BigNick
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
This is in "Life after FIRE", but it's really "Life change before FIRE".
About a year ago, in what I assume to have been a hideous clerical error, my MegaOrg moved me from "IT operations" to "HR development". I've been interested in (or rather, "curious about") coaching and training for some time, so this wasn't as bad as it sounded to some of my colleagues.
In my new job, I find myself without a theoretical basis, which is something I'm not very comfortable with. So I'm thinking of taking a year off (we have a sabbatical programme) and doing a one-year taught "professional conversion" master's in a specific field of psychology, starting in September 2011, 30 years after I finished my bachelor's degree.
I've identified the course and the college; I can even get a room on campus (age 50!). DW is OK with it - she can come over (we live in France, the college is in London) every few weekends. It will break me out of a number of work and home ruts, and let me see a little more of my mother, who is one of those people who's best in very small doses.
I've only mentioned the idea so far to one colleague, who is also reasonably money-savvy. He wondered if it was worth the cost; not the tuition and board, but the loss of earnings (which, even when some of our benefits are transferred to DW who works at the same place, will be in excess of 100K). My reply is that since I plan to retire before I have to anyway, all I'm doing is having one of my early retirement years now, and in a way which might help me better enjoy the rest of my working time, and/or open up avenues for ESR jobs. (Give or take a small loss from compunding, I'm assuming that going for ER at 55 after a year out, or at 54 without a year out, is more or less the same thing.)
Has anyone else done anything like this? What should I look out for?
About a year ago, in what I assume to have been a hideous clerical error, my MegaOrg moved me from "IT operations" to "HR development". I've been interested in (or rather, "curious about") coaching and training for some time, so this wasn't as bad as it sounded to some of my colleagues.
In my new job, I find myself without a theoretical basis, which is something I'm not very comfortable with. So I'm thinking of taking a year off (we have a sabbatical programme) and doing a one-year taught "professional conversion" master's in a specific field of psychology, starting in September 2011, 30 years after I finished my bachelor's degree.
I've identified the course and the college; I can even get a room on campus (age 50!). DW is OK with it - she can come over (we live in France, the college is in London) every few weekends. It will break me out of a number of work and home ruts, and let me see a little more of my mother, who is one of those people who's best in very small doses.
I've only mentioned the idea so far to one colleague, who is also reasonably money-savvy. He wondered if it was worth the cost; not the tuition and board, but the loss of earnings (which, even when some of our benefits are transferred to DW who works at the same place, will be in excess of 100K). My reply is that since I plan to retire before I have to anyway, all I'm doing is having one of my early retirement years now, and in a way which might help me better enjoy the rest of my working time, and/or open up avenues for ESR jobs. (Give or take a small loss from compunding, I'm assuming that going for ER at 55 after a year out, or at 54 without a year out, is more or less the same thing.)
Has anyone else done anything like this? What should I look out for?