Rise of the three-quarter life crisis

We all know the cliché. You reach a certain age and suddenly you’re questioning all your life choices and making rash decisions about red sportscars. Traditionally, a midlife crisis hits in your 40s, but new research shows a changing emotional landscape.

Of the 5000 people surveyed for the Australian Senior’s 100 Year Lifespan Report, a third say they have personally experienced a life crisis in their 50s or 60s. More than half (54%) believe the midlife crisis has shifted to a later stage and is increasingly being replaced with the ‘three-quarter life crisis’.

In fact, 40% of older Australians admit to experiencing a three-quarter life crisis and more than two in five (46%) say they have seen others go through one.

Vanessa, 58, from NSW, watched her friend Sam, now 62, face down his demons not long after his 60^th birthday. “Sam always seemed a happy person but suddenly we were having long chats about the meaning of life and he was full of regrets,” she says. “He knew he had been a workaholic most of his life and, while he was financially comfortable, he felt he had lost his way somehow and that his relationships had suffered. It took him a while to get back on his feet emotionally.”