The 70-year career: How to prepare for a longer, more fulfilling working life
Career models are changing as more people work past traditional retirement ages.
As life expectancy continues to rise and technology empowers workers to remain productively employed for longer, the traditional three-stage career model of education, work, retirement is coming into question. In its place, a more dynamic, multi-phase career trajectory is emerging, reflecting the evolving nature of work, personal goals and societal expectations.
Accessing these opportunities in later life requires one ingredient above all: adaptability. Professionals must be willing to learn, unlearn and relearn throughout their careers.
Adaptability is non-negotiable, said Lucy Standing, an occupational psychologist and Founder of Brave Starts, an online community providing career coaching platform for experienced professionals.
“Since the year 2000 alone, more than 50% of the companies that were in the FTSE 100 have dropped out,” said Standing. “They are no longer relevant. Their product, their skill, their service have not stayed relevant. If companies are dropping out of the FTSE 100 all the time, what hope is there that you’re not going to have to change?”
Choose your own adventure
The multi-phase career accommodates changing life circumstances, evolving interests, industry disruption and the need for continuous learning. Unlike the three-stage model, it is characterized by flexibility and choice. There could be periods of intense work punctuated by sabbaticals and periods of reskilling, radical career pivots, transitions to entrepreneurship and returns to full-time education.
For experienced professionals, adapting to change may seem daunting in today’s fast-moving world. Yet people at the height of their careers are often well placed to make a successful pivot, according to Rajiv Ahuja, a longevity expert at WRLDCTY, a forum for urban innovation.
“Between 50 and 60 is generally when you’re at your most productive, you’ve got your biggest network and you’ve gained your peak expertise in your field. You’re also often open to applying that knowledge towards something that’s more purposeful,” he said. “Being able to leverage your network and your expertise at that stage really keeps you relevant.”
Though the structure of careers may be changing, the core competencies of strategic thinking, interpersonal skills and ethical judgment transcend roles and industries. Investing in these foundational skills not only enhances career longevity but also positions individuals to lead and mentor others through their own transitions.
Strategic thinking enables professionals to navigate complexity and anticipate future trends. Interpersonal skills foster collaboration and trust — essential in an increasingly global investment industry in which more work is done remotely or by cross-functional teams. And ethical judgment — covering integrity, accuracy, transparency and accountability — has become more important than ever in the AI era, to ensure to that technology serves a client’s best interests.
Embracing change
For investment professionals, making a career transition at a later stage will often require an element of upskilling. Mid-career professionals looking to remain competitive, improve job security or make a career transition can turn to a range of strategies to gain new skills:
- Professional certifications not only reinforce technical expertise but also signal commitment to excellence and ethical standards. Even for those who already hold a recognized professional designation such as the CFA® charter, pursuing advanced or complementary certifications can open doors to new specializations, such as sustainable investing or private markets.
- Executive education programs at top business schools provide another powerful avenue for growth. These short, intensive courses are designed for experienced professionals and focus on strategic thinking, leadership, and emerging trends. Whether it’s a course on digital transformation in finance or behavioral economics, executive education helps professionals broaden their perspective and apply new insights to complex challenges.
- Microlearning offers a flexible and efficient way to stay current by consuming short modules on topics ranging from blockchain to data visualization. These bite-sized lessons can be consumed during commutes or between meetings, making continuous, just-in-time learning more accessible.
- Mentoring is a cornerstone of professional development, especially for mid-career professionals aspiring to leadership positions. It provides an opportunity to hone coaching and communication skills while giving back to the industry. Mid-career professionals can also benefit from reverse mentoring, whereby they receive insights on technology, social trends, or new work styles from younger colleagues.
Will you ever retire?
In order to keep working for longer, you also need to stay healthy.
“You have to invest in your well-being: your physical and cognitive health,” said Eleonore Dachicourt, CFA, Head of Sustainable Investments, Wealth Management, Asia, at BNP Paribas. “That’s really the new career capital.”
Lifelong learning can help with this. “There's all this research showing that learning anything, whether it’s for your current role or a new language or something else, is good for your brain health,” she said. “You have to continue to train that muscle.”
The era of longevity and improving healthspans has given rise to an emerging movement to put off retirement indefinitely. Dachicourt acknowledged that this can be a controversial suggestion, but it is one that may lead to a higher quality of life. Your chances of remaining healthy in old age are vastly improved by remaining active and engaged, staying relevant professionally and remaining intellectually curious. “We should all embrace it,” she said, adding that “lifelong learning is the most powerful longevity investment we can make”.
According to Standing, work is a means for living a fuller, happier, healthier life. “We need to ditch this idea that we should be saving money away for retirement,” she said. “We should be saving money away so that we can live comfortably, but we should never have a goal to give up work.
“We should have a goal to make work fit our lifestyle, and have it so that it can be done on our terms, in a way that it will always be part of our life.”
Curious about the latest mid-career trends, challenges, and opportunities? Explore more in our series designed for finance professionals navigating their mid-career journey.
The value of lifelong learning — and strategies for making it work
Staying relevant in the AI era: A guide for mid-career investment professionals
Upskilling at 50: How experienced investment professionals can adapt to change
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