Career change at 52?
 

I would like some input from the interesting and sometimes brutally honest dwellers.

I am not 52 but I will be by the time I finish school. I currently have a good job, my wife is a stay at home mom, the kids will be going into HS and middle school next year. I work the hours I want as long as I get my stuff done and work from home when I decide to. I have five weeks of vacation in addition to holidays and stuff.

Sounds good, right? The problem is, I have worked in this field since I was 16 and I am now in my mid forties. Although some aspects are still fun I am bored and can't see finishing my career out in this field. I have a different occupation I am interested in (Actuarial Sciences, yeah math) but it will mean going back to school and, when finished, lower income.

What say you? Is it worth it? Have you changed careers later in life? How did it go?

Well, sounds to me that your life is set up pretty darn well. So I would be slow to go messing with a working formula.

So, you're a bit bored, sometimes. I suspect you'd find that the grass only looks greener on the Actuarial Sciences side of the hill, 'cause that sounds like it would be dull as plain rice, too.

Don't buy that line about having a fulfilling and exciting career. BS. Maybe one person in fifty gets to be paid for doing what they love. The rest of us accept being paid for doing something we can put up with, and spend the money on having a life.

Job is for getting money. Money is for having a life. If your job becomes your life, you're either really lucky, or you're going to be exploited and sucked dry by a vampiric corporation.

Over the course of 40+ years, I committed career suicide about every 7 years,
and my "jobs" improved each time... so I say go for it.

I found the easiest way to change is to start by moon-lighting.
Another job closer to the new field of endeavor gets your toe in the water,
and is a great learning experience, plus getting to know people in the new field.

I set up a "sole proprietorship" as my vehicle for change.
By contracting my services as an independent contractor,
it was possible to weather the feast-or-famine cycles of a new business,
and yet gain experience and contacts with minimal investments.
It allowed me to control my time and effort, and for the most part I was able to work from home.
Lots of tax advantages too.

Zen, that seems to be a recipe for changing jobs !
(Ummm... seems as thou there once was a Dweller in Aussieland that did that)

I agree a "job" is a means to an end (e.g., $), but a "career" is bigger and more important.

Quitting a job may be scary, and even impractical at a given moment,
but an overview of where one is headed helps bolster the decision when the time is right.

Yeah, that's a big issue with changing careers, as the only income for the family I need to approach changes more carefully. And I like being able to spend so much time with my kids.


Bored probably isn't the best word. Maybe I should say dissatisfied instead, although that doesn't fit either. My wife knows how I feel and has been pushing me to go back to school for something else. I enjoy math and in looking around for something I found the aog website about a year ago. I have been reading through it and their newsletters ever since and find I enjoy it. I know the grass isn't always greener and I don't expect it to be.

Funny story, last year my MIL was taken to the hospital, the wife had to leave the country on short notice so I took the kids to work with me one day. The day after my older son comes to me and very seriously says to me "Dad, no offense, but your job is really boring". I had to laugh at that and told him it was the mental stimulation that made my job enjoyable. There just doesn't seem to be as much anymore. There are only so many times you can explain to someone that they need to install the intermediary CA's, or the ALG is not configured correctly etc. Yes, you do need to establish a secure connection to receive a SIP call.

And that is it on the head. I don't see myself doing this until I am 65. A new career into something that interests me I think would get me through the next twenty years. Maybe?

Can I justify the expense when I have two kids to put through college in a few years?

are your kids planning to go to college?

oooooops, sorry missed your post.

I would suggest that maybe you'd be better off looking for a new and exciting hobby. If you do have so much flexibility and plenty of time to do what you want, maybe you need to think of something you could do with that time, which your family would be happy to put up with.

Like the moonlighting post above. Do a bit on the sidelines in the field you're interested in. If I were in your shoes, I'd be really wary of going back into study when my teenagers are just hitting the danger zone, both emotionally and financially.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

eta: I agree with zen about the job being a way of getting money so you can have a life. Any activity where you know you have to participate regardless of whether you feel like it or not becomes a chore before too long, no matter how much you love it.

