AIBU to use inheritance to go part time and avoid burnout?

[redshirts]

I'm 27, single and own my house (with a mortgage). I work full time and am doing a part time course to retrain. I'm finding keeping on top of all that comes home ownership, a reasonably full on job and studying to be overwhelming at times. I have recently inherited £35k, some of which I will put towards my course fees. WIBU to consider using some of the money to go part time to 4 days per week until my course is finished next June? Or how do I avoid burnout? I don't have a lot of family support unfortunately.

I would pay £35,000 of the mortgage and bring the payments down, possibly even remortgage for a longer period of time (40years) to bring the payments down even more, which will give more study time. I woukd also be filling the freezer with things like 30 chickpea curries minus rice for £5, and really look at every penny you are spending. If u dont need it - dont buy it! Good luck with your studies

I'd give anything to be 27, completely in rude health, and not burned out with family, job, and parents in perimenopause too.

Enjoy yourself OP, buy some treats, but don't go part time just yet. Use this money wisely, and invest/save it. As PP say, it's going to take you a long time to save that much again. Youth is on your side. That's valuable. And making the most of that, and the money, is key.

I have recently done this, but I am 62.

I’d be looking into what’s causing possible burn out at 27 with no children, a full time job I’d be concerned that you couldn’t handle a part time course.

In your shoes I’d pay £25K of the mortgage, set aside £5K for a couple of holidays to look forward too and pop the rest in an account to pay for help, that could be a cleaner, Gardner, Gusto meals etc

In my opinion that's not enough to go part time on. Like a pp said, single, no kids, I would push through it. But I've never had much money so my opinion is very biased.

What do you mean by "burnout"?

The use of the term seems to have exploded on here recently and it's not clear to me what it actually means.

If you are finding the balance of FT work, PT study, home ownership and all the rest hard, use the money however best would make your life better and more manageable.

Ignore those who are saying you "should" be able to manage it all, they aren't living your life! There is no "should", everyone has a different load and different ability to manage things at varying times.

I think going to 4 days in the short term whilst you study could well be a good idea, certainly it's very common for this set up to be the case in professions such as accountancy, actuarial, solicitors etc when training alongside working. So don't feel guilty for taking the necessary time to progress your career.and have a balanced life!

I guess id make sure you could easily go back to FT after!

Other options to help get the balance and reduce the pressure of doing everything and utilise the inheritance rather than reducing work hours could be:

• buying additional annual leave so you can take more regular breaks that are just for resting rather than catching up on everything

• paying for help with household stuff- diy/cleaning/gardening

• online shopping delivery subscriptions - for groceries, toiletries, meal prep kits, clothes, amazon stuff etc so you dont have to physically go shopping (unless of course you enjoy this!)

Good luck with your studies! I completed my degree PT over 5 years whilst working FT (20+ years ago now), and I remember how tough that was and I still lived at home with my parents for 4 years of it!!!

To me 'burnout' means that I am a gibbering wreck every time my work phone bleeps, can't sleep, addicted to prescription meds to get through the day at work, can't concentrate, feelings of dread and want to curl up in bed as soon as I get home,hoping it will all go away! That's why I'm leaving my job.

Unless there are other issues no I wouldn’t.

At 27 I worked a 44 hour week in a graduate management type role. Studied part time for 2 years which was two nights a week in college and basically half a day at a weekend. I also fitted in going out most weekends on a Friday and Saturday as well as working in my family farm during holidays.

This is when you put the time and effort in. Good luck with your studies.

DS has worked three days office and two days university for the last two years, doing his masters. You need to be frugal but it's doable.

There's nothing I like less on here than this gleeful doom-laden 'JUST YOU WAIT' pouncing. By any measure, working full time, being the person solely responsible for all the cooking and cleaning, and doing a course part time is busy stuff. Juggling all the things you listed would be hard, yeah, but it doesn't mean juggling a job and a course at the same time isn't hard too.

Put it in premium bonds and use the few hundred you might win every couple of months to pay a cleaner / gardener / handyman.

Why should she?

OP if using the inheritance to go part time gives you a better chance to complete your course I would do that. It’s much harder to re-train once you’re older and hard to switch career ladders so do what you need to do to make it work for you- good luck!

35k isn’t that much overall. Could you not hire a cleaner once a week to take some pressure off?

How much would you need to use? How long would you be at 4 days for? If it means you can get your study done quicker the do it.

I just think it might be a waste of the money.

I would. No job, or any amount of money, is worth your mental health. However, I'd have a private pension on the side, just to top it up, as I don't want to be a poor pensioner, if ever I get to retire.

I wouldn't. In my experience work places just give you the same amount of shit to do over 4 days instead of 5 and your workload doesn't decrease but your pay does.

I'd hire a cleaner, gardener and get a meal plan to free up your evenings and weekends. I'd also book a nice holiday for once your course finishes. Of your struggling acupuncture is good for relaxation and stress relief.

I'd pay 25k of the mortgage. I'd keep 5k in savings as an emergency and spend 5 k making my life easier during my study period.

I wouldn’t go part time now.

I have been part time since I was 29 (when I went back after mat leave) and my daughter is now 5 and at school. My part time has been 34 hours a week across four days since the start of Jan 22. I’m barely part time but equally there is no way I ever want to work five days a week. It’s so hard to go back once you go PT. I am a single parent and still have a mortgage but maybe have 70% equity in the house and decent savings. I also wouldn’t be cheap to make redundant (part of why I’ve stayed in my sector tbh, and the good pension).

As hard as it is, things could be a lot harder. Don’t blow £35k on subsidising yourself (different if you can afford to go PT and just tighten your belt).

The poster saying you do the same amount of work for less salary is right. I take a 10% salary cut for a ringfenced day off. But that ringfenced day off is worth the trade off for me.

I'm 30 and own a home on my own also and can completely relate to feeling burned out and overwhelmed by it all. If I had the opportunity to go to part time, even if it's temporarily id seize it! Managing by yourself with not much family support is hard, everything is so expensive and getting help e.g. tradespeople can be risky.

It depends how much you would lose out on financially, but could you also consider taking some unpaid leave, that would spread the time out more rather than losing pay every week?

I received some inheritance. Used it to buy a flat outright with a sitting tennent (my mum previously owned the flat and the tennent has been there for 15 years, never missed a payment and very reliable) and use the income from the rent to top up my salary. I’ve dropped to part time to 60% but still bring in a full time salary. I appreciate you couldn’t buy something outright with 35k but there may be other investment opportunities you could look into to which may generate some income to allow you to go part time. Speak to a financial advisor and see what they say.

I noticed the OP seems to have posted and not yet returned, so I'll wait for response to some of the questions above before i add to the general chorus.

£35 k is1 year’s salary and although it might seem like a lot I’d be careful with it.
can you look at making small adjustments to lighten your load rather than going part time

But honestly, at your age, with no kids, you should be able to knuckle down and juggle it all.
Why should she?

Why wouldn't she? Loads of us managed F/T work, study and home-ownership in our 20s! It's not excessive. Stressful, yes, but not to the extent of burn- out.

Wow OP I thought you were going to say you were twice that age.
£35k is not enough money for you to step back at this point in your life.

Op.mahbe take a bit of to ease things but I'd invest that money at least 20 grand into a stocks ISA and then after a while.use it as my capital to skim off it to make life easier.