To retire early, some Americans aren’t climbing the corporate ladder to earn more — they’re secretly working multiple remote jobs simultaneously and banking the surplus earnings.
Last year, Daniel earned about $280,000 juggling two remote roles in the medical field. Before becoming overemployed in 2021, he wasn’t sure retirement was even realistic: With expenses like his children’s college tuition looming, he said it was hard to put enough toward long-term savings. However, his net worth grew to $1.6 million from $1 million since 2022, and he’s aiming to retire around the age of 59.
“I will be able to retire when I want, and perhaps earlier, if everything continues to fall into place,” said Daniel, who’s in his late 40s and based in Texas. “Before this, retirement was looking like wishful thinking.”
Over the past two years, BI has interviewed more than two dozen overemployed workers like Daniel who’ve used their extra income to travel the world, pay down debt, and accelerate their retirement plans. These workers hope to escape the retirement challenges many Americans face — and protect themselves from rising costs, stock market volatility, and the potential threat of layoffs.
Four current and former job-jugglers shared how their strategies are giving them the financial means to retire earlier than initially planned. All did so on the condition that pseudonyms would be used, citing fears of professional repercussions. BI has verified their identities and earnings.
To be sure, working multiple jobs without employer approval could have professional repercussions and lead to other consequences, like burnout. But many job jugglers have told BI that the financial benefits generally outweigh the downsides and risks.
Job juggling is making early retirement possible
George, who’s 39 and based in the Southeast, is on track to earn about $250,000 this year by secretly working two full-time remote IT roles. Early retirement has long been his “north star” because he hasn’t enjoyed working.
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Before he started job juggling about two years ago, George said he and his wife had a net worth of about $1 million, and he hoped they could reach $2.1 million by age 55. He said their net worth has since grown to $1.5 million, and he’s now projecting they’ll hit $3.2 million by age 48. His goal is to retire at age 50.
“I don’t know that I would really stop before 50,” he said. “I think I’d rather just pad the account, because I’d rather have too much than not enough.”
Burnout and spending can impede overemployment
For some overemployed workers, holding multiple jobs isn’t a perfect fix.
Adrian, a California-based data analyst in his early 40s, earned about $110,000 in 2023 by secretly working two full-time remote jobs. When the contract for one of his jobs came to an end last year, he decided not to look for a new role: Job juggling had become too stressful.
However, Adrian’s roughly yearlong overemployment stint allowed him to make significant progress toward his retirement goals: He said he earned about $50,000 in additional income, all of which he invested in index funds that he’s allocating for his retirement.
Adrian, who has about $323,000 in savings, said he’s started exploring retirement plans that fit within his and his partner’s budget.
“My partner and I are hoping to retire in about three years and move to a cheaper cost-of-living area,” he said.
Kelly, who’s in her late 40s and based in Arizona, also hopes to retire soon, but several hurdles stand in her way.
She’s on track to earn nearly $300,000 this year by secretly working two full-time remote engineering jobs. However, she said her stock market investments have underperformed lately, and that she’s had to support several family members financially.
“I am pretty much the sole provider for a lot of my family members,” she said. “So I’m basically working to support others.”
Kelly has about $42,000 in savings. Still, she’s hopeful that her multiple income streams will make an early retirement possible.
“I would like to retire in five years from now,” she said. “I’m trying to pay down all of my bills and invest more.”
Do you have a story to share about secretly working multiple jobs or discovering an employee is doing so? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at jzinkula.29.
