South Africans embrace the encore hustle - Hustler Daily Thumbs Up - July 17

Hello fellow Encore Hustlers

Working an encore hustle has become a global movement.  In previous posts Mr. EH has highlighted stories from North America, Europe and Asia.  Now check out the first encore hustle post from Africa.

Read this story from South Africa about the results of a survey of the financial status of retirees.  It turns out that 9 out of 10 retirees are continuing to work in some manner while in retirement.  The main reason for continuing to work appears to be poor financial planning and underestimating post-retirement expenses.  The types of employment include:

• retired teachers becoming tutors
• turning hobbies into businesses
• becoming consultants
• becoming an entrepreneur 

Curiously the article does not seem to mention any gig economy side hustles that are common in the US such as driving for Uber, delivering for PostMates, caring for pets through Rover or renting out accommodation via Airbnb.  Perhaps gigging is still working on claiming a foothold in SA?

Cheers,
Mr. EH

Federal Employees Furloughed - The Case for an Emergency Fund

It's Day 16 of the Federal Government shutdown and over 800,000 government employees are starting their second week without a paycheck.  Government workers like the majority of us often live from paycheck to paycheck and have less than $1000 tucked away in emergency funds. Don't take Mr. EH's word for how Federal employees are doing check out this story in the Washington Post.

Many furloughed workers are not just sitting at home waiting for the shutdown to end.  They are trying make ends meet with side hustles and part-time jobs.   Kudos to them.

CNBC also run a story about short term money sources for furloughed workers with suggestions such as interest free loans from Federal Credit Unions and tapping their home equity.  Additionally the story highlights less desirable options like withdrawals from retirement accounts or credit card cash advances.

While there is some comfort in knowing that in past Congress retroactively provided backpay to the furloughed workers it does not help them in the short term.  Of course this retroactive backpay applies only to federal employees and not contract workers.  Both federal workers and contract employees on furlough can apply for unemployment benefits (a state not federal program) but that can generally take two to three weeks to the first check to be issued. Also the maximum amount paid is $450 per week.

The takeaway from all this is that everyone needs an emergency fund. If the paycheck does not stretch to allow funding of an emergency fund then the solution is to get out there and hustle.  Take your pick from any of the hundreds of side hustles available to us.  Be it Uber, Rover, Airbnb, TaskRabbit or PostMates.  The important thing is to hustle and build that cushion in advance.

Good hustling!