[Closed] A Gap year in your fifties

just starting mine Jase. i will keep you posted. ;o)

Absolutely do it. I've taken time out throughout my life, 20s 30s, 40s, will certainly do in my 50s, as part of drifting into retirement. No regrets at all (even though my pension pot seems pretty humble when reading the retirement thread)

My dad did it too, in later life. Once us kids were grown up and out he cycled round the world, went to Everest, Antarctica, drove to Cape Town. Usually did a year long trip then a few years back to work, then repeat. He died not long after traditional retirement age so pretty sure he didn't regret it.

I did it inb my 30s. nearer 2 years.

It cost me a lot because it meant when I returned I had to start all over again.( House sold, pension withdrawn)

Be aware of its impact on your retirement. It probably meant I am 5 years later retiring with 2/3 the pension

At 50 I would be looking to retire ASAP rather than take a year out then return to work. Apart from anything else returning to work will be difficult

just starting mine Jase. i will keep you posted. ;o)

Brilliant T,

hat have you got planned?

If you have a source of income, then go for it. My wife and I are considering this as well; rent our home for a year or so (London, so enough from the rental alone to sustain us pretty much anywhere really), just travel around as the mood takes us. The only really issue is with a minimum rental agreement; if we get homesick after 3 months, but the agreement is for 6/12, and the tenants don't want to move out, we're a bit stuffed. Happened to friends who went to India for 'a year', and where back inside 3 months. 3 months living in a mouldy old caravan on someone's drive. If you don't have a source of income sufficient to meet at least half your travelling expenses, then either you need quite a bit in savings, or risk serious problems if anything goes wrong. Sudden repatriation can cost a fortune.

I’d love to, I took a year in my early 20s and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. My wife never got the chance due to some personal tragedies.

I guess the only barrier is the cost, when I was 21 it’s was “easy” I saved £3k up, got a working visa of Australia and washed cars, worked in shops etc, whether that’s a proper ‘gap year’ is probably open for debate, I spent as many days working as I did not for that year, but there’s a wonderful sense of freedom you get from living day to day. I stayed in dorms in hostels and out of a bag.

I couldn’t do that now, I need a lot more money, a door that we can lock to sleep behind etc, but if you can afford it, I wouldn’t think twice, it’s important to think of the future, but also to understand that it doesn’t last forever and we only get so much time to experience life.

Our plans involve a couple of months touring Europe by car rather than a year off, but I’m determined it just doesn’t become one of those “one day” things.

I had an enforced gap year when I got made redundant at 50. Luckily had a decent payout plus redundancy insurance (yay for PPI!) so lived it up for a year. Went to Canada, rode a lot... couldn't properly relax cos the ppi meant I had to keep looking for a job (or I would've lost £1000 a month). Worse thing was getting back into working again (£20Kpa pay cut, oh yes), if you have an employer that will support your gap year, that's gotta be better, obviously. As is doing it by choice, I guess!

I don't think I'd ever go back if I took a Gap year (50 here)....

Plus I'd just worry about getting a job when I came back, as it's supposed to be much harder to find work in your 50s.

if you have an employer that will support your gap year, that’s gotta be better,

I vageuly recall Cambridge Uni give you a Sabbatical term for every 6 terms worked.

it’s supposed to be much harder to find work in your 50s.

Understatement if ever I saw one! (Plus, Covid - will it be a thing of the past?)

I had an enforced gap year when I got made redundant at 50. Luckily had a decent payout plus redundancy insurance (yay for PPI!) so lived it up for a year. Went to Canada, rode a lot… couldn’t properly relax cos the ppi meant I had to keep looking for a job (or I would’ve lost £1000 a month). Worse thing was getting back into working again (£20Kpa pay cut, oh yes), if you have an employer that will support your gap year, that’s gotta be better, obviously. As is doing it by choice, I guess!

Did you feel your life had been enhanced by your travels, though? Was your year off beneficial to your well-being? Were there benefits overall, offset against the downsides?

I took a year out in my 20's,ended up on a Kibbutz.
In my 30's I did 4 months around SE Asia
At 55 I took a 13 week sabaticle took the Summer off & just chilled,ended up at the Classic TT for a week.
I'm 60 this year & I'm going on a permanent gap year!
I never regretted doing any of those 'Gaps',I only wish I had the funds to do more of them.
At your age do you think you could face going back to work after having walked away from the workplace for a year?
When I took the 13 weeks off in 2017 it confirmed to me that I would not miss work when I retire & it was difficult going back but I knew I would be retiring this year,do you think you could face going back to work if it meant you would have to knuckle down to the job for another decade?

My last "gap year" was my mid forties. Quit my job and went climbing and biking through Nepal, SE Asia, NZ and South America for a year. Came home got another job and zero regrets. Didn't find it a big drag going back to work. Due for another one soon.

