No way you are 'travelling asia' for 20k for a year.
Lived in Asia for 7 years. Back when the AUD was much stronger, maybe, but not now. Need at least 3k a month to 'travel' rather than just exist there.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
The only guarantee is that he will have experienced things he would never be able to do if he stayed in his 9-5.
At 29 you’ve just got to send it.
I did age 21-27 travelling. Ski bum, logging work, bar jobs. Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia.
I now make 200k a year doing something completely unrelated to my education and experiences up to age 27.
Even if I didn’t make that I would not trade those years for anything. I lived more in those 6 years than most people do in their lifetimes. My current colleagues earn around what I do now without those experiences and they are jealous. They have wives and kids and regret not making more of their youth.
There’s no prizes for being the wealthiest person in a cemetery.
Even if he doesn’t end up earning more he should take the chance and go travel.
Living for the weekend and 4 weeks of time off a year isn’t living.
I’m going to be backing my work down to 6-9 months soon and taking a large pay cut. Life is calling.
i just know many people who doomspend young and are just subsistence living for decades after. a lot of people like that. you still have 50 years of life after 30, you can spread them out
You assume way to much thinking you have 50 years of life after age 30. No one knows what the future holds. Imagine a total working days per year of 231 days, total working hours per year: 1,848 hours assuming “only” 8 hours per day and total travel hours per year: 462 hours assuming 1 hour to work and 1 hour back to home until your 67 years old. Then assuming you live until 80 you have 13 years to travel when you’re old and decrepate.
This is assuming you don’t win lotto or inherate your wealth, get lucky in shares, etc.
What a waste of life making someone else rich instead of venturing out for 6 months at a young age to possibly discover the world a little beforehand.
Take each day as it comes, we’re never guarenteed tomorrow. Living for a future that may not exist isn’t living at all.
And what if he doesn’t. He throws away something that he’s guaranteed to have now for a non-zero chance he won’t find another one. Alternatively he can keep and have it now.
And trust me. I can tell you all about it. I mean, look at this thing. When I tried it with butter, everything changed! It's corn! A big lump with knobs. It has the juice (it has the juice). I can't imagine a more beautiful thing (woo).
I did exactly that last year after a little bit of career burnout. Took 8 months off and went all over Africa, Scandinavia and Asia. It cost me approximately 45k for it all. It set me back significantly in terms of savings and trying to save for a house deposit, however I'd still do it all over again because I don't think I'll ever have an opportunity to do such a thing when I'm older or more established in my career. I enjoy being back at work, with the clear goal of increasing my savings back again. I don't mourn the lost opportunities and savings as much as I thought I would've - I think more about all the wonderful things I've done during my trip.
When I was 29 I was in the same position. Ended up getting accepted for the Canadian Work Visa but never went. Ended up meeting someone and having a kid. So now I’ll never work overseas, but double the income meant we could buy a house.
Just go for it, life gives back what you put in.
Why would traveling cost 92/2 = 46k?! Don't worry about work. It usually sorts itself out through constantly applying. Try looking for work while your traveling abroad. Application is just a numbers game after you set your resume to meet all keywords anyway.
I wouldn't be travelling the whole time, so I'd need to pay for rent and bills for a year when I'm home. I just get the feeling that the job market is f'd.
The present job market is really fxcked. Like, severely fxcked. But understandably it's because this period is when graduates are taking on new roles. It'll get better next month (hope I didn't just jinx it). In fact, May-June are the best times to go on vacation because HR will be swamped with work for new grad hires.
Could you take a month or two off? A month paid, another unpaid? What about negotiating 3-4 days a week for a bit to take some pressure off? It's easier to find a job while you've got a job.
This is a popular opinion but that just means it’s the market rate.
A lot of people would be interested in doing OPs job for 75k a year…even if it’s heavily relied upon.
yeah some of the comments in here sometimes are quite shortsighted. There are jobs out there where the going rate is 75k regardless of how much they need you.
I'm 28 and I just got back from 12 months overseas. When I left I could've walked out and got a 20% payrise and my pick of job offers. Since I got back I've hardly got any job interviews, and i had to wade through a lot of shit to get my current job. You never know where the economy will be when you get home.
Was it worth it? Absolutely! Will it mess up your finances? Probably! But not as much as you think. depends a lot on how you travel. I'd recommend working a bit while you're traveling or doing work aways to save on accommodation. 12 months is a long time to be in full on "tourist" mode.
I feel like the issue here is that you are all or nothing. It doesn’t have to be 100% working then 100% not working to recover. Why not do both?
I feel like you’ll be one of those future posts bemoaning the fact that you frittered away all your money, and now you have nothing and the future looks bleak.
By all means take some leave, have a break, go somewhere fun. Maybe find a job that will includes travelling?
I wouldn’t be blowing the lot
Apply for jobs in the country / region that you're looking to travel in. Eg apply for jobs in London if you intend to do a lot of European travelling while abroad. At least then you're still making money and progressing in your career, while taking holidays here and there. In my company which is an American multinational, I am allowed to work from offices anywhere in the world, maybe you can look into that.
