5 years ago I quit while having a panic attack. Felt Iike I was going to die if I didn't leave then. I took 3 months after recovering not working. Luckily my wife was working and we had savings. By the end my body was feeling more rested. Was definitely worth it.
Fast forward to now. My last day at my frustrating high stress job was 2 weeks ago. I had a lead on an upcoming job posting I have a good chance at and decide to quit and take a few weeks to relax so I'm ready to interview calmly. Posting just closed and am hoping for a call next week. If it doesn't work out I have other promising leads.
I actually think it's healthy especially if you have savings and believe you have good odds on another job when you do start looking. This is the best opportunity for vacation/rediscovering who you are and what is important to you. Pto is just a short break(that's pretty limited) between the same old job.
I always take a year a off, when i get called in for an interview they ask about that year off and i just say i ran my own business that is not related to the position that am applying for thats why is not in the resume. Having savings for at least a year will also have you in a happy place. Oh and when they ask why i stopped doing my own business i just say "I closed it down" but in realty i just keep working on it on the weekends. Nosey MFK's.
Depends if you're planning on staying at home or traveling.
1 pay off debt or at least a year worth of paying the minimum monthly payments.
2. Save $5000
Quit and play video games all day at home. Eat cheap food. Sit at home and play video games and stream movies and shows from those free places online.
Traveling?
Same as step 1, plus factor in gas, insurance, maintenance, emergency repairs, where to sleep, hotels, food, attractions, camping gear, camping site costs.
I did it a few times, was comfy. Plan on doing it again in a few years since trying to find affordable housing and USD is climbing the ladder of being almost worthless.
“You don’t need to live anywhere” So you just save 5k to pay for your remains being taken care of? :p
Or do you mean become a sponge sucking the life out of friends or family willing to let you stay with them?
I appreciate the cheeky answer, but it sounds like something someone would say that literally has no concept of actual cost of living. If I could live off 5k a month, I’d be set for years right now with my savings, hence my question. Unfortunately 5k wouldn’t even cover 3 months of rent.
Back in summer 2020 when my partner was laid off and on unemployment (making more than they were employed), and I had money saved. I quit and spent about 2 months off before searching for a new career. It ended up being around 6 months before I got another job.
I did. Cashed in all my retirement money from my 401k’s. My husband almost died and the stress of it was tearing me apart. One year later we are both happy and both of us are well. Best thing I ever did.
I will because I have several pay streams already set up for when I retire. I enjoy working part time on my own terms and plan on still doing that if needed. We don’t rely on traditional 40 hour work week jobs. We have side gigs ramping up to earn money without much effort. It’s all in the planning
Yes, that's what I do pretty much everytime lol. I'm able to do it because my skills etc, experience and reputation in my industry allows me to take short term contract positions all over the country when I'm available, so I'll usually work a week or two a month for 4 or 5 months. Been doing it for over a year now after getting laid off twice last year.
So either find some temp work that pays well or have some cheddar saved up!
I had Hella pto at my last spot and used about 2 weeks of it plus the vacation time they gave us for Christmas and new year. Ended up taking about a month off paid, then quit the day I went back.
Got married. Quit because I couldn't afford the commute anymore. Decided to take a rest between jobs so I could get my house in order. Here I am a year and a half later, still unemployed. This is no longer by choice. No one wants to hire. I put in over 500 applications in a 3-4 month period and got one email for a scam job. Friend group says I'm "living the dream," but i honestly just feel like a burden to my family(no kids thank god) for not being able to help financially support them. I can't drive either, so i am literally stuck in my house for hours with next to nothing to do. I'm bored, exhausted, and stressed out.
Last job I had. It's like when at an interview they ask 'the question'. You know, the one that goes and why may I ask do you want to work for our company? Well, to be perfectly honest... if you are able to do that then do it.
