Millions of Americans work full-time but don’t earn enough to build a nest egg. Others don’t have access to workplace retirement plans or have suffered personal or professional setbacks that forced them to put off saving altogether.
They all have one thing in common: Each could benefit from a side hustle to help them build financial security for their golden years.
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Unless you have a marketable specialty, you’ll want to look for side gigs that are widely available and open to people from various backgrounds, skill sets and education levels.
The following side gigs are in demand, flexible and pay well enough to pack some pounds onto underweight retirement funds.
Tutor
Many high-paying side hustles involve specialized niches. For example, ZipRecruiter said freelance software developers earn an average of $54 an hour.
But if you’re one of the few people who has that highly specific skill set, you probably already know you can make it pay.
Tutors, however, can serve people studying to become software developers — or to improve in math, take a standardized test, pass the Series 7 exam, or just about any other academic pursuit at which you happen to excel.
That kind of range gives tutoring broad potential as a side hustle for the masses.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average pay is $20 an hour. If you could commit to just five hours per week at the average rate, you’d have $5,200 at the end of the year.
That’s just $1,800 shy of maxing out an IRA or Roth IRA, which the IRS limits to $7,000 in annual contributions for those under 50 in 2024. Older savers can contribute $8,000.
You could max out an individual retirement account for the year with less than seven hours per week of tutoring.
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Consultant
Like tutors, consultants sell knowledge, and they can cash in on what they’re storing in their brains across an equally broad range of subjects.
However, the average consultant sells institutional knowledge to businesses and professionals for more than double what they could charge for providing academic guidance as tutors.
ZipRecruiter said the average consultant makes $48 an hour. That’s enough to max out an IRA with nearly $500 left over with only three hours of work per week.
Just four hours per week would leave the average side-hustling consultant nearly $10,000 richer after one year.
Audio/Video Transcriptionist
According to Forbes, searches for transcription services have increased by 39% in the last year, and rising demand has put a premium on transcriptionists who work on a contract basis.
Sites like TranscribeMe! are dedicated to this side hustle and allow just about anyone to sign up and start earning with little training and few barriers to entry.
The platform assigns its member freelancers short audio or video clips roughly two to four minutes long to transcribe. When they finish, the system assigns them another and doesn’t cap the number of consecutive clips it assigns. Starting pay at TranscribeMe! is $15 to $22 per audio hour, although those fluent in medical or other specialty styles can earn $70 per hour or more.
ZipRecruiter said the average transcriptionist earns $21 an hour, which puts TranscribeMe! in the typical pay range. The platform said its average member earns $250 per month or $3,000 per year, but it pays roughly the same as tutoring, so more ambitious transcriptionists can max out an IRA with roughly seven hours of side hustling per week.
Virtual Assistant
According to CNBC, “The term ‘virtual assistant’ is a catch all for a slew of different types of work.”
It has broad appeal as a side hustle because it pertains to many specialties and includes many kinds of duties and skill sets, including:
- Knowledge of specific software and programs like Microsoft Excel, Google Docs and Adobe Photoshop
- Strong organizational skills
- WordPress site creation
- Email campaign building
- Social media management
- Spreadsheet management
- Editing and proofreading
- Billing and bookkeeping services
These are just a few of the skills and services virtual assistants market on sites like Fiverr and Belay for $18 to $21 per hour, although CNBC said some highly-specialized virtual assistants can earn up to $100 per hour.
Remember, you can max out an IRA or Roth IRA for the year with less than $140 per week.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Side Gigs To Boost Your Retirement Savings in 2025
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