While many people look forward to retirement after a lifetime of work, for some people its approach fills them with dread. Being forced to end your working life at sixty-five, whether you want to or not is viewed with dread by many people. After a lifetime of activity, To suddenly wake up one day with nothing to do can send many into a spiral of depression. Especially if you only have a small company pension to top up your tiny state pension.
Today the opportunity for people who have retired to start their own part-time or full-time business is much easier now thanks to the internet. And, according to Frances Kay, the editor of
"The Good Non retirement Guide" a growing number of older people are refusing to sit down and vegetate. Many are taking the plunge and starting their own businesses. According to Frances, " if you look at the proportion of the population who are starting a small business, there are a lot of older people about.
They are doing it because at a certain stage in life they want autonomy and they don't necessarily want to be working in an organization for someone who is half their age. People are living longer and are healthier so you probably have 25 years between 55 and 80 when you can get a heck of a lot done. There is a lot you can achieve and it can be hugely satisfying."
As Frances mentions people are living much longer than they were when the official retirement age was set at sixty-five. Many people today are much healthier and stronger in middle age than their parents were and been consigned to the scrap heap when you feel you still have much to contribute can be like a prison sentence.
It is still a disaster to made redundant in your fifties. Despite the governments attempts to encourage employers to employ older people. Let's face it, when faced with a candidate of 55 and 23 most people will employ the younger person. The person doing the employing will probably be in their twenties and may feel uncomfortable giving orders to someone old enough to be their father or mother.
If you are fit and healthy then age is no barrier to starting your own business. In fact you have many advantages. You will have, over the course of your life, picked up many valuable social skills which every successful business needs. You will have a maturity that will give you a greater tolerance level to the daily problems faced by small enterprises. And the thought of avoiding the daily trek to work where you are taking orders from someone young enough to be your son or daughter can be appealing.
After a lifetime spent working for others it's not too late for middle-aged people to branch out on their own start their own business.
We know that working for others will never provide us with enough money to enjoy a comfortable retirement. And with the banks going down and our pension investments collapsing many older people are finding themselves heading towards retirement without the financial cushion they hoped for. This is a good time to think about starting your own business.
Today the opportunity for people who have retired to start their own part-time or full-time business is much easier now thanks to the internet. And, according to Frances Kay, the editor of
"The Good Non retirement Guide" a growing number of older people are refusing to sit down and vegetate. Many are taking the plunge and starting their own businesses. According to Frances, " if you look at the proportion of the population who are starting a small business, there are a lot of older people about.
They are doing it because at a certain stage in life they want autonomy and they don't necessarily want to be working in an organization for someone who is half their age. People are living longer and are healthier so you probably have 25 years between 55 and 80 when you can get a heck of a lot done. There is a lot you can achieve and it can be hugely satisfying."
As Frances mentions people are living much longer than they were when the official retirement age was set at sixty-five. Many people today are much healthier and stronger in middle age than their parents were and been consigned to the scrap heap when you feel you still have much to contribute can be like a prison sentence.
It is still a disaster to made redundant in your fifties. Despite the governments attempts to encourage employers to employ older people. Let's face it, when faced with a candidate of 55 and 23 most people will employ the younger person. The person doing the employing will probably be in their twenties and may feel uncomfortable giving orders to someone old enough to be their father or mother.
If you are fit and healthy then age is no barrier to starting your own business. In fact you have many advantages. You will have, over the course of your life, picked up many valuable social skills which every successful business needs. You will have a maturity that will give you a greater tolerance level to the daily problems faced by small enterprises. And the thought of avoiding the daily trek to work where you are taking orders from someone young enough to be your son or daughter can be appealing.
After a lifetime spent working for others it's not too late for middle-aged people to branch out on their own start their own business.
We know that working for others will never provide us with enough money to enjoy a comfortable retirement. And with the banks going down and our pension investments collapsing many older people are finding themselves heading towards retirement without the financial cushion they hoped for. This is a good time to think about starting your own business.