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Is It Wise for a Boomer to Start a Business Now?
“Boomer-preneurs” have a strong chance of success.
The number of Boomers who have retired in 2020 dramatically increased. Pandemic-related job losses, as well as ageism, contributed to many more Boomers leaving the workforce in 2020. These factors suggest that the U.S. job market won’t be a particularly good one for Boomers in 2021.
At the same time, however, the U.S. Census Bureau is reporting a significant uptick in new business applications. For example, for the week ending October 3, 2020 — while the pandemic continued to rage around the U.S. — there was an increase in new business applications of 40 percent over the same period in 2019.
It turns out that Boomers play a major role in small business growth. According to Guidant Financial, a firm providing small business financing and a founding member of the Small Business Trends Alliance, “Boomers make up 41 percent of small business or franchise owners, second only to GenX at 44 percent.” Even more encouraging, “Seventy-eight percent of boomer businesses are profitable, making them the most profitable age group of small business or franchise owners.” Despite the current difficult economic and political environment, Guidant Financial found that 60 percent of Boomer business owners were “somewhat confident” or “very…
