Your Child as Your Business Partner
11/27/2017
For some Boomers, the dream of owning a business is a family affair. I have first-hand knowledge of this: My wife and I started a small service business together after we left our professional careers. We wrote a book about it: Let's Make Money, Honey: The Couple's Guide to Starting a Service Business. While not all couples have the ability to work together, we found it to be a good fit for us and a great experience.
Here's a different spin on starting a family business: Taking the plunge with your adult child. A recent article in The New York Times explores this possibility and cites a few relevant examples of Boomers who made working with their children work. There are solid reasons such an arrangement can be successful. For one thing, Boomer parents seem to have better relationships with their adult children than previous generations. For another, adult children ages 18 to 34 are more likely to live in their parents' homes, making working together a natural next step.
There is a practical aspect to a parent-child business proposition, writes Christopher Farrell: "Age discrimination can be a major hurdle to employment for those 50 years and over. At the same time, young people can find it tough to land a job that’s engaging and offers a career path. For both age cohorts, starting a business can often be a better alternative." Another nice benefit: If the business is successful, the Boomer never has to worry about a succession plan; the adult child simply takes over when the Boomer is ready to retire.
A Boomer-adult child business relationship is just one more way Boomers are redefining our retirement years.