to spend £300 on this?

[eotchs]

Hello, can you help me make a decision?! I’d been planning to go to an academic conference today and tomo in an area I'm interested in pursuing a masters in and moving into.

I've been looking at a few and realised yesterday eve I got the price mixed up with another conference – I thought it was £60 but was in fact £410 for the whole thing or £290 for the day.

I wasn’t sure, it’s a lot of money. and I decided not to go. But today have felt gutted! Was really excited about attending. I'm self-employed, wfh, and was looking fwd to getting a breath of fresh air in something I'm excited about.

I could still go tomo. It’s £290. I’d have to book in the next half an hour and get 6 hours sleep. I can afford it but there are a gazillion other things the money could go on instead (including the actual masters). It's a lot for one day.

Should I go for it? (YANBU)

Or is it an unnecessary extravagance and I should just look up the papers at home and spend the money on something else? (YABU)

Do it! If it excites you and it'll be a good learning opportunity, then yes I would.

It's your money, you earned it. Spend it on what you want!
Some people spend that on a pair of shoes or a handbag.

I'd do it! If you get the chance to speak to others it could well be invaluable!

Will it add cv points to make it easier to get a place on a masters? If so then it’s worth it. If not, then I can imagine my mind would wander during the lectures and I’d be thinking about the shoes or handbag I could have bought instead. Especially if you can just get the papers afterwards

Unless you’re struggling for money, go! There will always be something else you could spend money on but this sounds like it would be a good thing. You could even view it as an investment- if it makes you realise you’re not as interested in the subject as you thought and the masters is not right for you, then you will have actually saved money by not going ahead with that.

Do it! People spend a lot more on a lot less! If you can afford to, and ut sounds beneficial for many reasons!

Have a lovely time!

If you’re self employed isn’t this the kind of thing you can offset against tax? Check with your accountant

Would it help with an application to do the Masters? I probably wouldn’t go and would look up the papers online if that’s possible.

It all counts as professional development. It's also a good chance to 'try out' the area a little. If you find it's not for you, the investment will save you a lot of money, so it might be a good opportunity to feel it out before you commit to the masters.

You felt gutted about not going so that’s your answer - go

Go. You only live once!

It should be deductible. I had to do training as part of my self employed job . It always went into my accounts

Invest in yourself OP. GO!

Could you put it through as a business expense if you are self-employed? I know you are still paying it, but if the business can suffer that, can you put it as training?

My son is currently doing a funded 3 yr PhD.He receives an allowance per year to attend conferences.The costs are similar to the one you refer to and if he doesn't use the allowance he loses it.He tells some conferences are helpful, others not so much but he is surrounded by other academics and PhD students when he attend them.