Posted on Friday, 30th April 2010 by

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Everyone, regardless of whether or not you’re retired, could use extra income to do with as you please. Several companies have posted new full and part time job opportunities on our career center recently at http://federalretirement.net/jobsboard.htm. You will find full time, part time, and work from home job vacancies and when you add in the 1 million plus 2010 Census part time jobs there are openings nationwide in most areas for you to consider.  Gary, a retired fed and friend from central Pennsylvania, was called three times to report for Census jobs but had to turn them down for personal reasons.

The companies posting jobs are looking for federal retirees to fill critical positions that often require the skills that many retirees attained throughout their careers.  One of the interesting jobs is for instructors that can work from home to develop course content and then will be paid to travel to training locations around the country to conduct classes. There are also positions for employee relation specialists, customer service, personnel, database specialists, engineers, and many more. Check them out if you are looking for a challenge and second income source in retirement.

Travel Update

The first three years of retirement my wife and I stayed close to home and I worked to expand my business.  Two years ago we decided to break out of our routine and travel more while we are still healthy enough to enjoy it.

I’ve talked about the advantages of XM radio, audio books, On Star, the Magic Jack, and other travel issues in my lifestyle articles and decided to expand our travel venue. This June we will be adding a new Travel Forum that will be hosted by Nancy Holston, a well traveled federal retiree. Her first article will focus on her recent trip to Hawaii. She will tell us about interesting places along the way, things to avoid, best restaurants and side trips, discounts and specials to take advantage of, best air fares, and the ins and outs of the many exotic places she has traveled to.  You will find her articles insightful and they will be sent out to our subscriber email newsletter and posted on our Blog at https://fedretire.net for you to read and print out for future reference.

On a recent trip to South Carolina we listened to the audio book titled “John Adams” by David G. McCullough, an 8 CD series. I read the book several years ago and my wife is interested in the revolutionary war and our founding fathers. It really passed the time and I purchased the audio book at Half Price Books, a great deal.

I mentioned in a previous article that the hot water at our vacation home often has a foul odor and has sediment in the tank when we first arrive. We typically run the hot water for at least 30 minutes to clear it up. I discovered, after several trips, the way to avoid this is to turn off the hot water tank the night before we leave and in the morning run the hot water until the water is cold, about 15 minutes or so.  This cleared up the problem for us. When we arrive now the hot water is close to normal.

The Inevitable

One of the reasons why we decided to travel and enjoy life more is because life is too short! Most tend to put off activities thinking we have the time to do them next year and when next year shows up we have a good excuse to put it off for just one more year. Then the inevitable happens, sickness, financial distress, and yes even premature death and then it’s too late for our dreams to ever become reality.

Why do we do this to ourselves I’ll never really know. What I do know is that if you don’t take the bull by the horns and get off the couch you’ll never get to where you once really wanted to be.  Maybe it’s the fear of the unknown, the unwillingness to let loose of the purse strings, or simply we become to set in our ways to take a chance on LIFE!

Since I retired in 2005 I lost both of my sisters at relatively young ages; my sister Florence at 67 and Connie at 68, just last week.  I’m the youngest at 60, soon to be 61 and my brother will be 65 this year.  In the past I frequently put off pleasurable activities for work and have come to the conclusion that even though I thoroughly enjoy the work that I do, all work and no play often leads to a less than desirable outcome.

Many retirees get stuck in a rut when there are so many things we can do to enhance not only our lives but the lives of our loved ones.  If you are stuck in neutral think about what you always wanted to do when you were working and dreaming about retirement. Did you want to complete a college degree, travel more, pursue a hobby, volunteer your time or improve your health through exercise and proper diet?  Now is the time to step up to the plate and give it a try. You may strike out a few times but that shouldn’t dissuade you from your goals. We often fail at things and from those failures we grow into better and more aware individuals.

Thoughts

If you are an active federal employee or know a federal employee that desires a better job, upward mobility, or simply would like to improve their skills, have them visit our new and improved Federal Employees Career Development web site at www.fedcareer.info.  Also, the new second edition of my book, Take Charge of Your Federal Career; A Practical, Action-Oriented Career Management Workbook for Federal Employees will be available in June of this year.  Pre orders for the book start May 15th.

We expanded www.federalretirement.net this year and our free email newsletter subscriber database has grown significantly.  Please forward and share this newsletter with your friends and associates that will benefit from the information provided.  The site and forum hosts are here to assist federal employees and retirees in all aspects of their lives and if you would like us to focus on a specific issue, area or benefit just let us know your preferences.

Learn more about your benefits, employment, and financial planning issues on our site and visit our Blog frequently at https://fedretire.net to read all forum articles.

Visit our other informative sites

The information provided may not cover all aspect of unique or special circumstances, federal regulations, and financial information is subject to change. To ensure the accuracy of this information, contact your benefits coordinator and ask them to review your official personnel file and circumstances concerning this issue. Retirees can contact the OPM retirement center. Our artilces are not intended nor should they be considered investment advice. Our reply is time sensitive. Over time, various dynamic economic factors relied upon as a basis for this article may change.”

Last 5 posts by Dennis Damp

Posted in ANNUITIES / ELIGIBILITY, BENEFITS / INSURANCE, LIFESTYLE / TRAVEL, RETIREMENT CONCERNS | Comments (0)


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