Why Did We Cling Only to Employment? After Retirement, a Former Executive Starts Learning Wallpapering
In your 20s, getting a job feels like success.
A clean office, your own desk, and a paycheck that arrives every month without fail.
But something is strange.
Once people pass 50, very few are still at that same company.
Meanwhile, some people start learning a skill in their 30s and maintain the same level of income well into their 50s and 60s.
This article is not a simple comparison between a wallpaper installer and a small-company office worker.
It is about how long a salary really lasts, and why we tend to think about that choice far too late.
I will show that reality with numbers.
I. A Former Executive Who Started Wallpapering After Retirement
When he worked at a company, after-work drinks and occasional weekend hikes were almost always with colleagues.
Aside from work and family, there were very few people he met regularly.
Everything changed once he became self-employed.
There was no one to meet after work,
and weekends suddenly felt empty.
That was when he began attending the regular meetings of a marathon club he had joined years earlier.
As he showed up more often, friendships formed naturally, and people began to share their personal stories.
One story stood out.
The club president had retired as an executive
from a multinational company.
After running a related business for a while,
he shut it down and is now learning wallpaper installation.
Not running the business yet— but learning the trade from the ground up.
II. The Age When Self-Employment Becomes Inevitable
Shortly after turning 50, I began seeing more people around me change jobs or leave their companies altogether.
Some couldn’t find reemployment in their old field even after more than six months, and started looking for completely different work.
Others accepted much lower pay and reentered the workforce in similar but not identical roles.
No matter the path, once you pass 50, the same question inevitably appears.
“How long can I keep doing this work?”
And naturally, you begin thinking about something you could do on your own.
III. Then Why Did We Think Differently in Our 20s?
Why did we believe that only jobs with clean offices and assigned desks were the right path?
Why did we apply only to companies where interviews required suits and ties?
Why did immediate salary matter more than anything else?
After graduating university, completing military service, and getting a job, we are usually in our mid-to-late 20s.
No matter how hard you work, the chance of becoming an executive is only about 1–2%.
If you don’t make it, most people leave the company before turning 50.
At best, a little over 20 years of corporate life.
Then why did we place those 20 years at the very center of our lives?
Especially when, by 50, most of us end up considering self-employment anyway.
IV. Wallpaper Installer vs Small-Company Office Worker
They just weren’t visible at the time.
So let’s organize the difference between starting wallpaper installation and working at a small company.
(Charts and tables will be inserted here.)
If you start wallpapering early and reach five years of experience in your early 30s, you can earn the equivalent of a mid-level manager at a small company—starting in your early 30s.
According to statistics, the average retirement age is 49.3.
The average monthly income of retired households in their 50s is about 2.58 million KRW.
In contrast, experienced wallpaper installers often maintain around 5 million KRW per month even in their 50s.
Those who stay in the trade long term
take on jobs directly,
organize teams,
and earn additional margins from materials.
Even when joining other projects,
daily pay remains stable.
In short, wallpaper installation starts low but grows stronger over time, while office jobs feel stable early and become fragile after 50.
V. Was Thinking Too Late Just Workplace Inertia?
Yes, it is inertia.
But not personal laziness or carelessness.
It is structural inertia.
In our 20s,
the path is designed as:
university → employment → company.
Skills, trades, and hands-on work
are barely visible as options.
In our 30s, salaries arrive, responsibilities grow, and alternatives become harder to choose.
In our 40s, the question is no longer choice, but survival within the company.
As long as we remain employed, there is little reason to imagine life outside the company.
Only when options begin to disappear do we finally start asking different questions.
“Why didn’t I think about this earlier?”
The problem is not the individual, but a system that made only one path appear normal.
Thinking late isn’t personal inertia— it is the result of a structure that allowed no alternatives.
VI. A Truly Valuable Job
We say there is no hierarchy among jobs, yet I carried a quiet bias of my own: “After all that education, this kind of work?”
I began my career wearing a tie.
After leaving due to stress,
I rewrote my résumé at 49—
and received no calls.
That pressure pushed me toward self-employment.
Around the same time,
I watched my spouse return to work
before fully recovering from major surgery.
Not being able to stop that reality
felt heavier than anything else.
That was when the thought finally arrived.
“Why did I devote my life to a job that would last only 20 years?”
In a capitalist society, the value of a job is ultimately determined by how well it supports your family.
At 50, I finally understand that what matters is not the work itself, but the income that allows you to take responsibility for the people you love.
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