An increasing number of people are opting to ease themselves into retirement by winding down and taking on a less demanding role rather than stopping work abruptly. Whether they need the money to boost a modest retirement income or simply want to keep active and engaged, a period of "pretirement" has become the new normal for many people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, according to research by Prudential. Read on for some low-stress "bridge" jobs that are ideal for 'pretirees.'

The first option pretirees have of course is to simply carry on doing your existing job on a part-time basis. Depending on how flexible your employer is, you may be able to tailor your hours around hobbies and activities, getting a feel for retirement while working on the side.

Another option is to quit your full-time, permanent job and consult on a part-time, self-employed basis specializing in your field of expertise, such as finance, management, IT, PR, or sales. That way, you can pick and choose when and where you work, cutting out a lot of stress.

Pretirees who have bankable skills instead of advisory expertise may want to think about going freelance. Like consultants, freelancers are free to work when they like and for whoever they like, and can pitch their services to businesses and individuals via websites such as Upwork and Fiverr.

Private tutor roles can offer qualified teachers and other skilled professionals a stress-free pretirement, and as a lot of teaching has moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s possible to tutor from anywhere in the world. Prepping students for exams one on one or in small groups is nowhere near as demanding as trying to educate a class of 30+ unruly kids.

Staying with education, pretirees can also take a course to teach English as a foreign language and take on a job as a TEFL teacher. Qualified TEFL teachers can find online gigs to teach keen language learners, which is great experience ready for when worldwide travel is accessible again – ideal for pretirees with itchy feet.

Accountants who want to quit the rat race without giving up work entirely may want to try their hand at income tax preparation for self-employed individuals and small companies. This home-based role is rarely busy or stressful, apart from those few days before the tax deadlines.

Many small businesses require bookkeeping services from time to time, particularly as the COVID-19 outbreak has put strain on a lot of companies' finances. Pretiree accountants or those with bookkeeping skills can offer their services on an ad-hoc basis, and work part-time or seasonally if they wish.

Yoga is suitable for any age group, and it's not uncommon for yoga instructors to qualify in their 60s and beyond. The teacher training courses can be pricey, but they pay off handsomely in next to no time, and teachers can work on a freelance basis as and when they choose. While in-person classes may be limited at the moment, there’s a large online offering for both learning how to become a yoga instructor and teaching your own classes from home.

Secretaries or PAs with killer admin skills can reduce their workload and stress levels pre-retirement by setting themselves up as a virtual assistant. A job ideal for the current crisis, virtual assistants work from the comfort of their own home, pretty much when they like and don't have a boss breathing down their neck.

Fighting for patients' rights and making sure they get the treatment to which they are entitled is a pretirement option for nurses or older people with an interest in advocacy. Various organizations offer courses and certifications in advocacy for those who are new to the field.

Pretirees who are good at making things can put their craft talents to good use and create their very own profitable business selling their wares on websites such as Etsy and Folksy. This pretirement role is flexible, super-creative, and can be done from the comfort of your own home.

If you have some extra space at home, why not put it to good use? The website Airbnb allows you to rent out a spare room, or entire home, and make money from it. Vacationers and business people commonly use the site to find somewhere suitable to stay, and it can be a real money-spinner if you provide a good experience. 

Lawyers and other legal experts who want to wind down their careers before retirement can turn to legal writing from home. The work, which consists of formulating legal documents, is well-paid and can be undertaken in their own time.

A fantastic way to keep fit, dog walking is ideal for pretirees who like dogs and want to do something energetic before they retire for good. Plus, the work tends to be part-time, freeing up plenty of time for recreation and relaxation.

Charities have never been in more desperate need of help than they are right now, and older people with sales and marketing skills are particularly sought-after. Fundraising is a great way of making money and giving back to society, and many charities offer fundraisers the option of working from home.

Pretirees with years of gardening experience under their belt might want to consider turning pro. Gardening is a brilliant way to keep fit at any age and pretirees who charge competitive rates for their services can make a small fortune.

Transcribing can be a time-consuming process, so journalists, academics and market researchers often outsource the job to somebody else. Remote transcribers usually receive a recording that needs to be copied out as text, and if you’re a speedy typist you can make between $13 and $19 an hour.

Stock image sites offer a huge market for budding photographers to get paid for their work. The libraries offer royalty-free images to businesses and organizations and the photographer gets paid for pictures that are downloaded. The earnings aren’t huge – the average image earns $0.25 to $0.50 each month, but photography is an ideal pretiree hobby, and if you have a large collection it could quickly turn a profit.

If your creativity takes the form of words rather than pictures, you could try your hand at becoming an e-book writer during your pretirement. The process of getting your work out there is a lot less regulated than through traditional routes to publication, and that means that you get to keep a larger chunk of the profit – typically 40%-90%, compared to the 10% usually offered through publishing houses.

Making videos and posting them online can be big business – as of 2019 the world’s best-paid video blogger, or ‘vlogger’, was an eight-year-old boy called Ryan, who made around $26 million in one year according to Forbes. But the world of online is not just an opportunity for children. Older YouTubers include Tim Rowett's channel Grand Illusions, which is all about his unusual toy collection and has 1.5 million subscribers, and Grandma Shirley, an 82-year-old who records herself playing video games and has attracted 920,000 followers.

Now read about the industries that will boom after coronavirus