If you are 40 plus is work turning out how you thought?

[topcat2014]

Are we all sold a lie about work? Should we be taught a bit more that work is a necessary evil that requires some tolerating?

I'm a qualified accountant with a degree. Some jobs have been ok. Most recent one I got sacked from, so that may affect my judgement.

But, work has never been as interesting or challenging as I thought it would be. Not badly paid at times. But not the stratospheric salaries I see on MN.

At 53 I'm too young to retire, but just non plussed.

I fully appreciate I'm lucky to have a job. About to send DD off to uni. Must try and ensure some of my current lack of enthusiasm does not run off.

I absolutely love mine, all my jobs have been technically really interesting and with mostly great people but I have fallen foul of office politics at times and was close to burnout from stress by the time I left my previous job (made
redundant). This one is great though, fantastic colleagues, work is incredibly interesting, work life balance is good (pt and flexible), pay and benefits are also good, I could retire now (late 50s) but have no intention of doing so any time soon. I actively look forward to going to work and appreciate how fortunate I am.

Despite being very academic at school I’ve been a bit directionless. I’ve lost a well-paid career due to physical problems and also had gaps due to MH problems, I’ve got a Masters in a very un-vocational subject, and work in a badly paid, underfunded field full of overqualified people. Trying to get a new job at the moment but I’m such a jack of all trades in my current job - where I haven’t had an appraisal for 8 years!!! - it’s hard to find the right niche, paying enough, that’s better (more interesting) than my current role.

What I’ve realised is that I’m an hard worker and I love learning and problem solving. So as long as I’m not micromanaged or patronised, I enjoy the day-to-day. I try to think of work as just one part of my life, and my setbacks have made me resilient and given me perspective.

I get the impression that at my age (nearly 50) most women don’t think work is all it was cracked up to be. I’d like to earn more, for sure. But try not to tie my self-worth to my job.

I'm late 40s and struggling a bit tbh. Doesn't help that I'm freelance and sidestepped over a decade ago into a highly competitive field that is facing enormous challenges right now.

This seemed like a good idea when my kids were young and my current industry was in a more stable place. However, I now often wonder if I should have remained as an employee in my previous area of work, in a big organisation with all the benefits that brings (pension, paid holiday etc).

Oh well, it's all a journey and I am making the best of my current situation. But when my daughter has kids, I will definitely encourage her to make future career moves more carefully than I did. It's very easy to think part-time/self employed/freelance work is the best option with the demands of a young family, but that's not necessarily the case in the long term.

Great replies! Thank you

I'm 50 and love my job. I'm a software developer and it's very creative. Every day is a new challenge and new problems to be solved. People misunderstood it and don't understand the main part of the job is understanding client requirment and design to meet those requirements. No clients will tell you exactly what they want or need. The field changes so quickly that there are lots of new things to learn. I think this is the same for all engineering discipline. Accountancy sounds boring to me but then that's why I didn't do it at university.

I feel extremely lucky with my work

Did a doctorate
At 43 I have managed to pay for my house in full

Have some debt left over to pay and can now work part time for the next few years

The work is fascinating and I meet some great people

So def feel very lucky

Interesting work, great salary, with just a bit more managerial and providing my expertise work than I would prefer. I’ve managed to avoid being a personnel manager and just being a technical expert which is a much better position for me. I still miss the days where I never had meetings about budgets though.

wanted to add that the goal of my work is to make society better. It’s not always easy or simple, but it’s a good reason to show up every day.

Mid 40's and a teacher here. I'm currently working in a lovely school, best experience of my career so far. In general, I enjoy going to work but am always exhausted these days. Doubt I will be able to keep this up till retirement. Am currently aiming to get the kids through Uni before downsizing the house, cars and jobs to something lower pressure.

I fancy being one of those ladies who makes things to sell at craft fairs. I can go for lovely long walks in the morning then come home and craft all afternoon.

I enjoy my work as I work for myself doing something creative, it can be a bit stressful with a deadline but mostly I really enjoy it. My partner is an engineer and that is a profession along with doctors and some other areas that has seen between a 20 - 40% pay cut since 2010. His work is understaffed, the more junior staff are under trained (not really their fault) and often people are trying to do the work of two or three people while dealing with constant questions, queries, meetings and so on. Regardless of all that projects run over time and over budget with endless arguments between contractors, government agencies, design firms and councils over who should pay and what should be done.

Really he should be pushing for a big pay rise but they already want blood from him so what would they expect if they were paying him more. He looks miserable each morning as he heads off to work and I just wish he could leave and do something else. So I agree OP work often awful especially when you are in that mid to higher level in the professions.

I'm 47 and took a bit of a career swerve a year ago into something related, currently very in demand and better paying.

I still find my work quite interesting, but I never expected to be what my life was about, I am work to live, not live to work and never been ambitious. I could earn a lot more by going into management of what I do now, and given the shortage of people I would totally get such a role, but honestly it's too much stress for me. I suppose I'd do it if we had some sort of financial crisis, but I'll avoid it if I can!

I'm just happy to be earning me now than I figured I'd ever earn in my previous type of role. What isn't certain is the future, I think this role is not going to be replaced by AI, but it does use it and I am starting a long term training 'apprenticeship' in AI to bolster that, which, who knows, could open up another avenue.

I expect up work until I'm 70 unless I get ill before then; retirement earlier might be pushing it.

