Empower Over 50

My partner's car died on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and I was over a thousand miles away watching it on FaceTime. A passerby had a good tip: flag down a cab, because cabs often carry jump starters. She was happy to pay for the help. But the first thing the driver asked a woman stranded on her own at the side of the road was how much she was going to give him. That moment opened a bigger quest...

I usually avoid talking about AI on the channel, because a lot of people are sick of hearing about it or would rather not look. But ignoring it is like watching your house burn and hoping it stops because you won't look. AI is here to stay, and jobs are already being lost, especially for younger people. In this episode I make the case that being over 50 can be an advantage. Companies are hiri...

Three things. Not five, not four. Three things I have stopped caring about at 57, and honestly, it feels really good. First, what people think of me. Starting a YouTube channel meant putting myself out there and worrying what friends and family might say. Then you realize most people are too wrapped up in their own lives to think much about you at all, and that is a huge weight off your shoulders....

I'm 57, and there are things about your 50s that nobody warned me about. Friendships that fade without anyone ending them. Partners who can drift into strangers. The health check-ups we keep putting off. And the good news nobody mentions: research suggests life tends to get better after the midlife low. In this episode I share what I've learned, from my own life and my book Coming Home A...

You apply for a job in the morning and the rejection lands before you’ve finished your coffee. Nobody read that. Nobody could have. If you’re over 50 and sending out application after application into silence, this episode is for you. It might not be you. There’s a real chance no human being ever saw your resume. A 60 Minutes Australia report called “AI Ageism”, which aired on 11 October 2026, sta...

I was pushed out of my job at 56. Nobody warned me it was coming, and nobody told me what to do when it did. Right now there are posts going round telling people in their thirties and forties to get out of debt so they can survive being let go after fifty. Another one, from a 52-year-old engineer, says nobody will take a chance on him, and someone in the replies called older workers "entitled...

Life after 50 doesn’t always go according to plan. Fifteen months ago, I lost the job I’d had for years. Since then, I’ve been trying to work out what comes next, building Empower Over 50, starting a new business, experimenting with technology and AI, and discovering that starting again in your 50s is anything but straightforward. But something unexpected happened along the way. This channel becam...

Fewer than 1 in 1,000 LinkedIn applications leads to a hire. That is not my opinion. That comes from LinkedIn's own published data. In this episode I break down what the platform has actually become: the application math (11,000 applications per minute, 6 to 8 hires), the ghost jobs (up to 1.7 million fake listings, reported by the BBC), and the fake recruiter warning issued by five countries...

When you hit your 50s, two things happen that nobody prepares you for: you start to feel invisible, and you start to look back with regret. In this video, I break down "Ghost Mode"—that moment in the workplace or social circles where your ideas are bypassed and your messages are ignored. Statistics show that age discrimination and feeling irrelevant are the primary drivers of identity cr...

I was thinking about an old mortgage chart I was shown years ago when I bought my first apartment in England. The advisor walked me through how the early years of a mortgage are mostly interest, and only later does the balance shift toward paying down the principal. That chart came back to me recently in a way I didn't expect. Because life works the same way — and somewhere in your 50s, the g...

In the 80s, job hunting meant scanning the Sunday paper, typing up a resume, and mailing it off in a crisp envelope. Today, we upload our resumes into an invisible digital void and often hear absolutely nothing back. The reason for that silence? The Applicant Tracking System (ATS). In this episode, we break down how employers train their ATS to act as an invisible bouncer, quietly looking for &quo...

Most people believe retirement is something you choose.  You work for decades, reach your late 50s or 60s, and decide when you’re ready to step away. But for many, that isn’t how it happens. In this video, we break down the reality facing workers over 50. Backed by data from the Urban Institute, ProPublica, AARP, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the truth is uncomfortable but important. Mo...

The job market has changed, and if you're over 50, the systems screening your application can detect your age before a human ever reads your name. In this episode, Max goes deeper than yesterday's video and shares the full story: losing his job at 57, how it compares to being made redundant in 2013, and why the old playbook no longer works. He breaks down exactly how Applicant Tracking S...

