In Retirement

Retirement Gap Year

Passing on skills and mentoring others

Many 50-75 year olds, some part of the baby boomer generation, are taking retirement gap year travel breaks, often as an extension/replacement of their holidays.

Many of you have already travelled extensively as part of your work, or may have missed out on a gap year, having worked for 30+ years in your careers. It is estimated that you are part of a group that is 200,000 strong in the UK and growing.

You may have disposal wealth - mortgages paid off, cash in the bank and pensions to rely on. The most important thing, however, is that you have time to spare and skills to share, so all options are possible.

Your skills are valuable assets worldwide, be it banking, medical, plumbing, management, house-building, medicine etc. These can be passed on, if the circumstances are right, to people who need it most.

This section of gapadvice.org seeks to guide you through the process of finding your retirement gap year, and guides you through the 5 steps on the road to a gap year, if it is right for you:

Michael Lowe, a retired Managing Director, took a 2 months retirement 'gap year' in Tanzania with Mondo Challenge. He worked on a Business Development project, which gives small grants to people suffering from HIV. He said ‘It is a very challenging time, at the beginning I didn’t think I would be able to adapt, but after a couple of weeks I felt like part of the community. There is so much opportunity to help and get involved’.