136: Why moving abroad doesn't have to happen in your 20s

Have you ever felt like you missed your chance to move abroad?

Maybe you're in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or beyond, and you've started telling yourself that international living is something you were supposed to do years ago. A gap year. A study abroad program. A backpacking trip after college.

But what if that's not true?

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why moving abroad is a lifestyle decision, not an age-based decision

• Where the "I'm too old to move abroad" belief comes from

• The advantages of moving abroad later in life, including greater financial stability and career opportunities

• Why confidence and self-awareness can make international living easier

If you've ever wondered whether you're too old to start a new chapter abroad, this episode is for you.

Because the question isn't:

"Am I too old to move abroad?"

The question is:

"Is this still something I want?"

And if the answer is yes, your age may be far less important than you think.

👉Take the free quiz: Which European city should you move to? 🤔

Grab my free guide: 5 exact steps to move abroad

Website: jordangiberson.com
Instagram: @jordan.giberson

Transcript

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If you're considering life abroad and you feel like you're disqualified for some reason that you've made up in your head that's not what it's actually really about. The real risk is assuming that you'll do it someday you should be asking Instead What specifically is holding me back? Or" Is age really the issue here or is it just fear?" Hey, my name is Jordan Giberson. I'm a Texas girl living and thriving in London. The best thing I've ever done? Moving abroad, hands down. And I'm passionate about helping others do the same. Are you curious about finding a job abroad? You're in the right place, friend. I'll teach you the tried and true secrets of how to make moving abroad a reality for you and how to live a fulfilling life once you get there. We'll cover topics like choosing the best visa for you, how to get a job offer in another country, how to get over your fear of moving abroad, and how to live a life you love once you get there, this is The Move Abroad Podcast. Welcome to another episode of the Move Abroad Podcast. Today we're talking about why moving abroad does not have to happen in your 20s. I have a lot of people that reach out to me with a very similar question, and it's that, "I'd love to move abroad-" I think there are a surprising number of people that probably listen to the podcast, that are probably out there, that are asking themselves the same version of the same question, and that is, "I love to move abroad, but I just feel like I've missed my chance." Maybe they're 32, maybe they're 45, maybe 57, maybe even older. Maybe they are recently divorced. Maybe they're mid-career. Maybe they're retired. Maybe they've just had their kids all leave the nest, and they're assuming that moving abroad is something that they're supposed to do right after college with a backpack and no responsibilities. But today I'm here to challenge that idea, because moving abroad does not come with an age limit. It's not just for people in their 20s. I moved abroad in my 20s, and I think that you probably see a lot of people on social media who are maybe moving abroad in their 20s or maybe early 30s, and you might be thinking, Okay maybe that's not for me. Everyone moves abroad in their 20s. Maybe I've missed my shot. Maybe this is something for people that don't have responsibilities, that are younger." But I'm here to challenge that idea today, because it really is not true. So if this is you, if you are not in your 20s anymore, but you've been thinking about moving abroad and you feel a bit hesitant, then let's dive on into today's episode, because this is for you So where did this belief come from? Many of us have, an idea that many of us have been sold a specific idea of international living whenever you move abroad that it's just during gap years, or it's for a study abroad program only, or it's digital nomads in their 20s, or backpackers that are traveling across Europe. Social media, like I said, I think it really enforces this image in our brains, and as a result, people start to believe, "If I didn't do it then I can't do it now." Even if you might not be thinking that completely, I think that it might be in the back of your mind that you feel like you might have missed your shot and that you should have done this whenever you were younger and didn't have as many responsibilities. But the problem is that moving abroad, it's not an age-based decision. It's a lifestyle decision, and you can do this at any point in your life really And I'm going to go as far to say that your 20s might actually not be the very best time to move abroad. I think at different ages and different stages of life, there are definitely pros and cons of choosing that time in life to move abroad. But sometimes your 20s isn't automatically the best time. A lot of people might romanticize moving abroad in their 20s, but your 20s can also come with its own challenges, like limited savings. That was definitely me. Less career experience, also me. Whenever I moved abroad, it was much harder to get a visa. I had less confidence in myself than I do even now. There's less clarity about what you might want in life, and fewer professional opportunities perhaps. So in some ways, moving