A bit like Ton I am finishing work (not entirely through choice) and have the options of not working (but living a pretty basic life)*, rejoining the senior management rat race in another role, or doing something different. Not sure what way I will go yet, but expect that there will certainly be some time off.

* this would be easier except for still supporting three kids through university and one 13 year old at home.

Did you feel your life had been enhanced by your travels, though? Was your year off beneficial to your well-being?

Hard to say really. I'd not long taken out a new mortgage, based on what I was earning pre-redundancy, having split from the wife, so had to find a job... ah, maybe I would've done it different in hindsight... 2 weeks in Canada with my son and a few weeks working on a farm, they are the good memories.

If you can and want to do it, but just to pick you up on something

We never went to uni and did all that stuff and both worked since we were 18.

I went to uni and the majority of the people I know who went to uni (early 2000s) never went on a gap year and worked in the summer holidays. I do however know several people who didn't go to uni and did a gap year because they had more money and an established job / career so its more a choice than a gone to uni haven't gone to uni thing.

I am gearing up for this next year also - was hoping for redundancy this year but it isn't going to happen, so am thinking or saving like mad this year to fund 6 months off next year (whether that's unpaid time off or leaving my current job I'm not sure yet). Then hoping to take early retirement in late 50's and top it up with a part time job doing low stress stuff.

I am 95% sure it would be the right thing for me in the short - medium term, not sure about long term with pensions etc but I'm coming round to accepting that risk.

I'd say go for it (but with eyes open!)

I went to uni and the majority of the people I know who went to uni (early 2000s) never went on a gap year and worked in the summer holidays

Yep worked all through 6th form (evenings and weekends), worked every holiday at Uni (pot scrubbing as a kitchen porter). Only 'gap' I had was the summer after graduating (June ish) till starting a job in September. Since then longest gap I've had was a few weeks unemployed at the start of 2020 after my employer folded.

Not a whole year but I worked for a MTB tour company in Whistler in 2010 I was 54 😎

Did my gap years in Havana after my mid life crisis. Never financially or emotionally recovered.

I took a gap year when I was 52, handed in my notice after 9 months and retired on my 53 birthday, it was a real wake up call for me that there is far more to life than work. But I’d been a bit of a workaholic throughout my career and definitely didn’t have a good work life balance

A few years ago i had 22 weeks off after breaking my leg, i was up on crutches after about 8 weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed being off work.
Being able to get up when i felt like it, ride my bike when i felt like it, was absolutely fabulous.
So I’d say, if you can afford it, do it.
I wouldn’t do it if it was going to effectively put my retirement back even one year though.

Ask if your employer will give you a sabbatical so you have something to fall back on. A colleague did it when he turned 50 but hadn't thought to ask about a sabbatical, just handed his notice in, then when his travelling plans went tits up after 4 months he had to start job hunting from scratch.

I wouldn’t do it if it was going to effectively put my retirement back even one year though.

I'm the opposite - lets say you're 50 and likely to retire at mid-60s. Better to have a year off now whilst fit and healthy than that extra year off in 15 years time when your health is almost certainly going to be worse (even if not worse enough to make doing a gap year difficult..). I'm (loosely) aiming to retire as soon as the youngest hits 18 (I'll be 56) but happy with the idea tha I might end up back at work at some point after that if finances/boredom makes it so

I got made redundant when I was about 30. Took the next 5 years off skiing and surfing. Spent 4 months in Austria as a barman ski instructor then 2 months at home n South Africa surfing then 4 months in NZ skiing, working, back to SA for a few months till the season started in Austria again. Rinse and repeat.

Best time of my life but it has sort of set me back career wise. Would I change it . No, can't buy those experiences.

Not sure I would do it now in my 50's and also Brexit has scewed up being able to work the way we did in Europe

Brexit has scewed up being able to work the way we did in Europe

That's actually a good point depending on your plans.

I spent 6 months travelling around the world when I was in my early 30s. Fabulous experience, and I'd be up for doing it again after the kids have left home. We met plenty of older people on our travels who seemed to be having a good time.

Money is the obvious barrier but if you can afford it I say go for it. No-one, in their dotage, ever looked back at their life and wished they'd spent more time working.

Same as others. Went to Uni but worked from 16 (40 yrs and counting) with the longest break being my 3 week honeymoon. Worked in shops at weekend and waiting on in hotels and functions and as a laborer in the longer holidays (which I quite enjoyed) then got a job as soon as I left Uni in 91. Worked since.

I took a 7 month sabbatical to celebrate my 40th birthday. Mrs OD packed her job in to come along. Spent the time living in a motorhome and surfing west coast of Europe. It was awesome - the ability to have the time to do whatever you want or just do nothing without worrying about wasting precious holiday time.

... but be warned it completely reset my expectations about work and life - and I've been progressively extricating myself from the world or work of the last 14 years. I lasted 5 more years at my main employer before took a voluntary redundancy and have been working fixed term contracts (about 6 out of 9 years) since.