First, we are very much in a globalized world. As explained elsewhere on this blog, an estimated 75% of the U.S. population has visited at least one other country, and 26% have been to 5+ countries. More than 15% of adults were born abroad (Immigration: U.S. Immigrant Population Reaches Highest Since 1890 – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking), 20% are either an immigrant or the child of immigrants (1 out of 5 U.S. residents were born abroad or their parents were born abroad – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking), and 40% have one or more grandparents who were born abroad. The effect is that perhaps 2 out of 3 American residents has close immigrant ties!
Even if you are not an immigrant, you are likely to work side by side with immigrants, to manage immigrant workers, or to be managed by an immigrant – or to work in a business whos products and services are international in scope. Consequently, global experience is essential to move ahead and work in a leadership position in your career.
(Also see International: How Global Are We? A Summary – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking)
Second, it is usually easier for young to travel abroad (except for financial and career issues).
- Many do not own a home; while traveling they won’t have home or rent expenses to keep up
- Many do not yet have families and family expenses, plus having a family makes travel more expensive
- Health insurance for travel abroad is vastly less expensive when young than when you are 65+ years old – he difference can easily be 3x to 5x more expensive when older
- Your health and physical abilities and stamina are likely to be stronger when young. Until 2020 (and the pandemic nonsense) I was a jogger and went to a gym 3 days per week. That all ended, plus I had unknowingly broken a bone in my foot – but pandemic restrictions prohibiting me from getting diagnosed and treated, for ten weeks, after which it was too late. 7 months mostly sitting later, my muscles had atrophied and exposed that I had osteoarthritis in my knees, a health issue that is making some activities much more difficult. Travel when young and before health issues strike.
- When young, you can and will eat a lot more than when you are much older. Part of travel is enjoying the foods of other cultures. But when older, you’ll find you eat less.
- If you wish to work abroad or spend time living in another country, again, this is much easier to do when younger. Depending on the country, restrictions on residency visas can begin to take effect in the age 35-55 bracket. In some countries, a residency visas is prohibited for those as young as age 50 or 55, or there are other restrictions (France prohibits mortgages to those at age 55 or over). Also, when younger than 30 or 35, several companies offer “Working Holiday Visas” that are easy to get and enable you to stay and work in a country from 1-3 years. But these are not available as you get older.
- In short, many options go away, or become more difficult or more expensive as you get older.
- Finally, being globally experience can be important in career opportunities (depending your field). It is more valuable to obtain these skills when young so you can apply them in your career, sooner, rather than late in your career.
Another consideration is how to maintain job skills and employability for when you end your travels. In some fields, such as computer science, the pace of change is rapid, and leaving the field for as little as 6 to 12 months might require that you get additional training upon your return, in order to get a good job again. In other fields, this may not be an issue -and for some, the international experience will be a definite plus on the resume. Ideally, taking a work assignment abroad can enable you to get global experience and maintain your job skills.
Gen Z, inspite of all the doomerism news stories, has things pretty good regarding employment. At the tale end of the baby boom, the typical family had about 4 kids. Today, families have, on average, less than 2 kids. You can see this in the chart of the U.S. fertility rate over time.
Persons born about 1960 were competing with more young people for jobs than any cohort in over 100 years (or more, as deaths under age 5, due to childhood disease, were high before the modern era). Those born in the 1970s-1990s and onward, had fewer competitors for jobs. This is why the tail end of the baby boom embraced college – versus their predecessor generations – to try and outskill the competition for jobs. Up until about 1965, half of all adults living in the U.S. had not graduated from high school!
What this means – fast forward to the right end of the above chart. Today’s new, young job entrants are competing with far fewer new workers for jobs, hence, unemployment of 3.7% (versus far higher unemployment levels from the 1970s onward). This means, young people today can consider taking time out from work to travel – and develop global skills – with a high probability the job market will remain strong and their skills will be needed when they return from travel and look for new jobs.
This post was inspired by this story:
So I quit my job at 32, bought a one-way ticket to Peru, and spent a year and a half — and $34,000 — exploring 18 countries across South America and Asia. Every day was a “choose your own adventure,” involving choices good and bad. I learned lessons the hard way about balancing preparation, productivity and play.
I quit my dream job at 32 and spent $34,000 to travel the world—here are my 4 biggest regrets
Of course, like nearly all travel stories, it is written by a young female writer. Nearly all stories about travel or immigration / work abroad are by young women who work as writers. That’s because many if not most jobs, require in person, in country, services – and most people have not been able to travel. Numerous examples of this in the Part 1/Part 2 myths of American’s moving abroad posts, at the right of this page.
Considering my career and family obligations, this is not something I could even consider in my 20s or 30s. I was born at the peak of the baby boom.