My life, chapter two

Now that I have been retired for about a year and a half, I have begun to agonize over what the second chapter of my life will look like. I have far too many interests and I don't really want to return to the workplace again. I have no desire to return to the lion's den of being a working person with all of the office politics, begging for time off, work schedules that I don't like (working weekends when I'd rather be doing something else) and more. If I ever were to return to work, it would have to be doing something and working for someone that reflected my values. I feel like I can be choosy now about work. I did the thirty year grind in the public sector - thank goodness, because the retirement benefits are pretty good. I'm of an age now where I am too old to be putting up with a lot of workplace nonsense. So I don't know what to do. I do need to start some kind of investment portfolio to assure my financial future, but I can't afford to pay a financial manager a third of my money, which is their usual commission. I have a very small amount of money to start investing, that being $1500, but most firms won't take under $2500 to start, and I can't scare up an extra $1000 to make that. I'm a low income retiree who worries daily about my finances. I've got the time, but no money to travel and do the things I'd hoped to do once I stopped working. So I am stuck at home because I can't go anywhere and I am beginning to become frightfully bored sitting around my house with nowhere to go because I can't afford travel. I have to figure out some way to make this second chapter of my life fulfilling and interesting and I just can't figure out what I want to do. Part of me would like to work for myself, but I have no idea how to run a business and I'm not really sure I want to do that, but it would allow me the flexibility to work when I want and not work when I don't want to. I'm tired of working for other people, especially people who don't share my value system. So I'm agonizing over what to do and how to do what I'd like to do without it breaking me financially. On top of that is the fear that my landlord will sell the house and if that happens, I will for sure be evicted because this place could very easily command twice the rent that I pay for it. I checked market values for apartments similar to mine and was flabbergasted to see how high rents here have gone lately. I have a real bargain on this place and I want to keep it. It's amply spacious, walkable and in the same neighborhood where I have spent my whole life. But I can't let that distract me now. The main goal here is to assure my future financial security and how to get there with a tiny bit of seed money that most investment firms out there won't accept as enough to start anything with. I really wish that I had invested some money years ago, but oh, well, you know what they say, hindsight is 20/20. I have to look to the future and what that is going to look like and to make sure that it is secure enough for me to survive long term without having to return to the hated workplace.