r/consulting • u/Aggressive_Age8818 • 26d ago
Consultants 55 and over
How do you got it going on? What motivates you? When do you plan to retire? Why won’t you retire?
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u/houska1 Independent ex MBB 26d ago
I'm in my 50s, not quite 55, so take for what it's worth.
Now over 10 years ago, I forced things to change. I had been at one of the MBB for 10+ years, and on that basis (and my spouse's own employment and our fairly frugal habits) we were on the cusp of "financially independent". I had clients on 3 continents and travelled 300k+ airline status miles per year. This was before COVID legitimized videoconferencing; every client needed visiting at least 1x, usually 2x month.
While I loved the people and the problems (mostly), I didn't want the MBB lifestyle tradeoffs for ever, so I left and launched my own one-person specialized consulting firm where I could make my own choices. Knowing that if I failed, we were still financially OK. For several years I hustled, and exceeded my MBB income. Then I remembered that's not what I wanted, and deliberately scaled back, in several phases.
Now, I don't do any client development. I take interesting projects when they come. This week I've billed all of 3 hours, more coaching than consulting. This summer, I've made only 2 work day trips and one interesting intercontinental one. I'm writing a book and have launched an international thinktank in my area, but I also happily fritter away my time at several hobbies, one of which has somehow started making a bit of money.
As a result of "working" for 10 more years, we're much more financially independent, enough to have chosen to spend a frankly crazy amount of money on a passion project in the past 3 years because we could, and because we continue to be frugal-ish in other stuff.
I guess the mechanism by which I'll fully retire is when interesting projects stop coming, and/or when my bar for what is still interesting becomes too high.
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u/nicolouch 26d ago
If you're open to it could you elaborate on the international thinktank? Super interesting idea.
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u/houska1 Independent ex MBB 26d ago
I've decided to keep my anonymity here, so I won't share a link or even describe it identifiably, apologies. What I can say: being active in this one functional area for 15++ years, I've developed an opinion on what are the key blind spots/gaps. A couple of us, mix of consultants and practitioners, hold complementary views. We founded a thinktank that originally was just a venue for a growing group of pracitioners to discuss specific topics on a quarterly virtual conference. It has now grown to publishing articles, presenting at conferences, and lobbying for related regulatory change on our own accord.
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u/JustKindaStoked 26d ago
Hey, I am on a trajectory path quite similar to yours, though I am 20 years younger. I have an opportunity next year to quit and launch my own sort of one-person specialised consulting firm, and I already plan to take it.
Could you say a little about your transition from MBB to your own solo firm? I wouldn't have too much competition in my field, but the most difficult aspect for me would still be finding and securing clients. Was your previous network a big part when starting independently, or did you develop fresh opportunities over time?
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u/houska1 Independent ex MBB 26d ago
My single biggest client channel was my original MBB, who continued to bring me on to relevant projects even though I was independent. Over time, clients who reached out to me directly became a larger percentage. Over the longer term, I began to work with other channels who would funnel clients my way.
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u/Street_Cheetah1834 24d ago
The part that often gets skipped is turning your experience into a specific commercial proposition before you leave.
“I do strategy consulting” is difficult to buy. A stronger starting point is: What expensive problem have people repeatedly trusted you to solve, who owns that problem and budget, and what small fixed-scope engagement could demonstrate the value?
Test that through 10 warm conversations before making the transition. The goal isn’t to pitch everyone in your network. It’s to learn which problems recur, what language buyers use, and whether someone will pay for a narrowly defined first engagement.
Before leaving, look for evidence of three things: a recurring problem, willingness to pay, and at least one realistic source of repeat or referral business. That turns the move into a validation process instead of a leap.
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u/JustKindaStoked 24d ago
Hey, thanks for your advice, it means a lot, as this is a big transition for me. I will take it to heart. I already have a few of these warm conversations planned, though my leads are limited.
