The 7-Year Sabbatical Plan

We have begun floating our notion of living and working abroad to a few friends and even a few family members. The the response is overwhelmingly supportive (though most of the friends I've been talking to are expats or former expats, so the scale's weighted.) Even if the time abroad doesn't turn out to be a great money making venture, I'm already looking forward to the challenge and the exposure to language and culture for the babies. Dropping off my car for a $1,000+ repair this morning, I am looking forward to not owning a vehicle.What I really look forward to is an Ayi (housekeeper/maid.) My list is growing...

With all of these pros, an underlying factor of motivation is tied to the idea of the seven year sabbatical. I suggest watching this 20 minute Ted Talk by Stefan Sagmeister about it, but I will try to give it a just summary:

Rather than plan on a 15 year retirement, take 5 of those years and intersperse them during your working years. Of course, you have to plan and budget to do this, and certainly you cannot do this in every profession or for every employer. However, as so few of us from my generation will be working for the same employer in the same job as perhaps our parents did, we pretty much plan to job hunt every 5 to 7 years anyway. I'd like to enjoy that time not having to worry about vacation days and everything else. In addition, it gives us these perfect windows to show our children something else.

We cannot, unfortunately, afford to just take the time off and enjoy ourselves, as Stefan suggests. Like many people our age, we some fixed expenses as debts to pay. Stefan argues that the time off pays for itself when returning to work in a number of ways. I believe this, but simply am unable to budget time off not working. Rather, I think the 7-Year Sabbatical Plan can easily be adjusted for our needs. We will just have to work, but why not do it some place completely different, rent instead of buy... we can always buy that house in the next chapter of our lives.

For people in industries like my husband, he can't just take time off to learn another language and experience another culture and have that look good on his resume, but he has to stay in tune with the ever-developing solar technology industry. But who says you have to do that in the Silicone Valley? Finding him a fitting job is proving more challenging, but with some effort, we're hoping to make it work. I coin this the hunt for a good "sabbatical job."

For those who can't manage to make the leap abroad, I would think about looking at "sabbatical jobs" some place different in the same line of work. In education or medicine? Maybe look at some rural postings in Wyoming or Alaska? Or afraid of the cost of living in NYC, Boston, or DC? Just go for a year, the damage won't be so bad in the short term and you may find some employers pay just enough more to make it work. Who knows, we may end up in the same boat depending on how the hunt goes!

Hiatus to have a Baby

Took a long hiatus there to have a healthy baby girl this summer. She is now one month old and we are moving ahead with our plans. For some time it was looking like we may stay in the US for an opportunity at a nice government job, which is hard to come by. Too hard, as it turns out, it doesn't look like the transition would be as easy and seamless as hoped. As long as we have to undergo a job hunt, we are focusing efforts abroad again.

China is looking most appealing to us for many reasons including the economy, politics, and the payback time invested there could payback not only into our careers, but for our children. With the money our government owes theirs, our thinking is that China probably will not be obsolete in their lifetimes.

I studied abroad in Kunming, China in 2004 and would be interested in returning to the Yunnan Province if not only because of the nature it offers. Among many of our concerns about living in China with small children relate to the pollution and health. Beijing, though it may make sense to live there if we wish to return to DC in the future, disgusted me in 2004 due to the smog and China hasn't stopped growing since.

Our next step is to ask friends and acquaintances who have had recent experience there for thoughts and tips as we weigh this option. I will also be crunching numbers to figure out what our salary would have to be to make it feasible. Will we store our belongings here for a while? Just a few, or a house full? What to do with our lease? Once I have a fairly accurate figure, we can see if there are jobs available that cover our fixed expenses at home and expenses we'll incur living abroad.