Impulsive May Mean Homeless
May 15, 2013, 12:20 PM | Updated: 1:21 pm
QUESTION: Montgomery in New Orleans moved to New Orleans four years ago to work for a professional sports team. He was let go and got another job quickly but is now ready for a change of pace. He’s thinking about moving cold turkey to another city. How much savings should he have in place for that?
ANSWER: What is wrong with taking every waking hour that you’re not on the job and finding a job in the other location before you go? The good news is Austin, Texas, isn’t that far from New Orleans. I would just assume before you left the dock with your feet that the boat had pulled up. I’m kind of thinking you find a job over there. Why don’t you take two weeks and go to Austin and find a job before you quit?
You just want me to tell you to be impulsive, and I think you’re going to end up freaking homeless. I’m not going to tell you to be impulsive. You have a job. You’ve got money to eat with. You have a thing to do.
I think you ought to leave and go to Austin, Texas. I agree with your plan. I’m just adding one step to it called wisdom, and let’s have a place to freaking land when you get over there. That’s all I’m doing, dude. I’m telling you exactly what I would tell my own son if he called me with this.
I think you ought to go. I think you’re done with New Orleans. Austin’s a great city. It’s booming. I was just down there the other day. They’re wonderful people. I’m not against New Orleans either, by the way, but I think you’re done with it and you’re done with this government job. You want to get out there in the private sector and make something move around. I’m with you on all that. I want you to do all that, but just move over there and hope this works out? Add one step to it, and you don’t have to have all this stress.
If you want to go over there and burn through your savings, you can. I’d spend two weeks at least trying to land something to where I can feed myself when I get over there even if it’s an interim-type thing. Even if you found two really good part-time jobs, at least you knew that you weren’t going to burn up your cash when you made the move. That’s how I would do it. When I was 20-something years old, I might not have done it that way because I didn’t always do things that were wise. But that’s how I would do it today, and that’s how I would recommend you do it.
If you want to go over there and just burn through your money while you hope you find a job, you could do that. I think that’s a waste when you have this perfectly good two weeks of vacation laying here. Use it to go look for a job. You’ve done nothing morally wrong with your current employer. Set up some interviews before you go. Work for a few weeks to do that. Then take your two weeks and plan it in the middle of summer.
Again, I think Austin’s a great town. I think the economy’s moving. I think you’ll be able to find something. But go over there and land on something. That’s how I would do it.
