It may depend on how much money you're willing to waste. I picked up a close-out FSA CF compact and an ISIS BB for about $200 with the intention of having a little experiment.

I'm 51, relatively strong recreational rider, hate climbing but can get up most hills. No knee problems, but like you, I'm not 20 and indestructible. I wanted to build a climbing specific bike without a triple. Note, this bike is not my sole ride.

What I've found - had many problems with gearing and matching it up to my style (small ring spinner, not a masher.) Had to fix a problem with the 2nd and 3rd cogs rubbing on the inner side of the large chainring due to the geometry of the frame (required a 2mm spacer on driveside BB.) Also didn't like the 50T combinations as I was riding in the biggest three cogs - close to constant cross-chaining. Went to a 48T.

So now I have a 48/34 up front and a 12-29 in the back (also had to modify a Campy 13x29 to put a 12 on to regain the 13 when riding in the 34)

I ride almost all the time in the 48 - most of the 34T combos are too easy for anything but climbing. The upper end of the 48 combos put a lot of bend on the chain, so the FD adjustments need to be precise. More precise than a regular FD set up.

If this was my only bike, I'd take the compact off. While I can probably get used to the differences it requires in my riding style (more shifting, oddball combos) it would not be worth the work.

My sole piece of advice - spend some time looking closely at the gear combos you ride now and compare the ratios to where they would fall with a compact set-up. It may be that you end up on the outer edges of everything like I did and thus need to make some compromises.