A GUIDE TO LAUNCHING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS AFTER 50

Age can be an advantage for older entrepreneurs looking to extend their careers or supplement income in retirement.

- BY DIANE HARRIS

HERE'S a quick pop quiz: What do Ray Kroc, Colonel Sanders, Arianna Huffington, Bernie Marcus and Grandma Moses have in common? Answer: They all launched highly successful businesses—McDonald's, KFC, a major media company, The Home Depot and a career as a preeminent folk-art painter—after age 50.

Like these icons, a growing number of people are choosing to become entrepreneurs in their fifties, sixties and beyond. Recently, nearly one-fourth of new businesses have been started by founders between the ages of 55 and 64, up from 15% two decades ago, according to the Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that fosters entrepreneurship. Overall, the U.S. Census Bureau reports, more than half of small businesses are owned by people 55 and older, with other surveys suggesting the number may be even higher.

Starting a business after 50 can be a great way to add years to your career or earn extra income in retirement. And while the chances you'll strike it rich by creating a top-selling fast-food franchise or a multi-billion-dollar retail operation are slim, your odds of doing well are far greater than for younger founders. Research shows that people launching a business at age 50 are twice as likely to succeed as their 30-year-old counterparts and the probability of being solidly profitable rises further with age after that. older entrepreneurs,” says Andrew Chamberlain, principal economist at Gusto, an online payroll and human-resources platform for small and midsize businesses.

Still, entrepreneurship is not without risks. That’s particularly true if you are giving up a steady income to launch your venture or pulling cash from a 401(k) for funding—at exactly the point in life that most people of a similar age are trying to pump up savings before retirement or preserve nest eggs they’ve already built.