Business

Small Business Booms under Baby Boomers

Small businesses are usually thought to represent the little guy, the loyal members of the community trying to fulfill a role better than the large corporate alternatives that continue to grow and outnumber them. When looking at those that succeed baby boomers may not be everyone’s first choice, but they certainly should be.

Baby boomers own 40% of all small businesses, 35% of which have been in business for over ten years. 75% of which are profitable, both statistics that are far beyond the average. These businesses range from retail to construction to food service, and tend to have more customer loyalty and community establishment than any other businesses.

This sets a great picture for the baby boomers of today, running small businesses and giving hope to those that are looking to start new ones. It also raises an interesting question, what happens to these businesses as baby boomers start to retire and disappear?

While baby boomer businesses are booming, they’re also rarely set up for a future beyond their boomer owners departure. This means that many of these businesses are going to be scrambling as that time starts to come. Some, of course, will simply be passed onto the next generation. Although for many that isn’t the case.

This is where the boom has potential to turn into a bust. Constantly closing small businesses certainly put the U.S economy in a bad state, but luckily there is one other major option. Selling. Baby boomers rarely have started to save nearly enough for retirement, and for those with established businesses, they don’t need to.

Selling a business moves the wealth into the next generation, gives boomers the ability to retire, and keeps valuable businesses from closing. Baby boomers are doing a great job today with small businesses, but moving into the future it is on that same generation to ensure those businesses don’t die out.

The Boomer Business Bomb
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