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Sunday 13 July 2008, 6:06 PM
Net Helps You Work Till You Drop
If you’re thinking of taking early retirement because you’ve been sensible and put away your money in ISAs, saving accounts and property, think again. You can forget about living off an adequate pension, too. Life may be too short to sit at the some desk day after day, but the way things are heading in this country you may be working through the night to make ends meet.
The credit crunch and the rising cost of living in the UK are forcing increasing numbers of retirees to supplement their income by sourcing ad-hoc jobs on online service marketplaces. A recent report said that many pensioners are drawing on their experience and expertise in a wide range of professions to bid for projects posted online by businesses.
Pensioner poverty increased by 300,000 in 2006 to 2007 to a total of 2.5 million, a Government report recently found. Research conducted by Scottish Widows this week found that one in three Britons cannot afford to put aside any savings for their retirement, which suggests the pensioner poverty problem is only likely to get worse.
Small-biz employers can look on the bright side: retirees make excellent freelancers and you can pay them in Aspirin tablets and Co-op vouchers. They also tend to be highly-experienced and reliable - which is rare these days - and you can save some cash on corporate gym memberships. But bathroom breaks can take two days and you don’t ever want to discuss employee health insurance.
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Christian Harris
Founder & Editor, BIOS
http://twitter.com/christianharris
The credit crunch and the rising cost of living in the UK are forcing increasing numbers of retirees to supplement their income by sourcing ad-hoc jobs on online service marketplaces. A recent report said that many pensioners are drawing on their experience and expertise in a wide range of professions to bid for projects posted online by businesses.
Pensioner poverty increased by 300,000 in 2006 to 2007 to a total of 2.5 million, a Government report recently found. Research conducted by Scottish Widows this week found that one in three Britons cannot afford to put aside any savings for their retirement, which suggests the pensioner poverty problem is only likely to get worse.
Small-biz employers can look on the bright side: retirees make excellent freelancers and you can pay them in Aspirin tablets and Co-op vouchers. They also tend to be highly-experienced and reliable - which is rare these days - and you can save some cash on corporate gym memberships. But bathroom breaks can take two days and you don’t ever want to discuss employee health insurance.
--------------------
Christian Harris
Founder & Editor, BIOS
http://twitter.com/christianharris
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