At a certain point in life, we tend to become disillusion by the elusive pursuit of happiness and a lot of people often question themselves and the life choices they have made. They may ask- “is this all there is to life?” “Is this where I would stay for the rest of my life?” “Is this career really giving me the fulfilment I need?

These questions can lead an individual to question the career path she has chosen and make them seek new pathways to do things differently or seek a total change from their current career.

Why Change your Career at Late Life (Age 40 to 50)?

According to a survey that was carried out in 2014 to determine the rate of job satisfaction in the United States of America, it was found that over half of the working population are dissatisfied with their current jobs.

While younger workers are more likely to take the leap of faith and leave their jobs for another one, a lot of people over 40 have a feeling that they cannot leave their jobs and therefore have to stick with it till retirement. The common misconception that exists among a lot of people is that at a particular age, it is too late to leave a career. This is however very far from the truth.

The truth still remains that it is not easy to let go of a career or a position in a company or something that you are doing at the moment even if it is not fulfilling because not only are you used to it, it also provides comfort and a sense of balance for you. But deep down, if you are not fulfilled and you are not growing in your field the way you would want, so, the thought of a career change will always be in your mind.

When you ask a lot of senior citizens, their greatest regrets are not usually what they did, but what they did not do, risks they did not take and opportunities that they let pass by. Furthermore, studies have found that about 80 percent of people who are over the age of 40 consider changing their careers but only about 6 percent actually go ahead and make the change.

Before you finally commit to making a late life career change, you will first have to discover what is important to you. That is, if you had the chance to choose the career that you would spend your time, energy and resources on, what would it be? When you find that out, go for it.

Granted, money is very important because it will help you to afford the basic necessities of life and other accompanying luxuries that make life enjoyable, yet, it isn’t everything. Personal joy and satisfaction trumps having a well-paying job that you hate every minute of.

People who are over 40 years of age have the ability to use their wealth of experience to better any career path that they may choose to follow. Also a new career can offer a new challenge that can free them from the rut associated with their former jobs. In addition, they can also learn a lot of new things from their new career.

A career change can involve choosing a new career that is somewhat similar to their former career or something that is totally different. Either way, here are 10 late-life career change ideas that can greatly benefit people who are over the age of 40:

1.Tutor: private tutors offer services to individuals outside the classrooms. This service is highly in demand because a lot of parents would want to augment what their wards are being taught in the school. You can schedule the tutoring sections in such a way as to suit you. Tutoring does not require the rigorous training that teachers have to go through in order to become certified. You can easily switch from a classroom teacher to a tutor. Tutors earn between N30,000 to N120,000 per month depending on location, subjects, number of clients and your bargaining prowess. Plus, you have flexible working hours which you can fill in other side gigs to create multiple streams of income.

2.Translation and interpreter services: if you know more than one language, you can make some money by translating documents from English to other languages or vice versa or by interpreting spoken language for people who would need such a service. Even though there is a lot of translation software out there most of them pale in comparison to an actual human being that is skilled at this. Also, due to the spread of the internet and other digital services, a lot of international agencies are beginning to make in-roads into Africa leading to a rise in global awareness of indigenous African languages.

3.Technical writer: technical writing simply involves making the complicated easy to comprehend. Technical writers are skilled writers who are able to make technical and difficult to understand instructions easy. The services of technical writers are required when writing manuals. Technical writers are also needed in fields such as engineering, technology and science.

As a freelance technical writer, you can set your work hours and also set the amount of workload you are willing to undertake at any given time. To make the switch to technical writing, you will need to have solid writing skills. Also, an experience or background in a technical field will also be needed so as to become an effective technical writer. Technical writers earn an average of N70,000 on a monthly basis.

4.Patient advocate: in recent years, patient advocate has been fingered as a fast-growing profitable career field. This is because the population of seniors is on the increase and they make use of medical services more often. The work of a patient advocate includes ensuring that a particular patient sees the appropriate doctor for his or her ailment.

You are to ensure that patients adhere to treating plans that the doctor has prescribed, and also making sure that the patient is making use of all available treatment options to better his or her ailment and educating the patient, family and caregiver on a patient’s condition. Patient advocates are usually affiliated to hospitals, rehab centres et al. but some are still self-employed.

5.Independent contractor: also known as consultants, they are needed in a lot of fields and occupations. Normally, independent contractors are hired for a fixed amount of time to do a specific task for an organization. They are not employees of any organization and as such are free to jump from one project to the next. As an individual who is over 40, you can offer a lot of services as an independent contract and make your money. You will also get to be your own boss.

