Once I found out about business school, my plan was to work until the end of June, give myself a few weeks to relax and move, and then head back to school in July/August. Last night, however, I started thinking that maybe… for this time in my life, I can afford to be a little irresponsible.
I am considering quitting my job at the beginning of May, ending the lease on our apartment, and packing up to travel China for 3 weeks. Should I do it?
YES, because:
- CB and I will not have 3 weeks to just go travel for the next few years. After graduate school we will be busy working, paying off student loans, being “adults.”
- It would be nice to see and introduce CB to part of my extended family. Plus, China is part of my heritage and I’d REALLY want to go back beyond simply wanting a vacation.
- We are willing to stay in hostels and take night trains to stay on budget, and for part of the trip we will be guests of my uncle and aunt, who will undoubtedly insist on paying for most of our expenses. The whole trip, including international airfare from LAX to Beijing, will probably cost $4,500 for 3 weeks. If we only go for 2 weeks, we can probably swing it for $4,000.
- Ahhh! China!! THREE WEEKS! (can you sense the excitement?)
NO, because:
- That $4,500 we’ll be spending could go to graduate school tuition… which will be sorely appreciated by our Future Indebted Selves.
- Quitting almost two months early means that we will be cutting our 401K contributions by $3,500+. Not a small figure. We will also have to front our own insurance (COBRA or buy a temporary insurance) once we stop receiving employer-sponsored coverage.
- It will be much more challenging to max out our Roth IRAs (we will still do it, just might have to take some money out of savings to do so).
- We won’t be, you know, making money.
I talked to several of my friends, and they all said that I should go travel. In my heart of hearts, that’s what I want to do. From past experience, trips deferred just don’t happen. My girlfriends and I had planned on a Mexican cruise in 2009. But we kept pushing it further and further down the schedule, until no one even talk about it anymore. I do not want CB and my China trip to suffer the same fate. But the money. Ouch.
If you were in my situation, what would you do? Or would you strike for a compromise – taking a 2-week vacation in May and quitting in June as planned?
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As long as you're not going into debt to pay for the trip, I say go for it
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I think if you have enough saved to cover yourself, then I would do it. Like you said, you don't know if you'll have another chance.
coming out of lurk mode just to say… travel now. there will never be the "perfect" time to go (but this does sound pretty darn close). there will always be things you could/should do instead, but this sounds like a priority of yours. DO IT.
if you are still hesitant? go log into your retirement accounts online. remember that you are in your 20s and have $100,000 in retirement already. HOLY SHIT GIRL, you are awesome. THIS is why you save money…. so that you can quit your job and travel to china with your fiance. amiright?
I spent 3 weeks in China as a senior in high school and it was beautiful. You will love China and what is so neat is that it is so different than going to a Western country. There is so much history that it is eye opening. I also went and stayed with relatives who lived in the country and it made all the difference in getting to see everything. The pros and cons of the money are up to you, but I have never heard anyone say they regretted traveling.
I think you should travel. I wish I had traveled a bit more when I was younger. I'm 34 now and have a four month old son. I know I can always travel later in life when he gets a little bit older, but there is something nice about doing it when you are young and carefree. I loved the few trips I took in my late 20s and early 30s. After you graduate you might feel pinched by loans and it might be hard to get vacation time. I think this is one time in your life when you should go for it!
Another lurker coming out of the woodwork…
DO IT! If you value travel as much as you say you do, this should be a no brainer. You have a ton saved for retirement already and your earning potential is only going to increase after graduate school. And I doubt you'll want to stay in hostels when you're 50 or 60 to afford a trip like this when you have the time then.
And plus, it's not like you're actually being "irresponsible." I can only imagine how you have already crunched the numbers to make sure you can afford to do this
FYI, I'm 27, in a very similar financial state as you are, and would do this in a heartbeat. I did a 3 week vacation to Australia and New Zealand in April of 2011 – best decision ever, and it cost about the same.