The problem with moving to London is the cost of living there. Not sure what it’s like in his industry but wages are also often lower than Australia.
Point is, moving to London is not gonna be cost effective
It's still more cost effective than taking an entire year off, earning $0 and spending all of his savings, which is what OP suggested doing. In some industries, a year or two of London experience can also help leverage a $50k payrise when you return to Australia so the lower wage for a short period has benefits later. A year or two in London or somewhere in Europe means he can regularly travel for the weekend.
Take a few months of annual leave / leave without pay. Have you had 6-12 months off before?
You might get bored, or hate seeing your savings go down. You might wish to get into another job or upskill / pivot to alternative work.
Dropping everything and YOLOing is not the answer
Spending 40k travelling and taking a whole year off work will cost you around 100k in total which could take 5 years or more to save up again if you're only earning 75k, at which point your apartment/house may cost another 100k or so. Then you have the stress of finding another job when the dust has settled. FInancially its a terrible move especially if you're looking to buy a place, but it will probably be fun though.
if I were you Id just take off to SEA for a few weeks to clear your head.
The current job market is really bad. It’s hard to know if things will improve by next year. In saying that, maybe you can use annual leave for a big holiday OR request a couple months leave without pay before resigning? Once you get back from the trip, you can continue to work them while looking for jobs on side. If you secure something new, maybe you can fit in another trip before the other one starts.
>Also does this seriously mess up any plans of saving up for an apartment deposit?
Going from $92k deposit, employed, to unemployed with half that amount is obviously messing up your deposit.
But you only live once, I've wasted a load of money, but all I've spent on travel was worth it.
Did this 2 years ago for 6 months, best decision I ever made. It gave me the time to reflect, understand why I wasn’t happy in my career and what I needed to change, which I found I couldn’t do effectively trapped in the grind. I’ve since retrained and got a job in my new career path, earning more and happier. Do it, just find a way to minimise your expenses just in case it goes longer than you expect.
Don’t quit. Job market is terrible at the moment, and getting worse. Also, you are 3 years away from having Long Service Leave. In the 10th year you will get all of that LSL, and then in years 11+ you get to take each year’s LSL as you earn it (i.e you don’t need to work another 10 years for it to vest again).
Take a month or 6 weeks off now, and go travelling. 2 weeks paid leave the rest just go negative leave or take leave without pay. If you’ve been there for 7 years they will allow it!
>My dream would be to take 6-12 months to actually enjoy life and travel before going back to full time work again.
I'd personally focus on a way to get a better work/life balance that doesn't involve quitting in your job in a shit job market.
What about using your annual leave to travel?
> Also does this seriously mess up any plans of saving up for an apartment deposit?
Yes - of course it will.
Spending $45k on a holiday when you only earn $75k/year is a huge chunk of a deposit.
But you choose you.
A year of spending and no income will delay your home deposit savings, yes.
12 months in creative probably won't see anything change (more AI, backlash against Adobe TOS resolved?) when you return and pick up where you left off so seems like a good idea to travel and leave the rat race behind, temporarily.
Note that going travelling and having an intentional break may be seen negatively by future employers. They want desperate people, not someone with plenty of savings who can go "nah I'm not putting up with your BS" and jet because they're competent. You'll intimidate some of the hiring managers, who themselves aren't in a financial position to do the same.
Experienced this quitting a FAANG job to avoid some unusually severe political BS, and spend 3 months being a stay at home dad to my kid. They liked that I didn't have to give notice to my last place, but the balls and money to just up and go might not fit where the culture is more about squeezing people for every minute of their day working.
Do it. You're at the age where it's now or never. I've travelled a lot in my 30's as well but in my 20's was better. Especially if you're single.
Also do it cheap. SE Asia, Latin America.
Why not take 3 months, drop 20k on a budget trip. May be the best 3 months or your life. Work at some crap hostel bars for free board and food and party with the opposite sex or the sex you prefer who come and go every 2 days.
If you single, jobless and got cash it is an unreal freedom. To my wife that may read this I love you and would not change you for the world.
> To my wife that may read this I love you and would not change you for the world.
Good save. I went back to uni to retrain as a Civil Engineer in my 40s after leaving the Army and spent a bit of time in the student accommodation during a number of residential schools. I came away with a deep sense of a regret about how I misspent my youth studying and working and having stable relationships... but sure I wouldn't change anything at all either. Very happy with my life choices...
You’re 29 with 7 years of experience and $92 k savings and seem like you’ve accounted for a good travel budget with buffer. So, enjoy your time overseas - you’ve deserved it. It might be harder to take extended time off when you’re older and have a mortgage and/or children. I didn’t get my first savings and job til I was older than you and still managed to save and buy property within 5 years. I’ve partied and travelled a lot in my 20s which made “settling down“ easy and I don’t have many regrets or what ifs. With hard work, you can save your money back up
Do it you won’t regret it. I’m 36 now and I did tonnes of travelling in my twenties 6-12 months at a time I got rehired 3 times by the companies I left to travel with after I came back. Just don’t burn your bridges and leave any loose ends at work and stay in touch. I feel like I’ve slowed down now though in my thirties, less energy and less likely to put up with staying in a hostel etc. to travel on a shoe string budget. I now prefer a private room so my costs for travelling have gone up. So consider that… in terms of apartment/houses I may be marginally behind as I didn’t work 2 years or so compared to my peers but I have still managed to buy a apartment and I’m looking to buy another house now. Depends on how you play it I suppose. Good luck!
