Graduated at 48 and I am mentally sharper and more focussed than I ever was as a 20 something.
Age is absolutely meaningless.
Attitude is everything.

One way to cope with trying to ignore what others are doing in comparison is to remember that a career is a marathon and not a sprint. The person who has blown away everyone at the age of 25 with a ton of papers, awards, prizes and applause still has to sustain a 40+ year career, still has to figure out the meaning of their own life, still has to negotiate their midlife crises (more than one), still has to go through decisions about life partners, marriage, children, buying a house, pensions, friendships, loneliness, illness, death and a vast host of other things.
In essence we are all the same and no amount of career success will change the fact that when we are dead, within a few years we will be forgotten along with all our opinions and achievements. Even our own great grandchildren probably wont know we existed.
We are riding around on a tiny rock (Earth) which is spinning around a vast ocean of empty space. Nothing matters really so dont sweat the small stuff.

None of that was meant to sound depressing at all. It is quite a liberating thought when you consider it.

This sort of thing seems to happen all the time.
It is one of the reasons why I resist talking to anyone about ongoing work or potential future work in any sort of forum until I have either published it or at least am almost ready to submit.
People just cannot be trusted in such a competitive arena as academia.

OK to me candidate sounds a bit passive in that sense.
Student sounds more pro active.

Time for bed I think lol.

Given that the PhD is not really like being a student at all, there isn't a good term.
I used PhD Student but it didnt feel like a good description.
Using PhD Fellow is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone doing that around me would have had the piss taken out of them mercilessly until they stopped it. PhD candidate doesnt make sense at all to me. Candidate for what?

I understand what you are saying but creditors can chase you for years for debt. It's all very well saying you have no assets now but unless you always plan to rent or own nothing you can expect sleepless nights unless you get closure,

Personally I am from neither camp that you describe in your second sentence.
If I owe money I make sure I pay it on a point of principle, not just to get a creditor off my back.
Having said that, negotiating with the creditor can usually result in an agreed reduced debt (takes me back a couple of decades to when I met my wife and had to help her get out of debt).
Getting closure on stuff like this is very important for most people.
I can't imagine just walking away and hoping everything will be OK. I would be sick with worry.

Yeah, I must admit I can't see how it can hinder you. Experience is experience.
Is there a particular reason you think it might be a hindrance?
Has someone in a position of authority or knowledge told you it might be or is this a gut feeling you have?
What is driving your concern?

Do not simply ignore this. Just because you don't work there doesn't mean you can't get yourself in a world of trouble.

A studentship is not a contract of service so normal rules about being paid to work may not apply.

You need to do this by the "book" and the book in this case is your contract. That will tell you what you do and do not have to do. Once you have done that, as advised by bewildered and TQ, your student union might be able to help.