Looking back my career was not right for me. Civil service fast stream after uni - did really well, got promoted fast, but heart never really in it. Left for voluntary sector after a decade, but 25 years into working life and heart not into management, finance, office work. Never struggled to find work so been lucky really and some interesting roles.

Had a plan for retraining but volunteering and some further study making me feel unwise. Kind of stuck now and feeling work is literally to pay bills. Prob is my job requires quite a bit of me. Going back I would do something more active, not office based. But in your mid 40s not sure if you can fully adjust to totally different work, pay cut, bottom of the ladder.

So, yeah I basically think for most it is a means to an end.

I’m in my 50s and my job would be ok if I could afford to reduce my hours to 3 or 4 days per week. I don’t love it but I’ve had worse and I don’t hate it, it mostly plays to my strengths but has long deadlines and can be very dull. I have a long commute but wfh 2 days per week (though I’d actually prefer to go in if the commute was a lot shorter as I prefer the clear boundary between work and home). The travelling time makes compressed hours unrealistic as well. I just want a minute between work and everything else in my life to breathe once in a while really.

I switched jobs at 40 and went from being a teacher to a gardener. That’s working out pretty well on the whole.

I thought I’d be further up the ladder but the motherhood penalty hits hard when you work in construction. Happy in my job though. Higher rate wage earner, managing staff rather than doing the grunt work. WFH mainly. I’d choose it again.

My hope is that if my current role is still a thing in 15 years or so I might go freelance and be able to earn a decent amount for only working a few projects a year, as it might be a nice way to roll towards retirement. I worked with a guy who I think had an ideal career end at the place I was working; he'd sadly been unemployed for a while as a journalist over 60, and he got an editing job alongside me that was 4 days a week, decently paid, not stressful and he did it for a few years before retiring. That would be perfect if I could manage it.

Some great comments!

Well in some ways it's going better than expected. I'm in my early 50s and have always been a teacher, but took a couple of years as a SAHM and was very part time for many years. Age 50 (after quite a few rejections) I managed to get my first ft job in 18 years in a lovely school, who honoured the level on the pay scale I'd got to pre-dc, and then I was promoted within a year. Teaching has its very well-publicised issues, but it's the only job I ever wanted to do and I'm lucky to be in a school with barely any behaviour problems. I won't leave until I retire!

44 here and worked in the same industry for the last 25 years, 23 of which with the same company! I’ve always enjoyed my job, worked my way up to senior role and it’s an industry I’m passionate about, but over the last couple of years I’ve had itchy feet and want to move in to something with a higher profile. My career took a back seat whilst kids were very small and DH had a high flying role that meant lots of travel so I was never in a position to focus on my own career. However DH has now changed careers so I feel like, and he agrees, that now is my time.

I’ve positioned myself as best I can: joined a voluntary industry committee and networked like hell, but jobs at the level I want are like hen’s teeth. I applied for one, knowing I was shooting very high (CEO type role) and while I was short listed I didn’t make it to the final interview, which really knocked my confidence to my surprise.

Now it’s all about keeping up the networking to maintain a profile and just sitting tight to see what comes up.

I did 10 years in accountancy and had enough. I found it to be quite a dry and repetitive job, though I got on well with clients and was always interested in their businesses. Then did some managerial and consultancy roles. At 50 I moved into the charity sector and went p/t so significantly less pay. Am much happier and motivated as can see the difference we make and volunteers are generally lovely people.

My work/career has not turned out at all how I thought! Based on my education and qualifications I should be earning 6 figures.

But due to burn out/MH issues it didn’t work out that way. I now work part time in a low paid job. It’s ok. I wish I earnt more as I’d be able to retire sooner but have decided it’s not worth it and I’ll either keep working part time as long as necessary or possibly use inheritance to boost things.

I do feel a bit like I’ve wasted my abilities and hard work I originally put in but don’t feel I’ve been dealt a bad hand all things considered.

48. I work in financial advice and love it. There are days when the targets grind me down but they are few and far between.

I’m 50 and fed up. I’ve applied for a number of promotions as senior managers have said I’m ready and I’ve not got any, I think my face doesn’t fit with some people and also, they need me doing the high profile/risk role I am doing - eternally stuck at the top of my grade, smashing my objectives. I feel stuck in a rut and sometimes I’m jealous of my manager as she gets to mix with more people and see the bigger picture while I just have to get on with it. I’m trying to just see it as a means to an end and put my ambition to one side, as I’m 99% wfh and have a good pension.

Thanks everyone, best of luck to all

Sadly, like many things in life I think we start off thinking if we are smart, ethical and work hard we will have a rewarding career. Unfortunately many of us end up with incompetent managers, and are surrounded by morons who get promoted. I find LinkedIn the most depressing thing to look at. If you're lucky you'll enjoy your job and have work mates who become good friends. But I think having a great job, a great team and a great manager is a very rare thing. Let alone having flexibility, a nice office, close to home and good pay, that's almost impossible! I've just seen a thread on here where coffee and tea isn't even provided.

My job is pretty good (hospital consultant). I now have the seniority in my 40s to only work in the areas I like!

I have found that I am less career focused as I get older though - I value time for my hobbies, my house and my family more than I value career recognition, though that might just be because I worked my socks off in my 20s and 30s and am now pretty secure.