How to Quit Your Job to Travel

For people who love to travel, this is the ultimate dream: leaving everything behind and traveling the world. However, it is not as easy as everyone makes it out to be. In this post, I talk about considerations for people on how to quit your job to travel. This is based on various circumstances in life.

It is true that not everyone can just quit your job to travel, and while it is fun to watch people do it, reality is, it’s hard. You’ll see it a lot from Youtubers, bloggers, and social media influencers urging you to do it. Some got lucky, but some did a lot of planning behind the scenes.

I’m not here to tell you that hey you can do it too, but I’m here to talk about what to consider and how to quit your job to travel based on certain circumstances. So, here goes.

How do you quit your job to travel? Become financially free

The short answer on how to quit your job to travel full time is to become financially independent. For those who are reading this and have no clue what financial independence is, it means having enough money generating income for you passively that you don’t have to work for money actively if you choose to.

People choose to become financially independent in a plethora of ways:

1. By having a business that generates income
2. Investing in real estate (rentals, flips, wholesaling and the like)
3. Investing in liquid funds (bonds, stocks, mutual funds, index funds)

By having income generating assets and/or a business generating the income for you to pay your bills and then some, then you are free to do as you please without the need to sell your time.

Time is our most precious commodity and once it’s gone, it’s gone

How do you become financially independent while you have a full time job

It’s cyclical but it’s the same advise pretty much everybody in the FIRE world says:

1. Calculate the absolute minimum you will need to pay for basic necessities: rent/mortgage, utilities, phone, insurance, internet, food, and the like. Add a small pad ($300 or less) for ‘fun money’
2. Take your paycheck, deduct the number you calculated in step 1 and contribute the rest to your 401k, up to the maximum if you can.
3. If you have extra money left, check if your income qualifies for a Roth IRA. If you do, contribute to it, up to the maximum, if you can.
4. ‘Hide’ any remaining money by setting up auto-invest in an index fund or putting it in a high yield savings account or use it to pay extra principal for your mortgage payment (if you have any).
5. If you don’t want to do investments in the stock market, you can use the spare money to invest in real estate or start up a new business. However, this method may be a bit riskier than point 4 above.

Read: Money Moves to Make in the New Year

How to quit your job to travel if you have no money

Money is one of the top reasons why people don’t travel. In fact, it is one of the main reasons why people don’t do anything ‘fun’ or ‘exciting’ in terms of experiences because a lot of people struggle to just make ends meet.

People have jobs to earn money, trading time away for paper that we assigned a value. That paper or digital currency then goes to pay our bills for basic necessities like food, water, a place to live, childcare, insurance, and the like. Read: Why is it so hard to earn money and so easy to spend it?

So, how can you quit your job to travel if you don’t have money? Here’s some steps to do:

Look at your spending in detail

Track your spending and see what you can cut out from your expenses. Have insurance bills coming up? Get quotes from other companies to see if you can get your bill lowered. That extra money can be used for your travel and investment funds (more on that later).

Downsize your life. See if you can survive with less after you look through your expenses. Buy more store brands, switch to a cheaper grocery store. Buy stuff that you need at a discount instead of paying full price.

Take advantage of thrift stores or buy used items that still have a lot of life on them. This is our tactic when we furnished our house. We also tend to get a few rebates from websites like RebateKey (affiliate link) for stuff that we need.

Giving yourself a strict budget may feel like you’re depriving yourself at times, but we created a solution for that: it’s called the happiness fund. It’s essentially a small amount that you can set aside per week (around $20 or so) to keep you sane. This involves entrance fees to state parks, paying for parking, gas, getting food from restaurants or picking up a small thing for yourself.

After all, life still needs to be experienced, so no need to deprive yourself fully in order to become financially independent early.

• Why you shouldn’t care about other people’s finances
• Help, my partner is a spender!
• Gaming on a budget
• What to do at home when bored

If you have kids

Having a baby is one of the more expensive things you’ll end up paying for (hospital bills and all), so you’ll definitely need all the baby stuff you can get for cheap or for free. Once these kids grow up, the ongoing bills stack up: food, clothing, school, activities, and more.

Children can get expensive but you don’t have to spend as much as the average parent. There are numerous ways to save on anything that we’re not going to go detail on them on this post.

Of course, when you quit your job and you have a child, you have to consider the following:

• How will you earn money to pay for the bills?
• Should you homeschool the kids or enroll them in a traditional school?
• What will you do with your time when the children are in school? (If you chose to enroll them in traditional school)
• Will you choose to travel slowly or for longer periods of time when the kids are out of school?
• Are you traveling within your own country or visiting a lower cost of living area?

Is having a kid expensive?

Yes. A child in your family means that your FIRE number will need to be higher. We’ve had to personally increase our number to almost 1.5x our original amount since we needed to account for 2 children using the $280k average of supporting a child from ages 0 to 18.

It also means that it will be more challenging to travel with a kid (which means traveling with a baby, a toddler, a young child, or even an older kid). You’ll be paying for more transportation tickets (boat, airline, trains, or buses), you might need a bigger hotel room, and you’ll feed a few more people a few meals a day.

Having a child does not mean that your travel days are over. It is a challenge but you can definitely figure things out. All it takes is time to sit down, research, and plot how you’re going to get the miles, points, or extra cash you’ll need in order for your trip to go smoothly.

Whether you prefer to travel for longer periods of time, or just a two week vacation, it is still possible to quit your job to travel and bring your children with you along for the ride.

See:

• Costs, A Guide, and Travel Hacking Memphis Tennessee
• Baby Stuff For Cheap (or Free)
• How to Travel with a Baby

If your family is dependent on you

This is a tough one. If your extended family is dependent on you then you’ll need to account for their cost of living as part of your FIRE number. However, once you quit your job to travel, you may not get employer sponsored health and dental insurance for yourself or your family. And paying out of pocket for healthcare and dental care can get expensive.