If you thought that losing your job after 50 was bad enough, the potential loss of health insurance is truly terrifying. In this episode, Max Farnon shares his personal $20,000 hospital scare and lays out the shocking reality: a married couple could face up to $24,000 a year for health insurance on COBRA. He compares this financial burden to the system in the UK, where he received care with no bil...

The reality of unemployment gets worse: a recent conversation with an accountant confirms a massive tax bill is due, intensifying an already precarious financial situation. At 57, facing a difficult job market and dwindling runway, the pressure has led to "analysis paralysis" — the inability to choose the next move out of fear of making the wrong decision. In this unscripted episode, I d...

Millions of men over 50 are discovering the truth: experience no longer guarantees opportunity. The same skills that once made you valuable now make you "overqualified." In this episode, we unpack why this is happening and what it really means. If you're feeling pushed aside, you're not alone — this is the new reality of work after 50. Watch the full video on YouTube: youtube.c...

What if the skills you built in the 1990s — before Google, before smartphones, before AI — are exactly what the 2026 workplace is desperate for? In this episode, we explore why your "analog" toolkit — real conversation, deep focus, first-principles problem-solving, and the ability to read a room — isn't a relic. It's a competitive advantage. As AI takes over routine tasks, the...

Millions of experienced professionals over 50 are caught in a double squeeze: ageism in hiring is up 133% and, for the first time ever, college graduates make up 25% of all unemployed Americans — over 1.9 million people. In today's episode, we break down the numbers, the rise of AI-driven bias, and why your degree and experience are no longer the shields they once were. Discover what's r...

February is often called the quietest month, but what if it's actually the most important? In this episode, we explore why slowing down isn't laziness, how aging brings clarity, and why simplicity is a form of wealth. Discover five ways to move through the "slush season" with more peace, less pressure, and a gentler pace. If you're tired of the cult of busyness, this is yo...

Why are Gen Z and millennials suddenly obsessed with knitting, puzzles, and other "grannycore" hobbies? In this episode, we dive into the surprising data behind the analog hobby boom, why screen-free activities are now a rebellion, and how the skills you learned from your grandmother are suddenly the height of modern cool. We explore the cultural shift, the economic impact, and why older...

Behind the headlines about layoffs and age bias lies a silent crisis: identity death. For men over 50, losing a job isn’t just a financial setback—it’s an existential threat. Today’s deep dive unpacks the psychological toll of job loss, from the collapse of the “career anchor” to the rise in depression and even suicide risk. We explore new legal protections, the myth of the skills gap, and why per...

While headlines scream about layoffs and the "slow bleed" economy, something surprising is happening: hiring for workers 65+ has jumped 60% to 8% of total hires. We decode this paradox by connecting three critical sources - ABC News on corporate optimization, a game-changing New York legal memo on disparate impact protection, and shocking labor data showing the "reliability premium&...

2025 saw 1.2 million Americans laid off - a staggering 58% increase from 2024, matching pandemic-level job losses. But here's the contradiction: while companies claim they can't find talent, workers over 50 (the fastest-growing workforce segment) face invisible algorithmic barriers. We connect the dots between massive layoffs, AI hiring discrimination, and a landmark lawsuit that could c...

The 2026 job market is “stuck in place”—and for workers over 50, that frozen labor market is dangerous from both sides: getting pushed out and being blocked from getting back in. In this episode, we connect four key signals: •SHRM’s “stuck in place” labor market outlook and what it really means if you’re over 50 •Newsweek’s latest layoff list and how “strategic trimmings” quietly target experience...

The federal layoff moratorium expired January 30th. A Harvard study confirms 24% of workers over 50 who lose their jobs never work again. And corporations are using "AI washing" to target experienced workers. Today we connect the dots on what this means for anyone navigating their career after 50. Watch the full video on YouTube: youtube.com/@empowerover50 Send us Fan Mail Sign up HERE f...