# Cruising and career



## yorkville (Apr 25, 2014)

What are general thoughts on maintaining a career with embarking on a crusing lifestyle? 

I have taken time off from work before to pursue different interests in the past. When reentering the workforce, I found some potential employers seem to be overly concerned about the gap in my employment history. More frequently, lots of them seem to have issues with me taking jobs that are not exactly in the same field. I am talking about jobs in financial reporting vs. credit analysis, which to me, are both in the finance field, using very similar skillset. But to lots of potential employers, these jobs might as well be in the opposite ends of the earth.

My plan is to cruise for a season or two, returning to work for a few years, then repeating the cycle. However, I do have some concerns due to the issues I had experienced when re-entering the workforce.

Any thoughts?


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

Thoughts - mine are that it gets harder and harder to return to work as you get older. This a main concern for me to stop working to go cruising, if my money assumptions are wrong whether I could even find a job in my field. Or if post cruising work involves Walmart instead.


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## kd3pc (Oct 19, 2006)

You are right to be concerned...employers have enough self destructive rules to eliminate candidates as it is....

As a "cruiser" or any other different lifestyle choice will be fully questioned by the HR dweeb and their computer program. They care not about why there is a gap, only that you are not normal by having one.

Throw in some "age" and you will have likely created a continuous gap in your employment.

The employers are not interested in the non-conformist.


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

I always thought the best time to cruise is in your early twenties, and then again in you late fifties or early sixties, and be retired. That way you don't have that gap in your power earning years.


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## yorkville (Apr 25, 2014)

I guess its necessary to bypass HR when job hunting. Most of my job offers came because I managed to get the attention of the hiring person through networking or cold calling. Of course applying on company websites or recruiters also yield results sometimes. I can see also the importance of keeping in touch with old colleagues. But, yes, I think companies just have too many damn rules that tend to not favor the non-conformists.


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

I just quit my 'job' yesterday (a long-term, well-paying contract). I don't expect to be able to come back to any work that would get me anything near I was making. My wife is in the same process, although her complete departure will take a bit longer. 

Am I scared? HELL YES! 

But for the first time in years I feel quite alive and invigorated. I haven't step off into the unknown in 20 years. This is gonna be fun -- I hope . 

I won't pretend to tell anyone what is right for them. I do know that the one thing you can't get back is time. That's why we're going now.


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## Multihullgirl (Dec 2, 2010)

Depending on what you do, the Internet now allows opportunities to work from wherever. Engineering consulting, other consulting, desk jobs can largely be done remotely


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

Who says there needs to be a gap in your resume? Perhaps you were an independent consultant specializing in finance. You don't have to be successful, (or even try) but it may look better on paper. Get a business license and a cheapo website if you like to give it more substance. If they seem like they're open to something different then let them know what you were really doing with most of your time with consulting being on the side.

In my immediate team of co-workers there are 5 of us. 1 lives on a boat, and 1 (me) lived on a boat for 10 years. I didn't put the boat bum thing front and center on my resume, but once the senior VPs started saying how cool they thought it was that my colleague lives on a boat, I chimed in too. Now they think we're both great. So, you never know how they'll react. 

MedSailor


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## Donna_F (Nov 7, 2005)

This month for the first time ever I was questioned about my series of contract jobs. Three times the assumption was that I didn't want to stay at a job too long before moving on so why hire me? The first never got to the interview stage, I found out through a friend who worked at the company. That company valued "lifers" so my resume didn't look like I'd fit in. Nevermind that I was qualified and that they never even asked me. Luckily, I was able to explain face to face the next times that I was contracting because very few are hiring permanent employees in my field and I had to point out that when I was offered a permanent FT position, I happily accepted it. 

It's almost as if the bad job market never happened or some people who managed to stay with the same company through it have no idea what it's like out there.


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

Ad MedSailor states, it is pretty easy to make a gap in your resume disappear if you desire. Do some volunteer work, do some part-time consulting, do a part-time contract. You can stay involved and up-to-date in your career in many ways besides a conventional 40 hour for salary workweek.

