SINGAPORE – Since hitting her 50s, Ms Hazel Sam has tried improvisational theatre, graduated with a Master of Science in wealth management and formed a community for people aged 50 and up that now has 400 members.
The 53-year-old financial planner created the Project 50 group on the Meetup app in 2021. She had been moved to action after reading The 100-Year Life: Living And Working In An Age Of Longevity, authored by London Business School dons Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott.
The book got her thinking about how to live the second half of her life in a more thoughtful manner.
“(Project 50) was a very raw attempt to rally my peers to a community where we can discuss topics of purpose, health, wealth and relationships,” she wrote in a LinkedIn article.
“The intention was to create a safe space to talk through what we need to work on to make our 50s productive and inspiring, thereby making better life decisions. The premise is that when we are well, we will have the propensity to give back and pay forward to society (or simply to people around us), beyond ourselves.”
Six people turned up for the inaugural meet-up in February 2021 out of a maximum of eight allowed under social distancing measures then. Members pay for their own food and drinks and are not allowed to solicit business, among other guidelines.
Now, its monthly meet-ups attract around 30 on average and have gained such traction that its members also run peripheral activities that include retro nights, mahjong sessions and hikes. Its oldest member is 74.
Ms Hazel Sam formed Project 50 for people over 50 to find friends. The Meetup group has grown to 400 members since 2021. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
“People our age come with a lot of war stories and when we sat down and spoke, I realised we have so much to learn from one another. Every one of us has something we have mastered or grieved over – a lot of war scars – which is quite inspiring,” she tells The Straits Times.
In 2024, she intends to take up a dance class. Perhaps the tango, she muses.
“If I’m not scared, I’m not growing,” says the mother of three children aged 22 to 25.
Ms Sam epitomises the spirit of today’s 50-something women who, unlike their mothers, are ramping up for a second adulthood filled with purposeful pursuits.
The 50s can be a period of transition and confusion for them, both in their working and personal lives, as they are too young to retire but are often considered past their prime by society.
A survey by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) and market researcher Milieu Insight in 2022 dubbed them Tomorrow’s New Old and found they are willing to reinvent themselves and try new things.
The survey polled 500 respondents aged 52 to 62 and held focus group discussions with 20 female participants between 50 and 65 years old.
These women will turn 60 to 70 years old in 2030 when the re-employment age will be 70 years old.
Unlike the generations before them, they are better educated, more tech-savvy and therefore connected, and more adaptable in the workplace, the survey found. They want to “age fruitfully and meaningfully” while being financially independent, the report said.
“Higher literacy levels among women in Singapore and being more financially equipped (affordability) allow such women to aspire and actualise what they want recreationally, professionally and on the personal front,” says Ms Koh Yan Ping, chief executive of SCWO.
“Such women could have grown up seeing their mothers having had to give up opportunities in their careers or make sacrifices due to financial needs or restraints of fulfilling family obligations, or even due to patriarchy-related biases. These daughters and granddaughters are now spurred to be more driven to chase their dreams.”
Dreaming big at 50
Ms Simran Toor, chief executive of SG Her Empowerment, an independent non-profit organisation that aims to empower girls and women, says: “Reinventing oneself, switching careers or pursuing new passions at 50 is no longer viewed as a late-stage development.
“Given that our working lives can now span more than half a century, I believe it will soon be common for women to view midcareer or midlife changes as a means of sustaining their working lives and productivity, by focusing on what interests and inspires them. This is a boon for the many among us who took a back seat or time off work to raise a family or care for loved ones.”
Ms Salitha Nair, who is pursuing her PhD in Business Administration, says she has always wanted to further her education but was busy raising a family in her 30s and 40s. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Ms Salitha Nair, 54, is one such example. The senior lecturer at PSB Academy decided to pursue a PhD in Business Administration with the University of Canberra in 2021, when Covid-19 raged. She is slated to graduate in 2025.
She thinks it is common for Asian women, especially, to lose their identities in their 30s and 40s as they juggle career and family responsibilities.
“This is something I have always wanted to do. But we play a lot of roles as women, being a mother, a wife and all that. So, it came to a stage where it was now or never,” says Ms Salitha, who has three children aged 18 to 27.
While she had accomplished much at work – she won a best lecturer award in 2019 through student voting and clinched PSB Academy’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2023 – the pandemic also made her pause.
“I had a lot of time to reflect. It kind of frightened me, because you have only one life. What is it you want to achieve?” she recounts.
Mindful of working both mind and body, she also started strength training and doing yoga regularly in 2023.
With their kids more independent, some women in their 50s are taking bigger risks with their careers, reinventing their corporate identities as they seek new and more purposeful challenges.
Ms Pang Sze Yunn joined brain health start-up Neurowyzr as its chief executive when she was 50. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Ms Pang Sze Yunn joined brain health start-up Neurowyzr in 2021 as its chief executive when she turned 50. It provides a digital neuroscience assessment called Digital Brain Function Screen that screens adults for early brain decline, to clients such as Sata CommHealth and Parkway Shenton.
