Now it's loans that begin at 40

When men reach their fortieth birthday it can be seriously bad for their financial health, claims a survey from Virgin Money. This is because men hitting the mid-life milestone can't resist blowing a large amount of money - about £2bn each year - in attempts at proving that they're not old duffers.

According to the survey, they spend an average of £3,000 on treating themselves. The traditional outlet has been anything that will make them look fast and young - such as a motorbike, extravagant holidays or an ill-judged affair.

But the survey claims that the grey foxes are now hankering after plastic surgery, gym membership, botox injections and an image make-over. Men are now claiming to feel under pressure to stay looking young, both at work and at home.

This fear of ageing is starting earlier, says the survey, with men only just reaching 40 worrying that if they start to look old, they won't be taken seriously.

Even if plastic surgery seems like an unlikely option for most, this is a classic time for buying a more youthful set of clothes - and we all probably know a divorced mid-lifer who has started dressing like the world's oldest disco dancer.

Men also want to make more time for themselves, with ambitions to travel round the world and to get off the treadmill and take a career break.

Rather more pessimistically, about a fifth of men want nothing more exciting than counselling.

But how are we funding this self-indulgent spending? The survey says that almost a third of men have blown their savings in this mid-life panic - although perhaps the biggest surprise about that is that a third of 40-year-olds have any savings.

A Virgin Money spokesman says that at a time when people should be putting money into a pension, they are burning whatever they've accumulated.

The rest of this impulse spending is going on credit cards and personal loans. And these 40-year-olds could account for a recent report from Lloyds TSB which highlighted the quirkiest reasons people give for wanting to borrow money.

These included paying for cryogenic freezing, building a robot for Robot Wars, buying a Spice Girl's dress in an auction, and buying a tiger. Although not identified, these borrowers were all clearly men suddenly terrified by the ageing face looking back in the mirror.

And if people are going to borrow money to indulge themselves, it may as well be on something exotic or romantic. No one's going to plough deep into debt to buy a lifetime's supply of sensible cardigans.

But perhaps we're looking at this financial recklessness in the wrong way. And perhaps the stereotype of the sad middle-aged man squeezing his stomach under the steering wheel of the sports car is unfair.

Because this urge to splurge on a few creature comforts, for both men and women, could be driven by a very understandable sense of financial frustration. Financial adviser, Ruth Whitehead, says that people in their forties can be deeply resentful that they still have so little disposable income - and that they're ready to blow off some steam.

At the end of every month, after they've paid off a long line of direct debits and repayments, they're angry that they've nothing left to spend on themselves.

"They've been working hard for 20 years and they've nothing to show for it except for an old car, a couple of children and a huge mortgage," she says.

"By the time they reach 40, they're pretty darned tired and disillusioned that they're still having to struggle to make a living."

These people feel as though they deserve a more affluent life - more expensive holidays, to eat at better restaurants, to wear designer clothes.

And she says that the survey's average for age-related binge-spending of £3,000 is more likely to be an under-estimate than an exaggeration. The temptation is for people to start spending money they don't have - and Ruth Whitehead says that as an adviser she comes across clients who have got deeply into debt from living a life beyond their means.

This has the ring of truth about it - and she says that the phrase that she hears from clients who have tried to explain their out-of-control spending is that when they got to 40, they looked at their lives and asked themselves: "Is this all there is?"

Sadly, the answer for most of us is "yes". And maybe mid-lifers should be arguing that this financial pressure point should be recognised as a special case which deserves assistance, like tax allowances and benefits for having children.

Rather than considering baby bonds, maybe the Chancellor should be investigating "mid-life crisis" bonds, which would give emergency support for buying loud suits, sports cars and "finding yourself" holidays.

But don't hold your breath.

Just keep holding in your stomach.