Tag: older entrepreneurs

Think you’re too old to be an entrepreneur? Maybe there’s no such thing. A growing number of Americans in their 60s, 70s, and beyond are entrepreneurs, research shows. At the same time, the number of Americans working past the age of 75 has grown by 50 percent in the past 20 years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

That’s both because existing entrepreneurs are delaying retirement and because people who’ve retired from their jobs are starting new businesses. In both cases, they have excellent reasons for staying in the work force. If you’re at or nearing retirement age, some of these reasons may make sense for you too.

1. Retirees are nervous about outliving their money.

In 2023, the last year for which statistics are available, a 65-year-old could expect to live, on average, 19.5 years, to age 85. And that life expectancy is trending upward. Today’s retirees and prospective retirees may not be monitoring those statistics. But they can see what’s happening with their older relatives and friends. In my own family, for example, my mother lived to 91, my father lived to 95, and my stepfather lived to 105. That kind of thing makes you very aware that your retirement savings may need to last a long, long time.

As the Wall Street Journal reported recently, one way to stretch out your retirement savings is to continue earning money past the usual retirement age. That extra income might let you delay collecting Social Security payments until the age of 70, which gives you the maximum benefits. Depending how much you earn, you may possibly increase those benefits as well. For both purposes, entrepreneurship can be appealing because it makes it easier to earn extra money part-time, on your own schedule.

2. They enjoy working.

This can be especially true for entrepreneurs. If you’ve built up a business from nothing, you may want to keep running that business. If you’ve formed close relationships with your employees and/or customers, you may want to keep seeing those people every day.

For many people, having regular work means having structure and staying mentally engaged, as well as interacting regularly with a larger number of people. All those things are beneficial for your cognitive and emotional health as you grow older. As one older non-retiree said to the Journal, “Almost all of my career has been positive with a sense of accomplishment, so why stop?”

3. Entrepreneurship gives them more freedom.

The older you get, the less willing you may be to follow someone else’s schedule or work rules. That can make it appealing to be your own boss. For example, Daniel Mainzer, who for years has had his own photography business in Stow, Ohio, told the Journal he’s slowly easing himself out of the business, although not the practice of photography. At 80, he still works for pay about two hours a week, although he doesn’t need the money. And he has his own photography projects as well.

Why not just relax after his many years of working? “It’s important to keep engaging in life. There’s so much going on,” he told the Journal. That’s the kind of mindset that can keep entrepreneurs feeling and acting young for many years past the usual retirement age.

There’s a growing audience of Inc.com readers who receive a daily text from me with a self-care or motivational micro-challenge or tip. Often, they text me back and we wind up in a conversation. (Want to know more? Here’s some information about the texts and a special invitation to a two-month free trial.) Many of my subscribers are entrepreneurs who know the value of staying engaged in their work and with their businesses. Some have chosen to keep working in their businesses even after retirement age. These days that looks like a smart thing to do.