After my last sabbatical, I seriously blundered in my first interview. Questions that with no gap I never would have missed I was stumped on. It was extremely embarrassing. In the future I will for sure keep a toe in the water while on sabbatical.

That said, remote working full time while cruising would take 90% of the fun out of cruising for me. I would much rather sit at a marina in [insert favorite paradise here] with a reliable internet connection than I would try to cruise while tele-commuting. I would find the later way to stressful. That may change when we get reliable, affordable, high-speed, global internet.


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## SailingJackson (Jan 1, 2011)

yorkville said:


> What are general thoughts on maintaining a career with embarking on a crusing lifestyle?
> 
> My plan is to cruise for a season or two, returning to work for a few years, then repeating the cycle. However, I do have some concerns due to the issues I had experienced when re-entering the workforce.
> 
> Any thoughts?


Depends where you want to work and how much you want to make. In Chicago or New York you're expected to be career focused. If you're not career focused, then get out. Go to Hawaii, Boulder Colorado, Key West, or other places and you'll see a far different reaction. Essentially you can just look around where you are. If everyone is focused on career then you'll also be expected to think the same.

You're actually in a luxury position. There are finance people everywhere, like taxi drivers. If you wanted to be a nuclear physicist you'd have far fewer options. There are very few "part time" brain surgeons.

GTJ


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

I went cruising for 7 years in my 40s. I was in a specialized and contracting area in education. I knew it would be hard if not impossible to get back in that area so did a MSc in Computer Education.

I could pick and choose when I got back.

Mind you I did dread the question. 

Now what skills have you learned in the last seven years that you can bring to this position.

I don't suppose becoming a good shot with a speargun and knowing how to bribe a South American ports official would have impressed them.


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## bigdogandy (Jun 21, 2008)

MikeOReilly said:


> I just quit my 'job' yesterday (a long-term, well-paying contract). I don't expect to be able to come back to any work that would get me anything near I was making. My wife is in the same process, although her complete departure will take a bit longer.
> 
> Am I scared? HELL YES!
> 
> ...


Congratulations Mike....we should be throwing you a Party!


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

bigdogandy said:


> Congratulations Mike....we should be throwing you a Party!


Thanks Andy. No party needed, just send money .


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## yorkville (Apr 25, 2014)

SailingJackson wrote:

"Depends where you want to work and how much you want to make. In Chicago or New York you're expected to be career focused. If you're not career focused, then get out. Go to Hawaii, Boulder Colorado, Key West, or other places and you'll see a far different reaction." 

The problem is there are few well paying jobs in Hawaii, Boulder Colorado, or Key West. Maybe west coast (LA, Bay Area, Seattle) have companies that are more open to people with cruising lifestyle, and also offer well paying jobs?

TQA wrote:

"I went cruising for 7 years in my 40s. I was in a specialized and contracting area in education. I knew it would be hard if not impossible to get back in that area so did a MSc in Computer Education. I could pick and choose when I got back."

You did a MSc in computer in your mid 40s? And you were competitive with the young programmers swarming silicon valley?


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## RainDog (Jun 9, 2009)

yorkville said:


> You did a MSc in computer in your mid 40s? And you were competitive with the young programmers swarming silicon valley?


I think that was a degree in Computer Education, not computer science. Very different fields.

Currently someone with a degree and experience in Computer Science can always find a good job, not matter what their age. There are still way more jobs than people to fill them. This shortage is projected to get worse.


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## yorkville (Apr 25, 2014)

RainDog said:


> I think that was a degree in Computer Education, not computer science. Very different fields.
> 
> Currently someone with a degree and experience in Computer Science can always find a good job, not matter what their age. There are still way more jobs than people to fill them. This shortage is projected to get worse.


I see. I misread his posting. But honestly, there are very few degrees out there that one can get and become immediately qualified for numerous jobs. Most jobs require applicable degree plus relevant experience.

