Investing in a franchise can not only be a significant step in your career but can also offer a more secure future. While there are several benefits to franchising that you won’t necessarily find in a corporate role, an aspect that is not often considered is how a franchise business model can greatly contribute to forming a retirement plan.

Whether you are in the middle of your career and looking for a change or are closer to an age where you would like to slow down professionally in the not-too-distant future, franchising can provide you with greater control over your journey.

GREATER PROFESSIONAL FREEDOM

Many franchisees who come from a corporate role appreciate the freedom that being your own boss allows. Of course, there is a set business model and guidelines set by the franchisor to follow, but for the most part, a franchisee’s location is theirs to run. This freedom is not typically seen in a corporate role. And while you are working for someone in both cases, franchisees can lean into their entrepreneurial spirit to a much greater degree

When it comes to planning for retirement, this sense of freedom is helpful. In a corporate role, you may be working toward retirement savings and a pension, but can be constrained to your income and the amount you can put away. This may lead to working more years than you would like to in order to have enough for retirement. In franchising, although franchisees rely on the revenue of their location(s) to receive a profit, you have greater input in your business’ monetary success, especially with franchisees that offer multiple revenue channels.

While the first year or two of franchising can be a lot of work, the role gradually becomes much more flexible, and many franchisees can choose the hours they want to work. When you have established a great team of employees, freedom and flexibility are even more evident, which can be useful as you grow older and want to find more work/life balance.

Freedom in a franchising career can also look like staying as long as you want in the role (or depending on the contract term). In many corporate careers, there is often an “age of retirement.” But for those who would like to continue working to a certain degree during their retirement years, investing in a franchise can offer the opportunity to do so. There is greater freedom and flexibility in how you shape your career as a franchise owner that a corporate role cannot typically offer.

According to the U.S. Government’s report on retirement, the majority of those who voluntarily retire say they “wanted to do other things.” With franchising, there is the freedom to do just that.

DIFFERENT FRANCHISE OWNERSHIP MODELS

One of the unique things about franchising is that many franchise systems offer various ownership models that a franchisee can choose from. For those who want to be fully engaged and hands-on in the process of running their location, an owner-operator model can be a great choice. There are also semi-absentee and absentee models that provide little to no commitment when it comes to daily operations. In that case, an employee (likely a general manager) will run the location instead.

If you are someone who would still like to be engaged in your career but value the option for more freedom from day-to-day responsibilities, a semi-absentee model can be a great choice. This can especially be the case if you are in a stage of your life where you would like to retire in the next couple of years or are someone who would still like to continue some involvement into retirement. Meanwhile, an absentee model can be a great option for those who are already retired and are looking for an investment opportunity.

There is a spectrum when it comes to franchising that you can move within when personal situations change. So, if you want to be fully involved in daily responsibilities now but are looking to wind down at a later time, franchising can offer that.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO DIVERSIFY INVESTMENTS

As you consider a retirement plan, finding areas to invest in now can be a great way to maintain cashflow flow during your older years when furthering your career may not be as much of a priority. With franchising, particularly when you invest in multiple franchise units, you have the opportunity to bring in profit in multiple capacities. And with different ownership models to choose from, you may decide to be fully involved in one location and an absentee franchisee in the others, which makes balancing multiple locations much more manageable.

CONSIDER FRANCHISING WITH DOGTOPIA

If franchising is an avenue you would like to explore as a way to prepare for retirement, consider investing in the multi-billion-dollar pet industry. With sustained growth and no signs of slowing down, a dog daycare can be a great investment to consider at any stage of your life. You can find more details about the costs associated with investing in a Dogtopia franchise on our What Is My Investment page, while our Why Dogtopia? page provides insight into our business and franchise model. If you are ready to proceed and you meet the requirements to franchise with us, please fill out our online inquiry form.