What Midlife Crisis ?

Is a midlife crisis now a thing of the past ? Do we all now accept changes in our appearance and ability to do things with less resilience ? And, if not, will having a mild makeover provide that extra re-assurance and confidence ?

Scientists say increased life expectancy and good job prospects are taking the sting out of ageing.

They claim that the sudden awareness of mortality that has led many men to exchange their wives and cars for newer models no longer has such a potent effect : take note if you are a divorce lawyer !

Instead, an increasingly confident and hardy generation is embarking on a productive second life as it approaches the age of 50.

This generation is aware that at 50 it still has at least 30 good years of life.

The myth of a midlife crisis as represented in Hollywood films such as 2003s Lost In Translation, in which Bill Murray plays a bored husband tempted by a younger woman, has been put to the sword by Carlo Strenger, a psychoanalyst and associate professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

He says in a paper published in the Harvard Business Review that while some Midlife Change is inevitable, traumatic raptures are increasingly rare.

In his paper, based on interviews with business people aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s, he argues that middle aged workers are less fretful, hurried and self critical than their younger counterparts.

By middle age, most executives have gone through protracted crises that seemed insurmountable at the time; through these crises they have discovered their strengths, he says.

No longer riddled by the anxiety that they may not be good at anything, or by the need to prove that they are good at everything, they have the freedom that only self knowledge can impart.

He advises middle age people seeking a new challenge to take time studying their options and not take drastic steps.

Changes in the work market in the past few decades have increased the opportunity for midlife career moves, he writes.

The trend for big companies to rely on outside consultants was particularly good news for mature, independent professionals.

He says The baby boom generation is getting older but its work is far from finished. Many people can anticipate and enjoy a second life if not a second career.

The professor says the best way to avoid suffering a crisis is to appreciate how many adult years someone has to live and make imaginative plans for using them.

To ensure these imaginative and creative plans can be fulfilled, one not only has to make a lifestyle plan but also a financial plan : with the two being inextricably linked.

Knowing that you can do all that you seek and desire in later life without any fear of ever running out of money ensures a financial peace of mind and allows for greater certainty that all you want to do you can do.

You can have the most inspired and original of ideas and plans for later life but without the resource to fulfil these dreams and ambitions, they will simply fall apart.

So, the midlife crisis may well be over and planning for an active life all the way into your 80s is much more of a reality these days, but what you do not want to do is let your plan fail simply because you have neglected to dovetail a financial plan in with your life goals.