Based on what I had seen in finance, I feel the more experience I have, fewer jobs become available to me. In the minds of potential employers, I am now more specialized. Most companies are simply not interested in someone if he lacks the very specific skills outlined for the job, even if that person has been successful in related fields, and can clearly pick up the stuff in no time. In other words, they are looking for a specialist for a specialized job. And this presents a signifcant amount of friction to someone moving in and out of cruising lifestyle, because it takes much longer to find that match between the specialist and the specialized job.

And this reminds me of the joke, that the expert focuses on such narrow area, that he actually knows nothing.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

yorkville said:


> I see. I misread his posting. But honestly, there are very few degrees out there that one can get and become immediately qualified for numerous jobs. Most jobs require applicable degree plus relevant experience.


I respectfully disagree with you here. There are many degrees, and many more certifications, that will land you immediate employment right out of school. I spent the better part of 2 years unemployed after the dotcom bust in the Seattle area (I was an IT guy) and I went to my local technical college and a couple months later I was certified as an EMT. I think the classes cost less than $1,000 and upon graduation I had plenty of job offers with no experience.

After that, I went to school to become a Physican Assistant. Looking for jobs in the worst economic downturn since the great depression? No problem. It's the second most in-demand job in america (after programmer). I got a cold call a couple days ago from a doc that wants to hire me that got my name from another doc I've never even met.

Other certifications and degrees that will land you instant and gainful employment without any experience are:
Nurse
Physical therapist
Ultrasound tech
Echo cardiology tech
Surgical Tech
Medical coding and billing

I'm sure there are other, non-medical fields that can produce the same type of employment, though currently medicine is where a lot of money is. I pity the kids that are getting liberal arts degrees and graduating with 6 figures in debt. Having attended both university and community college I was more impressed with the community college to be honest. They really seemed more focused on getting you trained in a skill, and if it was an in demand skill, you have a job.

Medsailor


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## Minnesail (Feb 19, 2013)

yorkville said:


> And this reminds me of the joke, that the expert focuses on such narrow area, that he actually knows nothing.


Two brothers. One stayed and worked the farm and as he grew older he learned less and less about more and more till at the end of his life he knew almost nothing about nearly everything. His brother became a research scientist learning more and more about less and less till at the end of his life he knew almost everything about practically nothing.


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## christian.hess (Sep 18, 2013)

the hospitality industry has long been a standard and example of a trade and skill that can be "returned to" I have done it many times now mostly in my twenties....

I came back to it after extensive travelling and always if skilled and responsible to a great job and trade...

someone else posted about the ideal ages to do this there are various ways to do it...

I now feel that my productive years will be the 40s hopefully my 50s will be a permanent return to cruising in some way after retirement but I just cant plan that far ahead now

too hard! jajaja


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## vega1860 (Dec 18, 2006)

kd3pc said:


> As a "cruiser" or any other different lifestyle choice will be fully questioned by the HR dweeb and their computer program. They care not about why there is a gap, only that you are not normal by having one.
> 
> (SNIP)
> 
> The employers are not interested in the non-conformist.


Wait until you have to explain to one of those tiny iron bound minds why your address does not look like "203 Elm Street, Apt 101" or why your mailing address is in another state. Watch the look on their face when you show them a Drivers License with "General Delivery" or a PO Box for an address.  We were told that our passports were not good enough for ID (That we would need to show a drivers license, which was not good enough because it had a PO Box address) In order to get new Drivers licenses we had to show our (Wait for it...) Passports. the new licenses had "General Delivery" for the address because they took it off the utility bill for our harbor slip. Because there is no mail delivery to the harbor and the USPS will not give you a PO Box without a street address; hence "General Delivery".

Where we happen to be sojourning right now, this is not much of a problem, except when dealing with state or federal bureaucrats, because the town is basically a life support system for the harbor and folks here understand about people who live on boats. Folks in more conventional cities and towns don't want to bother trying to fit your square peg into their round hole. Far easier to just go to the next applicant and slide you form into the "Hold" tray.

Having said all that, we have found that some companies, like West Marine for example, are more than happy to let us go cruising for a few months at a time and let us return to work in our next port of call if there are openings.