This is a slight different tangent but I took a year off and back packed around the country. Most accommodation was free or next to nothing, I got to make heaps of friends that I still speak to, got heaps of fresh air and felt really good. Even doing that for a couple months may spark you up a bit post creative slump.
I did anything from tree thinning to blueberry picking and even looking after calves. I also still wanted to have purpose and retain income. I'm a designer and it didn't impact my job prospects, just took me a while to get back to being at my desk.
I've thought about doing it internationally too but love my partner too much to be away for very long.
I saved a solid 6 figures during the pandemic and near the end of it I could have put a down payment on my own apartment. Instead I chose to use that money to buy a round-the-world ticket and take 5 months off work.
It was honestly the best thing I ever did for myself. I came back with new perspectives, new goals, and a refreshed appreciation for the life I left behind.
GTFO of here man. Travel and enjoy your life. The money will eventually come back, but your time won’t.
So at the most you did this 2-3 years ago. Not really going to have much (useful) perspective about whether travel was "the best thing I ever did" so soon after are you?
You could always try and line up some freelance work you can do anywhere to at least supplement the travel money, creative field is good for that. At least slow the drain of the savings a bit. It would also mean no “resume gap”.
I'll give you a totally different angle! I had a partner in my 20's offered a job in Canada and now works for IPPC. Another partner offered a job in Uganda and now works as embassy representative for Timor Leste. Another as a Doctor went to prestigious hospital and now heads up a unit in Melbourne. A good mate of mine went to London and now heads up a large Liquor distributor. The common theme here is I didn't take the risks. They don't always work out but sometimes the gambles pay off. Do I regret it? Sure. But how can I work out what might have been?
If I wasn’t made redundant from my last job
I wouldn’t have changed industries
And in every job I worked at
It all seemed too easy,
So either I’m lucky, finding easy jobs
Or I’m good at what I do and should look for something else
Complacency is expensive
I am in a similar situation as you (burnt out, mentally tired, and can'tfocus), and I quit yesterday.
You may not get this chance down the line when you settle and have more responsibilities.
You never know what's gonna happen if you never try.
I am taking 6 months break, going to Europe next week for a month trip, will try few things on my own that I have planned.
If nothing works, the work option is always there.
Look at doing another job or upskill in your time off also. Travel, work casual, you’ll be fine. Unemployment still 4% if you’re breathing you’ll find work. Even outside your field 75-85k is average salary so you’ll be able to get into something with good attitude to work.
If you haven’t done it already, Take 2-3 weeks for travel overseas. It will feel like 2 months.
Come back with fresh perspective and see how you feel about it all
> Also does this seriously mess up any plans of saving up for an apartment deposit?
What do you expect to hear? Yes blowing half your savings (so $46,000?) will reduce your apartment deposit significantly (presumably by approximately 50%). What are your priorities though? If you want to travel then do that and don't regret it but accept that it was a choice you made with the consequences that will entail... but if you want to save up to buy then do that and accept that not travelling while you're still young was the opportunity cost of doing that.
They say people regret what they don't do more than what they do.
That's certainly the case for me. As long as you leave yourself an emergency buffer when you come back sounds like a great adventure!
Firstly, go travel.
Secondly, use it as an opportunity to work overseas to co-fund your trip. Work in bars in Europe, TEFL in Asia and work in hostels South America.
You could stretch that 45k into 2+ years abroad, knowing you’ll expand your horizons. All while having a 50k safety net for when you return home.
I'm your age with the same amount saved up... and I've just started my 12 month career break for travel and maybe work at some point.
I'm lucky to have bought a block of land that's appreciating in value slowly. But besides that I'm still terrified of the consequences of spending all this money that could have been deposit money better spent in a year's time...
One thing I'm reminding myself is that the usefulness of money changes as we get older. As a kid $50 was an insane amount. As a teenager $200 was crazy to think about. As a young adult $10,000 could mean a decent backpacking holiday.
Fast forward to the future, as an old man, a spare $10,000 won't come anywhere close to the same kinda holiday. There will probably be health issues in the way too etc.
I guess I'm trying to tell you (and me) that the $90k for this break at age 30 will have rapidly declining utility at age 40, 45, 55 etc. so do it now son!
I would keep looking for a new job but take some leave at your current job too. When you get a new job negotiate your start period so you have proper time off.
