Sometimes it seems that the only people making good are the very young. Silicon Valley billionaires all seem to be in their early twenties, and most athletes are considered over-the-hill by 30. But the idea that you either achieve something great when you're very young or you don't achieve it at all is misleading. In fact, there are many, many examples of people achieving great things in middle age and older. Indeed, many older people start an entirely new career or business late in life. As the population ages in countries ranging from Europe to North America to Asia (China is ageing fast), it's going to become ever-more important for people to reinvent themselves as they get older. Economic dynamism comes from people willing to take risks and try new things. While that's easier when you're young, it's not impossible for people in middle-age or beyond. And that's great news for the future. – Felicity Duncan

It's never too late to start a brilliant career

By Rich Karlgaard

(The Wall Street Journal) In 1980, I was 25 and hadn't yet bloomed. This hit home one night while I was working as a security guard in San Jose, Calif. Just after dark, as I started my perimeter patrol of a fenced rent-a-truck yard, I heard barking from the lumber yard next door. I swung my flashlight around and came face-to-face with my counterpart on the other side of the fence: a guard dog. The implication was sobering. I was a Stanford graduate, and my professional peer was a Rottweiler.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___