I'm 52 and I've worked in sales for 28 years. I'm tired of it. I've always been interested in teaching, and I volunteer at a youth football club at weekends, which I love. My wife says I should retrain, but I keep thinking I'm too old, the pay will drop, and I'll be in a classroom full of 23-year-olds with lanyards. Is it ridiculous to start again at my age?
— Paul, 52“Too old” is what people say right after doing the maths on how long they’ve got left and panicking. Understandable. So let’s do the maths properly, coldly, like an actuary.
At 52, you’ve potentially got fifteen working years left, because the pension age keeps running away from you like a dog that’s seen the vet. That’s longer than plenty of people’s whole careers. You can spend it selling things you’re sick of, or doing the thing you love so much you already do it for free on Saturdays. One of those sounds suspiciously like a clue, and you’ve been ignoring it for 28 years.
The alternative to retraining isn’t safety. It’s fifteen more years of sales targets, then a leaving card signed by people who don’t know your surname.
Yes, you’ll be surrounded by 23-year-olds with lanyards. They’ll be terrified, inexperienced and quietly relieved that someone in the room has seen things. You’ve handled difficult clients for 28 years. Teenagers are just clients who can’t expense lunch.
Grain of sense, served without biscuits: look hard at the training routes, the pay drop and whether the numbers work. Talk to two actual teachers and note how tired their eyes are. Then decide. Older trainees are common. Older people who regret never trying are far more common.