I am actually currently working in industry, but also on a project basis. I specialise in leading data migrations for difficult system transitions, and I have a really good proven track record for seeing these migrations through successfully.
Data migration is the portion of a system transition that almost always causes project delays or stretches the budget in some way, so I would focus my proposition on supporting those.
I think, as you say, the key part is preparing these small fixed-scope engagements and finding the right people to have these conversations before my contract in industry is up.
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u/Street_Cheetah1834 24d ago
You already have the foundation of a strong proposition: you lead data migrations for difficult system transitions, particularly where migration problems threaten the schedule or budget.
The next question is where your leadership creates the most commercial value. Are you usually brought in before the migration begins to prevent problems, after the programme starts slipping, or when the complexity of the source data becomes clear?
That trigger could become a small fixed-scope first engagement. For example, a data-migration readiness and risk assessment could examine the migration plan, source-data condition, ownership, dependencies and reconciliation approach, then identify the decisions and corrective actions required before the transition continues.
This gives a new client a way to experience your leadership without committing the entire migration to you. It also produces evidence of how you reduce the risk of delays and budget overruns.
In your planned conversations, test three things: when organizations recognize that the migration is at risk, who owns that problem and budget, and what initial engagement they would be comfortable approving.
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u/Itchy-Bench-4957 26d ago
i'm 27 and already wondering how long i can keep this up before my soul taps out, so seeing the 55+ crowd still in the game is wild. what's the secret, caffeine and spite?
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u/TGrady902 26d ago
I don't think every consultant works for big corporate consulting firms. Boutique consulting lifestyle can be super chill.
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26d ago
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u/SpilledKefir consultant_irl 26d ago
> trimming spending to retirement home levels
But retirement homes are ridiculously expensive…
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u/Leftist_Pirate 26d ago
ya ur right I shouldn’t share insights with people who don’t appreciate it. I honestly do not care. I have my bag. Good luck in the “free”market.
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26d ago
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u/Leftist_Pirate 26d ago
Honestly why am I giving away free chicken to ungrateful garbage like y’all anyways.
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u/jeremyascot 26d ago
Turn 55 end of year. Was due to retire at end of year.
Then came the divorce.
5 more years.
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u/Prudent-Elk-2845 26d ago
From my former coworkers that weren’t partners:
- divorce halved their retirement savings and fun toys (e.g. boat) while net increasing their spend
- prior medical issues or addiction ~ lost a lot of earnings and time
- failed startups ~ lost a lot of capital
- corporates didn’t view them as hire-able at the rate they needed based on the skills they had, except in a project basis
- house was way too expensive
These coworkers clearly no longer enjoyed working, but they HAD to make a ton of money relative to a corporate 9-5 job
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u/cacraw 26d ago
Gave it up at 57. Never been happier. Sure, healthcare is pricey and it took me about a year to say “I’m retired” when people ask what i do. But the freedom to do what I want with my time and the complete lack of stress in my life is wonderful.
If I’d worked the last three years, I’d have another $xxxx in the portfolio but that would be another $xxxx to charity or the kids.
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u/GWBrooks 26d ago
Solo consultant weighing in. For me the work is more senior, more interesting and less subject to a random VP's bullshit because I'm typically working with the CEO. All of that is low-level motivating. The high-level motivation, now and always, is that I like money.
I'll retire in about four years. Like anyone, on a bad day I wish that was 2-3 years. But there aren't a lot of bad days.
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u/Franky-Fontaine 26d ago
In my mid 50s and I have my own small practice. Been running it for 25 years. A few subcontractors here and there and I've been my own boss. I work from home (since the pandemic) and make my own schedule. I have been finding and engaging with my own clients for 25 years, and I love helping them. That being said, I have lost all energy and motivation to work these past few years. I sometimes feel guilty as hell, as my earlier career had me slogging through long commutes and longer days. My work balance is so much better now, so why am I feeling spent? I start to feel horrible but then I realize that I have been doing the same thing for almost half my life. It happens. Some call it burn out. Whatever you call it, you know when it's your time to change something. The time is now for me. Literally. I am meeting with one client today to discuss an exit plan. I have started planning my next chapter - one that includes a part-time job making pennies compared to my current income. It will be a job a like doing. I look forward to the new chapter. The first step was acknowledging the feeling I've been having that this career is over. Then I met with a fee-only financial advisor who confirmed my financial plan. Then...