I'm like you in that my dream is to take 6 to 12 months off and travel. I am older than you though, married and already have an investment property but we're trying to save for another property. We've been trying to save for both and my dream is to have 100k just for travel
Could you take a remote part time job just to bring in a bit of money (and give you some structure for your time off)? I'm going to be working remotely for a month or two in another country part time and then travelling the rest of the time, then i'll return to life in Aus again
Im 53 and have never had a break...except when i had my boys. Im nervous to take a work break even though im exhausted...ageism!? Work makes me feel secure...another issue i need to resolve lol
I’m in my notice period. Was it smart financially? No. Was staying in a toxic work environment that was destroying my mental health worth it? Also no.
Alternatively if I end up out of work for long enough that a lack of money ends up effecting my mental health that also isn’t helpful but that rather risk that in 3-4 months than the immediate risk that I had staying if that makes any sense at all
When I was 29M I was also on the same salary as you, not a creative field though, with the tiniest bit more than you have saved, but otherwise basically the same. What's worth understanding is, is this really the ceiling in terms of pay for your role? Or like myself back then, are you being quite significantly underpaid for what you're doing? If it's the first, probably wouldn't hurt to catch a break holidaying and figuring your next move, but maybe try eat through a quarter max, rather than half your savings. I'd be biting my tongue, because even saving what you saved at 29, I really pushed myself and tolerated too much BS, so I'm today thankful I stuck it out and used those savings towards something. If it's a matter of you being underpaid, I'd consider how the industry is doing currently and forecast to do for the next several months and based on that decide if you should continue applying or take a holiday. End of the day though, if you've truly lost the momentum, probably a sign to throw the towel, really enjoy your leisure and hopefully come back refreshed. Everyone's different, but I just know that without having my own place I could never allow myself to spend half my savings on travel.
do it - you'll never regret "experiencing life", and as an employer I'd employ a person who had travelled over a person who hadn't if they both had similar qualifications / experience every time. You'll find a job, there's plenty for people with talent ....
If you can afford it, do it. IMO you'll never regret the life experiences. Sure, you might get a bit of a set back in some areas but who knows! At least you'll have something to talk about other than the cost of housing and whatnot. You might even decide to not come back. All the best.
Can you increase your income? Servicing a mortgage is gunna be tough on 75k whether you blow through half your savings or not.
If you increase your income you could feasibly buy in the next 12 months, save for travel in your offset for another year, then rent out the apartment to go adventuring.
spending half your savings at 29 to travel is something you will be paying back for the rest of your life.
Unless you end up making a lot of money in the future.
Shia Labeouf it bro! The world always catches you if you jump, opportunities only open up when you live fast and free and allow them to. If you don’t go you’ll never know and you miss every shot you don’t take and all of that
It sounds like you’re responsible with your finances and good at saving. I think maybe set aside a bit less money and take the break to travel. Once you’re doing it you may get to your reset point sooner than 6 month - 12 months anyway. (It’s hard to believe, but traveling long term does get exhausting and old for most people.)
Also, I would either break my lease or sublease while I’m gone. No sense in paying rent long term when you won’t be using it.
If you’re just as responsible when you get back you won’t be suffering financially like some people on here act.
You are going to blow up your entire financial life if you do this. Things have changed. You can’t have it all. Pick one. Buy a property or blow it on short term travel. Here’s a third option. Travel yearly to south east Asia on a shoe string. Something more reasonable like 6 weeks. Or use long service leave. But don’t do anything until you’re in the market. Think about it. Do you want any children in the future? Would you like them to have a roof over their head?
You can often travel later… maybe not the same way you imagined. But don’t put the cart before the horse. Tread wisely. Build your life up. Huge expensive overseas travel just might detonate it.
Don’t only listen to the my-identity-is-travel types. Recognise things are a lot harder now.
You could take $20k and travel around Asia for a year. Would not spend over $45k personally
No way you are 'travelling asia' for 20k for a year. Lived in Asia for 7 years. Back when the AUD was much stronger, maybe, but not now. Need at least 3k a month to 'travel' rather than just exist there.
What is this 2017? I think you'll find Africa is the only continent that is generally possible for $20k in 2024.
Africa is far more expensive. Southeast and South Asia and central/south America can't be beaten for value
YOLO mate. We can’t crystal ball the future. Sometimes opportunities reveal themselves in due course. Back yourself that you’ll find another kob
It's a leap of faith, but I know I'll regret not doing it more when I'm 80.
Yep, die with zero. Money can’t replicate experience.
You may not even make it to 80 either
That’s the spirit!
Sounds like your mind is made up then mate, you have our blessing. Gotta live your life instead of just working and tallying up numbers until you die.
Do it. Then come and convince me to do the same.
you'll possibly regret it up until that point though
I'm 62 and really regret not doing exactly this when I could have.
Just remember when you get back you are potentially looking at decades of financial hardship.
