DCoronata, on 08 May 2018 - 12:31 PM, said:
2) You know you hear that "90%" figure bandied about but the reality is, it isn't that bad.
https://www.scienced...50401132856.htm
""It doesn't matter if you're selling bananas, airplanes, or whatever," Hamilton says -- the mortality rate is the same. Though the number, of course, varies from firm to firm, the team estimated that the typical company lasts about ten years before it's bought out, merges, or gets liquidated."
That's for public businesses. For privately owned businesses, most actually do pretty well.
https://www.bls.gov/...preneurship.htm
Chart three is fascinating- it's almost like they cut a parabola in half and the average MTBF (that's engineer for the time it takes for half to die) is about 5-6 years depending upon which year it started.
Now I want you to please note that being "the numbers guy" I try really hard to get them right before posting. If you want to know who "props up the economy" its the 70% of GDP that goes into consumer spending (minus the difference between exports and imports...) and most of that money, roughly 60% is services, which includes health care, rents, personal services, eating out, etc... About 35% are non-durable and durable goods, mostly expendables. We spend a lot of money on food, fuel, and clothing, etc.
I get it. My numbers were a bit "2010". But please don't treat me as if I am ignorant. Of course, I understand how our economy is powered. A link for you, from Business Insider. Why Small Business Fail. Good stats, but the one that sticks out is that "*82% experience cash flow problems".
So- you think it a good idea for a 65 year old who's already been skewered by the Great Recession to invest capital in a business? Many of these also involved in the economy of "sandwich" folks. Had both their parents and their children to support.
Would that everybody 65+ had the skill set- and cash- to take on the couple of industries that really pay. Really make money. That takes a very, very broad view of not just business but markets and how to capture. Employment and how to hire. HR issues. All that costs $$$. The sleeper in this is that some fail because of their inability to compete. That's simply going to get bigger, as the years go by.
As to the 70% consumer industry? Boomers spend more money on food, eating out, traveling, cars and real estate. Housing gets a bit tough to nail. Millenials are buying, now. Thanks be to god, the credit markets have loosened, for them. But not the only story. Millenials are getting priced out, in many instances.
Much of this is a consideration, yes?
The real question, for me: Why in the heck would a 65 year old person put a big portion of his capital to start a business, when he can just be comfy- and spend. US depends on that, right now. The rest sounds a bit "Mitt Romney-esque". Hey, just start a business...