Adam,
You are spot on. This question exists for the sole reason of tripping up prospective employees and it is your job not to let that happen.

Employer: Well Adam, where do you see yourself in five years?

You: I see myself with an organization where I am viewed as a vital member of the team, consistently challenging myself to find new ways to add value, while also helping others around me to achieve their goals. Mr./Ms. Employer, can you tell me, once I have shown that I am a valuable member of the team at (insert name of their company here), where do you see me in five years?

Having this information provides you better understanding of a particular company's path of advancement and enables you to better relate future responses to their long-term corporate vision.

You are completely correct - my life now is far better than I would have predicted 5 years ago.

I think canned interview questions deserve canned responses. That's what's worked for me. My favorite answer to that interview question would be, "Working here, of course."

The answer I have always thought, but never said, is "Hopefully not still in this interview."

Out loud, I usually say something like the first part of the statement that the first commenter describes. I'm going to keep the second part in mind for whenever I have another interview--I think that's an excellent way of turning it around.

The last 3 times I was asked that, I simply replied "Hopefully, 5 years older", then dead silence.

2 people responded uncomfortably, while the 3rd smiled and said "right answer".

It's been a long time since I interviewed (19 years) so I don't have any recent experience. But I always wondered why interviewers ask these kinds of open-ended questions and expect tnem to be particularly revealing.

How do you know the person is telling the truth? Perhaps this person is just really good at lying. Perhaps it would be better to only interview people who are referred to you by others you know, so that you have a better idea of their work habits. Perhaps the number of jobs they post on their resume in the past 5 years would be more revealing.

In other words, there are better ways to determine if the person in front of you is likely to stay at the sompany. The only point in asking this question is to see how well they can 'spin'.

I'd say wait and wait a bit more before answering it. I was asked that question in an interview and while I was forming my answer one of the panel answered it for me-He said "Who knows the answer to that one if she's like me she'd probably like to be sitting on a balcony in Tuscany drinking a fine glass of red' Everyone laughed at that and the panel then had a neat dicussion about travel. The point was we all realised it's a nothing kind of question. The interview then turned to questions about what I had done in the presvious five years. So @Scott I agree that's probably a better assessment.

Great point about not wanting to know what you'll be doing in five years. I think it's important to be able to plan for long-term goals, but you also don't want to miss out on amazing opportunities.

Of course to us Gen Yers, 5 years is a lot longer time than for older generations (comparatively speaking). 5 years ago we were in high school or college which is a huge life change. The gap from age 30 to 35 likely won't be so big.

The best response to your question?

"Celebrating the fifth year anniversary of you asking me that question." - Mitch Hedberg