Retirees, Take the Off Ramp to a New Career
Faye Fiore, 65, started working for a small newspaper right out of college, and 35 years later, she was a national correspondent at the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest newspapers in the country.
She loved her profession. But about a decade ago, while raising two boys and feeling torn between work and home, she left the news business to become a marriage and family therapist. "Everyone -- my financial adviser, my brother -- told me not to do this," says Fiore, who lives in Arlington, Va. "We were not that far from the recession, and I had a well-paying, prestigious job."
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Still, she felt the time was right, so she embarked on a long journey to a new career. Studying for the GRE, which the graduate school she applied to required, and returning for a three-year master's program were daunting. Looking back, she says, "part of me was confident and part of me was really, really scared."
Little data exists on older workers changing careers. A 2015 survey, "New Careers for Older Workers," by the found that anywhere from 16 million to 29 million people attempted a career change after age 45. Of those late-in-life career changers, the survey found that 82% succeeded in making the shift, which came with a nice payoff. Most
