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10 Great Places for Entrepreneurs to Retire

U.S. News and World Report, 6/29/09

Abstract:

Contrary to the stereotype of 20-somethings starting Web-based businesses in their basements, it's actually the baby boomers who best embody the entrepreneurial spirit. Over the past decade, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity was among people between the ages of 55 and 64, according to a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation. Youths between 20 and 34, meanwhile, were the least likely to start businesses.

Dane Stangler, a senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation and author of the study, thinks that the number of baby boomers starting businesses during the traditional retirement years is likely to soon, well, boom.

"In 2009 and 2010, we're going to see an increase in necessity entrepreneurship because people are laid off and don't have any other options but to start their own business," he says. "It looks like entrepreneurship may now be another facet of aging in America."

About 21 percent of all workers who change careers after age 51 are self-employed at their new jobs, according to an Urban Institute and AARP Public Policy Institute analysis of late-life working patterns. Luckily, many people age 50 and older may be particularly well suited to entrepreneurship.

"The more experience you have, the more likely you are going to be successful. You're also more secure financially," says Vivek Wadhwa, a Duke University professor who previously started two businesses and now studies entrepreneurs. "The average entrepreneur starts a company because they want to build wealth, they are tired of working for other people, and they have ideas."

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