PeoplePerHour.com • the online resource for freelancers • reports that growing numbers of ex-pat pensioners are finding ways to earn money online and compensate for the weakening purchasing power of the Pound abroad.
For example, in 2005 Gillian Green retired with her husband to the Tarn et Garonne region of southwest France. Four years later, Mrs Green reports that ex-pat Britons in France are returning to the UK in their droves as the Pound hovers near parity with the Euro.
“We know lots of Brits in this region who have been forced to return home,” says Mrs Green. “The unfavourable exchange rate has suddenly made the cost of living here on a UK pension very expensive, often to the point of it being impossible. We couldn’t continue living here if I didn’t supplement our pension income.”
Mrs Green uses PeoplePerHour.com to bid for ad-hoc writing jobs posted on the site by businesses. For example, she was recently paid to write a series of articles for a Brighton-based mental health information website. Using the internet to work remotely for British companies means Mrs Green can supplement her pension enough to continue enjoying retirement in the sunshine.
“It’s very difficult for ex-pats to find work in France. Regardless of how good your French is, it’s very rarely good enough for even the most basic jobs,” says Mrs Green. “PeoplePerHour.com enables me to work for UK businesses remotely, which is ideal.”
PeoplePerHour.com founder and CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou says remote working is a growing trend in the UK.
“Retired ex-pats supplementing their pension is just one example of how the internet is facilitating remote working,” says Thrasyvoulou. “Thousands of people in a wide range of situations are also discovering its benefits, from impoverished students and the recently-redundant, to fulltime workers supplementing their income with occasional online moonlighting.”
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