The 60-Something Entrepreneur: Can a Start-Up Pay For Retirement?

theatlantic.com

7 pointsdctoedt3 comments

This is shockingly irresponsible advice. Standard investment advice is that you should become more risk-averse with age. Entrepreneurship is high risk and high reward. Why not "invest" your retirement savings in lottery tickets while you're at it?

I think the point to be gleaned from this article is not "start a business and then retire on the proceeds from its sale." As the article states, people aren't buying businesses at a rate that makes that a sensible strategy.

The more immediate benefit of owning/starting a business "at age" is to create employment for yourself, when employment pickings are very thin for older workers.

Bad that the recession has destroyed retirement funds and people have to work longer. Worse that those same people may not find work at all due to age related factors. One solution is to create a job for yourself.

One important difference: with a lottery ticket, you have no effect on your chances to win whatsoever. With a startup you do, armed with several decades of your experience.

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