Over-65s are profiting from a rising trend in the number of people becoming self-employed, according to a study.
QuickBooks developer Intuit polled 5,000 people and found the average ‘silver self-employed’ worker earns almost £40,000 a year – around £7,000 more than the average self-employed worker (£33,000).
In addition, over-65s who are self-employed worked an average of 21 hours a week – 7 hours less than the average self-employed worker.
An increasing amount of workers are choosing to become self-employed, with figures from the ONS revealing the number had increased to 4.85 million in September 2017.
71% of over-65s said they are better off financially than when in full-time employment.
67% also expressed being more satisfied with life in general, while 68% enjoy more flexibility.
However, despite the benefits, 41% were concerned of not having enough income while a further 35% said managing business accounts and taxes was an issue.
Quote from Nigel Holland:
“The rise in self employment is in my opinion one of the major factors in helping the UK economy stay afloat. The reason for this is that a significantly higher amount of jobs have become available, decreasing the unemployment rate, and therefore providing the government with a higher amount of funding to spend on more deserving factors like the NHS and educational workplaces such as colleges and schools.
With the state pension age increasing, there are more silver self employed and therefore a significant increase in contributions to the UK economy. The silver self employed are not only putting their life time earned skills to good use, but are also able to contribute more to their pension, taking pressure off loved ones. Compared to the silver self employed who have a better understanding on business accounts and taxes, the younger generation entering self employment lack these skills.
As stated 35% of people found this was an issue when setting up their own business, fortunately at my firm we can offer this service for a small charge to help make self employment stress free.”