So, I'm 48. Should I get my Masters in Economics?

[Hortensis]

37. For myself, it'd be absolutely!

I regret only the education I didn't go for, never that I did. 48's a kid. Give me 20 years back and your opportunities, and I wouldn't think twice. I could work it into my life without hurting my husband's.

But this decision is for two. You two. I love to travel and wish we'd done a lot more when I was younger and could climb a mountain just to see an old monument.

Nevertheless, I think you both should seriously consider that we're in the middle of a major transition period, careening along without control, and consider this also as an investment and hedge against the future. You may need that extra degree, including even just to get the satisfactory step-down job you're imagining, and you may also need to work longer than you plan or to return to work later. Or to be able to avoid it.

Also, could you continue your work on line from a balcony on Capri or work on whatever you've downloaded from a bus lumbering down some potholed road? Especially early course work that you expect to be relatively easy? Perhaps a school on the quarter or other relatively flexible system might make some travel possible?