A psychologist who has spent four decades helping people navigate career and life transitions says society urgently needs a new understanding of later life, arguing that traditional ideas of retirement no longer reflect how people actually live between the ages of 60 and 80.
Dr Denise Taylor, a chartered psychologist specialising in later life and retirement, is launching her new book ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now on 2 June 2026.
Drawing on doctoral research, decades of coaching experience, and her own reflections as she approached later life herself, Denise argues that too many people enter retirement psychologically unprepared, disconnected from meaning, or caught between outdated assumptions of decline and modern pressure to remain endlessly productive.
“We’ve added twenty years to people’s lives and handed them a bus pass and a retirement party. That’s not a plan,” said Denise.
“For many people, retirement no longer fits the reality of modern ageing. We’re not simply stopping work and fading quietly into old age, but neither do most people want a later life built entirely around busyness and productivity.
“Too often, people reach this stage of life and quietly ask themselves: who am I now, what matters now, and how do I want to live these years well?”
Denise believes later life should be seen not as a winding down, but as a significant developmental phase with its own questions around meaning, wellbeing, contribution, identity, relationships and joy.
Her new concept, ThriveSpan, offers a more reflective and holistic approach to later life, integrating wellbeing, emotional health, purpose, curiosity and personal growth. Unlike many retirement books focused primarily on finances or staying busy, ThriveSpan explores the deeper emotional and psychological transition that can occur when long-held roles and structures begin to fall away.
Much of the book was developed during reflective time spent in Denise’s woodland in Gloucestershire, where she explored how later life can become more spacious, intentional and connected.
Denise completed her doctorate in her mid-60s, researching how people find meaning and purpose after full-time work. She has worked in the field of careers, retirement and life transition since her twenties and is also the author of several career development books, including Rethinking Retirement for Positive Ageing and Career Coaching for Midlife and Beyond.
As conversations around ageing, longevity and wellbeing continue to grow, Denise hopes ThriveSpan will encourage a more thoughtful and humane conversation about what it means to live well in later life.
More information about ThriveSpan can be found at denisetaylor.co.uk.
What people are saying:
“A calm, wise, and subtle reflection on finding meaning and truth in later life.”
Carl Honoré, author of Bolder
“Denise Taylor’s ThriveSpan is a thoughtful guide to the deeper possibilities of longer lives. Moving beyond longevity hype, she explores how later life can become a time of reflection, connection and fulfilment. Wise, grounded and gently provocative, this book invites readers to stop striving and start truly thriving in the years ahead.”
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, host of 4-Quarter Lives podcast and writer of Elderberries Substack
