A: Milton, congratulations on your pending retirement. I find it admirable that after many years of hard work you are thinking about starting a business. While most men your age would be content to sit on porch and watch world go by, you are considering a ride on entrepreneurial roller coaster. You're certainly tall enough to ride this ride, but are you too old?

Here's my standard answer: It depends. It depends on your health, your energy, your drive, your goals, and of course, your finances. If all those are in good shape and you have your spouse's approval (that's a biggie), then there is absolutely no reason why you should not start a business at your age.

In fact, numbers are actually in your favor. According to recent studies 22 percent of men and 14 percent of women over 65 are self-employed. That's compared to just 7 percent for other age groups.

According to a Vanderbilt University study number of entrepreneurs age 45 to 64 will grow by 15 million by 2006.

That's compared to a 4 million decline for entrepreneurs age 25 to 44.

A 1998 survey of baby boomers conducted by American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) revealed that 80 percent of respondants planned to work beyond retirement age, and 17 percent of those planned to launch new businesses.

The study noted, "Self-employment among American workers increases with age, with most dramatic jump occurring at age 65."

Older entrepreneurs may also find starting a business easier than their younger counterparts because older entrepreneurs tend to have more experience to draw from and more assets with which to finance a business.

A: I'm a lousy poker player, mainly because I can't help grinning like village idiot when blessed with a winning hand or frowning like a sad clown when dealt a dud.

I also never make odds on success of "amazing new products" because more often than not only thing that's amazing is way product is totally ignored by buying public. In my software business there have been times when we came up with what we thought was an amazing idea for an amazing piece of software - a piece of software so amazing, in fact, that we knew that all mankind would sit up and take notice, then line up to write us checks.

After hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars spent developing product we were amazed to find that only people who thought software was truly amazing was us.

We made mankind yawn. Quite an amazing accomplishment, if I do say so myself.

It worries me that you say there is nothing like your idea on market. While you may think that is a good thing, it might actually mean that there is no market for your product. The same holds true for a lack of competition. A total lack of competition might mean that there is no demand for such a product.

Rarely does a product come along that revolutionizes an industry. Rarer still does a product create a new industry on its own. So, how can you tell if your amazing new product really is worth gambling on? The truth is, you can never be 100% certain that your idea will sell. No matter how enamored you are of it or how much your friends rave about it, success of a new idea depends on a number of factors, many of which are beyond your control.

Such factors include: