Encore Career: How to Start a Second Career in Retirement

An encore career is paid or volunteer work you take on after your main career, often in a new field, chosen for income, meaning, or both. It can cover part of your retirement budget, but the income also changes your Social Security, taxes, and health coverage, so it belongs in your plan before you start.

You’ve spent 30 or 40 years getting good at something. Then retirement shows up and asks you to set it all down on a Friday afternoon. For a lot of people, walking away from that expertise stings more than they expected.

An encore career lets you keep using it, on terms you choose, in work that fits who you are now. It might even fill a need you didn’t know you had.

What Is an Encore Career?

An encore career is work you take on after leaving your main career, often in a new field. People also call it a second career or a second act. It can be paid or volunteer, full-time or part-time. What sets it apart from a stopgap job is intent. You’re choosing the work for what it gives you, whether that’s income or a sense of purpose.

The term took hold through Encore.org, a nonprofit that now goes by CoGenerate. Its version of the idea leans toward work with a social purpose. In everyday use, the two terms mean about the same thing.

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans 65 and Older Are Still Working

In 2025, 19.1% of Americans 65 and older were in the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from 12.9% in 2000. Participation is highest in the years right after 65. Among men 65 to 69, it’s 38.1%. Among women the same age, it’s 28.9%.

Money is one reason people keep working. Many also want a reason to get up in the morning and people to see when they get there. If you feel that pull, you’ve got plenty of company.

Encore Career Ideas Tend to Follow Five Paths

Most second careers after retirement follow one of five paths. You can stay in your old field, teach, retrain, start a business, or work for a cause. Within each path, the best jobs after retirement depend on your income goals and how much structure you want.

Consult or freelance in your old field

Consulting lets you sell what you already know on your own schedule. A retired accountant can take on a few small business clients each tax season. A former HR director could help a startup write its first employee handbook. You set the rate and decide how many projects to accept.

Independent contractors also owe self-employment tax. The rate is 15.3% on net earnings of $400 or more, which covers both the employer and employee shares of Social Security and Medicare. It applies even if you already collect Social Security, and you can deduct half of it on your tax return.

Teach, tutor, or coach

Teaching puts your experience to work for someone just starting out. Community colleges hire adjunct instructors with industry backgrounds. Tutoring and test prep can fit into a few hours a week. That suits anyone who wants part-time work with room to breathe.

Retrain for a new field

Some encore careers need a license or certificate first. Real estate agents and certified nursing assistants both need state credentials, for example. Community colleges offer many of these programs for less than a university would charge.

If you want a full year to rethink what’s next, a few universities run fellowships for this stage of life. Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute is one. Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative and Notre Dame’s Inspired Leadership Initiative are two more. Each brings accomplished professionals to campus for a year of study and reflection. They’re selective, so check each program’s cost and eligibility before you apply.

Start a small business

A skill or hobby can grow into a small business. A woodworker sells custom furniture. A former chef caters small events. Starting small keeps your risk low while you learn whether customers will pay.

Business profit brings self-employment tax too, at the same 15.3% rate, and no employer withholds it for you. Expect to make quarterly estimated payments to the IRS and set money aside for them.

Work for a cause

This is the classic encore career. You take a paid or volunteer role with a nonprofit or a community group. The pay can be lower than what you earned before. The sense that your work matters can make up the difference.

How to Choose a Second Career in 5 Steps

Choosing a second career starts with what you want from the work. Then you test it before you commit. If this feels like picking a college major all over again, that’s normal. You know yourself a lot better this time.

1. Decide what you want from the work

Start by picturing a good week. Ask yourself:

• How many hours do you want to work, and how much do you need to earn?
• Do you need benefits like health insurance?
• Who do you want to spend your days with?
• Which tasks leave you energized at the end of the day?

The Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows pay and training requirements for hundreds of careers. Use it as a reality check once you have a few ideas.

2. Be honest about how much time you’ll give it

A new career takes time to learn and time to do. Plenty of career changers find they want something part-time. “Maybe they want to spend Tuesday and Thursday with the grandkids,” says Judi Lansky, founder of Lansky Career Consultants in Chicago. “Working 40 to 50 hours a week might not be realistic.”

Training takes time too. Some fields require classes before you can start.

3. Test the field before you leave your job

A job can look different from the inside. Talk to people who do the work now. Ask if you can shadow someone for a day. Volunteering or a short freelance project can show you whether you like the work before you’ve given anything up.

4. Build skills and contacts while you’re still employed

Take any required courses while you’re still earning a paycheck. The switch goes faster when you arrive ready. Start building a network in your new field now, too. Those contacts will help you land your first role.

5. Show employers you’re current

Your experience is an asset, and current skills keep it visible. Brush up on the software your new field uses. You may work alongside colleagues half your age, so show that you enjoy collaborating across generations. The job search has changed too. Finding a job after 50 takes a few different moves than it did 20 years ago.

A Second Career Changes Your Retirement Plan in Four Ways

Income from a second career can change when you claim Social Security and how you pay for health insurance. It can also change your tax bill and when you start drawing from savings.

Social Security

Say you claim Social Security before full retirement age and keep working. In 2026, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $24,480. It credits those months back by raising your benefit at full retirement age.

If you haven’t claimed yet, a paycheck can give you room to wait. Each year you delay past full retirement age raises your benefit, up to age 70.

Health insurance before 65

If your encore career doesn’t come with health benefits, you’ll need coverage until Medicare starts at 65. Marketplace plans through HealthCare.gov are one option. Premium tax credits are based on income, so a new paycheck can change what you pay. Early retirement health costs can run high, and they belong in your plan from the start.

Taxes

A paycheck can make more of your Social Security taxable. That’s because benefits are taxed based on your combined income: your adjusted gross income, plus any nontaxable interest (like municipal bond interest), plus half of your benefit.

Earned income raises your adjusted gross income, which pushes combined income up with it. For a single filer, benefits start becoming taxable above $25,000, and up to 85% of the benefit counts as taxable income above $34,000. For married couples filing jointly, the IRS puts those marks at $32,000 and $44,000.

Savings and withdrawals

A paycheck can let you leave your savings alone longer. Every year you skip a withdrawal gives your portfolio another year to grow. Earned income also lets you keep contributing to an IRA. There’s no age limit on traditional IRA contributions as long as you have earned income.

Each of these changes touches the others. A part-time job at 63 might shrink this year’s Social Security check and raise your benefit later. The Boldin Planner lets you add second career income for the years you plan to work. Then you can use Scenario Manager to compare that plan against retiring outright. You’ll see how each one moves your Chance of Success. Seeing both versions side by side can turn a vague wish into a decision you feel good about.

Free Tools Can Help You Research a Second Career

You don’t have to figure this out alone. A few books can help you sort out what you want before you start applying.

• What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles is a long-running career guide with exercises for matching your skills to work you’d enjoy.
• The Encore Career Handbook by Marci Alboher came out of Encore.org. It walks through the practical side of changing fields later in life.
• Barbara Sher’s I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was helps when you have too many interests to pick one.
• From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard professor, looks at how purpose and success can shift in the second half of life.

Some people want a new job. Others want to rethink who they are in retirement from the ground up. Both are fair places to start.

You don’t need a perfect plan to start. A couple of conversations or a trial project can tell you more than months of wondering. Pick one to try this month.

Frequently Asked Questions About Encore Careers