By: Nick Callos
If you’re a nature lover, retiring early gives you time to enjoy the world’s best nature spots while you’re still in great physical shape. Hike the Appalachian Trail, explore the beaches of Costa Rica, see the Southern Lights and more!
Yet FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) comes with financial risks. Namely, what happens if your savings get depleted by a major life event, such as a medical emergency, or macroeconomic issues, like high inflation?
There is a simple solution though.
It’s called semi-retirement.
As the Frayed Passport semi-retirement guide states, being semi-retired means enjoying a period of life before full retirement where you work part-time and enjoy your days as if you were retired. For nature lovers, semi-retirement should involve jobs out in nature. In this article, we highlight the best semi-retirement jobs for nature lovers.
Read on—and start planning out the semi-retirement of your dreams!
Read our general guide on the Best Semi-Retirement Jobs here.
Photo by Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash
1. Travel Writer
Average Pay: $36 per hour; $76K annual salary
Where to Apply for This Semi-Retirement Job: Frayed Passport’s jobs and careers resources page is a great place to start research. SmartBlogger has a great list of publications here that hire and pay travel writers.
Why It’s One of the Best Semi-Retirement Jobs for Nature Lovers
Travel and tourism is a multi-trillion dollar industry. It’s a field with a definite need for content producers, especially content writers capable of producing articles about destinations, copy for hotels, video scripts for nature destinations and more. As a travel writer, you can contribute to local guides, major publications, and everything else in between. What’s great is that your research will involve doing what you love as a nature-lover: Exploring the vast world and all its beautiful locations! Most jobs are remote too, offering you great flexibility.
2. Groundskeeper
Average Pay: $15—$20+ per hour
Where to Apply for This Semi-Retirement Job: General jobs sites, such as Indeed and ZipRecruiter, are probably the best sites to search for local groundskeeper jobs.
Why It’s One of the Best Semi-Retirement Jobs for Nature Lovers
Groundskeepers maintain the grounds and outdoor environments around parks, colleges, office buildings, resorts, golf courses and other places. This sort of work is widely available, making it a great semi-retirement job no matter where you are. Working can involve mowing lawns, planting flowers, trimming bushes, cleaning up litter and more. While these jobs aren’t remote, they do offer the chance to be outdoors for nature lovers. Plus, you get to ensure the outdoor area stays beautiful. The job will keep you physically active too—another plus!
3. United States Park Ranger
Average Pay: Seasonal work at small state parks usually starts from $15—$20+ per hour, while career rangers can make around $80,000 per year.
Where to Apply for This Semi-Retirement Job: To get started, check out the U.S. Department of Interior site for Park Ranger jobs.
Why It’s One of the Best Semi-Retirement Jobs for Nature Lovers
The United States has more than 189 million acres of public land, much of it breathtakingly beautiful. If you’re a fan of America’s National Parks, then you should consider being a park ranger. It’s one of the best semi-retirement jobs for nature lovers because you can do real good while working within some of the world’s most important natural areas:
- Preserve historical buildings and archaeological treasures
- Protect natural resources, plants, animals and people
- Help diverse groups of visitors understand the importance of conservation
4. Zookeeper
Average Pay: $17—$20+ per hour: $40K+ annually starting out (higher if you have experience and/or educational background)
Where to Apply for This Semi-Retirement Job: General jobs sites, such as Indeed and ZipRecruiter, are probably the best sites to search for zookeeper jobs. You can also search directly on the zoo or nature park’s website.
Why It’s One of the Best Semi-Retirement Jobs for Nature Lovers
Are you an animal lover? Then consider working as a zookeeper at a local zoo and animal sanctuary. You’ll help clean and maintain animal habitats, prepare food for the animals, educate visitors about the wildlife, train animals and more. Being a zookeeper can be very rewarding as you gain an appreciation for some of the world’s most important wildlife, from sea turtles and sharks to lions and elephants. Note many places will train employees with no experience, but a background in any life science will help land a job.
5. Organic Farmer
Average Pay: $25 per hour; $53K per year
Where to Apply for This Semi-Retirement Job: Aghires.com is a good site for farming jobs, as are general job board sites such as LinkedIn and Simply Hired.
Why It’s One of the Best Semi-Retirement Jobs for Nature Lovers
Growth of organic food sales has grown from $13 billion in 2005 to more than $60 billion today in the U.S. Organic farming is a booming industry, with no signs of slowing as long as folks become more and more aware of how important it is to eat clean. If you’re looking for the best semi-retirement jobs for nature lovers, look no further. Organic farming allows you to work under the sun. From picking fruits to selling at the local farmer’s market, there are a variety of roles continuously available. It’s the perfect job for someone who loves the outdoors and healthy eating!
Go get one of the best semi-retirement jobs for nature lovers
Semi-retirement does take planning. But once you reach the point where you don’t have to save more, and simply need to maintain your current level of savings, you can start to work part time and live off that cash flow. You only live once, or so they say, so you might as well enjoy it.
If you love nature, these semi-retirement jobs can help you maintain cash flow in retirement while also being rewarding. We’ll be adding more as time goes on, so check back regularly. In the meantime, find that perfect semi-retirement job and enjoy life like never before.
About the Author
Nick Callos has always had a passion for reading, writing, and discovering the new and unknown. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Nick holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Boston College. He currently splits his time between his hometown, Chengdu, China, and the open road. A full-time travel writer, Nick hopes his work can inspire others to explore the world more deeply and enjoy the digital nomad lifestyle.