The company was founded in 2019 by neuroscientist Nav Vij. Neurowyzr’s advisers include neurosurgeon Prem Pillay and Associate Professor Nagaendran Kandiah, director of the Dementia Research Centre at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University. It has over 15 clients in Singapore and is expanding regionally. Neurowyzr has attracted funding from Tier 1 investors such as Peak XV’s Surge and Jungle Ventures.
Ms Pang, 53, a former diplomat who was the first female political secretary at the Singapore embassy in Beijing, recalls a mentor advising her “to be the first to do things that need to be done”.
Her former job as head of home care services at NTUC Health had exposed her to the harsh reality of life for people who suffered brain-related conditions such as dementia or stroke, as well as their caregivers.
“We go for health screenings, but we never check our brains. Yet, the brain is probably the most important organ of your body that you want to take care of. This job is very meaningful for me because it’s something that needs to be done that I can be the first to do,” says Ms Pang, whose varied career includes stints in global companies like Microsoft and Philips.
She was also a council member in the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Longevity from 2019 to 2020.
“It’s a very multifaceted job, which I think suits women very well because we’re very good at multitasking. We are the ones who know exactly where the kids are every day while keeping a full schedule at work,” adds the mother of three children aged 13 to 16.
Reinvention is key
Adeline Tiah, who quit her corporate job in her 50s and wrote a book about reinvention, says women in their 50s still have much to offer society. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
In a Vuca world that is more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous than ever, constant reinvention is one of the keys to remaining employable and nimble, says Adeline Tiah, author of Reinvent 4.0 – Your Keys To Unlock Success And Thrive In Uncertainty, published by local publisher Candid Creation Publishing.
Her book took nine months to write and is available at $28 on her website (soarcollective.asia/reinvent-4-0). It was launched at the end of 2022, when a wave of tech layoffs hogged the headlines, validating her message of reinvention.
She has sold over 600 copies to date, not including figures from Amazon.com or downloads on Kindle.
Tiah is a living example of all that she preaches. The certified executive coach, who is in her 50s, quit her marketing role in a fintech company in 2022 to start Soar Collective Asia, a coaching and mentoring practice.
She describes the transition as “very smooth” as she had coached as a side hustle for seven years.
Today, she has a “portfolio career” that includes being a start-up mentor, an adjunct lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ School of Business and a board member of a non-profit organisation.
“A coach asked me a transformative question in 2022: ‘What would an 80-year-old Adeline thank me for what I do today?’ That question got me thinking – I still have a long runway to work, I wanted to build something bigger than myself, instead of working for shareholders.”
She developed a coaching framework from her book and now runs programmes for individuals as well as organisations seeking to imbue their employees with a transformation mindset.
“When people in their 50s come to me, asking how do they find jobs, I say: ‘Don’t think about looking for a job, think about what problems you can solve.’ If you shift the mindset, your mental model changes, and then you help the employer see the value you bring to the table rather than seeing your age. There’s a lot of reframing required,” says Tiah, who has a son in his early 20s.
Ms Nicole Cheong, 51, has reframed her mindset in her current role as an associate cyber-security specialist at Red Alpha Cybersecurity.
She ran a ballet school for almost five years before selling it off in 2020, when Covid-19 hit, to spend more time with her three children, now aged 10 to 19.
“It’s time for me to make a contribution back to society. There’s still gas in the tank and tech is something I’ve always been very passionate about,” says Ms Cheong, who used to work as a systems analyst with HP. She took a break in 2007 to take care of her children for about eight years before becoming an entrepreneur.
She is now studying for OffSec’s Offensive Security Certified Professional certification, part of the company’s Alpha Specialist Training Programme, and will go on to do an industry placement of three years.
Ms Nicole Cheong shaved her head when she was 50 and joined a cyber-security company in 2023. ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
While the learning curve has been steep, “I’m quite in love with it,” she says, adding that she hopes to work in planning and consulting in cyber-security law.
Ms Cheong, who shaved her head at age 50 because she was tired of tying her hair up and colouring her roots, has not personally faced ageism in the networking sessions she has attended to find a placement.
Still, she knows that dark clouds loom large over her age group.
Older women are stereotyped as slow, less productive and less adaptable, says Ms Toor, citing a Singapore Alliance for Women in Ageing (Sawa) report released in May 2023.
They are also often perceived as being caregivers and lacking in digital skills. The report, which polled 170 women aged 55 and older, was a response to what Sawa saw as a gap in the Singapore Government’s White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development in March 2022.
“These perceptions are really out-of-step with today’s realities, and we need a mindset change across society to promote more positive representations of women over 50,” Ms Toor says.
Ms Cheong is optimistic about her career prospects. “Why would somebody hire a 50-year-old over a 20-year-old? I would think it is really the lived experience, which gives you a broader perspective. You won’t get that from a fresh graduate. So, don’t discount yourself,” she says.
Tiah, who says she now prioritises “people KPIs” (key performance indicators) rather than revenue KPIs, adds: “I believe life begins at 50. This is a time when you’re old enough, with a wealth of experience, and young enough to learn new things.
“It’s no longer about achieving material success but about how you do things differently to make an impact and achieve significance”.
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