I recently received a great question from a listener who’s sitting on a mountain of annual leave—around 32 weeks’ worth! It’s a situation some of you might find yourselves in after years in the workforce, so I’m going to dive into the benefits, risks, and some options for using or cashing out your leave as retirement approaches.

We asked our community whether anyone has made a major career change in the last 10-15 years of their working life and the proof was there—many people have. But it’s come after some significant thought and processing. Here are the steps I recommend if you’re considering a career change.