Maybe yes, maybe no. The only guarantee is that he will have experienced things he would never be able to do if he stayed in his 9-5. At 29 you’ve just got to send it.
yea send it for 6 months then spend the next 30 years grinding for a subpar retirement, sounds stupid to me. this is some doom spending shit
I did age 21-27 travelling. Ski bum, logging work, bar jobs. Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia. I now make 200k a year doing something completely unrelated to my education and experiences up to age 27. Even if I didn’t make that I would not trade those years for anything. I lived more in those 6 years than most people do in their lifetimes. My current colleagues earn around what I do now without those experiences and they are jealous. They have wives and kids and regret not making more of their youth. There’s no prizes for being the wealthiest person in a cemetery.
yea i also made another comment that said if you end up earning a lot more then it doesnt matter it's kind of obvious isn't it :)
Even if he doesn’t end up earning more he should take the chance and go travel. Living for the weekend and 4 weeks of time off a year isn’t living. I’m going to be backing my work down to 6-9 months soon and taking a large pay cut. Life is calling.
i just know many people who doomspend young and are just subsistence living for decades after. a lot of people like that. you still have 50 years of life after 30, you can spread them out
You assume way to much thinking you have 50 years of life after age 30. No one knows what the future holds. Imagine a total working days per year of 231 days, total working hours per year: 1,848 hours assuming “only” 8 hours per day and total travel hours per year: 462 hours assuming 1 hour to work and 1 hour back to home until your 67 years old. Then assuming you live until 80 you have 13 years to travel when you’re old and decrepate. This is assuming you don’t win lotto or inherate your wealth, get lucky in shares, etc. What a waste of life making someone else rich instead of venturing out for 6 months at a young age to possibly discover the world a little beforehand. Take each day as it comes, we’re never guarenteed tomorrow. Living for a future that may not exist isn’t living at all.
And what if he doesn’t. He throws away something that he’s guaranteed to have now for a non-zero chance he won’t find another one. Alternatively he can keep and have it now. And trust me. I can tell you all about it. I mean, look at this thing. When I tried it with butter, everything changed! It's corn! A big lump with knobs. It has the juice (it has the juice). I can't imagine a more beautiful thing (woo).
You'd tell us if you'd had a stroke wouldn't you?
I did exactly that last year after a little bit of career burnout. Took 8 months off and went all over Africa, Scandinavia and Asia. It cost me approximately 45k for it all. It set me back significantly in terms of savings and trying to save for a house deposit, however I'd still do it all over again because I don't think I'll ever have an opportunity to do such a thing when I'm older or more established in my career. I enjoy being back at work, with the clear goal of increasing my savings back again. I don't mourn the lost opportunities and savings as much as I thought I would've - I think more about all the wonderful things I've done during my trip.
When I was 29 I was in the same position. Ended up getting accepted for the Canadian Work Visa but never went. Ended up meeting someone and having a kid. So now I’ll never work overseas, but double the income meant we could buy a house. Just go for it, life gives back what you put in.
Why would traveling cost 92/2 = 46k?! Don't worry about work. It usually sorts itself out through constantly applying. Try looking for work while your traveling abroad. Application is just a numbers game after you set your resume to meet all keywords anyway.
I wouldn't be travelling the whole time, so I'd need to pay for rent and bills for a year when I'm home. I just get the feeling that the job market is f'd.
You could literally backpack for a year for that or much less depending where you go
yeah id end lease and just YOLO in SEA if I was OP. Lifes short, enjoy it while you can
The present job market is really fxcked. Like, severely fxcked. But understandably it's because this period is when graduates are taking on new roles. It'll get better next month (hope I didn't just jinx it). In fact, May-June are the best times to go on vacation because HR will be swamped with work for new grad hires.
Could you take a month or two off? A month paid, another unpaid? What about negotiating 3-4 days a week for a bit to take some pressure off? It's easier to find a job while you've got a job.
Not at my current job, they rely on me too much
if all theyre paying is 75k they dont need you that much.
This is a popular opinion but that just means it’s the market rate. A lot of people would be interested in doing OPs job for 75k a year…even if it’s heavily relied upon.
yeah some of the comments in here sometimes are quite shortsighted. There are jobs out there where the going rate is 75k regardless of how much they need you.
That's Reddit, full of wisdom without experience or knowledge
? Very strange
Have you asked? If you don't ask, the answer's always no.
Not your problem that they rely on you. Go for a holiday.
I'm 28 and I just got back from 12 months overseas. When I left I could've walked out and got a 20% payrise and my pick of job offers. Since I got back I've hardly got any job interviews, and i had to wade through a lot of shit to get my current job. You never know where the economy will be when you get home. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Will it mess up your finances? Probably! But not as much as you think. depends a lot on how you travel. I'd recommend working a bit while you're traveling or doing work aways to save on accommodation. 12 months is a long time to be in full on "tourist" mode.
I feel like the issue here is that you are all or nothing. It doesn’t have to be 100% working then 100% not working to recover. Why not do both? I feel like you’ll be one of those future posts bemoaning the fact that you frittered away all your money, and now you have nothing and the future looks bleak. By all means take some leave, have a break, go somewhere fun. Maybe find a job that will includes travelling? I wouldn’t be blowing the lot
That's fair, I've thought about doing part time and travelling. Haven't seen any jobs advertised that actually include travelling.