abroad later can actually be easier because you know yourself much better, and you have better work experience, maybe more savings collected where it is a bit easier to move abroad actually. And I think that as you get older, you have a bit of a clearer idea of the specific lifestyle you want, and the type of city that might suit you, or a smaller town, and what career path you really want. And you might be later on in your career where you have more ability to move abroad a bit easier. You have an idea of the trade-offs that you're willing to make whenever you move abroad. So I don't think that your 20s has to be the time that you move abroad, and sometimes I think it might even be a bit of a disadvantage. So moving abroad later in life might actually be better for you for different reasons So what are the real advantages of moving abroad later in life? So I think one of the first advantages is more financial stability. This is obviously something that is very person to person, but sometimes if you're later in life, you might have a bit more financial stability than you did whenever you were 20 years old. You might have a bit of savings. You might have some investments. You might have a stronger income as you've gone further on in your career or have built a business over time. You might have more flexibility. I think that this just opens up doors that might not have been available earlier, and you have a bit more flexibility and freedom that comes with that financial stability to be able to pick your life up and move abroad. The second advantage is that you might have more career experience. That often comes later on in life. A lot of visas and international job opportunities actually favor experienced professionals more. Employers often need specialists or managers or senior-level talent. A lot of times they're more willing to pay for visas and to go through that process because there are less people in the talent pool that have that experience, and they also are more willing because they are being paid more. They're, they have stronger experience, and oftentimes that comes with higher pay, and oftentimes the visa process, it costs the same whether you're early on in your career or later on in your career. So most likely the companies that are giving out visas, it's for those that do have a bit more work experience. So if you're looking for sponsorship for a visa, I'm not saying it's impossible if you're in your 20s, but it definitely becomes a little bit easier later on in your career The third advantage of moving abroad later on in life is that you just have a bit more confidence. In your 30s, 40s, or 50s, you might be a little bit less concerned with what your friends think, the social expectations around moving abroad or not, following a traditional path. I think that you are just more willing to make decisions based on what you want and are less focused on others around you and their perception of you. The fourth advantage is that you might have just greater appreciation in general. A lot of people who move later on, they might be a bit more intentional. They're not moving because it's trendy. They're moving because they've thought deeply about what they want from life, and they're deciding that they want to move abroad and after they've thought about it for probably a long time. And maybe after they've been waiting for their children to move out of the house, or they have a change in life where they're just going through a divorce, or they've maybe just retired. So I think you might have gone through life always thinking about moving abroad, and you've had a change in your life experience where you have the ability to move abroad, or it's like a natural next step for you And with that in mind, so let's talk through some of the real-life examples of people who move later. What are those types of people that do actually move abroad later? Because if you're listening to this episode and you've been thinking, "Ugh, I should have moved abroad in my 20s when life was simpler," you're not a one case scenario. This does happen very often. So let's talk about some of these common scenarios. Maybe you are the career professional. This is the person who transfers internationally at age 42 because they have the career opportunity to do that, or that's something that they really want and they pursue that internally at their company, trying to make an internal transfer out as they're later on in their career. Maybe you're the empty nester. Maybe your kids have just left home, and now there's freedom to pursue a dream any dream, and you've always wanted to move abroad, and you feel like maybe this is your chance. I've talked to many people that are in that situation. If that is you are not alone. Maybe you are the newly retired person. Maybe retirement becomes the beginning of a new chapter rather than the end of one. Maybe you're later on in your life, whenever you're retired, or maybe you're even middle-aged, but you have the ability to have financial freedom, and you've built up a career, And maybe you've built up the ability to travel internationally or take a few years off because you built out the financial ability to do that with passive income. Maybe you're the person that's starting over. Maybe you've just had a divorce or a really big career change or a major life transition of some sort. I think a lot of times people are looking for a new opportunity. I think sometimes you need a really big thing in life to happen to you to make a