So, I'm trying to hatch a plan for getting some additional credentials to allow me to have an easier time finding a job (or starting my own business) in a smaller town (<25-50K people) in the next 2 years or so. Along the way we'll still be doing the ERE/MMM thing to build the nest-egg, but we've realized we don't want to continue living in a big-city long-term. Instead of waiting to move until we've fully FI'd, I want to work on developing a skillset that allows me to make a mid-ERE/MMM move to a smaller town and still have a decent salary to finish out the FI goal.
I have around 10 years of experience in a corporate setting, but my resume is pretty industry-specific; and its an industry that doesn't have a lot going on in the smaller-towns these days. With my current employer, I get a pretty hefty tuition-reimbursement and I'm thinking about putting that to use to acquire some extra skills and build the resume towards a bit more "generalist" type areas.
I've always been good with numbers and solving puzzles, and I like the idea of being able to set my own hours as we move towards FI, so I'm thinking heavily about doing a CPA program. I found one locally through our state university that's ~9 months long and would be fully covered by my tuition reimbursement. The credits are graduate-level and the whole purpose is for business folks without an accounting background to learn the skills needed to be a CPA, or simply to apply financial accounting principles to their current job. It would take a fair amount of my free-time away, but I think I can handle it.
The main question then is, how likely is it that I could parlay that degree/CPA designation into a pretty immediate job in a smaller-town as a CPA? Do those jobs exist most places? Given that I already have a fair amount of business experience that could be re-written to show more financial type work, would you think I could transition to a mid-level CPA job even if I don't have CPA experience outside of the "credentials"?
The progression I'm envisioning is: 2 yrs doing what I'm doing, then 3-5 yrs as a CPA for a company in a small-town, then FI and maybe just doing tax-work or small-business accounting on the side to help preserve the nest-egg...while I work on my writing, gardening, child-raising, etc.
Or should I just look for a job without needing the credentials since I'm not that far from ERE/MMM anyway?
Thoughts?