SL,
I reckon a large part of the 'should I, shouldn't I?' debate ultimately boils down to working out how comfortable you are with risk and living with the thought that you may well never know whether you've made the right decision or not until you land a job.
I'm 45, and decided to embark on this road (a life's ambition) after taking redundancy from my previous employer. Passed my PPL last October, achieved first time passes in my ATPLs exams between then and last July, and am currently nearing the end of my CPL/ME training. The plan - at the moment anyway - is to complete my IR, and then do a SSTR, probably A319/320/321.
I did a fair bit of research and talked to many people before embarking on this road - and still do - and to be honest you'll hear good things one day and not-so good the next, a fair reflection perhaps of the cyclical nature of the industry. The current situation clearly remains very fluid, with some carriers expanding and others consolidating. It wasn't so long ago that all I read and heard of a 'critical shortage' of pilots, but 'a flat UK market for the next 12 months or so' seemed to be key message at the BALPA conference I attended a fortnight ago.
So only time will tell as to whether I made the right decision given my age, or whether I've been deluding myself all this time - no airline in their right mind is going to give me any clues right now. Whatever the outcome (and I'm as determined as the next man), I will have had no regrets, met some great people along the way and enjoyed some tremendous flying.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.
HW