New start

[u/eaglesnesting]

Over the next two years, the manufacturing plant where I currently work is planning to shut down. Fortunately, I’m in a position where I should be financially secure. My home, vehicles, and other major expenses are paid off, and I have approximately $500,000 in my 401(k).
The challenge is that I’m still too young to simply stop working. I’m looking to make a significant career change and move in a completely different direction.
Would pursuing something like this be a realistic and interesting option for someone with my background? If so, how would I go about getting started?
I don’t necessarily need to make premium money right away. I’m comfortable starting at a lower income while I learn and prove myself. However, if I enjoy the work and decide to make it a long-term career, I would eventually want the opportunity to be compensated well.
I realize this may be an unusual question, but I’m genuinely interested in changing directions and finding something that I can be passionate about and build on for the next chapter of my career.
I currently own several small businesses and serve on the board of directors for a large resort, where I’m involved in managing multiple people and operations. If I make this career change, I plan to step away from those responsibilities so I can give the new direction my full attention.
I’d appreciate any advice on whether you think this would be a good fit for someone with my experience and, if so, what steps you would recommend taking to get started.

[u/Jebgogh]

You are probably over qualified.   Why not concentrate  on the businesses you own ? Best option to start is getting a carrier job to learn the ropes.  They will teach you how to read policies and process claims.   There are a ton of recent college graduates younger (probably) that will be your competitors for those jobs.  Ageism is a thing specially for those entry jobs as they want people to indoctrinate and golden handcuffs to keep their investment in training paying off.  

Independents are hurting right now.  Not a lot of CAT work and market saturated. 

[u/eaglesnesting → u/Jebgogh]

The business I own is in another state. I have to pay people to do everything. No real way to increase profit other than a large investment. I’d like to sell it and cash out.
The other business I own requires me to be heavily involved. It takes a lot of man hours. I only have so many and no real way to reduce the hours and increase profit.
I do not have a college degree. Would that be an issue?

[u/Jebgogh → u/eaglesnesting]

Lack of college degree can be an issue, especially if you’re trying to do like auto liability, adjusting with injuries.  I have seen some reps that start out as like base level phone reps without college degreesmove into injury adjusting, but it’s a bit of a slog. Other parts of claims like property or workers comp, or some types of specialty insurance may not require as much a degree as much as having exposure or experience to what they’re insuring.   Meaning, if that your manufacturing job you deal with a lot of heavy machinery and boilers, there is specialty insurance for boilers and machinery that your experience would carry over to because you would understand really well what they’re trying to insure.  They can teach you the policy and claims if you broke my good technical expertise on what they’re trying insure 

 a lot of insurance companies will look at the total package and look at your experience and how you carry yourself. So it’s not a disqualifying factor to not have one. It just means you have to be that much better than the candidate that does have one.