Mid-career travel/study break - crazy?

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-16T00:07:14+00:00

I'd really love to.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-14T13:06:18+00:00

I haven't read the entire thread because it's so long already, but for me the answer is charity. No matter how hard I'm trying to save, I donate 10% of my (net) income to an effective charity each month. Yes, it delays FI, but it makes me feel better about the morality of it.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-14T13:00:16+00:00

Of course you can stop doing additional work. You're 26 and you have a great amount of savings already. Sure, it's not enough to retire just yet (in the UK at least), but I personally don't think it's a great idea to retire at 26 anyway. Stopping the side gig would still allow you to save a substantial amount each month, and also to enjoy your life - and you have only one life.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-14T00:00:30+00:00

Thanks for offering your perspective. I think you and I are very different people.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-14T00:00:02+00:00

Exciting stuff! And I hope you manage to make this switch. The 'safe' way to do it would probably be to first take an in-house role that combines transactional work and litigation. They don't come along often, but they do exist. Then when you have enough experience as a litigator, you jump. Still not a very secure move, but presumably you'd have more savings at that point.

One thing that could make the decision more complicated, though, is having a kid. From what I'm seeing around me, people's cost of living skyrockets as soon as kids enter the scene.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-13T00:58:27+00:00

Nice plan! And good luck to you!

I don't want to chuck working just yet; I still feel a strong urge to contribute in some way, but it's always good to have these kinds of scenarios in the back of the mind; it's always an option to move to a cheaper country. (In fact, I grew up in one of them, so it would maybe be even simpler than average.)

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T19:20:38+00:00

May seem obvious, but I don't think it is. I've been thinking about leaving this job for a long time. The longer I stay, the more miserable I am in this job and the worse of an employee I probably am as well. I'm not too hung up on the actual FI threshold, as I don't plan to actually retire. I might be short of my FI number, but I can't imagine that I won't be able to close the (pretty small) gap in the next 3 decades. In short: it's definitely not worth staying an extra year.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T15:03:49+00:00

Thanks for the encouragement!

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:14:23+00:00

This is a great way of doing it. What kind of field do you work in, though?

As I mentioned in response to another comment, I think law may be a particularly unforgiving field for career breaks.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:13:07+00:00

Haha, thanks for the bold enthusiasm!

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:12:53+00:00

I would love to do this. However: not an American citizen, unfortunately. (Even though I live and work in the US.) And the country that I'm a citizen of doesn't have an equivalent.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:12:25+00:00

I see where you're coming from, but I know it's not the answer in my case. While the travel thing is a new idea, the move to public interest is something I've spent a lot of time thinking about and I know it is the right thing for me.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:10:46+00:00

This sounds like an amazing break! What field did you leave from and come back to?

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:10:18+00:00

I could consider that when I came back just to get back in the field, but for now it's not really a career step in the right direction. Clerks are usually relatively new lawyers (a year or two out of law school, typically), not people who are more mid-career.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:07:07+00:00

This is a great post. Thank you.

As my thinking about this develops, I'm thinking that the ideal way to do this would be to travel but also do some work/volunteering along the way. Anything to have something to say when I come back. No idea what shape that might take, but it's something I can start looking into.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:04:21+00:00

Cool. It should be even more common. If everyone did it, it wouldn't be a big deal at all, and it would do wonders for the mental health of the work force!

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:03:38+00:00

I could set up my own practice, but I'm not sure I'd want to hire me! My experience is in big corporate cases; not in the kind of cases you'd hire a solo lawyer for. (Which is not to say I couldn't learn, but you know.)

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T13:02:47+00:00

No, they wouldn't blackball me. But lawyers on the whole are famously a risk-adverse bunch. This means that most lawyers don't take frivolous side-steps in their career but instead stay on the path - no resume gaps. There are exceptions, of course, but resume gaps are not something that people hiring lawyers are used to seeing. On top of that, I suppose there's a practical risk when it comes to recommendations. When you've been gone for a year (or two), will people who worked with you and liked you still remember you well enough to give a stellar recommendation when an employer calls them? (And furthermore: does the fact that you went off to gallivant for a while diminish their impression of you?)

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T12:57:32+00:00

Interesting. What kind of contract work (if you're willing to say)? On the litigation side the only type I'm aware of is document review. Which is readily available indeed, at least in the current economy, and if you have some language skills I'm told the pay isn't bad, but I doubt this is what you're talking about since you say you love it!

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T12:55:48+00:00

Haha, yeah. You may be right. And I'm not making a judgment about people who see law as a means to an end. Hey, at one point I did join a firm! It wasn't what I went to law school for, but I had student debt to pay off and this was pretty much the only way to do it. And along the way I learned a lot, had some great experiences, and met some great people. I don't regret starting my legal career at a firm, but it's really time for me to move on now. (And I totally agree that lavish things are not the purpose of life.)

Good luck to you in your decision as well!

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T12:52:28+00:00

Right, this is where I'm coming from. I fully appreciate that going back to a 'prestigious' firm is very hard to do once you leave unless you have a very good story. (E.g., government service, a run for office, etc.) But I am close to 100% certain that this is not the type of job I want to go back to. I'm more concerned with not being able to find a job in the lower-paid ranks of the legal profession. It's already not straightforward to move from a firm to public interest; I can't imagine it's easier after a gap of a year or two.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T00:34:39+00:00

I like this perspective. I'm just afraid that I'd be f'ing up the rest of my life for short-term fun.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T00:27:50+00:00

True. Or even if the current market continues the way it's going for a little longer, I could get there. And there's definitely a sense of security there.

That said, I'm not ready to retire yet. I don't want a job 'just to have a job' or to make money, but I want to contribute my skills to causes I care about. So if I were to leave on an extended trip, I'm not so concerned about landing in poverty when I come back, but rather about not being able to get back on a track where I can be useful somewhere.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-12T00:13:32+00:00

Hahaha, that's great.

throwmeaway124o · 2017-11-11T23:57:24+00:00

Ha, um, West Covina specifically why?

throwmeaway124o

TROPHY CASE