When people enter old age, they have already lived a long life. Some people started their life in an auspicious situation, while for others the beginning of life may have happened in less favorable circumstances. The early life situations may steer people to different educational and occupational trajectories; however, these developments are not necessarily inevitable. People make decisions and dedicate themselves to reaching their goals. The historical, social, economic, and natural context offers opportunities while also presenting barriers for realizing one’s ambitions. Factoring in individual strengths and weaknesses together with the physical and social circumstances enriches the multidimensionality of research on life course influences growing old. Sorting out the relative importance of various influences is a challenge. Life course approach is useful for understanding the wide variation in aging patterns between individuals. This chapter will discuss different approaches to the life course studies on growing old.