"How Baby Boomers Tap Nest Eggs To Fund Ventures"

The Wall Street Journal has an informative article about how some Baby Boomer entrepreneurs are using their nest eggs to start their own businesses. Should you be considering starting your own business, the article is required reading. A couple of excerpts:

Entrepreneurs have always tapped their cash reserves to start businesses. But boomers are discovering they have a crucial advantage over younger businesspeople: They can draw on decades' worth of savings to fund their start-ups. And that means much more latitude. Boomers don't always have to spend valuable time and energy lining up loans. And they aren't stuck making onerous debt payments on top of other business costs.

And,

Of course, betting the nest egg carries big risks. If boomers lose a big chunk of their money, they may not have time to make back the cash.

Workin' for The Man

Another study finds Generation Y to be kicking baby boomers' butts when it comes to being entrepreneurs. To quote the American Express sponsored study:

Generation Y entrepreneurs are more likely to have started their business right out of school (27% vs. 9% for Baby Boomers). They are also more likely to look to their parents' experiences as life-shaping influences, with 55% citing their fathers' work experiences as a factor in starting their own business. (vs. 44% Baby Boomers). According to the survey, many Baby Boomers (26%) started their business because they were financially unable to retire.

Okay, I'll accept the cold hard facts, but remember it's all because baby boomers had it made and life was easy during the good ol' days. We had no need for the myriad occupational choices and leeway about which Gen Y now brags. In our day you either worked for IBM or you didn't. Either you worked for The Man or you did not. And, older Polaroid photos were simply black-and-white.