College: Old Age and Business Essay

Submitted By vallechino
Words: 756
Pages: 4

Joe Whalen
Info. Mast.
Prof. Solomon
3/16/14

In high school and college I mainly used the library for the computers and printers provided. I have little to no experience in looking up information, and I am certainly not an information master. I do remember looking up books in the library, but I honestly do not remember how! Excited to learn some more, and become an information master.

For Some, Age Is No Obstacle, For Entrepreneurship
By: Kerry Hannon
New York Times, March 2014

SITUATION
Being a young, up and coming entrepreneur is a tough road. But what about the entrepreneurs out there that are starting businesses at the ripe age of 50 or older! According to the New York Times more and more old timers are finding ways to start the business they want to, and they are having success doing it.

DISCUSSION
This article discusses the opportunities that are available for the elderly, or the older generation to become entrepreneurs at this day and age, and start up their own businesses. The article gives specific examples and statistics for the growing rate of people aged 50 to 59 starting business, with 20 percent of businesses in 2013 being started by people in this age range. The article also discussed the different ways in which these people may go about starting and funding their business endeavors, as well as the difficulties that come along with starting their businesses. One of the main difficulties in starting a business on your own is the financial risk that is involved in doing so. It is far easier for a 20 something year old to take a risk, because they have more time to learn from their mistakes and recover financially. That is why this article surprised me so much, when I heard of all these elderly people starting businesses. In the first example given, an elderly couple started a painting business at the age of 71! Three years later they are both drawing salaries and have multiple locations, and are turning a nice profit! This couple assessed the interest rate in 2009, and saw that it was basically zero, so instead of searching for investors and loans they pulled a portion of their savings out for startup cost, and invested in themselves see this route as risky, but when you look at it as self-investment I feel that entrepreneurs will have peace of mind and less stress in starting their business up. The risk was worth the reward. Using personal savings has become the most common way to start-up a business, but there are other ways to go about entrepreneurship with the elderly. Another way to startup a business without going into the corporate world for help is to ask friends and family for help. In one example, a 56 year old man started up a bookstore using loans from six of his siblings. He pledged a 3.5 interest rate for his brothers