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Businesses for Baby Boomers

Forbes, 11/16/07

Abstract:

After two decades in the real estate business, 55-year-old Carol Cole milled what to do next. Then she happened upon a radio news story about people who help downsize households.

A year later, Cole launched her own downsizing business covering a 16-zip-code territory around Roanoke, Va. Operating since September as a licensee of "Smooth Transitions" (a franchiser based in Louisville, Ky.), Cols helps fellow boomers and other clients pare back their belonging and set up shop in smaller apartments and retirement facilities. Revenues are but a trickle at this point, but Cole has high hopes. "I am trying to replace my full-time salary [about $60,000 a year]," she says.

A huge swath of the U.S. population — some 80 million baby boomers — is edging toward retirement, though only a small percentage will hit the links of a permanent basis. The rest will keep working, either because they want to or because they can't afford not to. The trick: working on one's turn.

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