Apply for jobs in the country / region that you're looking to travel in. Eg apply for jobs in London if you intend to do a lot of European travelling while abroad. At least then you're still making money and progressing in your career, while taking holidays here and there. In my company which is an American multinational, I am allowed to work from offices anywhere in the world, maybe you can look into that.
The problem with moving to London is the cost of living there. Not sure what it’s like in his industry but wages are also often lower than Australia. Point is, moving to London is not gonna be cost effective
It's still more cost effective than taking an entire year off, earning $0 and spending all of his savings, which is what OP suggested doing. In some industries, a year or two of London experience can also help leverage a $50k payrise when you return to Australia so the lower wage for a short period has benefits later. A year or two in London or somewhere in Europe means he can regularly travel for the weekend.
Take a few months of annual leave / leave without pay. Have you had 6-12 months off before? You might get bored, or hate seeing your savings go down. You might wish to get into another job or upskill / pivot to alternative work. Dropping everything and YOLOing is not the answer
Spending 40k travelling and taking a whole year off work will cost you around 100k in total which could take 5 years or more to save up again if you're only earning 75k, at which point your apartment/house may cost another 100k or so. Then you have the stress of finding another job when the dust has settled. FInancially its a terrible move especially if you're looking to buy a place, but it will probably be fun though. if I were you Id just take off to SEA for a few weeks to clear your head.
Nobody looks back on their life saying I should have worked more.
The current job market is really bad. It’s hard to know if things will improve by next year. In saying that, maybe you can use annual leave for a big holiday OR request a couple months leave without pay before resigning? Once you get back from the trip, you can continue to work them while looking for jobs on side. If you secure something new, maybe you can fit in another trip before the other one starts.
>Also does this seriously mess up any plans of saving up for an apartment deposit? Going from $92k deposit, employed, to unemployed with half that amount is obviously messing up your deposit. But you only live once, I've wasted a load of money, but all I've spent on travel was worth it.
Did this 2 years ago for 6 months, best decision I ever made. It gave me the time to reflect, understand why I wasn’t happy in my career and what I needed to change, which I found I couldn’t do effectively trapped in the grind. I’ve since retrained and got a job in my new career path, earning more and happier. Do it, just find a way to minimise your expenses just in case it goes longer than you expect.
Don’t quit. Job market is terrible at the moment, and getting worse. Also, you are 3 years away from having Long Service Leave. In the 10th year you will get all of that LSL, and then in years 11+ you get to take each year’s LSL as you earn it (i.e you don’t need to work another 10 years for it to vest again). Take a month or 6 weeks off now, and go travelling. 2 weeks paid leave the rest just go negative leave or take leave without pay. If you’ve been there for 7 years they will allow it!
>My dream would be to take 6-12 months to actually enjoy life and travel before going back to full time work again. I'd personally focus on a way to get a better work/life balance that doesn't involve quitting in your job in a shit job market. What about using your annual leave to travel? > Also does this seriously mess up any plans of saving up for an apartment deposit? Yes - of course it will. Spending $45k on a holiday when you only earn $75k/year is a huge chunk of a deposit. But you choose you.
A year of spending and no income will delay your home deposit savings, yes. 12 months in creative probably won't see anything change (more AI, backlash against Adobe TOS resolved?) when you return and pick up where you left off so seems like a good idea to travel and leave the rat race behind, temporarily. Note that going travelling and having an intentional break may be seen negatively by future employers. They want desperate people, not someone with plenty of savings who can go "nah I'm not putting up with your BS" and jet because they're competent. You'll intimidate some of the hiring managers, who themselves aren't in a financial position to do the same. Experienced this quitting a FAANG job to avoid some unusually severe political BS, and spend 3 months being a stay at home dad to my kid. They liked that I didn't have to give notice to my last place, but the balls and money to just up and go might not fit where the culture is more about squeezing people for every minute of their day working.
You could travel a lot cheaper than you are suggesting. You only get one life....live it.
Do it. You're at the age where it's now or never. I've travelled a lot in my 30's as well but in my 20's was better. Especially if you're single. Also do it cheap. SE Asia, Latin America.
Why not take 3 months, drop 20k on a budget trip. May be the best 3 months or your life. Work at some crap hostel bars for free board and food and party with the opposite sex or the sex you prefer who come and go every 2 days. If you single, jobless and got cash it is an unreal freedom. To my wife that may read this I love you and would not change you for the world.
> To my wife that may read this I love you and would not change you for the world. Good save. I went back to uni to retrain as a Civil Engineer in my 40s after leaving the Army and spent a bit of time in the student accommodation during a number of residential schools. I came away with a deep sense of a regret about how I misspent my youth studying and working and having stable relationships... but sure I wouldn't change anything at all either. Very happy with my life choices...
How much leave do you have? Maybe just take it all for a break and go to Thailand etc then continue job hunting when you get back to your old job
I have a couple weeks saved, I've used two this year already.
Probably not, in 2021 economic environment it would be fine
5 years from now you could find yourself on the frontlines for WW3. None of us know the future, so enjoy your life without being completely reckless.