6.Guides: guides help to escort people through interesting places like museums, historical sites, natural attractions, art galleries et al. They also help to provide detailed insight into all these places as they are taking their clients around. Someone who is over 40 can easily key into this career as long as he has or can learn the prerequisite knowledge about those locations. The services of guides are needed by museums, historical sites, galleries et al.

7.Landscaping: Another thriving and profitable easy to start business that people who are over 40 can delve into is landscaping. Landscape architecture is all about the art, planning, designing, management, preservation and rehabilitation of the land and the design of a large man-made construction that beautifies the environment.

Any entrepreneur who intends starting his or her own landscaping business and making huge profits from it must be very creative and must be ready to go the extra mile to convince clients that he or she can deliver an excellent job and he or she must prove beyond every reasonable doubt that they are competent.

8.SEO specialist: the internet is filled with millions of websites and one easy way that people get to find and visit these websites is through various search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing et al. Due to the fact that there are a lot of websites in the internet, for a website to appear in the first page of a search engine, it has to optimized. This is the job of a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist.

A lot of websites now realize the importance of having a website that is SEO compliant, thus, this service is in high demand. The work of an SEO specialist is largely online based and as such it can be carried out from anywhere as long as there is a steady internet connection. Also their work hours are very flexible. You can learn to become an SEO specialist in a local community college around or online. On the average, an SEO specialist earns an average yearly salary of about $51,100.

9.Event planning: if you have strong planning and organizational skills, then you can offer you services as an event planner. Event planning does not require any special degree or certification. The United States government has projected that there will be a 40 percent growth by the year 2020 in event planning.

10.Car Wash Business: Another easy to establish but highly thriving and profitable career change idea for someone over 40 or 50 years is to open a car wash. The market for car wash is driven by the purchase of cars and the increase in consumers spending.

In essence, as the general economy of a country grows, more people will buy cars and more people will patronize the services of car wash on a regular basis especially if their driving habits encourages them to do so. A car wash business is a lot easier to start when compared to an auto repair garage and it does not require a lot of experience or technicality.

11.Real estate: Real estate opportunities in most countries are so diverse and pose an opportunity for everyone especially for people in their 40’s and 50’s.

You can profit in real estate by getting involved in land flipping (that is buying land, waiting for it to appreciate over a period of time and then selling it off for a profit), open space leasing (this involves buying a strategically located space and then leasing it out to others for temporary use), through rendering real estate agency services, development of properties and of course, buying a land, building on it and then renting it out. Real estate provides a very flexible work schedule and as such one can easily choose his or her work hours.

12.Niche coaching: in the early 2000’s there was a big boom in coaching, but it wasn’t very specialized. Nowadays, there is still a very high demand for coaching because a lot people are interested in not only success but also creating the life they want and bettering themselves.

However, coaching is now more specialized than before. It could be parental coaching, relationship coaching, coaching authors who are writing books, people who want to learn to forgive etc. People now want more specialized coaching rather than a general life and business coach that was popular back in the days. People who are in their 40’s or 50’s can share their wealth of experience with others by way of coaching them and still get paid while doing so.

13.Day care: yet another lucrative career that someone over 40 can easily start is a day care. If you love kids and enjoy spending time with them then this business is for you. Endeavor to make sure that your day care is licensed and follows all the rules and regulations for basic child care and safety.

14.Poultry farm: poultry and its products constitute a staple food for Americans. Poultry farming in the United States is usually done on a large scale where big corporations are contacted for the sale of the birds and their products even before maturity.

Return on investment (ROI) of commercial poultry is high and in a short time, the initial investment can be recouped and further profit generated. If you are passionate about agriculture and you have the funds (or you can source for the funds) that is required to start up this business, then it is very rewarding to delve into it.

15.Recruitment agency: When you open a requirement agency, you will help people to source for jobs that are best suited for them for a fee. You will also help businesses in their recruitment process. There will always be people in need of a new job or who want to change their current job that will patronize your business. If you are over 40 and you are in need of a career change then this could just be for you.

16.Moving service/company: businesses and individuals who wish to move from one location to the other will need the services of a moving service or company. A moving company can be a very lucrative and fulfilling career change idea.

In conclusion, there are many career opportunities that are available for people who are around the ages of 40 or 50. You can make a life change or career change at any point in your life when you want it the most. Do not let fear, doubt or worry stop you from doing what your heart tells you to do.