Career change advice

pgburr

I'm sure this one has been asked many times before and does not have a definitive answer, but I am after some advice on making a career change into accounting. I am 43 years old and have been working as a quantity surveyor / estimator in the house building industry for over 15 years. It is a career path that I fell into really through family circumstances (had children young so needed to earn money!) and one I have never particularly enjoyed but have endured due to earning decent money. I do have a 2:1 degree and a good A level /GCSE academic record. I have recently gone through a life altering event that has made me reassess things career wise and I have definitely decided I no longer want to continue what I am doing. Accountancy is something I considered as I was starting out on a career path but discounted for rather ridiculous reasons - I gave 2 older brothers that went down that route so wanted to be different; I thought I should do something more "cooler"; I got rejected from a grad scheme that I interviewed for!! But now I'm older and wiser I do think accounting is what I should have done all along as it definitely suits my personality and what I enjoy much more than what I have been doing all these years! So I am now looking to make the jump - I u see stand I will be taking a massive risk and drop in terms of salary (I currently am a high earner) but given what I've been through have realised that my well-being and sanity are more important - if I have 25+ years left of being a working man then I need to do something different! So advice I am seeking I suppose would be what routes do people suggest I try and go down to make this jump - study AAT / ACCA independently, try and get into a "graduate scheme", try and find an apprenticeship? I know there's tons of options but would like to hear if anyone else has followed this path. Many thanks for reading.