Running out of ambition in your 50s in the final stretch of a career race
What advice would those near the end of their work lives give those just starting out?
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One day the career will end, probably either sooner or later than you wanted, says the writer.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Simon Kuper
A fifty-something friend e-mailed the other day: “Will likely stop full-time work this year... retirement beckons!” I was surprised, because it seemed only about 15 minutes ago that he had been my twenty-something student-housemate, sprawled on the sofa in his underpants in mid-afternoon.
At 54, I have started hearing from people my age or barely older that they are “running out of ambition” or heading into “pre-retirement”, that antechamber between career and pension. Others suffer health scares, lose confidence in their bodies and start winding down.
