Thanks to modern medicine, people are living longer than ever though while it is wonderful to have more time to watch your family grow, it also means being in the workforce longer. At least a 50-year career is wholly plausible. That’s a long time.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced people to reassess what’s important to them in life, and working more is not a top priority. Many have learned that taking extended breaks from work to travel, spend time with family, try something new, or simply rest, increased their quality of life.

Adopting a new career tactic that involves stopping and starting several times requires a solid financial foundation. Many employees - especially the younger generation - are already up to the challenge, devising plans to help them navigate a new future.

If you desire a non-traditional career trajectory, financial planner Kevin Mahoney urges taking a moment to answer, What is important to you? Why? And what’s stopping you from doing achieving it? It’s worthwhile gaining clarity on your ideal situation before you begin the process of shopping around for new retirement accounts. Factor in economic cycles or other calamities that might affect your ability to reenter your industry in a timely manner. Even the impact of sexism, ageism and racism are elements to consider for reentry.

At some point in your career, the pain of the status quo may outweigh the risks of taking breaks so it's worth having a plan in place to keep your options open.