Boomers Have Big Hopes For Small Businesses
Are you a boomer? If so, you're probably looking for less stress and more leisure time. Small business ownership might be just what the doctor ordered. A recent study about the baby boomers is saying that as this generation ages out of the workforce, they are turning to small business ownership to play an active role in their communities. The shared sentiments among boomers is that small businesses could provide "more intimacy, control over finances, and workers with lower cost of living." Young women are also benefiting from this trend because a larger number of male parents is leaving work early to care for their new children, which leaves the household more open to flexible working arrangements with women who can take on additional responsibilities like running a business.
Another reason why this group of older Americans are becoming interested in owning their own business is that they're not retiring at all. "Overall, only 10% of baby boomers are not working," said Mary Ellen Panagariou, director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania. "There is a tremendous amount of people who are holding on to their careers." While these statistics may be the new norm in America, a recent study conducted by MIT Sloan School's Center for Digital Business found that 62 percent of small businesses do not offer retirement plans. Business owners would like to offer their employees more benefits and secure more retirement income but do not have the resources or staff to do so.
Regardless of small business owners' personal reasons, they are more optimistic than they were before the recession. "In the past six years (from 2005-2009), people were concerned about their business lasting," says VP at the National Federation of Independent Business, Lori Zmich. "Now, it's about how do you get your business to be what it was intended to be." The study found that small businesses have grown by 20 percent during this time period. Many of these companies are now functioning as local service centers that provide not only entrepreneurship education but also service to customers and their communities.
Perhaps boomers can help shift stereotypes about small businesses: They are not just seasonal, restricted to minority groups or run by women.
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