Exactly- or another pandemic. No one saw that coming.
Actually a decent take to be honest...
You’re 29 with 7 years of experience and $92 k savings and seem like you’ve accounted for a good travel budget with buffer. So, enjoy your time overseas - you’ve deserved it. It might be harder to take extended time off when you’re older and have a mortgage and/or children. I didn’t get my first savings and job til I was older than you and still managed to save and buy property within 5 years. I’ve partied and travelled a lot in my 20s which made “settling down“ easy and I don’t have many regrets or what ifs. With hard work, you can save your money back up
Do it you won’t regret it. I’m 36 now and I did tonnes of travelling in my twenties 6-12 months at a time I got rehired 3 times by the companies I left to travel with after I came back. Just don’t burn your bridges and leave any loose ends at work and stay in touch. I feel like I’ve slowed down now though in my thirties, less energy and less likely to put up with staying in a hostel etc. to travel on a shoe string budget. I now prefer a private room so my costs for travelling have gone up. So consider that… in terms of apartment/houses I may be marginally behind as I didn’t work 2 years or so compared to my peers but I have still managed to buy a apartment and I’m looking to buy another house now. Depends on how you play it I suppose. Good luck!
This is a slight different tangent but I took a year off and back packed around the country. Most accommodation was free or next to nothing, I got to make heaps of friends that I still speak to, got heaps of fresh air and felt really good. Even doing that for a couple months may spark you up a bit post creative slump. I did anything from tree thinning to blueberry picking and even looking after calves. I also still wanted to have purpose and retain income. I'm a designer and it didn't impact my job prospects, just took me a while to get back to being at my desk. I've thought about doing it internationally too but love my partner too much to be away for very long.
I saved a solid 6 figures during the pandemic and near the end of it I could have put a down payment on my own apartment. Instead I chose to use that money to buy a round-the-world ticket and take 5 months off work. It was honestly the best thing I ever did for myself. I came back with new perspectives, new goals, and a refreshed appreciation for the life I left behind. GTFO of here man. Travel and enjoy your life. The money will eventually come back, but your time won’t.
So at the most you did this 2-3 years ago. Not really going to have much (useful) perspective about whether travel was "the best thing I ever did" so soon after are you?
I wouldn’t do it… the job market is so bleak
Is it gonna get better?
At some point As with all cycles
I got laid off a few months ago and it’s been terrible. I’ve never seen the job market like this. It’s really tough right now.
You could always try and line up some freelance work you can do anywhere to at least supplement the travel money, creative field is good for that. At least slow the drain of the savings a bit. It would also mean no “resume gap”.
I'll give you a totally different angle! I had a partner in my 20's offered a job in Canada and now works for IPPC. Another partner offered a job in Uganda and now works as embassy representative for Timor Leste. Another as a Doctor went to prestigious hospital and now heads up a unit in Melbourne. A good mate of mine went to London and now heads up a large Liquor distributor. The common theme here is I didn't take the risks. They don't always work out but sometimes the gambles pay off. Do I regret it? Sure. But how can I work out what might have been?
If I wasn’t made redundant from my last job I wouldn’t have changed industries And in every job I worked at It all seemed too easy, So either I’m lucky, finding easy jobs Or I’m good at what I do and should look for something else Complacency is expensive
I am in a similar situation as you (burnt out, mentally tired, and can'tfocus), and I quit yesterday. You may not get this chance down the line when you settle and have more responsibilities. You never know what's gonna happen if you never try. I am taking 6 months break, going to Europe next week for a month trip, will try few things on my own that I have planned. If nothing works, the work option is always there.
Look at doing another job or upskill in your time off also. Travel, work casual, you’ll be fine. Unemployment still 4% if you’re breathing you’ll find work. Even outside your field 75-85k is average salary so you’ll be able to get into something with good attitude to work.
If you haven’t done it already, Take 2-3 weeks for travel overseas. It will feel like 2 months. Come back with fresh perspective and see how you feel about it all
> Also does this seriously mess up any plans of saving up for an apartment deposit? What do you expect to hear? Yes blowing half your savings (so $46,000?) will reduce your apartment deposit significantly (presumably by approximately 50%). What are your priorities though? If you want to travel then do that and don't regret it but accept that it was a choice you made with the consequences that will entail... but if you want to save up to buy then do that and accept that not travelling while you're still young was the opportunity cost of doing that.
They say people regret what they don't do more than what they do. That's certainly the case for me. As long as you leave yourself an emergency buffer when you come back sounds like a great adventure!
Go only where the dollar is strong. Sell or give away everything you own.
Firstly, go travel. Secondly, use it as an opportunity to work overseas to co-fund your trip. Work in bars in Europe, TEFL in Asia and work in hostels South America. You could stretch that 45k into 2+ years abroad, knowing you’ll expand your horizons. All while having a 50k safety net for when you return home.