Alternatively, having side hustles that can add to your income can help you save more for the time that you can quit your job. Buffer this by saving more in emergency funds. Your family may incur extra costs while you are jobless and you may need to cover that from this buffer.

Explain alternatives to your family members who are dependent on you. Can they pick up odd jobs so they’ll earn a bit of income without being so reliant on you? Can you lower the amount of support you send them?

Also try to set up a successful business that your family members can help run. This can keep them busy while you have the extra manpower to run your endeavors. Instead of you financially supporting your family, then the business can support your family.

Also, if you employed your family members in your small business, you can also offer them tax-advantaged accounts and you get tax advantages by being a business owner as well! Set up systems that your family members can follow and empower them to make decisions so you won’t need to be as involved even if you’re traveling. Make sure you trust these family members though!

If you love to shop a lot

The American economy is based on consumption, and it is a hobby for most people. So, how can you quit your job to travel if you love to shop a lot?

Pretty tough, right? Especially since the main way to prepare for quitting your job to travel means you’ll have to create a budget and just buy what’s absolutely necessary for a bit.

It’s a pay-off: do you want more stuff or do you want to have more time and get a chance to see the world?

But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. One can still shop and be able to quit your job and travel the world however – you may need to work longer than usual.

Find other means of income and focus on one item to shop for

I myself like to shop as well, and so I came up with alternate means of income outside of my full time job to help pay for this discretionary spending. This is when having a side hustle becomes essential. You’ll then use this side income money for shopping while your salary from the full time job can be used for investing, basic expenses and saving for travel.

Prioritize what you want to shop for. Before, when you just bought anything you want because it’s discounted, then why not focus on a particular item you like? If you’re a reader and a book you want is rare and can’t be found in the library then go and get it. A handbag collector? Why not focus on brands you absolutely want to have or a certain print.

Focus on one or two categories of items you shop for and try to curb all the rest.

In our case, I love handbags with certain prints, and my husband and I are both European history book collectors. I also collect toys, which goes to myself and my kid to play with.

We also buy a lot of souvenirs when traveling. After all, unique items are available everywhere. We buy a lot of snacks and alcohol to try that’s only available abroad, or buy a magnet to remind us of where we’ve been.

Write down every single item you spend for and aim to earn that much in side hustle income to offset it. It will help you be more motivated to earn more without compromising your bigger goal of being able to quit your job to travel as much as you think.

See:

• A Financial Independence Guide for Travelers
• Gaming on a budget
• What To Do at Home When Bored

If you have a pet

Pets are like ones children, people just love them to bits and pieces. So how can you travel if you have pets? There’s two choices:

1. Put the pet in the care of a trusted family member or a friend while you’re away
2. Bring the pet with you

For point 1, when you leave your pet with a trusted family member or a friend, that pet may become attached to their new family and you may have a tougher time trying to get the pet back if you’ve been gone for a long period of time.

That scenario happened to us when my husband and I left for a seminar in Chicago. My in-laws were looking after Rosie, our shih-tzu and they fell in love with her and asked if they could keep her. How could we say no?

For point 2, bringing the pet with you when traveling could be a challenge. For one, pets incur additional costs: vet bills required by airlines, pet fees for hotels, and airlines, and the like.

Not every accommodation allows pets, and if traveling internationally, you may meet a lot of restrictions when it comes to your pet. Think shots needed, paperwork, and every single country is different.

Another thing to consider is where you are going to leave your pet when you going to an attraction that doesn’t allow pets. Do you not visit them altogether? Do you leave the pet at an animal day care or a pet sitter?

I get it, pets bring love and joy to your life, but plan your trip accordingly with the pet. Oh, and raise your FI number to include the additional costs you will need for the pet’s food, paperwork, and healthcare.

If you own a house

Owning a home does not mean you are grounded to one city in particular. One can still travel even if you own your home. It may be easier if you’re a renter as you can jump from place to place easily but owning a home means you have set your roots down and always have a place to go home to. Perfect for those who have children.

If you like having a lot of stuff, then owning your home means you may not need to pay for storage to keep your items in. The bad news is owning means there will be costs involved in the upkeep and maintenance of the home.

When you own, you’re liable for repairs, maintenance, HOA fees, taxes, insurance, and a mortgage if you have any. You’ll have to factor this in when you travel since your costs will not go away even if you’re traveling.

Trust me, things do break and need to be replaced when you own a house. Being a homeowner is not that big a drawback when you quit your job to travel. You’ll just have to account for these additional home costs and how you’ll pay for them before you quit your job to travel.

Alternatively, to help earn a bit of extra cash when you’re traveling, you can opt to rent your home on AirBnB as a short term rental. That’s only if you’re comfortable opening up your home to strangers and earning cash to pay the bills.

See:

• Why We Bought A House (even if we travel a lot)
• Buying vs Renting a House – Which One Is Better?

Any other ideas on quitting your job to travel?

I think we’ve covered a lot of scenarios above but the easiest way to quit your job to travel the world is to be young, free, and unattached.

When you’re younger, staying in really cheap hostels in dorm room bunks won’t even bother you as much. When you’re older, then comfort may be key. If you don’t have the issues we discussed above then by all means, quit your job to travel!

The older you get, the more responsibilities you will face and the more your family will grow. Your income will rise, and you’ll encounter a time when you and your partner may be DINKs (Dual Income No Kids). That is another best time to travel – enjoying each other’s company, exploring the world, and it’s the most amount you’ll probably end up saving monthly.

Life comes in phases, so why wait when you’re of a sound financial position and don’t have any blockers to stop you from your quest? Save up, try to create your business, start investing, and enjoy your travels!