Gail Halvorsen officially started parachuting candy to children
as part of the Berlin Air lift.
Halvorsen doesn't want people to think he's all gloom
and doom about second act entrepreneurship,
Others, Halvorsen added, are people who are“pushed into it because they might be out of a job.
As a result, older people in general would likely be
more successful at entrepreneurship than younger ones, Halvorsen said.
It was today in 1948 that Gail Halvorsen officially started parachuting candy to children
as part of the Berlin Air lift.
Older entrepreneurs, Halvorsen said,“gain a whole lot of flexibility in their work,
and that's a major motivating driver for a lot of people.
Halvorsen, who specializes in self-employment and entrepreneurship among older adults,
told me that at the Gerontological Society of America conference in Boston last month.
The people who are best prepared to become entrepreneurs, Halvorsen said, are those who have“higher levels of human capital,
social capital and financial capital.”.
So I followed up with a phone call for a deeper dive and
to hear Halvorsen's advice for people considering starting a business for retirement income.
Even so, Halvorsen- still careful to keep the yellow light flashing-
advised:“One should still be cautious about investing their own retirement savings into a business unless they have enough of a financial cushion should that business fail.”.
Even though my conversation with Halvorsen was triggered by his“let's be honest
about the stark reality of starting a business later in life” view, it wrapped up on a more positive note, especially for people in their late 60s and beyond.