Plan a career change.
A career switch has two costs that are easy to underestimate: the salary forgone while retraining, which is usually larger than the tuition, and the pay cut on re-entry at a junior level. Against those sits the growth rate in the new field, which is what eventually closes the gap. The break-even year is where cumulative extra earnings finally overtake the transition cost, and the ten-year figure shows whether the move is worth it on a realistic horizon.
Career switch payback
Transition cost = current salary x retraining months / 12 + retraining cost; each year the gap shrinks by (new salary - current salary), with new salary compounding at the growth rate
Simplified financial projection ignoring tax, inflation, pension effects and the risk that the new field does not deliver the assumed growth. Not financial advice.
Because it usually dwarfs tuition. Nine months out of a 58,000 job is over 43,000 in lost earnings against 9,000 of course fees — nearly five times as much, and it is the figure most people leave out of the decision.
Set the retraining months to zero and the picture changes fundamentally. The transition cost collapses to just the course fees, which often moves break-even from a decade to a couple of years.
Not necessarily — it means it is not a financial move. Switching for autonomy, health, interest or job security can be entirely rational, but it should be made with the financial cost visible rather than hidden.