Job Discussion Forums

[Perilla]

40 is the new 30. Sounds trite but it's true in many ways - on average we're living 10 years longer for starters. Anyways, 40 is never too late. To the OP I'd say do what your gut instincts tell you is the right thing to do. But IMO festering in a tedious job at home is probably not the right choice, certainly not if you enjoy travel. If going abroad again doesn't work out you can always return and find another "lesser" job.

[Zero]

[MotherF]

[Glenski]

[vamanos12]

Thanks nomad soul.
It's embarrasing to think I'm having a midlife crisis, but hey...there it is.

[cheezsteakwit]

[quote"Trust that little voice in your head that says 'Wouldn't it be interesting if...' And then do it." ~ Duane Michals, photographer (1932 - )[/quote]

My thoughts exactly. I just turned 40 a few months ago & am flying out for Korea next Saturday - my first time living abroad. I'm excited. I've always wanted to do something like this.

[coledavis]

At 40 I retrained for a different career. And at almost 50, I trained for TEFL.

[sharter]

Maybe the UK's different.

Retraining at 40 costs a lot and there aren't many jobs around right now. Our national health service is getting cut to the bone. Getting old negates all the 'physical jobs'.

It's very difficult, especially if you have financial commitments like kids.

[creeper1]

Realistically it is very tough to retrain at 40.

At that age most people may be married with kids or thinking of doing that soon. So not that easy to go from earning money to living as a poor student.

Also take into account holes like the UK are squeezing their public sector budgets for decades to come. So jobs like teachers, nurses, police are going to be hard to come by.

THen there is the age descrimination. When you are up against 20 somethings for a job then you are bound to lose out.

What the positive posters are not telling you is that life is half over at 40.

YOu can't change biology.

[GladToBeFree]

.....

[coledavis]

[coledavis]

[weigookin74]

If you have large loans and no means of paying them back home, go abroad, live frugally, get them down, and then go back. Go back or stay if that's what you want. Or stay and save up for more education or training and begin the rest of your life. I think by the time, I'm totally debt free and will have some savings to start something back home, I'll be getting near 40. If you start a career track and start at the bottom for 3 or 4 years, you'll prob have to defer your loans as you don't make enough money to pay on them. You may, if lucky, get a promotion and make more money after 2 to 4 years and then start repaying. But you'll prob be struggling to get by. Maybe after 2 or 3 years, you'll get another promotion and be able to start paying better. Soon, you'll have a mortgage too and so on and so on.

If you can get out of debt quicker overseas, there's no shame in it. Hit that fast forward button. If people want to stay home and struggle for years, more power to them. Even if I went home and had to start at the bottom, my lack of debt and excellent credit rating will give me a better life quality than those making more than me and with big debts.

Granted the exchange rate is pretty crappy nowadays because of the downturn and there's a rising cost of living, along with flat wages. But, it could be worse and hopefully, there will be a recovery in the next couple of years.

[weigookin74]

[coledavis]