Most Canadians retire between the ages of 64 and 65. While some prefer to take advantage of some much-deserved relaxation and time off work, others prefer to stay busy.
Retirement is the perfect time to start that side business or the fun job that you’ve always wanted to try.
Depending on your personal interests and skills, there are more ways than ever to earn money working from home. Below, I’m going to share some of the best retirement jobs from home in Canada.
Whether you just want to work a few hours a week in your spare time or you want to start a full-time business, I guarantee you’ll find something up your alley on the list.
The Best Retirement Jobs From Home In Canada: Listed
If you’re looking for the best retirement jobs from home in Canada, here are some great ideas to get started with, along with how much you can expect to earn.
1. Custom Woodworking
- How Much You Can Earn: $100+ per piece you create
If you have a workshop space in your home and some woodworking tools, then you could earn good money by creating custom pieces and selling them online or at local markets.
I have a good friend who has turned his woodworking hobby into a full-time business. Today, he earns at least $5,000 per month, building custom shelves and crafting wooden kitchen items, such as bowls, platters, and salad forks.
2. Start an Etsy Craft Shop
- How Much You Can Earn: $150+ per month
Etsy is an excellent platform for creative retirees to earn side money on. If you have a unique craft that you enjoy, you can create items, take a picture, and list them on Etsy.
Whenever a customer orders your item, you just have to ship it to them. Etsy just takes a small percentage of each sale for allowing you to use their platform for free.
3. Become A Part-Time Virtual Secretary
- How Much You Can Earn: $17 – $25 per hour
If you have a keen eye for detail, like to stay organized, and like the idea of helping small business owners, then starting a part-time job as a virtual secretary can be both profitable and enjoyable.
Virtual secretaries and assistants typically work for a few hours a day and may be assigned duties, such as:
- Replying to messages and emails
- Organizing digital files
- Answering phone calls
- Setting appointments and creating a business schedule
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, then I recommend giving this 90-Day Virtual Assistant course a try. In just three months, you’ll learn everything you need to find and land a home retirement job as a virtual secretary.
4. Proofread Content
- How Much You Can Earn: $16 – $25 per hour
If you have an eye for small details and can easily pick out grammar/spelling errors, then you could earn up to $25 as a part-time content proofreader. Publishers, independent writers, and bloggers often pay proofreaders to look over all of their content to ensure that it’s perfect before it’s released to the public.
If you want to learn more about how to easily find online proofreading jobs, I recommend checking out the Proofread Anywhere course.
5. Start A Home Mechanic Business
- How Much You Can Earn: $75+ per hour of labour
If you’re a mechanic at heart, have a garage space, and tools, then you could start a home mechanic business. I’ve met a lot of people who don’t trust large mechanic shops and would rather work with a local home mechanic who they can trust.
The more specialized the work, the more you can charge. For example, motorcycle or diesel mechanics can usually charge a premium for their services since they’re in higher demand.
6. Audiobook Narration
- How Much You Can Earn: $100 – $300 per finished hour of recording
Today, audiobooks are very popular, thanks to apps like Audible. If you have a unique voice and love to read, then you could earn great money as an audiobook narrator. Chances are that you’ve listened to an audiobook before.
If you plan on taking this seriously, you’ll need to have some basic audio recording equipment at home. With the right tools, though, you could earn up to $100 or more for every hour of finished reading you complete.
7. Start A Lifestyle Blog
- How Much You Can Earn: $1,000+ per month
Now that you’re retired, you finally have the time to live the adventurous life you’ve always dreamed of. If this sounds like you, then you probably have a lot more interesting things to write about as well.
Starting a blog doesn’t usually offer immediate returns. However, if you’re consistent about writing blog posts and sharing them on the internet, then you could easily build a small following.
Then, you can leverage your blog’s traffic to sell ad placements or sell your own products and guides to visitors.
8. Start A YouTube Channel
- How Much You Can Earn: $100 – $2,000 per month
Starting a YouTube channel isn’t something that you’ll immediately profit from. However, if you’re consistent about posting content, then you can build your following and eventually earn money from ad placements in your videos or sign brand deals to recommend certain products.
If you’re social and have valuable information (or just a great personality), social media is a rewarding outlet that gives you the opportunity to provide real value to YouTube viewers.
9. Day Trading & Investing
- How Much You Can Earn: 5% – 10% monthly interest on your investment
If you already keep up with the news and what’s happening in the business world, then you may enjoy a part-time retirement job as a stock trader. This is also a perfect way to put your TFSA or RRSP to use.
Just keep in mind that trading stocks does involve a fair amount of risk. The trick is to take calculated risks and maintain a long-term view of your investment portfolio.
- Recommended Reading: The Best Trading Platforms in Canada
10. Resell Collectors Items On eBay
- How Much You Can Earn: 50% – 1,000% markup on select items
One of the advantages of being a senior is that you’ve had an entire lifetime to watch trends come and go. Inevitably, some trends repeat themselves or develop a modern cult following thanks to modern movie remakes and current events.
You may even have some rare collector items sitting around on a shelf in your garage.
