Better quickly obsoletes your job before your job obsoletes you!

The other day, I had a good discussion with my friend.  He made a very good point indeed that I would like to share with the rest of you, that is:

    "Better quickly obsoletes your job before your job obsoletes you!"

He was lamenting that while Singaporeans can now live longer and older, our job actually "obsolete" us sooner and earlier!  What he meant by "our job obsolete us" is that we are more likely to get retrenched at an earlier age, and then subsequently unable to find a job that pays as much and is able to make use of our knowledge and expertise. 
On the other hand, he said you would be pretty safe if you can "obsolete your job" by about 45 years old, which he means to say that you no longer need the income from your job to live and support your family. 

He cited an example of a friend working in the hard-disk drive industry, and after getting retrenched at the age of about 45 years old, has not been able to get a full-time job that pays as much and able to make full use of his prior knowledge and expertise.  He sent out several hundreds of resumes until he gave up because either he was judged as "over-qualified" or "too old" for the job or his experience is not relevant to the job, or the pay is so poor given the nature of the job that he give it a pass as it can't even cover his family living expenses (and taking up those job will jeopardize chance of him landing a good job in future).  What did he end up as?  Taxi driver!  But the story does not end there - He was complaining that the taxi driver is being exploited and squeezed by the taxi operators with ever increasing high taxi rental charges while their taxi fare charges have been fixed!  

According to my friend, many people in the middle-income families with no "connections" are finding themselves out of jobs at about 45 years old or thereafter, and having to resort to very large cut in pay when they take up another jobs. 
However, those with "connections" are having a good time, with some apparently not doing much (if any) and getting paid several hundred thousands to millions of dollars a year! 

So, his conclusion and advise to all of you out there is that "Better quickly obsoletes your job before your job obsoletes you!".
If you can't, then make sure you have the right "connection" so that people will give you jobs to pat your back!  However, sad to say, having the right connection may have more to do with your family background / circle of friends and contacts and luck then the person's ability! 

So, how can you "quickly obsoletes your job before your job obsoletes you"?