By Priscilla Kohl | HRTools.com Business Writer
The time is coming for millions of American baby boomers.
These baby boomers are or will be facing major lifestyle changes. Full retirement; semi-retirement; or no retirement—are basically the choices. Yet living a no-regrets life is still possible.
Baby boomers can take a lesson from an all-American guy, one who has lived 80+ years and now admits to experiencing a few regrets.
As a young Midwestern farm boy, J. L. French left the family farm some 60 years ago. After starting a family, he moved to the ‘big city’ and continued to work hard all his life. Prior to retiring a few years ago, French held a variety of jobs throughout his life. He started out as a milkman; then moved on to a career in sales. He finally ended up semi-retired and worked as a contract courier driver until a few years ago. He rarely slept past 4 a.m. or missed a day of work. His work ethic today is as deeply ingrained as it was when he got up before dawn every morning to milk those dairy cows. As he said, “I was much happier when I was working.”
What he regrets most today, however, is not starting up his own family business. “When I was in better health, I wish I had started my own business 20 years ago. I imagine that one of my children would have gladly joined me,” he said.
Some sociologists characterize baby boomers as workaholics. Maybe so; many polls taken before and during this most recent economic crisis reveal that a majority of baby boomers surveyed have no plans to ever fully stop working.
A USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 63 percent of non-retired workers said they plan to continue working past retirement; and two-thirds of those gave “enjoyment of work” as the primary reason. Another AARP poll showed that many Americans between the ages of 50 and 70 plan to work far into their so-called ‘retirement’ years.
So, now is the time that baby boomers should start exploring the possibilities and evaluating their own lifestyle needs along with their own individual desires and needs. With semi-retirement and full retirement looming for millions of baby boomers within the next decade, many find themselves asking such questions as follows:
- What will I do to fill my days?
- How will I survive since my retirement savings are insufficient?
- What can I do to make a difference before I face that final curtain?
- What can I do to avoid feeling worthless or like a burden to others?
- Why should I let all this valuable knowledge and expertise go to waste?
No one in the baby boomer generation need feel unique or alone when thinking about these things. In fact, more Americans in this age group (those now between the ages of 55 and 65) start their own businesses at a higher rate than any other age group, according to information posted at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Web site.
If you’re weighing the pros and cons for starting your own family business, consider the following summary of potential positives. At ‘your age,’ you have:
- an exciting lifestyle choice and a way to live out your dreams;
- an ideal way for staying productive and engaged;
- a seasoned level of maturity that can add significant value to an enterprise;
- a well-developed network of contacts that can help affect a competitive advantage;
- a potential for transforming a lifetime hobby, passion or interest into a lucrative income;
- an opportunity to enjoy greater flexibility and gain greater control;
- a likelihood of more stable or stronger finances;
- a personal life with fewer or less-urgent distractions (such as juggling young children with other responsibilities, etc.)
- an awareness for how to tap into valuable resources for building a business; and
- a solid appreciation for your needs, priorities and passions.
Obviously only you can decide if you have what it takes to start a family business. Dreams don’t have to retire, regardless of one’s age, especially in America. Ironically, too, these severe economic times are mobilizing many Americans to consider starting their own business.
Perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger said it best, “Everything I have, my career, my success, my family, I owe to America.”
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