Mark Zuckerberg is the world’s best-known entrepreneur–a poster-child for success who started Facebook (FB) in his Harvard dorm room. But the ranks of entrepreneurs include plenty of poster children who aren’t kids.

Baby boomers have racked up the highest rate of start-ups during the last decade. In recent years, some entrepreneurs have found going solo is a sensible response to the ravages of the Great Recession, which has left so many workers older than age 50 jobless with at least a couple of decades of productive time, but with poor prospects for employment in the corporate world. For others, entrepreneurship offers a way to fulfill a lifelong itch for independence and to create a business from scratch.

Entrepreneurship isn’t the right choice for everyone. But for many over age 50, entrepreneurship offers an important path to improving retirement security by adding more productive years of work. Yet going solo also poses some special pocketbook challenges.

My Morningstar column this month looks at some of the key personal finance hurdles facing potential older entrepreneurs.

Tags | Career, entrepreneurs