Meaningful work is important for life satisfaction. However, more research is needed on 1) how the meaning of work, that is, its primary purpose in one’s life, 2) vocational meanings, the multiple aspects that individuals consider to be important in varying degrees and expect work to enable, and 3) vocational fulfillments, the realization of these important, work related expectations in one’s current job, are experienced at different stages of adulthood. Additionally better understanding is required of how these three phenomena are associated with life satisfaction. First, using longitudinal data collected from the same individuals representing their Finnish age cohort (n = 310), we examined their primary meaning of work (necessity, occupation/profession, career, or vocation) at ages 36, 42, 50, and 61. Second, based on a population-based cross-sectional data representative of Finnish working adults (n = 2,354), we investigated different vocational meanings and their fulfillments (basic needs, career success, self-enhancement/competence, independence, self-realization, team-enhancement/communality, transcendence/doing good). Using covariance analyses and partial correlations, we inspected how primary meaning of work as well as vocational meanings and fulfillments were associated with life satisfaction. In the longitudinal data, we found that the primary meaning of work remained relatively stable throughout adulthood (56–66%) and that for most participants (52–61%) this meaning was occupation/profession. However, the primary meaning of work was not associated with the level of life satisfaction. In the cross-sectional data, we found that younger adults perceived both career success and self-realization as more essential vocational meanings than older adults did. Furthermore, among adults of all ages, vocational fulfillments were more strongly associated with higher life satisfaction than corresponding vocational meanings. Overall, the results provide diverse insights into how experiences related to meaningful work are associated with life satisfaction among Finns at different life stages.