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## aeventyr60 (Jun 29, 2011)

The companies that are too concerned about your gaps are probably not the ones you want to work for anyway. I have "gaps" going back to my early twenties for several years at a time. I have tried not to confuse my life with my career. Two different things, the former more important to me. In some instances the "Gap" has actually helped me. In a world where everybody looks the same on paper how will you stand out?


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

aeventyr60 said:


> The companies that are too concerned about your gaps are probably not the ones you want to work for anyway. I have "gaps" going back to my early twenties for several years at a time. I* have tried not to confuse my life with my career.* Two different things, the former more important to me. In some instances the "Gap" has actually helped me. In a world where everybody looks the same on paper how will you stand out?


Well said aeventyr60.


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

aeventyr60 said:


> The companies that are too concerned about your gaps are probably not the ones you want to work for anyway. I have "gaps" going back to my early twenties for several years at a time. I have tried not to confuse my life with my career. Two different things, the former more important to me. In some instances the "Gap" has actually helped me. In a world where everybody looks the same on paper how will you stand out?


I was in a career that had mandatory retirement at 57 and optional retirement at 50. I took retirement at 51, losing what would have been the best six earning years of my career, and taking a reduced retirement amount, to go cruising. I've just seen too many people die, while trying to get to "X" dollars before they started doing what they wanted to do.

I came back from my cruise and started working again, first for someone else (who thought the fact that I had retired early to go cruising, was exciting), and then for myself. It's not like you get a do-over on life. My wife and I are already planning our next cruise.


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## yorkville (Apr 25, 2014)

MedSailor said:


> I respectfully disagree with you here. There are many degrees, and many more certifications, that will land you immediate employment right out of school. I spent the better part of 2 years unemployed after the dotcom bust in the Seattle area (I was an IT guy) and I went to my local technical college and a couple months later I was certified as an EMT. I think the classes cost less than $1,000 and upon graduation I had plenty of job offers with no experience.
> 
> After that, I went to school to become a Physican Assistant. Looking for jobs in the worst economic downturn since the great depression? No problem. It's the second most in-demand job in america (after programmer). I got a cold call a couple days ago from a doc that wants to hire me that got my name from another doc I've never even met.
> 
> ...


OK, I agree that if I take up a new career in fields that you described, and if such fields are short on people, yes, then your suggestion makes sense. However, this means starting over as an entry level person in that new career. Not necessarily the most efficient path. I imagine most of us hope to leverage experience we had gained over the years, so we can have some progression in a chosen career. I guess my initial posting (or complaint) was that such career oriented position does not seem to go hand in hand with the freedom of taking periods off for crusing.


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## Donna_F (Nov 7, 2005)

yorkville said:


> ...However, this means starting over as an entry level person in that new career. Not necessarily the most efficient path. I imagine most of us hope to leverage experience we had gained over the years, so we can have some progression in a chosen career....


I suspect that if earning less means I can have a lifestyle I passionately want, I'd get rid of the luxuries, focus on the goal, re-adjust, and do what I have to do. If I can't do that, I didn't really want it all that badly to begin with. I look at it as one of the things to give up should I want to become a full-time cruiser (and I'm not there at this point). If I'm that wedded to my career that I try that hard to hold onto it and I'm not satisfied with perhaps thinking outside my box for ways to earn a living, perhaps cruising isn't for me.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

yorkville said:


> OK, I agree that if I take up a new career in fields that you described, and if such fields are short on people, yes, then your suggestion makes sense. However, this means starting over as an entry level person in that new career. Not necessarily the most efficient path. I imagine most of us hope to leverage experience we had gained over the years, so we can have some progression in a chosen career. I guess my initial posting (or complaint) was that such career oriented position does not seem to go hand in hand with the freedom of taking periods off for crusing.


It's absolutely true that you have to "start at the bottom", but the new bottom starting point can be a lot higher than your previous seniority earned you. Ultrasound techs and Echocardiology techs can have starting wages in the 80K/year range and always have the opportunity to work lots of overtime, increasing the earning potential to over 100K in the first year of work. Nurses can make even more.

