I have a master's degree and my CPA license and have spent seven years of my life on post-secondary education, most recently in my early 30s to get my CPA. Can I just tell you have "over it" I am? After working pretty steadily for 20 years I can honestly say I'm not sure I've ever loved my work. A surprising amount of it has been mundane, repetitive, and not required the higher order thinking skills I once thought it would.
So today -- once again -- I used my lunch hour to snoop online at our very good community college/technical school and got pretty enthused about it as an option for my "second act." The application is TWO PAGES! Two frickin' pages! No essays. No need to ponder life's great mysteries and write essays on self-actualization. No need to project where I hope to be in five years. No nasty admissions tests or letters of recommendation. I can just sign up, do a little paperwork, show up and pay my money and I'm good.
To this end, I've started putting money in a section 529 college savings account for myself. There are other tax credits that also apply (you can't "double dip" on your tax return) but the beauty of the 529 is that it doesn't matter your age or your program. You don't need to be seeking a degree. You can take an art course in France and dip into your Section 529 account to pay for it as long as the educational institution offering it is qualified by the Federal Department of Education to offer financial aid.... most schools are and this information can easily be found online.
So, I'm probably going to get my landscape design certificate in a few years... go to work for someone, or maybe even do freelance projects. Maybe I'll just putter all day in my own gardens and decide I don't give a crap about making a living at it... I just enjoy studying it.
There are just so many options...