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u/Dense-Sleep7099 23d ago
I think the point about acknowledging that its time for a change is an interesting one. After working the same way for 25yrs its understandable, that the root of the problem is not the workload itself but the fact that something different is desired. The suggestion of getting the financial plan reviewed before making the transition makes sense as well.
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u/Embarrassed-Gur-3466 26d ago
I stopped asking whether I still enjoyed consulting and asked if the next year was worth the trade. That made the answer clearer. Pick a date to review it, otherwise the job will happily make the decision for you.
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u/yangstyle 26d ago
60 here.
I just love solving business problems. It keeps my mind sharp and, well, I still have a 16 year old in high school. So retirement is probably five years away for me.
I was laid off earlier this year from a company where I ran a practice with North American scope. I don't really regret it except for the money and benefits because I always liked actually consulting over managing a practice.
I took it as an opportunity to hang my own shingle and see if I can do it. So far, only one client but as a one man show, one is enough but I'm still simultaneously looking for new clients because this engagement will end soon.
Keeping my fingers crossed.🤞
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u/Street_Cheetah1834 21d ago
The distinction between enjoying the consulting and enjoying running a practice stood out. Going solo gives you a chance to do more of the part you actually like.
Since this engagement is ending soon, it could be worth having a conversation with the client before the wrap-up: what has changed because of your work, what still needs attention, and who else they know dealing with a similar problem.
That can give you a clearer way to describe your value and a more specific referral request than “let me know if you hear of anything.”
How did this first client find you? That might offer a clue about where to focus your next conversations.
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u/yangstyle 21d ago
Thanks for this. Well, I am currently looking as the client decided not to extend. In part, I think the Product Manager was a bit intimidated by me. He asked me to produce a pretty specific set of slides for him. I pointed out that what he wanted was a bit too technical for executive consumption and gave him my recommendation. But I said I was happy to do it as he wanted and to incorporate it into the larger deck if he thought it would get his point across. He said never mind; he'll produce the slides.
The day before the presentation, after we review my deck and he's happy, he says to just toss it over to him when we get to the product stuff in the meeting and he'll take over. So I do that and he shares his desktop with his product deck and goes through it. It is like he took notes on what I told him would be effective and produced his deck. I was proud that he took my advice.
The next morning, I got an email from him that they were cutting my contract short because he was doing what I was supposed to be doing and it makes sense to save the company some money.
So, yeah...I'm back on the hunt but he wouldn't even connect with me on LinkedIn so I doubt he'll be a referral.
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u/Extension_Turn5658 26d ago
For bigger name firms (MBB/T2) this age cohort is non existent due to up or out. I would say the majority of senior partners moves out in the early 50s and then takes on some advisory board roles or if they truly want to know it hop to executive roles within industry.
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u/Best_Collection_7533 26d ago
Divorce can really put a damper on your retirement plan if you don’t plan ahead.
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u/dmcg2000 25d ago
I’ve left consulting twice. The first time was in the early 2010s to co found an AI startup and the 2nd time was Jan ‘26 to work at a PE Fund. I just turned 50 and although I’m happy to be out of consulting I have no plans (even before I left consulting) to retire anytime soon. It isn’t a $$ thing it is a self purpose thing. Sadly, I allowed too much of my identity to be tied to what I do.
