Posted on : 27th February 2023

Here’s to Starting a Business in Retirement!

I have often thought about what it means when someone is starting a business in retirement. Is it that they want to make the best of time rather than waste it? Or is it that being active will help them stay healthy and fit? Or is it this that now when they are free from family and societal responsibilities to some extent, they can embark on a journey with their venturesome spirit and can even strengthen their financial security along the way? But what stopped them earlier and why do they want to have a “business retirement” now? 

By using the term Business Retirement, I mean that a person has retired from their job, and now that they are in the retirement phase, they are in business or plan to start a business. Some people may even wish to have a business retirement. You yourself might be one of them who have the best retirement plans for small business. There are, undoubtedly, many advantages of starting a business in retirement; be it from the health perspective or from the financial or the adventurous one. But wouldn’t it have been better if we could bring out this entrepreneurial spirit in the earlier stages of our lives? I might pause for a moment to answer this question, but then I think it’s quite great to cherish small business ideas after retirement and work on them. 

Starting a business takes a great venturesome spirit 

No matter how experienced you may be or how “typically profitable” a business you may start for yourself, every business requires entrepreneurial ambitions and risks. Also, businesses take immense vigour and enthusiasm. You see, this all contradicts the traditional meaning of retirement, when you are supposed to travel around the world, meet relatives and family, depend on your retirement savings, do gardening, explore hobbies, and while away your time in the countryside or amidst children.   

I often try to do research on small business ideas after retirement in India. But then I think why “small business ideas” and not “big business ideas.” Does it suggest that if you want to make it big in the business world, you need to be younger (who are usually perceived as “energetic”)? And does this mean that if you are retired, you should look for the best retirement plans for small business, so that you have enough time to relax as well? Probably yes. Probably not. 

Is business retirement that good an idea? 

There is a reason why you should enjoy the retirement phase of your life as much as you live other stages of life. Because up until the age of sixty, you usually have to pursue one goal or the other, now it’s time to just sit for a while and reflect on the meaning of everything your life has been. But yes, it also makes sense to not just keep brooding all day and rather gain some momentum in life that we still have. 

Starting a business in retirement can help you gain that momentum. And maybe a small business like becoming a franchise owner may prove good for your physical and mental well-being. It’s because establishing a business requires an unimaginable investment of time, effort, and energy. It is all considering that you have not been a businessperson before, otherwise in which case you possibly may have an already established business which is also big. 

All in all, perhaps all that matters is your zeal for your business. It does not matter what your age is or what stage of life you are in. If you think you can do it, you can do it, and you should do it if you feel like doing it. I strongly believe that business does not see your age; it just sees your ambition. And here’s to your ambition!

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