How to start a business in retirement

You have deposited money into your retirement fund for your entire career and have been looking forward to the day when it is time to cash in those savings and start enjoying your retirement.

You have your entire retirement planned, which includes:

• Traveling
• Remodelling the house
• Getting to see relatives more often
• Playing golf
• Reading

It all sounds like heaven, until you actually start your retirement and find yourself bored after only a month. This isn’t always the case, but the inability for retirement to live up to expectations is common throughout Australia.

If you find yourself bored in your retirement, then put some of that extra time to good use and start your own business in retirement!

Start out slow

The decision to start a business during retirement is a big one, so it is important to make the right choices early on. Some of the things you want to avoid as you start your retirement business include:

• Working full-time
• Taking on too much responsibility
• Planning expansive growth early

For most small businesses, planning aggressive growth in the initial start-up stages is critical to the company’s success. But when you are planning a retirement business, you are just coming off decades of aggressive business practices that focused on sustained growth. In order to enjoy your retirement business, it is important to start off slow and work your way back into some sort of routine that makes you comfortable.

Remember that you are retired

Starting a retirement business is a great way to fight off boredom, but you should remember that your time is your own and you do not answer to anyone anymore. The best way to enjoy your retirement business and give it the attention it needs is to remember that you are retired, and you should enjoy that retirement once in a while.

Even though you are starting a business, you should take the time to travel and do the things you want to do in retirement. A retirement business does not need to be a full-time career. It can be a part-time endeavor that fills in the downtime in between retirement activities.

Give some real thought to what you want to do

If you spent your career as an accountant, then your first impulse may be to start a retirement business that offers your accounting services to select clients. But what if one of your dreams has always been to own a flower shop? It bears repeating that your retirement business is something you pursue for fun, and it does not need to become an aggressive endeavor which generates the income you need to survive. You already have a regular retirement income, and you do not need to put that kind of pressure on yourself.

Sit down and think about what you really want to do in retirement, and pursue a business that would make you truly happy. If you miss being an accountant, then start up a part-time accounting firm and get back to what you love. But if the desire to open a flower shop is very strong, then start looking into the classes you would need to take and the things you would need to learn to become a successful flower shop owner.

Set a budget

You do not want your retirement business to drain your retirement savings. Since this business is an endeavour done for fun, there is no need to use such aggressive funding tactics as pulling money from your retirement savings. Determine a budget you can be comfortable with, look into funding from other sources, and enjoy your retirement business without creating the possibility of having to file bankruptcy.

Retirement is something people earn after years of hard work and dedication. But when it comes time to actually start enjoying retirement, many people find that the fire that drove their work ethic still burns strong. Instead of fighting that desire to be in business, you should follow it and start your own retirement business.

Remember that a retirement business is not designed to become an overwhelming and full-time responsibility. But it can be something fun that gives you extra money, and helps to make your retirement more fulfilling.

Tell us, would you start a business in retirement? Or have you? What did you do?