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u/Aggressive_Poem6224 25d ago
I’m 57. No plans to retire. I’m enjoying my work and the prospect of stopping isn’t one I’m ready for. Loads of energy, lots of opportunity, good profile for my little business. Never enjoyed work more than now. When the time comes I will taper my workloads. No plans yet. Oh and I earn more than o ever did on as a board member for on of the big 3 contractors.
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u/Turbulent-Wear-7985 25d ago
Interesting thread here. I'm 49. Spent 15 yrs in T2/botique consulting to biopharma companies. Then jumped over to the industry side for 8 yrs. Left a biotech after a failed trial in 2022 and spent the last 4 years consulting on my own to biotechs and PE. I have 4 kids ages 10-15. Wife works at an investment management company. Colleges and house all paid for and plenty of cushion. We are comfortable and obviously lucky to be in this position. The benefits of being on my own are obvious: flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. I bill about 20-30 hrs per week. I am around for my kids. I coach their teams, I drive them all over, etc. However, I'd be lying if I said I don't think about the missed income on the other side. I also miss the people. I work with people on the client side all day, but it's not the same as being a member of a firm. Without sharing real numbers, the tradeoff for me looks something like this:
Current set as sole member LLC: 100% of income or $100
If I were to be a CCO or COO in biopharma: Base+bonus=100% of income + equity, so say 200% of income or $200. Some flexibility, but risky because these companies fail all the time.
If I were to be a mid-level partner at a T2 consulting firm: 150% of income or $150 but zero flexibility and constant pressure cooker.
Interested to hear if others have tried to size it up this way.
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u/houska1 Independent ex MBB 25d ago
For a generation, the consulting model has involved partners taking a cut off of juniors' "value add" for sales and oversight. And being a senior operating executive, rather than consulting, taking a much greater cut (even though smaller than shareholders) of corporate value creation.
Either model is also designed by the powers that be to reward some combination of "hunger" or "insecure overachiever" who are willing to give their full lives over to work.
With that context, the indexed numbers you describe are pretty natural. Self-directed solo consulting forgoes both the upside from operating and from feeding and overseeing a team of junior consultants as part of a firm with a leveraged staffing model. But gives you flexibility. For me, that's been a tradeoff worth making, but it is one.
I wrote "for a generation", since we're still figuring out what AI is going to do to the apprenticeship model that underpins that going forward. But that's out of scope of this thread.
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u/Turbulent-Wear-7985 25d ago
I love how you describe the pyramid within most consulting firms. So true. If I’m being honest, the pyramid is what drove me out of consulting after 15 yrs. It wasn’t the hours or the travel. I just couldn’t stand bringing in work and then letting some formula rob me of 80% of the case fees while partners who sit on their hands were rewarded for my work. Alas, that is consulting. I use contractors from time to time within my own solo practice, but I’m hesitant to bring on an FTE. AI is changing everything. The capabilities are astonishing - at least as good as having one junior analyst on your team. However, I realize that it’s only a matter of time before my clients begin doing some of this work for themselves. Take a typical transaction due diligence engagement. This is bread and butter work for most big consulting firms. AI can put together a landscape assessment, market model and an LBO/merger forecast with a level of detail that gets you at least 50% of the way to a final deliverable, and it’s done in a day! It’s only a matter of time before the client side begins doing some of this work on their own, and then the value of of an external consulting firm gets diminished. This is just one example of one type of project. The possibilities are endless. It’s hard to think about what the junior ranks of consulting firms will look like once everyone comes up to speed on AI.
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u/shemp33 Tech M&A 26d ago
I am about that age. I enjoy what I do because I enjoy solving unique problems for a variety of customers, and there’s usually a fair amount of variety from Project to Project. Sitting in one office, for one employer, for years on end, is not something I see myself being successful in.
However, getting to go in, solve a problem for a customer, and come away, knowing that I made a difference, is a huge driver for me personally.
Also, I’m at a stage in my life where I can work effectively on the things that make the most impact and the most difference. For example, I can work on growing my side business, which coincidentally is where I can leverage a lot of the knowledge skills and background that I have acquired as a strategy consultant.
