Mary Furlong sees a future filled with small-business owners over 40 offering products and services that make life easier for people their age and older.

There's never been a better time for midcareer professionals to become entrepreneurs, says Furlong, a nationally recognized expert on boomer entrepreneurship. The confluence of several key factors -- an aging U.S. population, a roller coaster economy driving companies to lay off older employees, and the growth of internet-based business tools and social networks -- is driving unprecedented opportunities.

Macy's, Toys"R"s and Target will employ thousands of temporary workers between now and the end of the year. But retailers aren't the only ones hiring this holiday season.

If you need the cash and don't mind working while others make merry, there are jobs to be had, and plenty of time to find them. According to a recent seasonal hiring report from job board CareerBuilder, 33 percent of companies that bring on seasonal workers still recruit this month, and 11 percent will continue to do so in December.

Grappling with a food allergy can be life-changing. It may be inconvenient to prepare special meals, uncomfortable to try new foods and downright scary to consider the possible effects of accidentally ingesting foods that can make you or a family member ill.

Rather than becoming overwhelmed by the enormity of an allergy diagnosis, a nurse, a social worker and an investment banker let food allergies take their lives in happy new directions.

To start a business, you need two things: an idea and money.

For many people, coming up with a concept is the easy part, especially if it's something you've been thinking about for years.

These days, 25 million people are thinking about starting a business or nonprofit venture in the next five to 10 years -- or roughly one in four Americans between 44 and 70, according to a new study from Civic Ventures, the Bay Area think tank on encore careers.

A Southern California entrepreneur and his family, who set out on a three-year sailing journey this summer, have docked in Puerto Rico while waiting for hurricane season to pass.

Scott Leonard, CEO of a wealth-management firm in Redondo Beach, says the family planned to reach the southern Caribbean, out of the hurricane track, by September. He's found, though, that sailing from place to place can take longer than expected.

Most areas of the country striving to become innovative centers of the 21st century economy seem to think the answer is to attract the most talented college grads and brash twentysomething entrepreneurs. So it's kind of a pleasant surprise that my old hometown of Pittsburgh is taking precisely the opposite approach.

The city is offering a $100,000 prize to "experienced dreamers" age 45 and over who are willing to relocate to the former smokestack-city-turned-high-tech-mecca and take a stab at achieving their second-act ambitions.

Chris Gardner knows about reinvention.

Gardner's journey from homeless dad to millionaire stockbroker was the basis for his autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, and the hit 2006 film of the same name starring Will Smith.

You're a "slasher" if:

• People ask what your job is and you can't come up with a simple, one- or two-word explanation.
  
• You work at one thing in the morning and something else in the afternoon, evening or weekend.
  
• A portion of your workday is devoted to balancing equally pressing but often conflicting demands on your time.

You may be a "slasher" and not know it.

It's not a horror movie reference. These days, "slasher" describes someone who is self-employed and may do two, three or even more different things to pay the bills, by choice or necessity.

Back in April, SecondAct ran an essay by former Washington Post journalist and author Bradley Graham and his wife Lissa Muscatine, a former speechwriter and advisor to Hillary Clinton, about their decision to embark upon a second career as independent booksellers. All in all, it was a bold move, considering that neither had worked in retail, and the bookstore business has become notoriously dicey due to competition from online booksellers and the rising popularity of downloadable e-books. Here's the first of occasional progress reports on their adventure.

For Graham, who wrote a highly regarded 2009 book about former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, running Washington, D.C.'s Politics and Prose bookstore is a pleasant change so far from roaming the halls of the Pentagon and cajoling revelations out of tight-lipped government officials.