Quitting to run around naked in the woods
Been in PE as an analyst for a year and a half. Work has bled into everything (obviously know what everyone deals with this) health, dating, lifting, diet. Used to be in a good place, now it’s all shot.
Parents both have a condition, not terminal, but time with them is limited in the next couple years. Have also barely seen them since starting this job.
After two years I don’t plan to jump to another seat right away. Thinking about stepping away completely , missionary work, off-grid, whatever. Don’t even care about a paycheck lined up. Take a few months off and come back to finance after. For what it’s worth , I do love finance and doing something real as opposed to having a fake email job.
Not going into specifics as to not dox but have a good understanding on a lot of corners in finance and have been given a lot of responsibility over the last two years. So while I know the job market isn’t always great, think I would have as good a shot at getting back into finance as anyone
Plan all along was to do two years and take a step back. Was not naive and knew these would be a hard time in my life but now that I’m approaching two years it’s time to figure out what’s next.
Also should have about ~200k in bank so not worried about going homeless etc / have some cushion
Anyone know legit programs or have stories about doing something like this / some gap idea? Think missionary work would be awesome. Not even picky, just don’t love the city and would love to take some time off and come back to finance after I do something like this.
Open to advice from those ahead of me in life
You cannot get back the time with your parents later on in life. Far more important than any job and certainly more important than a job that largely is pleasing LPs at your level.
Maybe find something remote that is impressive on paper - you can then get an MBA after this period of your life.
Absolutely based. Get a cabin (plenty of good places in $50-100k range), get a remote job, grow some food, go off the grid. To anyone saying “oh no this so terrible” well it’s better than being a slave in PE obviously.
Why work 90+ hours a week and live in a shoebox? So you can go to Via Carota once a week and have an equinox membership you don’t use? Madness. People are way too far up their own asses.
Why Michigan
Michigan is probably the best deal to get a cabin in the woods
This is really good advice
the only problem is that the cabin in the woods won't have a good enough internet for work (calls and working together in files on Teams requires fiber).
Starlink
Growing food is a full time job
no job is worth missing out on time with your parents when you know time with them is limited in the near future. I'm not usually one to tell people to quit but it makes sense to for this reason. As others have said, try and find a remote job or a relatively chill corp dev / corporate role which can pay the bills in the meantime. You get many rolls of the dice regarding your career over a 4 decade period but only one shot with your parents, who are older than you.
This is really good advice. Thanks
Not sure how old you are or what your interests are. You could do a public service program (forest corp, conservation corp, etc) in the woods, try to get some sciencey research related woods thing, or you could try to pursue woods stuff for a private company, in fields with forest monitoring it’s definitely possible. If you’re truly wanting novelty or for time to stop flying by you could buy a flip phone and move to a different country. You could sign up for a thing in a year and force yourself to quit and prepare (a climb or a fight etc.). YOLO
I am under 25
But this is really good advice. Thank you
me too. you should message me, I have insight into some of these.
Sounds like you are Long the Peace Corps and Short Teach for America by personal preference.
We have a cabin in the woods 50min outside the city. It's on 17 acres, mostly wooded, no neighbors. We paid $120k for the vacant land and spent about $15-20k on cabin materials. So like $150k all-in max, and we spend pretty much every weekend from Oct-Feb at the cabin (no AC yet so summers are a no go, although I go out there during summer for maintenance).
We have a battery for lights, a wood stove for heat, and bring water/food with us. Tons of wildlife, I hunt the deer (delicious) and leave the turkeys alone (not my favorite meat). It's heaven, and I can't wait to be in a spot where I can stay out there even more than we already do. That said we don't live out there full-time and still have our main residence closer to the office.
Focus on maximizing serendipity
I left my job 3 years ago - for a slightly different reason but similar circumstances with about $200K saved up.
My grandmother was quite sick and one of my parents got diagnosed with something we thought was terminal.
I think the most important thing for me was to find my true calling and I didn’t even know about it. I just acted on instinct and picked places to go and it’d all work out. I just reserved some time to spend with family and spent the rest traveling and living in places a month at a time that are cheap enough.
I did this for like a year and a half.
Meanwhile I started investing my own money pretty seriously and it kind of snowballed into a whole thing now.
Just be mindful of your inflow/outflow, where you can maximize your learning, and reserving time to spend with your family.
If you want to go abroad - Central & Southern Europe, SEA, and Latin America are all good choices for being cheap, international, and has both exciting and chill things going on. Within the U.S. I think others are already describing places in the Midwest but even places like the Great Plains or areas near southern cities can be good options.
Remember, if you're young you have the luxury of taking ridiculous risks.
Two things. 1) Once you leave the industry, it's very difficult to get back in. If you take a sabbatical, understand that there is a non-zero chance you'll never be able to get back into the industry as there are tons of people gunning for these highly compensated, elite jobs; and 2) there are millions--literally millions--of small businesses for sale. With cash and some creative leverage (seller financing, SBA, etc.) you can "buy a job" that can replace or mostly replace even a high income job. No reason to stay in a job you truly hate, especially if that job has well compensated you such that you have capital to invest.
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