up a small and shrinking segment of the U.S. housing market. In their most popular days, they accounted for between 16% and 25% of all new single-family homes from 1977 to 1995, but just about 10% in more recent years, according to the Urban Institute. So not many builders would benefit from focusing on such a niche market. And even as people might consider going with a prefab for an affordable housing option (manufactured housing tends to be 35% to 47% cheaper per square foot than site-built housing), they may use general contractors—with proper manufactured home installation licenses—to get the job done.

Alternate Career

You can still make a living in housing as a construction and building inspector—and plenty of people do. There are currently 108,835 of these workers in the U.S., and that number is expected to grow at a healthy clip of 10.1% over the next decade. Even through the housing bust, their ranks remained stable, inching up 0.5% over the last 10 years. Their earnings are solid, too, with the median income at $58,323 a year.

• Total number of jobs: 4,367
• Projected job growth, 2017-2027: -27.0%
• Median annual salary: $25,203
• Typical education: High school diploma

The clock is ticking on this profession. People are increasingly turning to more high-tech devices, including their mobile phones as well as smartwatches, to tell time on the go. And while luxury watches still see demand in the U.S., at an average price of $746 a timepiece, they hardly have enough mass market appeal to support the employment of a high number of watch repairers.

Alternate Career

Time to transfer your talent for precision work with your hands. Electricians suffered slight losses over the past decade, decreasing by 1.8% (compared with an increase of 5.4% for all jobs in the U.S.). But their count is still a whopping 717,504 people strong. And they’re expected to more than bounce back, adding 10.2% more positions in the next 10 years. The pay prospects are bright, too: Median earnings total $51,646 a year.