I'm your age with the same amount saved up... and I've just started my 12 month career break for travel and maybe work at some point. I'm lucky to have bought a block of land that's appreciating in value slowly. But besides that I'm still terrified of the consequences of spending all this money that could have been deposit money better spent in a year's time... One thing I'm reminding myself is that the usefulness of money changes as we get older. As a kid $50 was an insane amount. As a teenager $200 was crazy to think about. As a young adult $10,000 could mean a decent backpacking holiday. Fast forward to the future, as an old man, a spare $10,000 won't come anywhere close to the same kinda holiday. There will probably be health issues in the way too etc. I guess I'm trying to tell you (and me) that the $90k for this break at age 30 will have rapidly declining utility at age 40, 45, 55 etc. so do it now son!
I would keep looking for a new job but take some leave at your current job too. When you get a new job negotiate your start period so you have proper time off. I'm like you in that my dream is to take 6 to 12 months off and travel. I am older than you though, married and already have an investment property but we're trying to save for another property. We've been trying to save for both and my dream is to have 100k just for travel
Could you take a remote part time job just to bring in a bit of money (and give you some structure for your time off)? I'm going to be working remotely for a month or two in another country part time and then travelling the rest of the time, then i'll return to life in Aus again
Buy a good tent before you leave so you have something to come home to
Im 53 and have never had a break...except when i had my boys. Im nervous to take a work break even though im exhausted...ageism!? Work makes me feel secure...another issue i need to resolve lol
I’m in my notice period. Was it smart financially? No. Was staying in a toxic work environment that was destroying my mental health worth it? Also no. Alternatively if I end up out of work for long enough that a lack of money ends up effecting my mental health that also isn’t helpful but that rather risk that in 3-4 months than the immediate risk that I had staying if that makes any sense at all
When I was 29M I was also on the same salary as you, not a creative field though, with the tiniest bit more than you have saved, but otherwise basically the same. What's worth understanding is, is this really the ceiling in terms of pay for your role? Or like myself back then, are you being quite significantly underpaid for what you're doing? If it's the first, probably wouldn't hurt to catch a break holidaying and figuring your next move, but maybe try eat through a quarter max, rather than half your savings. I'd be biting my tongue, because even saving what you saved at 29, I really pushed myself and tolerated too much BS, so I'm today thankful I stuck it out and used those savings towards something. If it's a matter of you being underpaid, I'd consider how the industry is doing currently and forecast to do for the next several months and based on that decide if you should continue applying or take a holiday. End of the day though, if you've truly lost the momentum, probably a sign to throw the towel, really enjoy your leisure and hopefully come back refreshed. Everyone's different, but I just know that without having my own place I could never allow myself to spend half my savings on travel.
If I was your age again I’d travel for a year. Yes it’ll impact your savings but as someone else pointed out yolo. Experiences over possessions
One day we are gone, do whatever you want.
do it - you'll never regret "experiencing life", and as an employer I'd employ a person who had travelled over a person who hadn't if they both had similar qualifications / experience every time. You'll find a job, there's plenty for people with talent ....
If you can afford it, do it. IMO you'll never regret the life experiences. Sure, you might get a bit of a set back in some areas but who knows! At least you'll have something to talk about other than the cost of housing and whatnot. You might even decide to not come back. All the best.
Buy first, then travel.
I'm not gonna be able to afford travel when I'm eating beans and rice to pay off a mortgage.
Can you increase your income? Servicing a mortgage is gunna be tough on 75k whether you blow through half your savings or not. If you increase your income you could feasibly buy in the next 12 months, save for travel in your offset for another year, then rent out the apartment to go adventuring.
You should not continue your rent and try living in Asia for a whole year. You can live off $1k a month in Vietnam and party.
spending half your savings at 29 to travel is something you will be paying back for the rest of your life. Unless you end up making a lot of money in the future.
It won't take 40 years to earn back $45k
familiarize yourself with compound interest and then make the best decision for yourself
Yes especially if you want kids/housing in the future.
Shia Labeouf it bro! The world always catches you if you jump, opportunities only open up when you live fast and free and allow them to. If you don’t go you’ll never know and you miss every shot you don’t take and all of that
It sounds like you’re responsible with your finances and good at saving. I think maybe set aside a bit less money and take the break to travel. Once you’re doing it you may get to your reset point sooner than 6 month - 12 months anyway. (It’s hard to believe, but traveling long term does get exhausting and old for most people.) Also, I would either break my lease or sublease while I’m gone. No sense in paying rent long term when you won’t be using it. If you’re just as responsible when you get back you won’t be suffering financially like some people on here act.
You are going to blow up your entire financial life if you do this. Things have changed. You can’t have it all. Pick one. Buy a property or blow it on short term travel. Here’s a third option. Travel yearly to south east Asia on a shoe string. Something more reasonable like 6 weeks. Or use long service leave. But don’t do anything until you’re in the market. Think about it. Do you want any children in the future? Would you like them to have a roof over their head? You can often travel later… maybe not the same way you imagined. But don’t put the cart before the horse. Tread wisely. Build your life up. Huge expensive overseas travel just might detonate it. Don’t only listen to the my-identity-is-travel types. Recognise things are a lot harder now.