And, then I stumbled upon this detailed article in The Guardian (UK) newspaper about how to take a midlife work sabbatical. The trend is fuelled by workers aged 50-plus who are often “empty nesters,” have paid off the mortgage and are keen to get off the hamster wheel for a bit, in spite of the cost. Adecco, one of the world’s largest HR companies, has identified sabbaticals as the number one workplace trend right now.
Here are some of the key things the journalist suggested need to be considered if you want to take a sabbatical:
- Check your home and health insurance policies and get travel and medical insurance.
- Consider how much you can budget for this trip (check out our MEA alums, the Senior Nomads, who’ve been on the road, affordably, for years).
- Rent out your home to finance your travel or consider house swaps.
- Cancel all kinds of subscriptions you won’t be using during your gap year.
Dream a little. You don’t have to take a whole year. If you were to take a month, where would you go and what might you do? Stay tuned as MEA will be offering affordable month-long immersions on a variety of topics next summer including a writing month, a fitness/weight loss month, and a learning Spanish month-long immersion. Or check into MEA alum (and “sabbaticalist”) Annette Mason’s website, Trilogy Design Works, that helps you design your sabbatical (Annette has come to MEA multiple times but was just in our Entrepreneurship at any Age workshop last week).
-Chip
P.S. The MEA PR campaign continues. Sunset magazine just featured MEA in a story on the new longevity travel trend.