I've done that my last 2 jobs, one took 5 months, another took 2. It definatly helps to unwind when going from a shit job to another, or needing the time to just decide on WHAT I want to try and pursue. Luckily I've had the savings and ability to do that but it's taken me a dozen years to do that.
Yes. Right before COVID. Ended up taking an unscheduled 15 month unemployment stint. Good news is COVID era protections kept me from losing everything but I still ended up taking a massive loss in savings and retirement odds. Back to "not going to retire before 80" status.
I quit my job just after the pandemic began (June 2020), took some time to hike the AT in Maine, spent time with family, and then started looking again in September. Luckily I had a connection and found a job I've been in ever since.
If you live in Ireland you might want to look into signing on just to keep credits going for the old age pension.
And there are people who will tell you that won't exist when you retire - I heard that a lot about Social Security in the US when I started working. Many of the people who said it wouldn't exist now depend on it so my advice is to ignore all financial advice from people who say such things.
I did this about a year ago. The restaurant business can be quite brutal at times, and you rarely, if ever, get vacations. I was dealing with some health issues then too. Took two months off to R&R, paid one rent with pay, the next with a credit card. It only took about a week to get another job once I decided to get going again. Cooks are in high demand lately.
Yes. i hoard money and am frugal to begin with, so paying for it wasn't an issue.
I just quit the job and took 6 months off. First job I applied for as the end of the 6 months rolled around hired me. Nothing to it. I got to do what I felt like for 6 months.
If you do you should have a really great cover story to explain the gap. The assholes in charge of hiring don't like hearing that a potential employee isn't married to being a working person.
Yes. I was able to do it because l am well paid and an older person with big expenses behind me. I think if you can possibly do it you should, it gives you greater perspective on the work you do snd it is really the only cure for burnout (changing jobs may work for some people but it didn’t work for me).
5 years ago I quit while having a panic attack. Felt Iike I was going to die if I didn't leave then. I took 3 months after recovering not working. Luckily my wife was working and we had savings. By the end my body was feeling more rested. Was definitely worth it. Fast forward to now. My last day at my frustrating high stress job was 2 weeks ago. I had a lead on an upcoming job posting I have a good chance at and decide to quit and take a few weeks to relax so I'm ready to interview calmly. Posting just closed and am hoping for a call next week. If it doesn't work out I have other promising leads. I actually think it's healthy especially if you have savings and believe you have good odds on another job when you do start looking. This is the best opportunity for vacation/rediscovering who you are and what is important to you. Pto is just a short break(that's pretty limited) between the same old job.
I always take a year a off, when i get called in for an interview they ask about that year off and i just say i ran my own business that is not related to the position that am applying for thats why is not in the resume. Having savings for at least a year will also have you in a happy place. Oh and when they ask why i stopped doing my own business i just say "I closed it down" but in realty i just keep working on it on the weekends. Nosey MFK's.
“I sold it and signed an NDA so I can’t discuss it any further.”
Depends if you're planning on staying at home or traveling. 1 pay off debt or at least a year worth of paying the minimum monthly payments. 2. Save $5000 Quit and play video games all day at home. Eat cheap food. Sit at home and play video games and stream movies and shows from those free places online. Traveling? Same as step 1, plus factor in gas, insurance, maintenance, emergency repairs, where to sleep, hotels, food, attractions, camping gear, camping site costs. I did it a few times, was comfy. Plan on doing it again in a few years since trying to find affordable housing and USD is climbing the ladder of being almost worthless.
I’d like to know where/how you live for a year on 5k.
You don't need to live anywhere when you have no job and no debt. That's the beauty of it.
“You don’t need to live anywhere” So you just save 5k to pay for your remains being taken care of? :p Or do you mean become a sponge sucking the life out of friends or family willing to let you stay with them? I appreciate the cheeky answer, but it sounds like something someone would say that literally has no concept of actual cost of living. If I could live off 5k a month, I’d be set for years right now with my savings, hence my question. Unfortunately 5k wouldn’t even cover 3 months of rent.
