I am going through a major career change right now, and I realized last week that this is the perfect addition to any financial blog since uncertainty of money and future cashflow is often what keeps people staying in a bad situation for longer than they should. I worked in the financial industry for 10 years, and 8 1/2 of those years were with the same company (through which I had 6 years of perfect attendance), so I know all about finding a comfort zone and riding through it. And I am by no means endorsing frequent career changes here either, but unless you spend 10+ years in school for a specific career, then there is no harm in learning another industry.
Of course, going from comfortable employment like you get from an employer of 8+ years to unemployment is a scary thing. But I have been planning this change for a long time, and it was in the back of my mind even before any planning began, so here are some things that I have done:
Make sure that your savings account reflects 3 months of your CURRENT salary. Sometime last year (or was it is 2009), I realized that my savings account (I call it my "base" account and I don't include it in my investment decisions) reflected three months of my starting salary, which would have only gotten me through a couple months at most if I let it be. Increasing money in your savings account is not hard to do if you have incoming money and you are actively contributing to retirement accounts. Put a slight priority on it over the retirement investing, and you're good to go in a few paychecks.
Find the right banking account for your new situation. This was one of the last steps I made, but my existing bank account was ideal for my years of employment. It was with the branch closest to my employer and it waived monthly fees if there were more than $500 in direct deposit. Unfortunately, quitting the job would result in forgoing the direct deposit. Therefore, I had to shop around and move my money to another bank to avoid getting fees on my checking accounts (and if you have to change banks, do not forget to alert any companies who automatically pull money from your accounts).
Scale back on your 401(k) contributions. I would not advise going below the full benefit of your company match, but if you were contributing a handsome amount to your 401(k), which I started doing when the markets tanked and all the stocks were incredibly low, then scaling back on them will abed you in the near future. If I am able to get in a comfortable position sooner than I expect, then I can put the money I missed from my 401(k) into an IRA. What I am determined to avoid is getting hit with a 10% penalty from the IRS for an early withdrawal of my retirement funds.
Time your departure. If your company provide company profit sharing or, even better, an annual bonus, then consider staying with the company to take full advantage of that extra money. In my case, my annual bonus is in June, which was too far for me. But we also have a quarterly company match paid directly into our 401(k) at the end of each quarter. Therefore, I put in my two-weeks notice my first day back after the March 31st profit sharing payment.
Network. Facebook is more than kids' games. It is a useful tool for getting and staying in touch with old friends, and that includes those former employees whom you promised to stay in touch with but never did. You can find out what paths they took after their position with your company, especially if you are more interested in changing jobs than re-careering.
All in all, the right move is the one that is best for you. Sometimes you have the luxury of quitting your job, sometimes it happens abruptly (I cleared out my personal trinkets from my desk months ago in case I came into work one day and decided I could not stay there for another one). In my case, I am ready to begin back at Square One, for the first time in 8 1/2 years. I feel my past will provide enough credentials to get me to where I want to go next, and my friends are not going to let me stay unemployed for long either.
I have two more days left at my current position, and I truly feel at peace with this decision and I am ready to make the next steps.
