You don't have to have a specific goal, although much of what you read in the aviation comics might lead you to think otherwise.
Very true! But aren't people different. I had no goal when I started to fly (f/w) other than having something to look forward to at the end of every working week. I knew nothing about aviation. I didn't know or care how long it would take me to get a PPL, and I didn't even know if I ever would....mad bear, I'm older than you, and I had the same beliefs and prejudices as many in our ageist society, back then. I certainly had no plans to ever fly helicopters.
Somehow, things changed, I changed, circumstances changed, and not all that many years later (in the greater scheme of things) I seem to have ended up as a fulltime helicopter instructor. I sometimes wonder just how it all happened.
I'm not saying I didn't help the process along, plan it, work hard, but somehow life seemed to run me rather than me it quite often.
As for the age thing, I'll fly, and instruct, as long as I can pass medicals and want to and feel safe to. When I eventually get beyond that point....well, Cranfield has rather a nice sounding M Sc course on human factors in aviation or something similar. That's always been a main interest of mine, and I'm qualified to do it. Maybe I'll go for a Ph D in that area....when I'm about 95. Why not? Age has little to do with anything really, that much I've found out.
The point I'm making, rather longwindedly, is....fly if you want to, and don't worry too much about where it all leads, and when. There is such a thing as being too organised.