In my example I could NOT find any work, even at minimum wage in the IT field after the dotcom bust after leaving my job as an IT director. I had to re-train and was paid about 1/2 of what I was before. I have since re-trained again in the medical field and my new starting wage was several times higher than it was when I was as an EMT.

In my case the retraining happened once because my hand was forced. The second time it was done with the intent of increasing my income specifically to support my boating habit and my plans of cruising to far away places. The plan is in progress right now, and while there could be more efficient ways to get where I want to be (anchored under a palm tree ) These are the options I chose and are working for me.

Options are all they are, but I felt it was important to point them out because I was once in the position of feeling like there were very few options, when in fact there were many. Flexibility, willingness to change and open-mindedness were attributes that contributed immensely to getting out of my big career slump, and were also the ones that were lacking in the beginning and prolonged the slump.

MedSailor


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## Uricanejack (Nov 17, 2012)

I don't think there can be one right answer to this question. it will vary so much from career to career.
Any career breaks for me have been involuntary rather than a positive choice. 
Though one gave me a year to spend sailing. I was in my early twenties and it was a sail training vessel my title was bosun may pay was room and board.

The inevitable question “What have you been doing for the last” would come up in the interview process. In the end it was a positive rather than a negative. When I found a job it was directly due to my sailing. Turns out the big boss was a keen sailor. We spent most of the interview talking about sailing. 

My sister is in an entirely different line of work doesn’t sail but loved to drop everything and travel. She would always be hired quite quickly upon her return.

A lot depends upon supply and demand. Currently in my line supply is limited and demand is high. Training is expensive. Getting a new employee up to speed can cost up to 10g. 

Getting a returning employee up to speed is peanuts by comparison. Contrary to many trends we like to hire older “seasoned” types. Even at entry level. They are more likely to stick around and we have less problems with them.

Many of them have very interesting back stories. Including a few who have sailed away and come back. Some of whom will sail away again. When they leave on good terms we usually take them back


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## yorkville (Apr 25, 2014)

MedSailor said:


> It's absolutely true that you have to "start at the bottom", but the new bottom starting point can be a lot higher than your previous seniority earned you. Ultrasound techs and Echocardiology techs can have starting wages in the 80K/year range and always have the opportunity to work lots of overtime, increasing the earning potential to over 100K in the first year of work. Nurses can make even more.
> 
> In my example I could NOT find any work, even at minimum wage in the IT field after the dotcom bust after leaving my job as an IT director. I had to re-train and was paid about 1/2 of what I was before.
> 
> MedSailor


The term career implies a continuity. If one has to change career each time after returning from a cruise or other adventures, then this merely supports my original posting which stated the difficulty in getting a job in one's former career after being away.

Now, your situation is different. You had to retrain for a new career due to macroeconomic and industry factors (dot com bust). Imagine you return to IT today (after being away for cruising, and embarking on career in healthcare). The IT market is quite buoyant at moment, there are plenty of jobs.

How do you think potential employers would treat you? Choice one: someone with proven experience from a few years ago, but cetainly no problem coming up to speed quickly? Or choice two: someone has been away for a while and his motivation is questionable and skills probably rusty? In my experience, I tried to persuade the potential employers to pick choice one, but finding many leaning towards choice two.


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

Just keep in mind, laying on a bed in a nursing home, are you going to wish you had spent more time living your life, or building a career?

The old saying that "Nobody has ever lain on their death bed wishing they had spent more time at the office", should be especially true for sailors and cruisers.

On my cruise, I kept running into guys who would have crews bring their boat down while they worked their asses off, then they would fly down for a few days of enjoyment, and then head right back to work. I watched the crew of one 86 foot boat, that was tied up next to us, live it up for two weeks before the owner, a stock broker from New York, flew in and hung out on the boat for three days, on his phone almost the entire time, and then flew back. The next day, the crew were pulling out the jet skis to go on another adventure. 

