Yesterday I quit my job without having another one lined up.
Yes, I know there is still a pandemic out there, and there will be for many more months.
Yes, it helps that I have contractually 3 months notice. Paid unfortunately at a reduced rate given the 20% pay cut my husband and I were faced with in March as lockdown was announced – but three months nonetheless.
No, I’m nowhere near being financially independent, but certainly still working on it!
Why did I quit?
A crisis makes everyone nervous. Some clients pause all or most of their activity and reduce their fees, with the result that all the shit comes to the surface. The main account I was working on (90% of my time, more like 25% of my billable hours) was making me miserable. And the leadership was showing their weaknesses more and more.
I’ve been thinking about it for months, and if I had stayed, I would have just prolonged my misery. Given I have years to go before reading FIRE, I decided to put an end to it now.
Hurray for my emergency fund!
How much is in my emergency fund?
Shortly after lockdown was announced in March, and we were both told (on the same day) our pays would be cut by 20%, I decided to channel my savings towards my emergency fund rather than index funds investments. We also took advantage of a mortgage holiday (6 months), which somewhat balanced out our reduced income.
By the end of my 3 month’s notice I will have 9 months worth of cash saved and readily available.
What’s next?
Being summer, at the end of the week we will go on holiday. In the UK – we are not risking a quarantine with a 3.5 year old kiddo at home.
Thanks to Covid we first scrapped our holiday in Portugal and then the back-up one in Belgium too. As luck would have it, I was talking about it to a friend and she was kind enough to offer us their holiday home in Wales for near free (just cleaning fees)!
Fingers crossed the weather will be on our side and we’ll be exploring the beaches and mountains of a new part of the country!
After that I will start searching for a new job – together with many, many more qualified and smart people once the furlough scheme ends. I am a little nervous but I know I’ll manage, I always have. With age, a different view of the world (in the form of a kid) and a healthy emergency fund, one takes things just as they are.
I also want to get back to being more present on this blog. I have been quiet for a few weeks now, and I really missed it! This outlet helps me stay grounded 🙂
Anything else?
On a more fun note, last weekend I had my first non-DYI haircut of the year, and thoroughly enjoyed the stories my hairdresser had to tell me.
Someone should seriously write a book on positively making it through lockdown and a pandemic.
Take care, my friends, and see you soon.
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