SoFi Blog

Is there a dream that you tabled years ago and having been meaning to revisit? Maybe you aspired to write the Great American Novel, but became accustomed to the office lifestyle. Or perhaps you’ve toyed with the idea of taking a mid-career break at 40 to lay on a beach in Ibiza or hike the Appalachian Trail. More people are taking a sabbatical or mid-career break in their 30s and 40s, whether to pursue personal passions, travel, volunteer, or consider a career shift.

Starting a family, or even starting to think about it, is an incredible stage in life. But it can also be overwhelming. You might be thinking about the hard questions: What will your life be like with a newborn? What will you and your partner be like as parents? Should you move closer to family?

When I was laid off from my corporate marketing gig in the fall of 2015, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew was that I didn’t want to go back to the handcuffed existence I’d spent so much time working within.

One day, while surfing the internet, I saw a part-time internship listing for a local fitness company. Even though I knew my eight years of work experience and MBA made me overqualified, I applied. My thought was that it seemed fun and could bring in a paycheck while I figured things out. As luck would have it, the owner agreed to hire me (with a Director of Marketing title, no less) for five hours a week of work.

Think about your best memories of your parents while you were growing up for a moment. Maybe it’s the year they finally bought that bike you wanted for your birthday, or all the times you opened the freezer to see it stocked with mint chocolate chip ice cream, because mom knew it was your favorite.

It’s worth pondering as you take in your parents now, as they grow older. You might be wondering when you’ll be returning the favor of taking care of them, and more importantly, how.

If you just graduated from nursing school, personal finance is probably the last thing on your mind. You’ve burned the midnight oil memorizing medical terms that sound like a foreign language. You’ve put in rough clinical hours dealing with trying patients. You’re cramming for the NCLEX. And you’re ready to get out there and just do the job.

You might be thinking, “I went to school for a solid career, so the money will take care of itself.” Nurses do make pretty good salaries—you’re not wrong about that. In 2016, on average nurse practitioner made nearly $105,000 a year, registered nurses made more than $72,000, and practical and vocational nurses made $44,000. Demand for nurses of all stripes is growing, with the number of positions expected to increase between 16 and 31%, depending on the role, in the decade through 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.