From working in tech to traveling through Thailand.
I feel lucky that my career started in a dark, gloomy corporate office.
My investments were going to be my ticket out of the corporate world.
Credit: Helen Lu
I was making myself financially independent.
And that’s how I wound up taking a year off.
So, I shifted my goals slightly.
Helen Lu
There were a few things that I had to commit to from the jump.
First, I was willing to cut down on expenses to save the $15,000 I needed to travel.
I also moved back into my parents' house for a year.
Helen Lu
Like most people, rent has always been one of my biggest expenses.
This helped me divert most of my income into investments and savings instead of a hefty rent payment.
I then sold some of my belongings.
It is a secondhand buying/selling platform primarily for lightly worn clothing and accessories.
Once I sold one item, I got excited and listed 10 more.
Within a year, I was able to sell almost 100 items, which brought in $1,054.
On a related note, I stopped buying new clothes and really, stopped shopping altogether.
I knew I couldn’t bring much with me on my travels anyway.
As I prepared to leave my job, I increased investments in my 401(k).
This may sound counterintuitive, but I was attempting to make up for “future” lost time.
I also researched health insurance costs.
However, doing some research online made me feel more comfortable about the costs and the overall process.
From there, I estimated the monthly cost and added it to the amount I needed to save.
To increase my income, I started writing personal finance articles on Medium and creating content on Instagram.
And finally, before leaving my job, I created a budget for my year off.
The truth is, a lot ofgap year storiesmay sound spontaneous, but that’s almost never the case.
Getting my finances in the order allowed me to prepare for a gap year.
Maybe Vietnam or Portugal or Italy?
