Is age 35-50 the worst part of life?

My two siblings died young.

Being in that age range is a blessing, not a curse.

Be thankful for your life.

Probably, especially if you're broke and have to start pinching pennies and working extra time for retirement, which you may not even live to see. As a man, if you have a wife and kids, she will give you the post nup shutdown, life will suck. Your college friends are gone as are your pr days and you can't have any fun. That's why you don't want to get stuck as a man. If you do, keep your head up and be a good man especially if you have kids. Take care of them.

Some would say this is when you're close to or at your earnings peak and the most capable in terms of getting younger ladies (if you're single). If you like your job, the distant retirement aspect is not so bad. Your parents starting to get old might be the only unequivocal downside to this thing. If kids are raised well, there generally shouldn't be a concern about them being little $hits when growing up.

Cope much sooner than this.

How do you use your power?

Social generosity through charity, family, exercise.

or rotting.

Raising my kids of that period of life has been phenomenal.

The best part of life is still age 8-12, though. All fun. No cares.

13-18 can get a little rough as you transition to adulthood and start thinking about life and dating and such.

18-34 can be quite stressful as you are defining your life then.

I thought 35-40 sucked, but I look at it from 55 now, and realize how wrong I was.

Still young enough, kids just old enough to not have to watch over them constantly, just enough money to do stuff, can still enjoy most things, can still do most things, having fun because kids more self-sustaining now, most injuries cleared up finally now, can still run well, not yet worried about retirement, not yet facing old age issues, parents still around.

My 35-40 range was wild, in other words. Things started doing downhill in my early-40s, and only stopped largely around 50 because there are no more effs to give.

Shutting it down now, enjoying life with a whole lot less to worry about and do. Doing what we want, with the money to do it.

Wham Bam Thank you Sham wrote:

Some would say this is when you're close to or at your earnings peak and the most capable in terms of getting younger ladies (if you're single). If you like your job, the distant retirement aspect is not so bad. Your parents starting to get old might be the only unequivocal downside to this thing. If kids are raised well, there generally shouldn't be a concern about them being little $hits when growing up.

You are certainly right. I'm going on 30 and now more than ever have my choice of women because I have money. I feel as if I can talk to most women and get them to come with me. One time I talked to a young woman who brushed me off then I walked to my sports car and she said, "hey wait is that your car?" Then suddenly she became real interested and she hopped in the front seat. Ridiculous. I said, "hey I thought you didn't want me." She replied, "well actually I changed my mind." Ridiculousness, which is also a great TV show.

what you said is true, but my net worth grew about 6X over this period to make me a multi-millionaire (at least on paper). So it isn't all bad.

Unless you were a Div I runner or were sub elite and thrashed out 100 mpw in your 20s, you can PR in your late 30s and even early 40s especially if you focus on longer road races.

Grandparents and great uncles/aunts do start checking out in your late 20s, but parents don't until you get into your late 40s. Mine are both alive and doing well and I am 50.

Work can be more rewarding, or at least palatable, as you gain experience and have a higher value when you get into your late 30s and 40s. The financial grind of squirreling away money for retirement and for kids' education does start to hit as you get closer to 50 than 40.

If you are still single in your late 30s and 40s, that can be really hard. All the good ones are taken by then and it is just a matter of sorting through the damaged goods and dealing with extended families.

If you are empty nested in your 40s, you can have a lot of fun as you are still physically able to do the big adventures in life. If you still have kids at home, it really depends on what your kids are like. It can be a lot of fun to take your kids on adventurous vacations, but kids are kids. They are not going to enjoy cultural trips with fancy restaurants.

Laid off twice in my mid-55's. Seems the whole decade has sucked, royally.

It's all how you look at it.

How do you think I feel, I've never had a relationship and my 20s and most of my 30s are gone.

35-50s is going to be the best part of my life.

More money.

More relationships.

More success and fulfilment.

PR's if I start training are attainable I believe.

Only up up up for me.

Nope.

Good times were had.

The exception was one unbelievably terrible boss at work. So bad I would clinch my jaw and wake up with night terrors. Fortunately, she was arrested and removed from her position in a work related incident.

During those years:

- Age 35, moved back to the Midwest from the smoggy congested rat race in Los Angeles

-Started my current three miles a day running streak age 36 (will be 29 years hopefully in August)

-Met and married my spouse of 28 years at age 37 (best decision of my life!)

- Marathon PR at 38

-Won a marathon outright at age 40 and third at another more challenging race later the same year

- Very fun years racing in early 40s (not PRs, but not statistically far off especially age-graded)

-Ultra PR at 41

-Stopped consuming alcohol at 42

-Paid off the house at 45

-Still well under 20:00 at 50 (and beyond)

Not related to the OP's question, but later...

-Retired at age 56

Now I can't wait to turn 65 later this year and move up another 5 year age bracket.

Any age can be the best of times or the worst of times...

I thought 35-50 was awesome.

I had disposable income and my career was established.

I got to raise my kids.

I didn't start running until 37. I thus continued to improve at running throughout most of this period.

0-5 Good

5-16 Sucked

16-22 Good

22-33 Sucked

33- 50 Awesome

I am pretty sure 50 - 60 will unfortunately be less awesome.

My job is boring. But I make good money and can't think of anything better to do on a long term basis with my time.

I am finally getting slower.

Kids are mostly grown up and have their own problems.

Life in general should be the most depressing. There's constant rape, killing, children dying from starvation, war, and so on. So, make the most of it. You gotta make the best of every situation.

Velocibuddha wrote:

5-16 Sucked

What happened then? Bad family situation?

Middle age is depressing wrote:

- No more PRs

- Still a long way from retirement

- Parents and other older relatives start dying

- Having to deal with teenage kids (for parents) or loneliness (for singles)

Discus(s).

I would agree that the time between those ages is tough. I didn't think of those times as depressing, but there are definitely challenging times in there. My kids are now adults and so while being concerned about how they are doing doesn't ever go away, the concerns are different. Being closer to retirement and with more money is nice now that I am OLDER than 50.

My advice is don't wish away the time with the kids when they are still at home. Don't wish to be older, because you will get there. Enjoy all the good things about being young, because while being older isn't bad (not yet for me anyway), you can't go back again.

I'm over 50 and I have to say since turning 50 its not been great. I've been lucky, but most of all of my friends have lost at least 1 parent, I know 2 very close friends that have had bad health problems.

Running is a struggle to stay ahead of the nagging injuries, and my performance has dropped tremendously from my mid40s to now.

I know in the next few years I will lose a parent, probably have to care for one of them, and will lose at least 1 close friend. I don't see a lot of good times ahead except for being able to retire and travel.

Financially I am in great shape, but I'd rather be broke and 25 than rich and 52.

Yeah. Just a few years back I was chatting online with a girl I knew in college. We had a thing that fell apart, and it was fun catching up. Then she quit responding. Dying does that to you.

I’m glad to get older but it’s alarming really. I’ll be 66 soon, have been running and racing since 1977 and two mornings ago I looked down at my watch and saw 9:03 in the second mile of a tempo run

I just stopped.. just stopped.

I’ve hit yet another plateau going the other way.