really big transition, like these examples that I'm giving of becoming an empty nester or a really big career change or becoming retired or divorce or career change. I think that sometimes people need a really big thing to happen in their life to where they are starting a new chapter naturally, and so moving abroad becomes a bit more naturally. So maybe this is you. Maybe these are some examples of you saying, "Yeah, one of those is definitely me." So I think the point here is that there is no single timeline. People move abroad at every stage of life and for different reasons, different just phases and chapters of your life. It does not have to be right after college. It does not have to be to get a graduate degree. It does not have to be, whenever you're young in your career and don't have, very many responsibilities. It doesn't have to be that way. There are so many people that do move abroad with a family, that move abroad after a divorce, that move abroad for any of these number of reasons that we just talked about. So if this is you, I don't want you to feel like moving abroad is not for you, that it's just for people in their 20s. We are trying to debunk that in today's episode So if we're just gonna get real for just a second, I also wanted to talk about the real risk is not being too old. That's not what it's actually really about. The real risk is assuming that you'll do it someday. And I'm saying someday in quotations, because a lot of people spend years saying, "I'll move abroad next year." And I feel like I often hear the most, "I'll move abroad in two years." Because it feels far away enough to where, you feel like it is going to happen, that's in the near enough future, but far away to where it doesn't feel like you need to start doing anything now. So I think that happens so often, and then just the can keeps getting kicked down the road. So I think that's the real risk here. It's that a lot of people spend years saying next year, or after a couple years, or after the promotion, or after the kids graduate, or after I save more money. So I think sometimes those delays become decades really, and not just a year or two. So I think a lot of people don't regret moving abroad, or aren't necessarily And it's not just about that you didn't move abroad in your 20s, it's that a lot of people just life gets in the way, or people use different things in life to give an excuse for themselves, and I say that with love. I hope it doesn't sound too harsh. But I think a lot of times people are not regretting not moving abroad in their 20s. I think that people just regret not trying, that people regret not actually going for the things that they want in life, moving abroad included. So I think that's really the risk here. It's not the risk of, should I move abroad in my 20s, or, oh, I didn't move abroad in my 20s, now I'm in my 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. And you're questioning yourself, and you're asking yourself, "Am I too old?" Maybe you should be asking, "What specifically is holding me back?" instead, or "Is age really the issue here, or is it just fear?" Or, What would I regret more? Would I regret trying and deciding not to do it, or, failing, or never trying at all? And if I do move, when would I? When would that be for myself?" So I would start to reflect on those questions for yourself instead of asking, "Am I too old?" And ask yourself, is that really the reason? Is that really fundamentally what I'm questioning myself on is am I too old? Should I have done this when I'm in my 20s? And more of some of these specific questions on where you're at in life now, and it does not have to be in your 20s. So in conclusion, moving abroad, is it reserved for people in their 20s? Absolutely not. In many cases, the skills, experience, financial stability, and self-awareness that you build later on in life can make the experience of moving abroad even more successful. So you don't have to get disqualified from pursuing a different life because you had a birthday, because you're later on in life. The question is not, am I too old to move abroad? The question is really, is this something that I want? And if the answer is yes, then your age might be way less important than you might think that it is If this has been you, if you're like, "Yes, this is really hitting the nail on the head," then I do have a guide that might be helpful for you to think about some of your next steps to move abroad as you're considering it, and as you're taking those steps forward. It's the five exact steps to move abroad. You can grab it at Jordangiberson.com/guide, or you can also just click on the link that's in the podcast description, and you can grab it there. So I hope that if this is you, if you are not in your 20s anymore, but you're considering life abroad, and you feel like you're disqualified for some reason that you've made up in your head, or that you feel like is the message that's constantly on social media, I hope that you walk away from this episode thinking, "Okay, that's not me. That has nothing to do with moving abroad." And, maybe you are later on in life, but I hope that you're walking away saying, "Yes, this is me. This is what I can do. I can move abroad, and it does not have to be that, I missed my shot because I'm later on in life." So I hope that you feel encouraged from today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. I will catch you here again next week, same time, same place. I'll catch you then.