I'd LOVE to hear about your trip to Australia & NZ. That's on my 5-year list.
I agree with everyone else – if you won't be going into debt by taking the trip, do it! You can save money your whole life. Travel while you are "free".
um I would be on the plane RIGHT NOW.
Do it!!! You won't regret it and as you said, you might not get another shot.
GO!
As much as I hate to say it because I love to travel. I would work and save until the very last moment you can. No matter how good the school or the program you are going into, there are no guaranteed jobs when you are done. Not having to pay the additional $4K in student loans will be nice.
I know a number of people who went into really good law or business programs, did really well, came out with a reasonable amount of student loans and did not get the jobs or pay rates they anticipated based on the information they got going into the programs. Taking $4K off that would be nice.
I just recently left a PhD program, and I am really glad I worked up until the week before we moved across the county. It doesn't seem like a lot of money, but that little bit bought us some additional comfort on this side of the process.
I say travel now, and if you are still hesitant go with the compromise of a 2 week vacation and quitting in June.
But as you said the opportunity to travel may not come again, best to take advantage now.
I'm a big saver, but I also agree that you are well ahead of the curve in your retirement. You won't go in debt for this trip. The timing is pretty close to ideal. The cost is also quite ideal! I wish you the best, I think you're going to DO IT. Please post some photos and have a wonderful time.
What will you be using the retirement money for (other than living)? If it's travel, think about who you might not get to visit in the future.
I would like to introduce my fiance to my remaining set of grandparents… part of me wishes that he could have met my grandma who passed away a few years ago.
Travel, even if you just do the 2 weeks. I planned to go to my birth country and visit my grandma in early 2008, but I decided to postpone the trip to the following year. She passed away a few months before I made it there. Thankfully my sister and cousin kept the original travel plans and got to see Grandma one more time.
Not the usual thing you'd hear from me, but I would go. Health and time are not promised.
Jobs aren't either but you know what? You're going to be in big debt by then and if you can't get a job at then of it so that $4k makes a difference, you'd be considering somewhat drastic options like dipping into saved funds anyway.
If you're still worried, no more shopping between now and then!
Go for it! You seem to have your finances under control (i.e. I highly doubt you're going into debt for this), and when will you have the time to do this again? Years down the road, I don't think you'll say: damn it, I wished I didn't spend that $5K on going to China to see my family and to be carefree. I think you'll find it worth every penny. You can work for the rest of your life (until retirement age, that is)
I'm leaning toward "go for it!" like many of the other commenters.
BUT I have another suggestion that possibly has all the same upsides and none/less of the downsides. As I understand it, business school is two years and you do an internship in the summer between? Is there a way to get in a two-or-three-week vacation on one side or the other of the internship during the summer break? If it's possible to take that time and you are still willing to spend the cash, you don't have to sacrifice income, insurance coverage, retirement benefits. You could even make the internship a bit shorter without losing as much income as you would if you took the trip before the start of school.
Maybe not what you want to hear, but I'm trying to get you the best of both worlds!
Traveling in the summer is definitely a possibility if I am going by myself or going with business school friends, but the chances of CB's and my two summers matching up are slim – we are in different programs at different schools. So it's quite likely that we will not have the chance to travel together until after we both graduate.
I'm sure the school schedules are up by now. May as well check!
I would say do it now – it's so much harder to take that kind of time off once you're out of school and working and all that (unless you're a teacher, or have irregular hours or something).
Do it!
I can only add what I did, because I found myself in a similar situation about 7 months ago before I started law school. I only make money when I'm working. I worked up until the Friday. I moved on the Saturday, there was a meet and greet on the Sunday and school started on the Monday. I could have taken off 2-4 weeks before moving. I would have made $2000-$4000 less, and would have spent $2000-$3000 on a trip.
Like you, I would not have gone into debt for the trip, and in fact I had over $100,000 cash in the bank. However, I decided not to take the trip. I looked at my tuition and expenses over the coming years as debt, so in my mind I did not have the money to travel. To me it wasn't worth it, which doesn't mean that it wouldn't be worth it to you.
