To ask if anyone has retrained at 40 and got a new carrea

[brexitstolemyfuture]

It seems so hard to do when you need to support yourself, have high outgoings and aren't a young 20something that will take horrible working conditions and long hours unpaid.

Career!

I retrained at 40, went to uni and gained Bsc (Hons) psychology. After being unemployed for 13 months, I have recently started working for the NHS as bank support. I need clinical experience, I will then apply for an apprenticeship to become clinical practitioner.
It's never too late, I have 2 children & husband self employed, money has definitely been short. I have no regrets. Good luck

I'm 37 and my main job is working as an OT assistant. I'm also a trained nurse but gave up doing this full time at the age of 32 to take the lower paid, lower skilled job I'm in atm. When kids are older I'd like to get back into nursing properly in a specialist role (hopefully nutritional support) so while DCs are young and i have to keep this job as it suits for childcare etc, im currently doing a degree through the OU and then hopefully afterwards an MSc relevant to what I want to do in the future.

I couldn't go back to studying full time with a mortgage to pay and two young kids so this is a VERY long term plan to change career direction!

I changed career at 32, but I was single and childless then. It was a pay cut and the other people at my "level" were all quite a bit younger. I wouldn't mind retraining now but they thing I'd like to do is again a pay cut (at least as a starting salary) though has the potential for higher salary than I'm on now. Now I have a mortgage, child and DP, we have agreed I won't do it unless I get made redundant, with a decent enough redundancy package to pay for the retraining costs.

I haven't but think about it all the time. I just don't know what I'd do.

I'm a family solicitor but really bored of it

I'm 42 and about to apply for teacher training after almost 20 years of working in media. I also have two young children.

It's something I've been thinking about doing for years but the timing/circumstances were always wrong. Now I'm ready and really excited. With the retirement age now at 67/68 for many, it makes sense to have different careers for different stages of your life.

My brother retrained as an osteopath in his early 40s - worked alongside studying as well as having a baby and buying a house. The final year, he had to give up work as it was too much.

I hardly saw anything of him through this time as weekends were taken up with studying or clinic practice.

It can be done!

My Mum's neighbour retired at 60, trained as an acupuncture therapist - ended up running her own practice and training other therapists for almost 30 years.

I change careers several time and for the past 7 years I've been working in IT technical sales, even changing directions there. At 45, I'm still constantly learning and knowledge-wise I am even further now than one year ago.
I am originally a linguist and have never dreamt about going into IT or taking on a technical career.
While it's not always easy, I find that it keeps me alert and flexible. Some of my friends who have studied what they are doing now complain about being stuck in the rut. I can't really say I am as I am constantly learning. It is possible and it will keep you busy and more up-to-date with the world.