Some of the most popular collectors items that fetch top-dollar on eBay include:
- Old sports trading cards
- Food and drinks in the original packaging (i.e. a Coca-Cola can from the 1970s)
- Action figures and toys
- Original print records and books
If you don’t have any of these items in your home, you can visit thrift stores and yard sales, where you can put the knowledge you’ve accumulated over the years to use and find incredible deals on collector items that you can resell.
11. Train Dogs
- How Much You Can Earn: Up to $100 per session training dogs
If you love dogs and know how to train them, you can teach dogs basic obedience, tricks, and advanced skills for money. There are lots of dog owners who buy dogs without any knowledge of how to train them, socialize them, or build a structured life for them.
You can have local dog owners drop their pets off at your house for individual training sessions or offer week-long boarding packages that allow you to work with them for a whole week.
12. Writing Content For Websites
- How Much You Can Earn: $25 to $40 per hour
Large websites and blogs often require a lot of help producing content. Sometimes the website owners are looking for an outside perspective or they may want to take some time off writing. Writers can find jobs and submit proposals on websites like Freelancer, Upwork, or
Problogger, and you can expect to earn a set amount per words you write (i.e., $20 for 500 words).
13. Become A Virtual Tutor
- How Much You Can Earn: $18 – $25 per hour
If you enjoy teaching, then a part-time career as a virtual tutor can be a profitable retirement job that you can work from home.
One of the most in-demand tutoring subjects right now is ESL (English as a Second Language). If you’re bilingual, this is a great chance to put your skills to use. Check out Ninja Teacher’s Teach English Online course to learn more.
14. Virtual Bookkeeping & Accounting
- How Much You Can Earn: $25 – $50 per hour
Online bookkeepers work with small businesses and help them keep their records organized. They may also find creative ways to reduce business expenses and increase profits.
If you’re a CPA, then you can earn even more by providing virtual accounting services and helping Canadians with their taxes.
15. Start A Hair Salon In Your Home
- How Much You Can Earn: $50+ per appointment
Starting an in-home hair salon or barber service is a great way to make extra money after retirement. Since you’ll be working at home, you can pick your own hours, set your own prices, and you don’t have to worry about expensive overhead costs.
16. Write & Publish eBooks
- How Much You Can Earn: Up to $20 per book or more
Copywriting is a great way to earn some extra cash, but what if you could write your own eBook? There’s a huge market today for both fiction and non-fiction books.
If you want to really increase your profits, you can hire an audiobook narrator to read your book aloud and start selling your book on Audible.
17. Earn Royalties From Photos
- How Much You Can Earn: $0.25 – $1 every time your image is downloaded
If you enjoy photography, then you can submit high-quality photos to websites like Shutterstock and start collecting royalties from them.
Every day, thousands of bloggers and content creators download photos to use in their articles and posts.
Whenever they download your photos, you’ll earn a small amount of money. The more popular your photos are, the more money you can earn.
18. Babysit At Home
- How Much You Can Earn: $20+ per hour
If you enjoy being around children, you could offer to babysit children at your home. Many parents would far rather have a local who they trust watch their children instead of hiring a teenager that they’ve never met.
I do recommend taking some basic first-aid and child safety courses before you start babysitting at home, though.
19. Get Paid To Watch Dogs Overnight
- How Much You Can Earn: Up to $70 per night
Wag! is an app that connects dog walkers and boarders to pet owners. My neighbor’s kid actually walks dogs as a side hustle during the summers using the Wag! app.
However, Wag! also allows you to earn money by boarding dogs overnight in your home. You just have to watch them, walk them, and feed them while their owners are gone.
20. Host An AirBnB On Your Property
- How Much You Can Earn: Up to $1,000 per month or more
If you have a spare bedroom in your home, a guest house, or a stationary RV on your property, then you could monetize it by listing it on Airbnb.
With the app, you’ll be able to screen guests, charge cleaning fees, and turn unused space into an income-generating asset.
What Is The Best Work After Retirement?
Retirement is often seen as “the end” of a career. While it’s certainly a milestone in your life, I prefer to think of retirement as “the start” of your second life.
I, for one, have a whole list of hobbies and interests that I plan on pursuing once I officially retire and cash-in on my retirement account.
If you want to continue working after you retire, then I recommend doing something that you genuinely enjoy. Post-retirement work shouldn’t be something stressful or overly time-consuming.
After all, you spent your whole life working for somebody else and trying to get to the point where you could retire. So why would you enter the rat race again?
Here’s a summary of some great ideas to consider if you want to work from home after retirement in Canada:
- Create social media content
- Blog or write
- Sell personalized arts and crafts online
- Invest and trade on the stock market
- Train and board dogs (or other animals)
- Start a small farm and sell produce at local markets
- … and more!
There’s a virtually endless list of ways to earn side income from home after retirement. So, keep an open mind and try something that interests you!
Conclusion
I hope you found my list of the best retirement jobs from home in Canada inspiring and informative. Remember, retirement is the beginning of living life on your terms, so do something that you truly enjoy.
If you’re not retired yet, and want to make sure that you’re well-prepared to retire comfortably, then be sure to check out my ultimate guide to retirement planning in Canada next!
