An interesting article from Barlow Research:
Small Business Owners Getting Older and Not Planning to Fully Retire
According to Barlow Research, the average U.S. small business owner is 60.3 year old.
As the Barlow chart below shows (click to enlarge), 57% of small business owners are over the age 60, up from just 38% a decade ago.
Barlow defines small businesses as those with revenues between $100,000 and $10 million. This range includes the vast majority of U.S. employer small businesses.
Also interesting is Barlow’s findings on small business owner retirement plans. In general, small business owners are not the retiring type.
They found average small business owner with plans to retire is planning on retiring at age 67.
But 7 in 10 of those plan to work at least part-time after their “official” retirement.
Also, only 68% of small business owners report plans to retire. Almost 1/3rd (32%) reported they plan on working indefinitely.
So if you do the math, you find only about 20% of small business owners plan on fully retiring.
We’ve long covered the topic of delayed retirement in our Baby Boomer section. Most baby boomers are reporting they plan on working longer than prior generations, either due to need or choice.
In the case of most small business owners, it’s mostly choice. Small business owners tend to find business ownership fulfilling and want to continue.
Barlow Research is a research firm that provides in-depth information on business customers to the banking industry. They are an excellent information and insights on the small business sector of the economy. We turn to them often in our work.