My wife and I talked about him and his crew, for a month after that, and about who had the better deal and the better life.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

Group9,

For some people it's a switch they can't turn off. I used to cruise quite a bit with a guy who had a 67ft 2 million dollar motor yacht. I was unemployed at the time and was basically the only person he could find that could get 2 weeks at a time off to go somewhere. He said all of his other friends who were uber rich like he was were too busy making money to take even a few days off to enjoy themselves.

We had a lot of fun on that boat, though I felt like I was cheating on my sailor identity. We once nearly swamped Larry Pardey on Talesin in BC with our wake. At the time he was my #1 sailling hero (I owned a wooden boat) though I didn't feel I could shout my admiration to him from the flybridge of this mega yacht going nearly 20 knots....  

Yorkville,

If you say career means continuity, then you are always going to be add odds with the concept of an extended cruise. Not sure we can help you there. As for if I will be as competitive when I return, as someone without a gap in my resume, I can say that in my market it doesn't matter. 

That was a point I probably didn't make well enough when recommending retraining to a very high demand area. One of the reasons that I think it is a viable option for returning cruisers. is that the demand is so high in some areas that your certification and your ability to fog a mirror may be all that you need to get the job. I know that's the case with ultrasound and echo-techs right now. 

Depending on your income requirements, some of the training programs only take a few months. EMT was only 3 months, and phlebotomist is also 3 months. Both are garunteed jobs right out of training, regardless of how tarnished your resume is. Though your driving record gets looked at as an EMT and for either I suppose multiple felonies might count against you. 

While I'm focusing on the areas of medicine that I know of that are in demand, I know that even in the worst downturn there are always areas of specialty that are in high demand. Some don't require a lot of experience, you just have to look carefully and be flexible enough to choose a new career/job based largely on demand alone. 

Also, I believe someone else mentioned that the service industry is very tolerant of switching jobs and gaps in the resume. I would believe that, and waiting tables, or kitchen/hotel work is available everywhere. 

MedSailor


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## Shinook (Jul 13, 2012)

Do any of you work remote and cruise at the same time? 

My current employment situation allows me to work from wherever I want, provided I have an internet connection. I'm curious how that's worked out for other people.


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## joethecobbler (Apr 10, 2007)

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned entrepreneur /self employment.
no income limit, no problem going back to work, no HR, not even an interview or resume needed!
but, alas,it's not for everyone. but what is?
I made my bed,so the cast is set.
Some seem to "have it all" but most never will.
better to pursue happiness than money IMO,but then,that's my story.
I'm honestly amazed when I meet people who have spent 30-40-more Years of their life at one vocation.
My father has(self employed),and one brother in law has 15-20 years and counting in a foundry.
They get all panicked when I say goodbye about every 8-10 months and leave on the boat with no defined plan or time frame.
I only regret I listened to others fears too many years before leaving the first time! 
It gets easier the longer you do it.
If you find you truly enjoy it,you'll find your needs and wants change and you get a completely different outlook.
I'm kinda glad more people don't /can't figure it out, cuz it would probably make it tougher for those that do.


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## ThirtyOne Sails (May 21, 2014)

My wife does exeptionally well in a network marketing business. This is a possibility for someone who has a few years left before the intend to cruise outside the US, the rebated income (residuals) can provide a solid income. All depends on the company.


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## captain jack (May 5, 2013)

Group9 said:


> I was in a career that had mandatory retirement at 57 and optional retirement at 50. I took retirement at 51, losing what would have been the best six earning years of my career, and taking a reduced retirement amount, to go cruising. I've just seen too many people die, while trying to get to "X" dollars before they started doing what they wanted to do.
> 
> I came back from my cruise and started working again, first for someone else (who thought the fact that I had retired early to go cruising, was exciting), and then for myself. It's not like you get a do-over on life. My wife and I are already planning our next cruise.


so true. if you put off living your life, until you are too old to enjoy it, you may find that death or infirmity deny you even that enjoyment. live for today. tomorrow may never come.


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