I’ve been seriously considering leaving my job without anything lined up for a few months now, and I think I’m about to pull the trigger. I’ve looked at the numbers and think I’ll be okay and that this is the right decision for my physical and mental health, but interested in hearing what others think.
I’m attorney at a regional big law firm making more than I ever thought I would, but I’m totally burned out and the money no longer seems worth it. I’m planning on quitting without another job lined up and taking a few months off before hitting the job search hard. Hoping to land an in house legal or JD preferred compliance position. I get LinkedIn notifications about jobs in my specialty regularly, but I’m to the point of burnout where I don’t want to spend my nonworking time applying for jobs. I’d also really like to take some time off, do some small projects around the house, maybe take a few roadtrips, and spend quality time with my family, friends, and dog before jumping into anything new. I’m also confident that I could go back to a prior employer and get contract work to cover my basic expenses if I can’t find a job.
I plan to give 1-2 months notice to transition work. I don’t foresee my employer terminating me before the end of my notice period. If anything, I think they’ll ask me to stay longer.
If I made no changes to my spending, I currently have 7 months of expenses saved in an HYSA, and another 7 months in a taxable brokerage. Before leaving my job, I could easily save another month or two of expenses in my emergency fund. If I cut back on spending, I could probably stretch my emergency fund out to a year. I also have an HSA with enough to cover health insurance premiums/deductibles for years.
I have no debt other than my mortgage, a paid off reliable car, no kids, but also no partner/other source of income.
Does this seem reasonable, or am I making a huge mistake?
Also, with the market/world being what it is, should I pull some money out of my brokerage while the market is up to lock in a few extra months of expenses, or should I leave money in my brokerage and only draw from it if I need it?
Quitting with nothing lined up
byu/trashpanda241 inpersonalfinance
Posted by trashpanda241
3 Comments
Sounds like you’ve already made up your mind to leave. It’s more of a personal decision as everyone has different tolerance to risk, stress, and financial uncertainty. You can’t assume your expenses will stay the same if you plan to use your time off to travel and do projects around the house.
This isn’t really a personal finance decision but with a mortgage I would absolutely not just stop working. This is not a good market to go jobless in whatsoever.
Try looking into moving to midlaw, my wife made the move a year ago for not that much less money and it’s so far been the best career choice of her life after leaving big law.
I own my own biz so I can speak from personal experience, ut from everything I read this does not seem like a market you want to be stuck in with nothing lined up