Career change after 50?

[Anonymous]

I'm 50 years old, my youngest child starts college next year. and I have enough money saved that in addition to paying the kids' college costs I could afford to stop working for a few years, go back to school, and subsequently have relatively low paid jobs for a while. I very am tempted to completely change careers: I am just tired of what I do, though I earn a very comfortable living, it's a "high prestige" job, I am successful and well known in it, blah blah blah.

I am toying with various "crazy" ideas: becoming a nurse; getting an MBA and starting my own consulting practice; going to do an MFA in creative writing and trying my hand at writing fiction....

I know that sounds a little schizophrenic, but these very disparate things are all things I have thought seriously about at different stages of my life.

Part of me thinks: don't be stupid, you'd have to start all over again, you won't like being at the bottom of the totem pole and being in school with classmates who seem like kids, people will think you're completely nuts, you "could" afford it but it will require a much-reduced standard of living, reduced retirement savings, less money as a cushion later, less money to help kids if they need it -- so stick with what you have, enjoy the fruits of an adulthood of hard work, and maybe do a little volunteer work on the side - become a volunteer EMT, do some consulting on the side, do some writing on the side, but don't go "throwing away" 25 years of a career.

But another part of me thinks: I'm healthy, I'm fit, I don't smoke or drink, and I probably have another 25-30 years or more of good health ahead of me. When you think about it that's about the same time as I have spent building my current career. 25-30 years is plenty of time to build a successful career from scratch, and it's a very long time to stick with something that by now bores me. We only get one life; if I think one of these other pathways is the pathway I "should" have taken the first time around, why spend the next phase of what could be a long life thinking about what could have been?

Anyone on this board been through a major career shift after 50? Happy with it? Regretful? I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and experiences.

[Anonymous]

Go for it, but I wouldn’t pick nursing, there is a lot of heavy lifting in nursing. Protect your back.

[Anonymous]

You don't have to stop working to go back to school. There's little risk and if you don't like it, just quit school.

If you have enough saved up, work a couple more years and retire early. Then you can do what you want for any salary.

[Anonymous]

Write that book

[Anonymous]

What’s your career now? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you like it? How badly do you want to switch? Are you, generally, a risk taker or fairly risk adverse? I’d talk to a counselor or career coach before quitting your job.

Getting a job at 53 after getting an MBA may be difficult.

[Anonymous]

I left a profitable field in my forties because I wanted to be my own boss and do what I had dreamed of doing since I was a little kid.

Well I don’t know if you have ever heard the expression that it’s the American dream to own your own business. Most small business owners I know will tell you it’s a nightmare. I know very few firm principals that are not completely stressed out.

I do had plenty of capital - then the recession hit. Truly think through what is risk and what is risk mitigation ?

What I didn’t count on was that when things got slow folks that had been in my new business since they were young hadn’t grown up with their colleagues and associates and they stuck together to make it through.

I wish I was successful and it always feels like it’s one or two jobs away but frankly it’s a disaster.

Think long and hard. There’s nothing romantic about small business.

[Anonymous]

That should say had grown up big hadn’t

[Anonymous]

Try again - it should say had grown up not hadn’t

[Anonymous]

Too risky. Stick with what you have. Save, save, save and retire early and volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Schizophrenia is a mental illness.

There is no such thing as sounding a little 'schizophrenic'. That is a pretty disrespectful thing to say.

[Anonymous]

If you have enough money you can do whatever you want. Would a 55 year old recent college graduate make it in your current field? That is how you will be perceived in any endeavor you try unless you have been working in it as a hobby for decades. I’m not trying to talk you out of anything but you should only change your lifestyle if you are ready for the many possibilities. You aren’t really changing careers tbh. You may be changing your life though, and that can be enough.

[Anonymous]

If you can swing it, I think I'd put the dream off for another 5 years, and take an early retirement from your current career. Start up the new "career" for spending cash in your retirement. There's way less pressure that way then depleting and needing to rebuild retirement savings.

I know several people who have started whole new things after an early retirement. One bought a small farm (had always been a city dweller previously) and is raising goats. One got an instructor's certification for a longtime hobby - not something that earns a lot of money, but brings in a little cash while she gets to enjoy the hobby at no cost to herself. One opened a small store. One went to work at Starbucks because her biggest financial concern was health insurance and she likes spending the day chatting with random strangers.

None of these endeavors are making enough money to really be considered a new career. But they bring in enough cash flow that, with paid-off houses, the people are able to cover health insurance and most daily expenses, and are not drawing from their retirement savings yet.

[Anonymous]

Became a CPA at 49, completed a MS in data analytics at 59. It has worked out for me OP, but that is because these fields are in demand. It's one thing to do it this way, another to open a used bookstore or become a yoga instructor.

Can you consult with your current expertise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s your career now? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you like it? How badly do you want to switch? Are you, generally, a risk taker or fairly risk adverse? I’d talk to a counselor or career coach before quitting your job.

Getting a job at 53 after getting an MBA may be difficult.

It would probably be an EMBA, which is $120K ish. Risk mitigation would be a school at least as good as Virginia Darden. OP, Stanford runs a program for highly successful people who are looking for a second career, usually non-profit. You might want to look it up if only for ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schizophrenia is a mental illness.

There is no such thing as sounding a little 'schizophrenic'. That is a pretty disrespectful thing to say.

For God's sake. It's a figure of speech.