The wife and I are getting older. We have been working for decades at this point. But we are too young to retire, and we had kids late. But one of us could totally switch over to a lower stress second career. Ideally something with benefits, maybe even a chance to get a pension. And since we still have kids, needs to be flexible. One of our kids has autism, so lots of random doctors appointment and stuff.
We both work with computers all day. What are some good options for a second career that doesn't need to have long term growth potential. We have 8 years where ideally both of us are working so we can cover each other with benefits if something happens. After that, the kids are out of high school at least. So it isn't like it would be a "short" term career/job. Just not a 30 year thing. And ideally, something that could at least partially be done at home.
I just met someone who was going through the same question. They decided to take a two-year course and become a Physical Therapist, focusing on the elderly.
Said options were working with a medical group, at a nursing home, visiting people at home, or opening an office. Maybe a combination.
Their thinking was there was no way to get 'disrupted' and there would be endless demand. Made a lot of sense.
Nurses absolutely, especially since they physically have to move patients around. I wouldn't expect that physical therapists would need to do that, but I also admit to not having any knowledge about the job.
Physical therapists are going to be physically manipulating people around helping them to do their exercises and such. You're going to be physically taxed a fair bit. Although in theory, PT's won't have to help a patient every time they need to get up to use the toilet like a nurse or nurse's aid would.
Have nurses in the family and have a few retired nurses as friends, they're pretty damn beat up. Almost everyone of them has either back or hip or joint problems. And the US is becoming more and more obese, were at like 40% now of the population, which obesity comes with more problems so your more prone to being in the hospital. I'm betting there are going to be even more nurses in the next 25 years with serious physical damages because of it.