Hey everyone! I have a very special guest post for you today. Ms. Montana from MontanaMoneyAdventures.com has been on the site before, and I LOVE her story so much. She is laying out the steps she has perfected that allow her to take months or even a year off from working! You have to check this out. ~M$M
My family and I just finished up a grown-up gap year. We took a full year off to travel, renovate our home and rentals, explore the Montana wilderness, test new career options, and honestly have a lot of fun.
I turned 34 last month, and this gap year actually makes the 4th time we have stepped away from the 9-5 to pursue other goals.
In my early 20’s, I took a month off to travel coast to coast with my best friend. My husband took 6 months between jobs so we could buy and renovate two houses. We later took a month long leave of absence to buy and renovate yet another rental property. Then he turned in his resignation so we could take a full year.
People thought we were crazy. Why walk away from a stable, good paying job? Especially beings we have 5 little kids! But I think it’s crazy more people don’t do this. 3 out of those 4 times we grew our net worth more than we ever would have while working.
I wrote a free PDF on the 6 steps to be able to take a year off every decade. The same principals apply if you want a month off, 6 months or a full year.
It all starts here: Be Prepared
It’s the boy scout motto for a good reason! And, it will be your ticket to being able to step away from the 9-5 to pursue your biggest goals and dreams.
1. Know your Focus
If you had the time, how would you spend it? What can’t you fit into a long weekend or week’s vacation? What might not be possible if you put it off for 10 or 20 more years? Start with those.
- Take your side hustle to the next level
- Extended travel
- Physical adventures: sail along Central America, bike across Europe
- Start a new business
- Write a book, manuscript, code an app
- Renovate or flip a fixer upper
- Long term volunteering
What opportunities might pass you by if you wait until your traditional retirement? Then start planning. Lay the ground work. While you prepare your finances, here is how I want you to bide your time: read, study, practice, experiment, get started in the small ways you can start.
It might take two or three years to get the money piece squared away, so use that time wisely to prepare in launching this dream.
2. Get your finances in order
I’ve seen a lot of people step away from the 9-5 to persue big dreams. All of them had this one thing in common, M$M included; they had their money ducks in a row. They had planned and prepared to be in a good spot, so when the right opportunity opened up, they could jump.
It doesn’t happen overnight, but a clear vision of this big dream will help give you the motivation to keep going. Here are 3 of the money steps to start today.
Lower expenses/debt repayment: Large debt payments and big monthly bills are dream killers. Don’t trade your biggest dreams away for small lifestyle upgrades. If you dream is to travel around the world for a year, don’t waste your money now on a nicer car or eating out.
Funnel every red cent into paying off that debt. On the flip side: if your dream is to take a year off to restore classic cars, don’t waste money on a vacation.
Create a second stream of income: A little rental income, passive income, side hustle money,or a 4% investment withdrawal goes a LONG way to you being able to custom create your ideal life. We own two rentals that cover 40% of all our expenses. Low expenses plus a little passive income are jet fuel for your dreams.
Set up your “dream/freedom” fund: Depending on your time frame, it can be a cash account or index fund account. Name it. Label it. Then pour all the extra money you can come up with into it. Use birthday gifts, tax refunds, side hustle money, overtime, and all that cash that used to go to your car payment.
Having a nice little pile of cash will pay the bills while you are off chasing your dreams. We saved up $50k in cash before we signed off on the 9-5 for a full year. It allowed us to enjoy the time away without being stressed about paying the bills or making our side hustle profitable on day 1.
A funny thing happens the more prepared you are with your focus and money; more opportunities show up.
All of a sudden that unexpected downsizing and small severance package looks different. The job you are burned out on becomes easier to walk away from as your side hustle is rapidly growing, bank accounts are full and expenses are low.
One of my dreams was always to be able to travel through Europe. We had saved a big chunk of money, and paid off all our debt. All of a sudden, we were offered a job position in Europe. Guess how long we needed to think that over! It was an easy choice because we were ready.
We were able to live in Europe for four years and travel every month. We spent almost every weekend, holiday and our 210 vacation days working our way through 27 countries.
There are things we can’t fit into a long weekend. There are dreams and plans that will expire if we put them off too long. Life is short. If there are things you are passionate about, things you want to try: make a plan and make it happen.
We finished our 4th career break, but we aren’t going back to the 9-5. Between paying cash for our house, and no debt, our monthly expenses are low.
Our rentals produce good passive income. And during this year off we found other work we are excited about. I started blogging, which lead to freelance writing work, which lead to content marketing work. I started doing more speaking, mentoring and consulting.
All of that was possible because we had our money ducks in row. We knew what we wanted to try and had taken the needed money steps.
Ms. Montana is a writer, speaker and that strange friend who loves to talk about money. She has traveled through 27 countries, adopted 4 kids, had 2 bio kids, lived abroad, bought and renovated 3 homes, all while being married to her best friend for almost 15 years. She enjoys books, hot tea, and growing Brandywine tomatoes. You will find her at Montana Money Adventures where she talks about creating financial freedom, adventure, and generous living.
Question for you:
What would you need to do to take a year off from work?
