Retirees No More

Tweet

A study by AARP released on March 18 revealed that a growing share of older workers are starting their own businesses. Reported in "More Retirees Start Their Own Businesses" in The Wall Street Journal (registration required), 50-plus workers accounted for 40% of all workers in business for themselves. According to AARP, the number has been slowly climbing for several years. The organization expects the trend to continue after a Summer 2003 poll revealed that more people plan to work into their 70s and that 16% planned to work for themselves.

What the article didn't mention, but what is mentioned in the actual study are the reasons why retirees are starting businesses. AARP calls the reasons "push" and "pull" factors, and a couple of those reasons include being "pushed" out of wage and salary positions and being "pulled" into entrepreneurship because of greater personal wealth and more education that helps incline them to becoming self-employed.

Are you a recent retiree who's started a business? What was your push or pull factor?