Franchises for Retirees and Semi-Retirement

Am I too old to start a business or buy a franchise?

Age on its own does not rule you out. In 2025, the rate of new entrepreneurs among people ages 55 to 64 was 0.37 percent, below the 0.43 percent rates for ages 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 but above the 0.26 percent rate for adults ages 20 to 34 (Kauffman Foundation, 2026). Workers 50 and older are also the most likely to be self-employed, and the self-employed share of the workforce is much higher at ages 65 and older than at younger ages (AARP Public Policy Institute, 2025).

The more useful question is what your health, energy and finances allow, and how long you want to run a business before handing it on. Someone in their early 60s who wants more years of hands-on work and someone in their 70s who wants others to run things day to day will look at different kinds of franchises. If your children have only recently left home, our page for empty nesters covers that stage.

Are more people working into their 60s and 70s?

If you plan to keep working past 65, you will have plenty of company. In 2023, 19 percent of adults ages 65 and older were employed, up from 11 percent in 1987, and that older workforce, roughly 11 million people, had nearly quadrupled in size since the mid-1980s (Pew Research Center, 2023). Labor force participation among people ages 65 to 74 was 26.7 percent in 2025 and is projected to reach 29.1 percent in 2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026), while the labor force age 75 and older is projected to grow from about 2.2 million in 2025 to about 3.7 million in 2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026).

What do you bring to a franchise at this stage?

Decades of work usually leave you with things a newer owner is still building, such as experience managing people and budgets, a professional and community network, and the discipline to follow a system someone else designed. Self-employed workers ages 50 and older are the most likely to have paid employees (AARP Public Policy Institute, 2025), and many franchise models depend on recruiting, training and keeping a team, which is often where a long management career proves most useful.

Be just as honest about what you no longer want, such as long days driving between job sites, weekend and evening shifts or heavy physical work.

How much of your time do you want the business to take?

Your role shapes most other decisions, because the same business can look very different from one owner to the next. In an owner-operator arrangement, you work in the business most days, serving customers and supervising staff yourself. In a semi-absentee arrangement, you hire a manager to run daily operations while you keep set hours for oversight, hiring, finances and planning, and some semi-absentee franchises are built around that structure from the start.

Semi-retirement still usually means real work in the first year, since opening a location, hiring a manager you trust and learning the franchisor’s systems all take time. Ask each franchisor whether it accepts semi-absentee owners, how many hours it expects from owners in the first year and after, and what happens if your manager leaves.

Which kinds of franchises tend to suit retirees?

There is no single list of the best franchises for retirees, because the right choice depends on your skills, your schedule and how involved you want to be. Senior care franchises can appeal to people who have cared for a parent or spouse, and if one interests you, ask how staffing works and whether any state licensing applies.

Many other categories can work too, including home services, fitness, education and business-to-business services. When you read lists of retirement business ideas, compare the parts of your past jobs you enjoyed most with what each owner does in an ordinary week, and try FranNet’s franchise ownership assessment to organize your thinking.

How do you protect the savings you live on?

Once a regular paycheck stops, the savings you draw down and any benefits you receive pay for daily life, so money you put into a business comes from a pool that may need to last many years. Keep that drawdown money in accounts separate from whatever you set aside for the business, and work out how many months you could cover your living costs without counting on anything from the business.

Then decide how much of your business investment you could lose without changing the way you live, since you may have no salary to rebuild your savings afterward. Ask a financial professional who knows your full situation how owning a business might interact with your Social Security benefits and whether to draw on a 401(k) or IRA, and have that conversation before you sign anything.

What happens when you want to step away?

At this stage of life, plan how ownership will end before you buy. Ask each franchisor how a sale or transfer of the business works, whether it must approve a new owner, whether any fees or conditions apply, how long the franchise agreement runs and what renewal involves. Also ask what happens if illness or a family emergency forces you to step back, and whether the business could pass to a spouse, child or other relative.

If family members may join you or take over later, our page on couples and families covers splitting roles and planning for succession, and an estate planning attorney can help you fit the business into the rest of your plans.

Where can you find mentoring and counseling?

SCORE describes itself as the nation’s largest network of volunteer business mentors, with more than 10,000 volunteer mentors, and its mentoring is always free for the life of your business (SCORE, 2026). The resource partners listed by the U.S. Small Business Administration are another place to get counseling.

How can a consultant help you find a business that fits semi-retirement?

A FranNet consultant is a local franchise expert who advises you on franchise and business opportunities and can help you research businesses, identify the ownership structure and mix of businesses that suit the hours you want to give, and introduce you to franchisors that fit that model. They can also tell you which franchises are currently available in your area, and they will not pressure you or talk you into an opportunity that does not fit your goals, budget or skill set, as FranNet’s client bill of rights sets out.

As you research businesses together, ask every franchisor the exit questions above, so that how you would step away is part of each comparison from the start. Your consultant guides you from early research to signing a franchise agreement, and the decision to sign is yours.

Working with a consultant carries no obligation, and it costs you nothing because, much like a real estate agent paid by the seller, FranNet receives its fee from the franchisor of the franchise you may buy. Tell us a bit about your goals and a local consultant will reach out to talk through your options.