Warren Buffett proves outdated is outdated, says RUTH SUNDERLAND

Entering another New Year inevitably prompts reflection on the passage of time. Yet some people seem to move through the decades largely untouched, their abilities undimmed by the fugitive years.

Warren Buffett, the world’s most famous investor, who just stepped down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway a few days ago aged 95, is a case in point – though even now he is staying on as chairman.

In his own eyes, it may actually qualify as early retirement. Buffett has made his move almost a decade younger than one of the entrepreneurs he most admired: Rose Blumkin, the late founder of Nebraska Furniture Mart. 

Mrs B, as he called her, started a new business at 95 and did not retire until she was 104.

Working past 100 is one way of dealing with the economic challenges of an ageing population. 

The Chinese approach – Beijing has just introduced 13 per cent VAT on condoms as part of a package to encourage people to have more babies – is another. Neither strike me as likely to work.

New era: Warren Buffett has just stepped down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway aged 95

The ageing population is not a theoretical problem; it is happening. One in five in the UK is over 65, and the over-85s are the fastest-growing age group.

If we carry on as we are, demographic trends put the public finances on an unsustainable path. 

Debt, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, could rise to more than 300 per cent of national income by 2070, driven by rising pension costs, demand for health and social care, and a shrinking working-age population.

An ageing workforce may already be a brake on growth in key sectors of the economy. 

The Government has designated eight sectors, including defence, creative industries, life sciences and tech – as drivers of growth. 

They employ 11million people, of whom 3.4million are over 50, and 450,000 are over 65, according to the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement.

Almost four out of ten workers in the defence sector are over 50, an awkward reality at a time when the UK, faced with Kremlin aggression, needs to invest heavily.

Even in digital and tech, often assumed to be a young person’s game, 30 per cent are over 50.

This has policy implications. Retaining older workers and helping them keep their skills current is as important as helping nearly 1million NEETs – youngsters not in education, employment or training – into work.

Men are over-represented in all these sectors. The double standard – where men are seen as gaining authority with age while women are perceived to lose relevance far earlier – deserves challenge.

Many older people would happily stay in work for longer if flexibility and fairness were the norm. That would strengthen their personal finances and ease pressure on the state.

The so-called ‘silver economy’ could become a powerful engine of growth, from healthcare to travel and housing. 

Artificial intelligence could help, reducing cognitive load by taking on time-consuming basic tasks and enabling people to concentrate on areas where they add more value.

And as AI spreads, mature judgement should become more, not less, of an asset.

Too often, ageing is presented as a social and economic burden to be managed. 

A better question is how can we be ‘more Blumkin’, living fully and productively for as long as possible.

My holiday reading included Selina Hastings’s biography of the novelist Sybille Bedford, who was still writing — and falling in love — in her eighties. I suspect Warren Buffett would approve.