More people plan to start up businesses later in life

   

The average age at which people feel or will feel totally confident and comfortable about their skills at work is 37, according to a recent YouGov survey of 2,100 UK adults commissioned by Standard Life. This works out to around 30,000 hours in the job.

The study also highlights an interesting trend in people working beyond retirement age - reflecting the longer life expectancy in the UK, the growing ease with which people can work from home, and the need for many to continue making an income during uncertain economic times (and unsatisfactory pension provision).

'Career fulfilment peaks at 50'

The survey into generational differences in attitudes to work found that ‘fulfilment’ is even more elusive: although 79% expect to or do feel fulfilled by their career at some point in their life, those over 55 on average said that fulfilment peaked at 50.

This considerable time investment in career potentially suggests why;

• 85% of the population do not intend to stop work altogether post retirement age,
• A third (33%) of the population simply want to continue in full time work post retirement age,
• 31% want to carry on in a similar role but on their own terms.

The survey suggests that the number of 'olderpreneurs' is likely to increase, with 8% of those surveyed wanting to set up a business on retirement. When looking at the 18-25 year old age group, this number increases to 11%.

Commenting on the findings, John Lawson from Standard Life said: “Quite simply, people do not get old like they used to. The Baby Boomers started a trend for redefining what is effectively their ‘third age’ and these findings point to a continued trend for re-writing the rule book for younger generations.

“Whereas a ‘job for life’ is now a thing of the past, fulfilment and job satisfaction are expected. So having worked over 30,000 hours before feeling confident and until age 50 to feel fulfilled, it stands to reason that people will choose to continue to do a job that they enjoy and are good at.”

The research also sought to understand ambition amongst different generations and found that the mean age for feeling most ambitious is 31 years old. Although those respondents aged 18-25 estimated that they would feel most ambitious at 26, those over 55 were, on average, most ambitious at 35.

Interestingly, according to Bytestart's current small business survey, around 16% of our site visitors are over 50, suggesting that entrepreneurialism is not the preserve of 30 and 40 somethings.

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