Of the right age, but can't seem to stay retired

Suzy Boerboom, a registered nurse, retired - for the first time - after a 35-year career in healthcare and ownership of several Curves exercise franchises. She then devoted five years helping her three daughters raise their children.

"I was very close to both my grandmothers," Boerboom said, "and I wanted the same relationship with my grandchildren." But after several years, she felt too restless to retire, she said. "I just didn't feel relevant," Boerboom, now 66, said. "I was beginning to feel a little bored and a bit out of the mainstream."

So in 2009, she started Welcyon, Fitness After 50, a health club business that aims to help older people become fit and stay that way. Boerboom, working with her husband, Tom, from their Edina, Minnesota, headquarters, is now busy franchising the centers.