I would add up the amount you would spend on the trip to the amount of income you would lose by not working. If you would rather take the trip than graduate with $8,000 less in debt, for example, than go for it. It's a choice you will have to make, and I think you should go with the outcome that appeals to you more. I hate debt more than I love any vacation, but to some people travel is the most important thing.
Just go – there's no do-overs in life, and your (relatively) care free twenties dissapear pretty quick! It's not the same to try travelling later when you have so many more commitments (sigh… mortgage…)…
I would so do it! That's such an amazing opportunity and at an even more amazing cost – I'm going to NYC in September and have budgeted $2K for 5 days! You'll never regret travelling, but you will regret not travelling. That's just my opinion =)
You should definitely go on the trip! The way I see it is that yes, you will be "losing" money now. However, once you have your MBA you will be earning more money than now and if you decide to travel then, you will be "losing" a greater amount than you would be if you went now.
PS: Are you taking the China tour for 49$ and then traveling additionally?
I don't think we'll be doing the $49 trip. Our desired itinerary doesn't really match up with the tour's, and I'd prefer to travel independently. Maybe I will change my mind though.. once I add up all the potential costs!
As someone who sold everything and moved to Thailand last year I would have to say "Just do it"! Like you said, deferred trips often don't happen and $4500 for 3 weeks of unforgettable memories seems a very small price to pay in my mind. You aren't going into debt to do it and once you enter "adult" life getting 3 consecutive weeks off could be quite difficult. Oh and did I mention "Just do it"!
Trip to China is an exciting proposition. It makes sense to go there before starting college. Good luck to both of you.
After my wife and I finished college (the first time), we moved to France for a a year. Sure, it was expensive but it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Money is money, but experiences are where life can truly be realized.
Go for it…I went to China six months pregnant because I wanted to squeeze it in before the baby.
do it but use your vacation time. Two weeks paid vacation vs three weeks no pay vacation, should be a no brainer.
many years ago I was in your situation. I'd been out of college and working a couple of years at a job that took me forever to find. I'd saved the princely sum of $5000. I wanted to go to Europe for a month.
I went to my boss and asked for two weeks unpaid to combine with my two weeks paid vacation. He said "no."
I thought about it for a few days and then went back to him and quit. I didn't know you could negotiate these things. He said, don't be hasty.
I took six weeks that year to ride my bicycle around Ireland and Wales. Went to Greece for a month the next year.
Still managed to reach FI some years later. Remember, we work hard to reach FI so we can do what we want. If you can do that along the way, with out debt, go for it.
Id say do it! My husband and I quit our jobs to travel and one of the places we hit was china for about 3 weeks. I think china is one of those places that are better visited when you’re young. It may be different since you have family but there’s never a perfect time but this sounds like as good a time as any! We are currently living in Australia!
I'd probably do the compromise. But I encourage YOU to take the trip, I can tell it's very important to you and if it's financially viable, why the hell not?
Go for it..! Definitely. And people may say that you will travel in biz school which is true – but none of your trips will be like this one (or as affordable, believe me). Again, do it!
READ THIS!!
Do not quit at the end of May — Quit on the 1st or 2nd of June. Most corporate Health Insurance plans are effective through the end of the month in which you quit. So if your last day is June 1st instead of of May 31st, you give yourself 30 extra days of health insurance coverage. That could be very, very important for travel abroad.
Also on the topic of health insurance – the student plans that you're required to purchase are expensive, offer crappy coverage and opaque rules on what's covered, and don't include dental. So please, in your final month of working, take advantage and schedule a physical, eye exam, dental cleaning, and stock up on any maintenance prescriptions using your online pharmacy (you can get a 90-days supply)
Drop me an email if you want more tips on how to maximize your benefits before you leave your job!
Really good point about the health insurance. I ended my last job on August 1 and didn't need interim coverage before my grad program started in late August. Time enough to vacation and move!