Ah, consecutive progressive achievement. Sounds like a series of jobs in the same field. If you're doing the same job, even at a series of locations, is it a career or just a job?

If you've got your shit together financially, go to school to break the boredom, and at the end, decide if you want to make the leap, or settle for more school.

If money will be a problem, then Aliantha's hobby route may be best.

Could just be that you need to spend the kids' college fund on a mistress and a convertible?

*coughmidlifecrisiscough

Have you tried sudoku? ;)

You could run for president

Given that your kids are getting older, is there no way your wife would want to work?
Sorry, but you did ask for honesty.

Get the kids through college and/or on their adult paths and then switch careers if you still want to. You only have a few years left with the kids still at home - don't miss them. If the years are tough, you'll need to not be awol at school and trying to start a new career. And, not to be intrusive (too much), but the next several years are dangerous ones for marriages. Assuming things are stable right now, it can be tough as the kids transition out of the house; then you and your wife will have to decide if you still like each other when there are no distractions left to camouflage cracks in the foundation.


:2cents:

I'm 52 and at yet another career crossroads myself. Partly because I never learned how to suck up bullshit from my boss, and partly ADD, I suppose. I'm now no longer employable (There is some question as to whether I ever was, but that's somewhat moot) and so I am making my own new career.

It sounds like you are perfectly capable of keeping a job that pays well, has benefits, and is one you could retire from. (or from which you could retire)

If you'd like to pay my fare to your place and back I'd be happy to come visit you and smack you one.

Trust me when I say it is the comfort of your life that deludes you into thinking you have the luxury to change careers. For a fun experiment try living on $400 a week for a year, then check back with us and let us know how much you want to change your job. Put all but $400 per week into an escrow account that you can't touch for a year so you won't be tempted to do frivolous things like put money in your kids college funds or pay your insurance premiums, or buy new tires for your car.

Personally, I would not fuck with a well paying job.

Sure, do what you need to do to make you feel you have done right by your kids.

But realize too, the economic world has changed, and graduation from
high school, or from college, does not mean they won't be back !
You may have a household of kids coming and going for several more years.

If you keep procrastinating until the kids are "settled", you may be so close
to retirement you would have good reason to be afraid to make significant career changes.

Who knows, maybe your wife wants to make career changes too.
If she has been a stay-at-home-Mom, she may want to pursue some of her dreams too.
Several long, private discussions with her now may find the better paths.
If you do change careers, you will need her support... and she, yours.

But staying in a job that is not satisfying is not the path to a contented
marriage or retirement, especially if the reason is "for the sake of the kids"
Fear and regret are far worse than the temporary stresses of making
the changes that are best for you and your wife.
Your kids will survive.

I told Limey the story of my parents' retirement when I went to visit.
Mum was worried they would not have anything in common when they both stopped working. This was in the days when UK pensions kicked in at 65 for men and 60 for women (Dads is 5.5 years older than Mum.)

She made a concerted effort to make sure they knew eachother again by scheduling weekend trips away together while they were still both employed.
They were mostly paid for by Clubcard vouchers (vouchers from the supermarket Dad is pretty much married to) and of course he had the car and petrol was cheaper then. They toured cathedral cities, ate out in pubs (and in one gay bar by mistake, "But ever so clean!") and stayed in the chain hotels that accepted the vouchers. Stuffed themselves on the free breakfasts, walked Roman walls, and basically spent time together.

Limes pointed out that much as I berate her, Mum is committed to making their marriage work, and she loves Dad in her own way.

And a little too late I learned that marriage needs to be worked at, and communication is the key. So as wiser heads above have suggested - talk, talk and talk again. 52 is not too old to change careers. You're a baby! But you will need support and love to do so.

Having done this involuntarily at 30 and at 50 ...

It was a lot easier at 30, and I didn't know it was the initiation of a career change at the time ... most of you know the story, I used to work with computers and play with people and now I do the opposite.

