Good question! Wait until you are 50, maybe you can answer it then ;-)

I (and most of my social circle) am over 50, and I can answer that question: there's no solid reason you can't train for and be successful in a different career later in life. I've seen it happen too often to think otherwise.

Whether or not you want to is an entirely different question, of course.

Not there yet, but slowly getting there. Of course you can train for a different career after you are 50, but you will also have a good idea what kind of career is not a good fit for you (anymore). So just because certain careers are now looking for people, doesn't mean that these are a good fit for you.

Yes indeed!

Our youth is when the majority of what we do is try things out to see what fits and what doesn't. In our older years, most of that experimentation is behind us and we have a pretty solid idea of what fits us and what doesn't.

The trick is that the amount of experimentation should never be reduced to zero.

I'd imagine the over-X disinclination to retrain is mostly a discomfort with being uncomfortable.

By X, in a single career, you've generally got a pretty good handle on things (and life).

In contrast to 20/30, when everything is constantly new and you are constantly uncomfortable.

Thus, big difference in how well the uncomfortable muscle is exercised. 20/30 -> novel situation you suck at -> business as usual. Over X -> " -> WTF.

And, as you say, the key to retaining that capability is... make sure you continue exercising that muscle!

I appreciate that question!

Something something about age and responsibilities and tiredness and not having trained for that, but... it's worth it to think about it, anyway — at least as risk-mitigation for yourself, going forward.

Maybe we'll all end up as plumbers?