A recent report released by the Centre for Economic & Business Research (CEBR) found that the over 50’s are creating more jobs and contributing more to the UK economy (and at a faster rate) than its younger counterparts.
Midlife entrepreneurs make up 45% of the self-employed workforce, and contributed £119bn to the economy which makes up over 6% of the total UK GDP in 2016, making them a key contributor.
Over 50’s spent more than the younger generation for the first time in the year ending April 2016, taking the discretionary spend total to £376 billion.
The mid-life entrepreneur
It’s evident that due to increased life expectancy, the amount of over 50s living in the UK has increased, which is set to continue to rise. This brings intoquestion, ‘when is the prime time to launch a business?’, but it’s safe to say that the typical stereotype which stands for the older generation has been crushed.
Just less than half of the self-employed population are over 50. This group has created nearly 9.8 million jobs, which is 1.8 million more than the younger generation. As the older generation races forward, we question what equips them to race faster and reach further than the younger generation.
Mid-life frontrunners
Three factors which put the mid-life entrepreneur on the front line include having years of experience, a substantial networking base and the ability to raise funds quickly.
With age comes an array of experiences deriving from previous job roles from a variety of sectors. Along with this comes a large networking base, whether this may be offline, through Linkedin, or through mutual connections – it’s a factor that puts mid-lifers on top.
New pension rules now mean that if you’re over 55, you can have direct access to your pension. This is an easy source for raising capital, and if you’ve paid off your mortgage by this age, it means that there are even less financial commitments in place, making it ideal to start a businessduring this period.
The figure of speech, ‘life starts after 50’ is clearly more literal as the figures listed above show that the older generation are actually boosting the economy.
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