Ms Montana @ M$M, does it get any better!!? Ms., you’ve had an amazing life, and I love your blog! We can all learn something from you (even if we’re not purusing a “gap year”).
In our case, we’re FIRE’ing for good in 2018, no gap year here. Took a while to get here, but once I walk away from work, I’ll never walk back. Your “preparation checklist” works for me, too! We’ll be hitching up a 5th wheel and heading West, we’ll look forward to seeing you in Kalispell!
I’m so excited for all the good things you have planned! Mostly hanging out with us in Glacier National Park. =)
She has had an awesome life so far right? Her story is REALLY impressive. When she sent the guest post over I was like….4 times?!? So cool.
Pretty cool, Ms. Montana. As you said, it all comes back to planning. These things don’t just happen. Congrats on all your success so far!
Yeah a year off sounds pretty good to me haha
I absolutely love this idea. I first heard about this idea when listening to a talk that designer, Stefan Sagmeister gave at the University of Michigan a few years back. The speaking engagement was titled, The Design of Happiness and was all about interspersing retirement throughout your life, as opposed to all at the end.
Here is the link if anyone is interested!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzPVe2D0kYM
Yeah pretty cool – thanks for sharing that I’ll have to check it out!
I think there are things that pass us by if we wait to long. I took that month long trip with my bf at 23, and this weekend we are getting away for 48 hours to do some life planning. It took us 3 months to find this weekend. And it will cost almost as much as that whole month cost. Life is just differnt now. I have 5 little kids, she runs a huge non profit. And I no longer sleep on frozen ground. =) Our family did a 6 week road trip with our kids, and they thought it was the most amazing thing. They might not feel that way when they are all teenagers. So we really try to lean into each season.
Great way to prepare some time away. 9 to 5 can become a big trap if you don’t set a point in time where you’ll quit yes or yes. Otherwise, “one day” ends up becoming “when I am retired”. Too late!
I agree!
Absolutely inspiring!!!!! It gives me hope seeing that someone not only has a very similar dream to mine, but that you actually achieved it! It also helps give me the courage to work on my new side hustle and maybe even try to grow it into my full time gig. Thank you for the inspiration and sharing your story!!
That is awesome! Absoultly keep on growing it, and keep testing things. (We don’t always get it right the first time) 😉 Having that extra cash and extra income option will be the perfect foundation no matter what you want to do! Even an extra $1000 a month goes a long way to opening up more options.
Alyssa and I took about 2 months off when we moved to Colorado at the end of 2016. We piled up all the cash we could and ran the numbers to make sure we could make it work, and then took the plunge and quit our jobs! We both had offers with start dates in January, 2017 and knew we could pay the rent and maintain our debt until our income started again.
We spent a ton of time together during these months and got into a really healthy place with our diet, exercise, and relationship. It was also a big reason we got so fired up when we went back to work. We realized it was that life we dreamed of and the only way to get it permanently was to pay off our debt, own a home, and become financially free! Now we’re on pace to pay off $107k in debt in 24 months. Thanks Ms. Montana for your inspiring story!
That is awesome! I think that time away from the 9-5 can really give us a sneak peak of what life could be life and what we want. I’m so glad you found some inspiration and motivation to make it happen!
That’s right! I forgot that y’all took a gap year from work. Ahhhh. I really do think it would be lovely, but I would never want to actually go back to work. I would have to return to working somewhere that I was passionate about I think.
For me, I’m also not sure if a gap year would make up for pushing back our FIRE date. It’s almost like you can have a piece of retirement a little early, but it means you’ll have to work a few more years to actually retire.
Oh that’s a good point on the FIRE date. I also agree that going back seems like it would be really hard, but maybe it’s super energizing instead?
I love the idea of gap years and mini-retirements! That’s what we’re hoping to do quite a bit of too. It sure helps when you keep expenses low so you don’t need too big of a money cushion to take a break! Cool story!
Having low expenses was key. Even though we have a big family, we really only need 30k a year to live very comfortably. It also opened up a lot of options for new work after our gap year. It’s much easier to bridge the gap on 30k than 75k. =)
Wow. I love this! I love the idea of not putting off the things that matter most. Four times by 34 is pretty darn impressive. It goes to show what good planning can accomplish. Thank you for the inspiration.
Ha! Yeah, I am totally a planner! =) I think if you can combine a clear vision for what your want plus a plan to get there, so much is possible.
This a great list of steps to take in order to enjoy your ENTIRE life, not just those retirement years! I completely agree that having large debt payments does nothing but steal your dreams away. You can enjoy travel and whatever else you desire even while living on less than you make and sticking to a monthly written budget. I love the idea of having a “dream/freedom” fund. Thank you for sharing these tips and congratulations on all of your success!
There is no way I could wait till the end to really start living. Things just change too fast. There are things that pass us by if we put them off too long. I think both sides have to be considered. Long term planning and what things won’t wait. This is the only season I have with my kids while they are little. Having a really clear picture of what’s important and what falls into the “everything else” category for me is key.
Wooah that’s awesome Ms. Montana! 4th time at your age, that’s definitely incredible. It must take some serious planning, but what an adventure. Cheers!
It has been an adventure! All the little sacrifices don’t compare to the amazing things that we have been able to do.