I am actually considering working towards the transition from admissions to counselling at the rehab ... I think counsellors get paid more, and that's what driving the process. I don't do well at living down by the river. Although I have a very nice tent, I have furniture and piles of books that just won't work well in that context. Even if I press my not as nice tent into use as storage.

Consider what you love and what you want to do. Is what you are currently doing something that you could do as a standalone business? I'm guessing not, since your goals involve going back to school for the new gig. Is your wife on board with your idea to the extent that she would be agreeable to working until your own income supports you?

Whatever you do, make sure that there is enjoyment in it for you. You're able to do it longer that way.

Your decision must be tempered by conditions (kids about to go to college, your financial assets) and whether your decision is based in something that actually has a purpose.

Most everyone I knew who went into Actuarial Science ended up quitting. Although it requires better education, the money is inferior. Worse, they did not control their environment due to management that had contempt for technical realities.

I know many who literally changed their careers in mid-stream. For example, one engineer became frustrated. He watched what lawyers were doing. Realized that lawyers control their destiny; have more fun. So he got a law degree. Two reasons. First it was guaranteed employment. Second, paid better. And was fun because he was now controlled events; could invent things despite reality.

Another realized this in his first year as an engineer. I did not grasp back then how correct he was. He immediately went to Harvard Business, got an MBA, and increased his income by maybe 5 times. But more important, as a salesman of nuclear power plants (yeah, maybe one sale every decade), he controlled his environment.

Another immediately quit as a mechanical engineer to double his income as a salesmen. Well, they made all kinds of promised that were never kept. But selling stuff was so much easier than designing to specs he had no say over. And he could make decisions.

In your case, an important point is, does an actuarial actually control his environment? That requirement is more important than the work - or even the income. Assuming your can take a pay cut.

and yet one more thought...
Be sure you are vested in your current retirement plan before you do much of anything else.

At 42, the reality of that could make a world of difference to your future.

Thanks for the replies everyone, as expected lots of great information.

I'll hit a few points - Who said blow the college fund on women and cars? :) That as a great one! No, not having a mid life crisis. It can more aptly be summarized by what I tell my kids when they consider their future - "I wouldn't worry about it, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up."

Hobbies thing, I have plenty of those, I volunteer with a group and do support visits for those suffering with the same medical condition I have as well as kids that have it and their parents. I run a youth group, also. Spend as much time with my kids as I can and take them out mtb'ing, paddlng, climbing, etc every weekend.

I am not worried about retirement (at this point) I have certain goals and I am on target to reach them.

The wife insists I could make more even though I tell her anything I switch to will require a decent pay cut especially at the start. She still thinks I should go back to school, probably because so many people she knows have gone back for advanced degrees. I just don't see the point in getting a degree in my field at this point. Why, to move up to management? I had been director level management in the past, same field, I hated it, I like to solve problems and all my time was taken up with management stuff. I went back to the engineer role after about three years.

As far as her going back to work, well, she has never really worked. A paying job I mean. A couple of years after she finished college but then she decided to take time off and travel the world. That was how we met. She would never be happy working for someone else so I have helped her identify a business she can start and run that she would enjoy, she is slowly bringing the business up, right now working at it about five hours a week. Next year she will be spending about ten hours a week with it. Eventually she will make enough that I can retire and spend all my time riding my bikes and climbing. ;)

Well, enough rambling, you guys (and gals) have provided plenty to think about and consider. Much appreciated.

Joined May 2006.

50 posts.


John, mate, you just need to spend more time here.

I see on Craigslist that the local deli is hiring

If nothing else, this

It's a lucky thing he rambles or we'd never hear from him at all.

Heh, I am a lurker, I admit it, I read the site often but rarely have any insight that hasn't already been covered more succinctly and efficiently, especially by the time I rewrite my response twenty times.

You take your children when you go motorboating? You pervert. :eek:

Puttering about? I thought that was somethnig only priests did?

No, no, the other mtb'ing.