Views and beliefs about age are important determinants of how people think about working life and retirement. Despite evidence that rejects the deficiency hypothesis of ageing, which states that capacities decline with age, stereotypes about the performance of ageing workers have been an important barrier to sustainable labour market participation in later life. Given the massive implications of population ageing, early exit strategies are, however, no longer a viable alternative and ageing workers’ lifelong learning has become a leading paradigm. It is important to recognise that policies, both at national and at enterprise levels may create favourable conditions to prolong working life, but that ultimately, the decision to remain active at advanced age is an individual one. In this contribution, the question of what determines individual conceptions of age is investigated. Based on the 2006 European Social Survey, the contribution presents detailed empirical analyses of how individual beliefs, experiences, own participation in training participation and health status impact on the views on the question at what age old age is reached. By increasing understanding on views and beliefs about ageing, the paper sheds light on why some active ageing measures may not be effective and provides insights on innovative features for future active ageing policies.