When we think of retirement, most of us think of accumulating a large sum of money and then spending it down gradually. One of the best insurance policies to prevent spending all of your money is to have numerous sources of income in retirement. As you’ll see, even small amounts of retirement income can go an incredibly long way in making sure you have enough to last you the rest of your life.

Here, we’ll look at three unexpected sources of retirement income.

1. You
Retirement doesn’t need to be the permanent cessation of work; in fact, many would attest that a retirement without any work whatsoever can grow tiresome quickly. Going from a life of full-time work to one of full-time leisure may be more difficult than it sounds, especially if you’re someone who derives a sense of identity from your work.

You’d be well-advised to think about some types of part-time work that you enjoy, even if it’s working at a nature preserve or a coffee shop. Having a source of income, no matter how small it may seem, can prevent you from reaching too deeply into your portfolio at any given time.

For example, many retirees use the 4% rule to determine how much they should withdraw from their investment portfolios every year, even though some people argue the rule is outdated. The 4% rule states that you can withdraw 4% of your portfolio every year in retirement, adjusted for inflation, and have a minimal probability of running out of money over a 30-year horizon.

This means that a $1 million portfolio would yield $40,000 in annual retirement income in the first year of withdrawals. If you had a part-time job that brought in only $20,000 annually, it would be equivalent to adding another $500,000 to your nest egg!

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