Considering a Retirement Gap Year

Consider it

Is a gap year/retirement gap right for you?

Taking a retirement gap year is not necessarily right for everyone. It's a decision to be made having consulted widely with friends, family and advisers. This section of the website provides information to help those in retirement make their decision.

A retirement gap is an opportunity to get control of your life, rather than drift into old age.

The Sunday Telegraph, 1 July 2007 said:

'Be grown-up about your gap year. A return to youth beckons the mature backpacker, but only if adult decisions are made first.'

By Emma Lunn, extract:

'You don't have to be young, free and single to backpack around the world - today's globe-trotting backpackers are just as likely to be stressed-out fiftysomething professionals as they are teenagers.

But unlike school-leavers and graduates, mature "gappers" cannot usually forget about their financial responsibilities back home. Many will have a mortgage, pension and life insurance in place, all of which need to be taken care of in their absence.'

Gwen Dale-Jones, a retired teacher, taught in India with Mondo Challenge. She spent 3 months in Kalimpong, Darjeeling District, North India in a local primary school. She said ‘The best words to describe my experience would be truly amazing. I could never believe how quickly the extraordinary experiences I had became the normal way of life so quickly. There was never a dull moment.’