"What happened?" My accountant asked last April. He'd been doing my taxes for more than a decade and had seen my annual income rise well into the six figures.
"It looks like you took a . . . "—he worked over his calculator—"98 percent pay cut."
"Yep, that sounds about right."
"How did this happen?"
It was quite simple, actually. I went into my boss's office one day and quit. No severance. No other job. No interest in a counteroffer. I simply walked away.
At age 38, I'd decided to become an actor.
I went broke and found mental, marital and financial stability. By Steve Belanger, Men's Health
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Okay, so I'd have to partially agree with this career move. While it is more important to enjoy your career than stay in the rat race or worship the mighty dollar, it is important to make a slow transition into an extreme career. Acting, in my opinion, is an extreme career move. In most instances, an actor is a starving artist. This guy was a VP for cryin-out-loud! Now, I know just because your a VP, you may not be happy pushing paper and people around. It looks good on the outside, but many high level office jobs suck just as much as retail work. You just get paid a lot more. So this guy probably made enough money to jump ship on a days notice, although this would be financial suicide for most of us. Make sure to do the following before transitioning into an unstable job:
1) Save a lot. Make sure to pack money away for a rainy day. As you transition from one career to the next, you may need some savings to fall back on.
2) While your exploring and planning your new career, make sure to keep your day job. Keeping your day job for a bit will keep an income coming in during the risky phase of your career change. After you build confidence that your new career will bring in more money, then you can leave your old career behind.
3) Plan at least a year in advance before making the transition. I would suggest planning and preparing for at least 2 years prior to transitioning jobs.
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