The practical side of me says to keep working because that money would come in handy in grad school. But the nonpractical side reminds me that I'm always wishing I'd been able to travel more before I started working full time. So…do it?? And make sure you're 100% okay with whatever you choose!
I maybe missing something. Your original plan was to work until the end of June. Now you are talking about traveling to China for 3 weeks but quitting at the beginning of May? The numbers don't add up. As a compromise, why don't you work until the end of May and travel to China Jun?
I moved to Canada when I was little. Our family couldn't afford to travel back when we were growing up. We couldn't afford to travel, period. When I saved enough time and money after I began working, before I traveled to anywhere else overseas, I traveled to see family. I made it a priority to visit family first. I visited Hong Kong/China in 2004 to visit my grandparents and extended family…and I depleted all the money I had saved at that time (and I still had student loans). My grandmother passed away in 2007.
The last time I visited China was May 2011, for three weeks. This time I accompanied my younger brother (in his mid twenties) back (he's doesn't speak much Chinese) because I felt it was important for him to know his heritage. It was also important for him to visit my grandfather who is not in the greatest heath anymore. Both of us could've not go and saved the money (for our retirement and toward further graduate school/professional development). We saved up before hand and had been talking about going for a couple of years. We went and we had a blast.
In Beijing, we had a peking duck dinner (meaning peking duck and two beers) for $60CAD (300 RMB) which I thought was ridiculously expensive in Chinese standards for a dinner for two. We also spent 3 plus hours hiking the yet to be reconstructed stretch of the Great Wall (we were dead tired by the end but what an amazing experience…one of the highlights of our trip). In Xian, we saw the Terracotta Warriors (one of the highlights of our trip) and had the best freshly made noodles for $1CAD (6 RMB)…in fact it was so good we went back to the noodle place twice in the two days we spent there. We stayed in hostels and took the train instead of flying to save money. My grandfather was super happy seeing my brother as a grown young man
. The last time he saw my brother was when he was about ten years old. We fantastic Thai food in Hong Kong (I have not been to Thailand).
If I can afford it and not get into debt and IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S THE 'BEST' TO GO, I go. My 2004 trip was in this category. Go!!! The memories with your significant other and your extended will last a life time.
If you want suggestions on what to do and see, give me a shout. (I have been to a few other places in China also).
typo above, meant to say 'best' time to go and not 'best' to go
As people have pointed out, you're saving up for retirement so you can be free to not work and do stuff like travel. But here you have an opportunity to do that now! I studied abroad in Australia for a term in college and spent a lot of my savings on travel, but I don't regret it at all. I earned the money back soon enough and now it would be quite hard to get over to Australia for any length of time. So I'm glad I did it when I could.
DO IT! Just do it!
We are planning to do something similar before our next move – but somewhere in south america. I hope it all works out for us! So, as everyone else says… Yes do it.
But if you decide not to, just know that when you are only having to coordinate 2 people (and you are married) I find it much easier to keep things from getting deferred to "never'. If it is a priority, it can happen later. I can't really think of a better time for it to happen than this year though!
Do it. Your retirement account and Roth can take a minor hit. Just promise yourself that you won't take other big trips down the line and watch your travel money (as small side trips add up). This one seems worth it.
My husband and I's plan is similar. In about 2 years we'll have paid off his school debt and saved up enough to take a whole year off living on pennies in Jordan and Israel. Hopefully we'll both be able to find some freelance work on the side. It's quite the goal, but better now than regret it later.
Did you decide? You're not alone. I'm debating between spending $5,000 on a solo trip to New Zealand for 2 weeks in April/May or save the money for b-school tuition in the fall. I know there's a study abroad option and I could try and apply to study in Australia for a semester but that's two years away and I don't know if my employer will give me an extended leave of absence then. I'm torn as well. I think if you decide to do it later, you'll be able to.. Planning trips with a husband and planning trips with friends are on completely different wavelengths. My heart tells you to travel. My practical head tells you to work. Good luck deciding!