Dear LPG,

When we get older, and once we have worked out how to live on the income that we have spent all those years working hard to amass, many of us are content with our financial lot.  Whether we are or are not, the weekly figure is settled. And once you have assessed your new weekly income, you are more or less stuck with it.

But I think that there will always be the pensioner who is not quite happy with their circumstances and while we are still young enough, there is always the option of finding a little something to do for an hour or two a week, which will improve the situation just a little.

We oldies have an extra advantage because as hard as it might be to adjust to our new income, it is a sure thing and, if any enterprise we embark on goes belly up, we are likely not to end up any worse off in the end.

It might not be something you need to try just for the money either.  It is often said that, a feeling of pride in your work and that sense of achievement are emotions that can often be aligned with happiness and contentment.

According to the internet there are many different avenues that might inspire, but although one of my aunts was inspired a bit late in life I would suggest you don’t follow her thinking. 

It has to have been about five years ago, when she was 85 years old, that she saw a television programme about how lucrative the business of telephone sex could be and decided that she might set herself up as a telephone based dominatrix. It was all going to be her big secret, but I got to hear about her scheme because she wanted me to investigate setting up one of those expensive telephone numbers for her potential clients to phone where the phone-call costs so much that it also pays for the service.

I have to say that I was quite surprised when she explained it all to me and I decided that I could not help.   My reasons could be summed up in one sentence, “What would the rest of the family say when they found out?”  After another television program, she was inspired again and that whole idea went away after a week or two but, if she had managed to make a success of it, I bet that would have been an achievement and a half!

I think that boredom has got me thinking about finding a slightly more achievable ambition and if there is a little financial gain to be made… why not?  I have had a look for ideas on the internet and thought I should share my findings for any LPG readers who are also potential ‘movers and shakers’ in the making, whatever your age.

Perhaps, for some, it is a case of substituting the word ‘loved’ for, ‘tried to be a bit of an entrepreneur on the side’ as Alfred Lord Tennyson nearly said when penning the quote, "'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all".

AJ, Lewisham

AJ found a few ideas though some of them may be a little involved…

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