The Perfect Boomer Retirement Business

The perfect Boomer retirement business may seem like a cruel dream, an impossible fantasy of peace and comfort in the middle of a raging storm of uncertainty. Fortunately, it is not a cruel fantasy, but rather a necessary adaptation we are being asked to make in the New Economy.

Perhaps you and your family were among the few who had saved enough for a comfortable retirement prior to the crash of real estate and stock market values that began in 2007. Chances are, you join the many Americans and others in the global economy who now share the uncertain future of those who weren't prepared at all.

Jobs show no sign of coming back to our shores, unless they come with a paper hat, a flack jacket, or perhaps a jackhammer. Even new college grads are having an especially hard time finding work in their chosen field. So why would a cash-strapped employer choose to hire a sixty-year-old when they have their pick of bright, qualified, and cheaper college grads?

Going into involuntary retirement with too little savings and declining health is a worst-case scenario, and trying to start a home business in a decimated economy makes the future seem too dreary to contemplate.

All this is a shock to those who did everything they were told to prepare for retirement, but let's not cry over spilled milk.

What we are seeing is a fundamental change in the economy and there is no use in wishing things were the way they used to be. There is no turning back, no matter what politicians promise. (Just remember that those political leaders who didn't see this coming are not worth listening to now, either, no matter what they say.)

It is time to move on and deal with the current situation, while employing an old time-tested traditional American practice of uniting in the face of adversity and cooperating with each other to prosper.

What would you like, ideally? Something like a large, dependable pension that sent checks that grew with very little effort on your part?

Something that didn't require physical labor or high-tech skills, perhaps? Remember, we are trying to devise the ideal retirement funding vehicle for the majority who will soon be declining in health, energy, and -- for some -- even the cognitive skills they used to have.

Starting a conventional business from home is not going to work for the majority, whose work skills from the Industrial Age or service sector businesses are no longer in great demand.

And, besides, at some point we all will need to stop working -- at which time the income will stop, too -- so mowing lawns for neighbors, or doing taxes, or providing home health care for those in worse shape are not viable options for the long run.

So, what can we do? What are the majority of us qualified and capable of doing to build a business that will support us in retirement?

The perfect Boomer retirement business is referral marketing. It is built around finding a company that sells products you enjoy using -- a company that is set up to generously compensate your "word-of-mouth" referral successes.

Referring friends and strangers to products and services we like is something we all do daily -- Referral marketing is a legitimate way to be compensated by the company for the service you provide them.

Instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising, these companies choose to channel that money more effectively to the individuals who are responsible, directly or indirectly, for their sales.

Thanks to modern computerized tracking of where sales come from, it is possible to receive commissions based on the sales volume created by those you have recommended to the parent company -- even from thousands of people you have never met!

Referral marketing, also known as network marketing, is the perfect retirement business because it is something that almost anyone -- young or old, healthy or confined to home -- can do.

A significant recurring income can be built using this ingenious business model over a period of 2-5 years, and this income can even be willed to family.

The secret to success in this or any other business is to carefully select a solid corporate business partner that produces products or services that have a wide appeal. An excellent book on this topic is How To Select A Network Marketing Company by Daren C. Falter.

Referral marketing is a much-maligned and greatly-misunderstood American business model that is well-suited to provide a generous and potentially outrageous level of income for those who see it for what it is -- and get to work telling others.

The key to growing a viable retirement business is to properly value this affordable franchise that can be started with less than a thousand dollars. It is not merely about selling a few cosmetics, skin care, or weight loss products door-to-door. The true potential of such a business is to find, through social networking and advertising, thousands of associates to help you grow the reach of your enterprise with each partner having the benefit of the efforts of others in your organization.

Author Robert Kiyosaki calls referral marketing The Business of the 21st Century. Economist Paul Zane Pilzer has heralded this method of distributing health-enhancing products and technologies in his book, The New Wellness Revolution. Billionaire Warren Buffet bought three of these companies, calling it "The best investment I ever made."

There is much more than can be said in this space about the benefits of this 60-year-old American business innovation. Ironically, more budding entrepreneurs in foreign countries are quicker to grasp the opportunity to build a giant business for little investment than are Americans themselves, who frequently dismiss this business as a scam, pyramid scheme, or something where only a limited few will ever profit.

As in any type of business, there are occasional "bad apples" which lend a bad smell to the rest. The wise investor will do well to thoroughly investigate the business prospects of any company they consider partnering with -- it's corporate officers, financial condition, the quality and uniqueness of its product line, and the quality of the training and support they will receive if they decide to join.

Economic necessity is beginning to pressure millions of people here and abroad into taking a closer look at the perfect Boomer retirement business. For the millions who must find additional stable funding for their retirement years, a wise choice here could the best decision they could ever make.