Part Time Retired, Part Time Worker
by John Lawrence, April 19, 2018
I thought that with lowered expenses, two rental incomes, social security and a nestegg in savings, I could be fully retired and meet my monthly expenses. Gee, was I wrong. It seems like whatever budget you figure out, your expenses are always double that amount. My nestegg was diminishing rapidly. Emergency type expenditures were always coming up.
So I started as a ride sharing driver. I started with Lyft working out of my house. The rides were intermittent but at least I got my feet wet. Then I stepped it up a bit by doing both Lyft and Uber. I started making some real money, at least enough to supplement my other income. I could even look forward to paying my property taxes without taking money out of savings. The thing I liked about it the most is that I could set my own hours, work when I wanted and not work when I didn't want. It fit in perfectly with my lifestyle. It was a lifestyle that I had become accustomed to since I was self-employed for 40 years.
I would get up in the morning, have my coffee, write for the California Free Press, do stuff around the house and then turn on Uber and/or Lyft around 8:30 AM. I'd do that for 3 hours or so and then head for the YMCA where I would swim or work out. Then I would go home, have lunch and take a nap. I would go back online around 4 PM and work till 7 PM, go home, watch the news, have something to eat, listen to music and read. Sometimes I would hang out with my girlfriend. In fact she called me spur of the moment one Sunday and asked if I wanted to meet her for lunch. When she got close I turned off the app, had lunch with her after which I continued Ubering and Lyfting. We had a nice lunch and I still made $150 that day.
I must say I've met a lot of nice and interesting people driving them around. I only had one serious incident in two years with a woman who refused to get out of the car. Other than that I've got to see a lot of beautiful sunsets, spend time driving around a beautiful city and give tourists advice on what to see and do. The income supplements my "retirement" income and puts me in a position to add to my nestegg. It works for me and fits in with my lifestyle. I was self-employed for 40 years, and I'm still self-employed. That's the beauty of it.
