This New Crop of Entrepreneurs May Surprise You
Members of the baby boomer generation are becoming entrepreneurs in their second careers.
By Nina Zipkin •
When you think about the stereotypical startup founder, maybe you envision a young college kid building something in his or her dorm room. But more and more, senior citizens and baby boomers are staying in the workforce longer, and they are turning to entrepreneurship in lieu of the previously traditional retirement.
A new report from the U.S. Small Business Association exploring entrepreneurial trends found that the number of self-employed people 62 and over grew from 4.2 percent in 1988 to 5.4 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, for people under 62, 7.2 percent were self-employed in 1988, but the number has decreased to 6 percent as of last year.
Related: Success Can Come at Any Age. Just Look at These 6 Successful Entrepreneurs.
So what does this mean for older entrepreneurs? It shows that it is never too late to start your own business. And while baby boomers are no longer the largest living population in the United States -- as of spring of this year the millennials took that spot -- there are nearly 75 million in that cohort who could benefit from entrepreneurship or be a prime market for new companies to cater to.
The report predicts that with the youngest members of the baby boomer generation turning 62 in 2026, there could be a significant shift in the way federal and local governments build infrastructure necessary to easily access resources in order to launch a small business.
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