To become intentionally unemployed?

[BurntOutro]

I’ve recently come into a large amount of money, the equivalent of a few years salary so significant but not life changing. Although I’m educated to postgrad level, I fell into low paid, flexible, part time jobs that worked around my DC. Now they’re older, I have thought about retraining or trying to use my degree but I don’t know what or how to go about it.

The truth is, I just don’t want to work at the moment. I’m burnt out and really not enjoying my current role and want out of this sector as a whole. I’m looking at what’s available at the moment for my skill set but all just fill me with dread, let alone the application and interview process.

There are so many sensible things I should/could do with my windfall - pay off the mortgage, put it in a pension, carry out the much needed repairs to the house - but what I really want to do is drop out of the rat race and live off it for a while.

Would I be really crazy to do this? What would you do in my situation? I’d be grateful for any advice.

Check your mortgage rate. Chances are that it's a fraction of what you can get in savings and you're throwing away thousands in interest by overpaying.

Save instead until your deal ends.

Your mortgage is really low compared to many so I don’t think you should pay it off until your current rate ends.

You mention around 50k of house repairs, with this in mind I think you should get this work done as you may not be in a position to do it all in the future and this will improve your living standards and add value to your home.

You could perhaps apply for part time roles if you really hate your job and feel you would benefit from reduced hours.

Due to your age, having a mortgage, house repairs that need doing and children to support I don’t think it would be wise to give up work entirely but you could look for a different role.

You would be crazy not to pay your mortgage off. That will buy you so much more freedom than a few months off work.

If you own your home outright you could rent it out for a year and go abroad. Even if you don’t do anything like that the financial security will set you up for life.