As small business owners and entrepreneurs get more and more media coverage, a growing number of people are being inspired to start their own ventures.
While much of the news about startups focuses on the bright young things or the so-called “mumpreneurs”, the latest research suggests it is increasingly the older and wiser that are forging their own paths in the business world.
More specifically, the latest Bankwest Business Trends Report has found that the number of both male and female workers aged 65 or more running their own business has grown by a staggering 74.2% over 10 years.
Despite what popular media reports state about younger demographics leading the entrepreneurial charge, this research suggests more than one in four (28.5%) workers aged 65 years and over run their own business – almost double the level seen in the 55-64 year old age bracket (15.8%).
Bankwest Executive General Manager, Business Banking, Sinead Taylor says the proportion of business owners in the Australian workforce actually reduces with age, with a significantly smaller percentage of 45-54 year olds and 35-44 year olds (11.9% and 11.0% respectively) running their own ventures.
The data backs up other research that shows more people are continuing to work part retirement age.
In a 2008 publication for National Families Week, the Australian Institute of Family Studies outlined that many people over 65 continue to work in either a part- or full-time capacity.
In fact, the data published there showed over 30% of men and women over 65 worked full-time, and over 40% worked part-time, and predicted the numbers would increase as more people reached retirement age.
Reasons For The Older Business Owner Boom
There is a wide range of reasons people start their own businesses, and many have little to do with age.
But in the case of the Baby Boomers reaching retirement, and those already there, the answer could lie in a lack of funds.
Superannuation companies have made much ado about the lack of funds people nearing retirement currently have on hand.
CPA Australia, for example, went so far as to claim Australia is “headed for a retirement savings disaster” because an increasing numbers of retiring baby boomers are spending superannuation at, or shortly after retirement to pay off growing debts.
Another study, from industry super fund REST, found that only 14% of Baby Boomers feel financially ready for retirement and the majority (70%) have never sought financial advice around this issue.
Meanwhile the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that the mean superannuation for males 16-69 is $80,000, while for women it is $52,000.
The latter is about 10% of what most people in another survey said they would want to live on comfortably when they retired.
What’s more is that the options available for people without much superannuation are limited, with the pension or ongoing work the most common solutions.
The latter is one of the main reasons Bankwest cites for the growth in business owners over 65 years of age.
The bank says the Business Trends Report is a “telling sign that older workers are staying in the workforce longer and shaping a new plan for retirement”.
This statement is backed up by data that shows the only other positive growth in business ownership over the past 10 years has been among workers between the ages of 55-64, or those next in line to retire.
There is a wide range of benefits and disadvantages to starting a small business, but some of the biggest appeal centres on the fact that business owners have an added degree of control over how and when they work.
Not only could that appeal to people who have spent 40-plus years in the workforce, but also the added money would go some ways towards solving any superannuation issues.
The other main reason suggested for this age group’s enthusiastic entrepreneurialism is that it is a way to fulfil life dreams.
But perhaps the “why” is not as important as the fact that many people are making their own way in the business world.
As Bankwest’s Sinead Taylor says: “Whether they’re driven by a lifelong personal goal or other interests, the latest figures show age is certainly no barrier to entrepreneurialism.”
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