Financial and Professional Steps to Take Before Taking a Long Vacation
Quite often, the topic of extended career leave comes up in the context of having children. People often want to spend a few years at home with their children when they are young, return to work when children enter school, or even continue to stay at home and provide a learning environment at home.
This post was originally published on The Simple Dollar .
This is one big reason for such a vacation, but there is also another reason. Some people want to take an extended vacation to build a business or pursue other creative pursuits, while others just want a long break.
My cousin and her husband, whom I will call “Nina” and “Craig,” often plan long breaks ahead of time. Nina and Craig have taken a break from their careers many times over the past two decades to embark on an adventure. Once they crossed the entire continental divide. Another time they walked along the Appalachian Trail. Once again, they embarked on a cross-country cycling adventure. Each time they planned an excursion in advance, left their current positions on the best terms, spent a year or so on their adventure, and then returned to their normal lives.
At the same time, one of my closest friends, whom I will call “Kevin,” retired from his career for a two-year hiatus, during which he hoped to start a woodworking business. In his spare time, he developed a plan for this business and made financial choices along the way, so that he could spend two years building or destroying this business. Unfortunately, his business did not go as he hoped, and he returned to his previous career path.
When I left my previous career in 2008, I didn’t know if this was going to be an extended vacation or a permanent change. I left on good terms, alerting my boss and setting up as much documentation and information as possible before leaving (I literally created a wiki with my working practices). I had intended to devote this time to my family, but during this time I had intended to continue to build The Simple Dollar. After a few years, it became clear that with the help of The Simple Dollar, I had built something stable enough that it could be my career for a while.
What do each of these cases have in common? They all involve people taking long breaks from their careers to try something new, and if you look closely, they have a lot in common. Here are some of the common strategies for all of these stories.
Make a very clear budget
When you are making the decision to go on an extended vacation at some point in the future, your first step should be to create a very clear budget so you know how much it will cost. Whether you like it or not, it will cost you a lot of money. This is not a cheap offer. Here are some things to think about when planning.
How long will you need to live during this period? What’s your real monthly cost of living? Also, how much money will you need to support what you plan to work on? You can start with your average monthly expenses right now and then multiply that by the length of your expected vacation.
How will you pay for things like health insurance? Make sure that you pay irregular accounts, as well as costs, which are currently covered by your employer. Think through all of these costs and know what you need to cover.
How about an emergency fund so that an unexpected event doesn’t ruin your plans? Unexpected things will happen. Make sure nothing but the worst happens to get in the way of your plans. You do this with a lot of flexibility in your budget, which means you save extra money that serves as a reserve fund.
Live beyond your means while you prepare
The savings on this plan have to come from somewhere, and you can accumulate them if you live beyond your means preparing for your extended vacation. If you can find ways to cut, say, 50% of your living expenses, then you can suddenly save 50% of your wages at home.
Try all sorts of saving strategies, even those that seem extreme. Cut the cord completely when it comes to TV services. Eat all meals at home, and take the leftovers with you to work. Buy everything by brand name. Use public transportation to get to and from work, and sell your car if you can. Move to a smaller house or apartment. There are many strategies you can use here.
The more parsimonious the strategies are, the lower your savings goal becomes. Remember, whenever you consistently cut your living expenses, that means your savings goal also gets lower because you cut costs for each month you try to cover.
Have a plan for your time
While you are getting your finances in order and saving up for this big idea, start thinking about how you are going to spend your time as well. It is very tempting as soon as you took off your load, just stood there for a bit, and this idle speed can turn into a long-term pattern. If you take a long vacation and do nothing of value with it, what’s the point?
If you are looking to start a business, develop a thorough business plan. Do not think about it. Write it down. Review this. Find mentors to review this and give you suggestions. A business plan is meant to help you think through all the potential pitfalls of a business idea, so take it seriously. This is your plan.
If you are going to be creative, treat it like “work”. Make sure you plan to devote a lot of time to this art every day. Plan these days now. Better yet, start practicing your skills now in your spare time. Draw, write stories, write code – whatever you want to do, start honing your core talent.
If you’re going on an adventure, plan at least the scope of the adventure. When will you leave? How long will it actually take (with some extra time to handle unexpected events)? What do you really need in this adventure? What preparatory steps will you need to take to accomplish this? Create a packing list. Make a schedule of what you need to take care of. Think now so you can jump straight to “doing” later.
Don’t burn bridges; Do your best to leave them intact
This is probably the most important principle of all these stories. When you give up your current career for an extended hiatus, don’t burn bridges . Do your best to do your best.
Warn as much as possible. Don’t just show up, drop the two-week notice on someone’s desk, and then head out the door. This almost always creates negative feelings. Instead, when you make a notice, allow enough time to make the process of finding a replacement as clear as possible.
Document your work. Make sure you document your work as thoroughly as possible so that someone else who comes in can easily continue the discussion. Be sure to show all of this documentation to your supervisor so they know you have taken many steps to make the transition smooth.
Maintain positive relationships. Even if relationships in the workplace are upsetting you, make an extra effort to keep them positive during the last months and weeks at work. Don’t walk away with an angry tirade against anyone, even if you think it’s justified. Be positive with everyone in your final days. Then try to keep some of that relationship even after you leave, even if it’s only through social media.
Make sure you have a clear path to return.
This is the flip side of the “don’t burn bridges” strategy. You want to make sure the door is open for your return, so take these steps now as you think about leaving.
Talk to your supervisor about the prospects for returning at the end of your term. What do you need to do to maximize the chances of this comeback? What small steps can you take now to make this possible? How about a few steps even when you’re not there?
Don’t let your knowledge completely atrophy while you’re gone. Take at least a little time each week to keep abreast of developments in your field. What’s new that you need to know about? Everything will change while you are gone.
Maintain these connections. A great way to do this is to start a blog or instagram about your adventure and share it with your old colleagues and bosses. This keeps you real in their lives. Occasionally flag them in your posts and respond to any comments they leave. If you stay on their radar even a little, your return will seem more likely.
Final thoughts
Giving up a career in the middle of the journey can seem daunting as much as possible, but if you plan this departure carefully, don’t burn bridges, and keep the door open to return, you’ll find that your adventure is far more likely to provide you with life-changing outcomes. while maintaining a little safety net.
Good luck with any adventure!
Financial and Professional Extended Leave Planning | Simple dollar