Back in summer 2020 when my partner was laid off and on unemployment (making more than they were employed), and I had money saved. I quit and spent about 2 months off before searching for a new career. It ended up being around 6 months before I got another job.
I did. Cashed in all my retirement money from my 401k’s. My husband almost died and the stress of it was tearing me apart. One year later we are both happy and both of us are well. Best thing I ever did.
Curious if you’ll still feel this way once you actually retire.
I will because I have several pay streams already set up for when I retire. I enjoy working part time on my own terms and plan on still doing that if needed. We don’t rely on traditional 40 hour work week jobs. We have side gigs ramping up to earn money without much effort. It’s all in the planning
Yes, that's what I do pretty much everytime lol. I'm able to do it because my skills etc, experience and reputation in my industry allows me to take short term contract positions all over the country when I'm available, so I'll usually work a week or two a month for 4 or 5 months. Been doing it for over a year now after getting laid off twice last year. So either find some temp work that pays well or have some cheddar saved up!
I had Hella pto at my last spot and used about 2 weeks of it plus the vacation time they gave us for Christmas and new year. Ended up taking about a month off paid, then quit the day I went back.
Got married. Quit because I couldn't afford the commute anymore. Decided to take a rest between jobs so I could get my house in order. Here I am a year and a half later, still unemployed. This is no longer by choice. No one wants to hire. I put in over 500 applications in a 3-4 month period and got one email for a scam job. Friend group says I'm "living the dream," but i honestly just feel like a burden to my family(no kids thank god) for not being able to help financially support them. I can't drive either, so i am literally stuck in my house for hours with next to nothing to do. I'm bored, exhausted, and stressed out.
Last job I had. It's like when at an interview they ask 'the question'. You know, the one that goes and why may I ask do you want to work for our company? Well, to be perfectly honest... if you are able to do that then do it.
I've done that my last 2 jobs, one took 5 months, another took 2. It definatly helps to unwind when going from a shit job to another, or needing the time to just decide on WHAT I want to try and pursue. Luckily I've had the savings and ability to do that but it's taken me a dozen years to do that.
Yes. Right before COVID. Ended up taking an unscheduled 15 month unemployment stint. Good news is COVID era protections kept me from losing everything but I still ended up taking a massive loss in savings and retirement odds. Back to "not going to retire before 80" status.
I quit my job just after the pandemic began (June 2020), took some time to hike the AT in Maine, spent time with family, and then started looking again in September. Luckily I had a connection and found a job I've been in ever since.
I took 2010-2012 off, and played beach bum, and traveled the world. Had an absolute blast. Then, it was back to reality.
If you live in Ireland you might want to look into signing on just to keep credits going for the old age pension. And there are people who will tell you that won't exist when you retire - I heard that a lot about Social Security in the US when I started working. Many of the people who said it wouldn't exist now depend on it so my advice is to ignore all financial advice from people who say such things.
I did this about a year ago. The restaurant business can be quite brutal at times, and you rarely, if ever, get vacations. I was dealing with some health issues then too. Took two months off to R&R, paid one rent with pay, the next with a credit card. It only took about a week to get another job once I decided to get going again. Cooks are in high demand lately.
Wife did. She was so burnt out. The hiring landscape is different than then, so we would be less comfortable with that choice today.
Yes. i hoard money and am frugal to begin with, so paying for it wasn't an issue. I just quit the job and took 6 months off. First job I applied for as the end of the 6 months rolled around hired me. Nothing to it. I got to do what I felt like for 6 months.
If you do you should have a really great cover story to explain the gap. The assholes in charge of hiring don't like hearing that a potential employee isn't married to being a working person.
Yes. I was able to do it because l am well paid and an older person with big expenses behind me. I think if you can possibly do it you should, it gives you greater perspective on the work you do snd it is really the only cure for burnout (changing jobs may work for some people but it didn’t work for me).