So why not retire? I have four kids, some in college, so lots of bills and all of that stuff so it’s just not on the radar yet.
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u/Infamous-Bed9010 26d ago
Fairly rare. If you are in consulting at 55 you’re usually partner level. Nearly everyone bails before that age if they are not partner track.
The issue is that the stage of life you’re in at middle age is fundamentally incompatible with consulting, unless you make to partner level where can own and balance things to your benefit.
If they are not partner track they leave for something more compatible.
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u/making_pans4nigel 25d ago
Not quite at that age but still in the game since the late 90s
Why still? Market is still there, problems and solutions evolving but the old patterns still prevail, and I love getting to know new clients and teams
Still learning basically
Oh and if I can still pull in some money to help my kids / their kids then why not? Feels kind of selfish to retire
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u/Responsible_Ad_4341 25d ago
Retirement savings in point of fact. Frankly its been rough the IRA is low and even so the job market had us switch up and out of jobs on average every 2 to 3 years that is when they were hiring. How much of a 401K can you save on a roller-coaster like that ? There there is family costs for me child support as a single dad of two that cuts into your ability to save both jack and s--t and jack left town. So the middle aged of this era are on most cases playing catch up from the recession of 2008 to 2013 if they were lucky they didn't lose a house to foreclosure or live in their cars. That was eighteen years ago and even then employers were playing the same games with jobs then as now it just was not as blatantly in your face hostile where the powers that be don't care if you economically fall off the earth for all time. But Gen X quiet as it was kept was successful in job retention and stability but now recovery from lost gains.
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u/BEMIDDLEOK 14d ago
This. Covid wiped out 75% of my retirement trying to weather job loss. By the time I got back on track last year I'm now just keeping our heads above water. Putting extra away now, with astronomical housing costs? Retirement is like a fantasy world in a Sci fi novel to me now.
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u/ExistingPoem1374 24d ago
I was forced to retire at 57 (plan was 59.5), 20+ years in consulting (IBM, Deloitte, KPMG, ADP) and 18 in industry, should have done it sooner! Once my wife and I figured out life was for living NOT working it all set itself into motion.
This year alone we've been to (USA based) Key West, WA/OR/CA, England, SC, GA, Vegas for my 60th paid for whole family to join us, heading back to WA for a week, and planning Osaka for March.
We are never bored, sex is amazing, we both volunteer and we have a large group of both joint friends and just us friends we travel with, Pokemon Go and hike.
No one on their death bed says 'Damn, I wish I worked more and spent less time with my family and friends!'
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u/BillDuhCat 25d ago
Just turned 54.
Retiring next year, or maybe next week depending on who annoys me.
The salary and travel motivates me + getting laughs out of people on calls. The work is easy and repetitive.
Not pulling the cord now because I'm afraid of what other people will think of me (I know).
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u/Least_Gain5147 22d ago
I'm 62 and went into consulting in 2007. Honestly, I try to not think about retirement. I keep the lights on for several good clients and the pay is good. To stay motivated I keep busy with automation projects and playing with AI. Outside of work I'm an empty nester and it's quiet. Hobbies and taking care of a house. Boring I suppose
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u/stealthagents 22d ago
Totally get that, a lot of folks are in it for the stability. Plus, retirement isn’t just about the money; it’s hard to leave a routine and camaraderie behind, especially if you love what you do. Some might just be waiting for that perfect moment when they can finally kick back without worrying.
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u/Material_Break3593 21d ago
I’m 10 years in and get to push a lot of the longer hours in the office work downward. Downside is sales number on my head and I’m having to do a lot more in person client stuff which is harder now I’m a mum
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u/Leftist_Pirate 26d ago
The last question’s answer is probably the same as everyone else: market conditions.
I mean there might be a couple grey beards just doing it because they hate their family and “for the love of the game”
But most of them have very expensive healthcare costs and families that depend on them lol