Do you daydream about leaving the rat race? Have you always wanted to start your own business? And have the last few years left you yearning for a new career path?

If so, you’re not alone.

Since the start of the pandemic, 20% of Americans have changed careers. In fact, so many people have given their notice that experts are calling this period of time, “The Great Resignation.” According to The Motley Fool, 4.3mm Americans quit their jobs in 2021, leaving companies struggling to fill vacant positions.

The pandemic transitioned many workers into a new, work-from-home environment. This left them realizing the value of flexible and remote work—and seeking new opportunities with a better work/life balance. According to the Buffer.com State of Remote Work 2022 report, 97% of survey respondents would like to work remotely, at least some of the time for the rest of their careers. Workers report that flexibility is what they prize most, edging out higher pay.

In addition, workers also want a corporate culture that emphasizes well-being. The difficulties that everyone has faced over the last several years have refocused employees on the importance of prioritizing family life. Companies that aren’t keeping up with the change are finding themselves on the losing side of staff turnover.

Added to this is the ongoing strength of the job market, which is creating more options. Part-time work, gig work, and side hustles are all possible and provide everything from a permanent shift to a way to support yourself while you reassess.

If you’re reading this article, you can probably relate. But before you leave your cushy corporate job to start your own business, engage in gig work, or join a more flexible company, ask yourself a few questions. After all, embarking on a new career path is a professional risk, albeit one that can be rewarding and financially responsible too.

These 4 questions will help you process your decision and plan your next steps. Take time to mull them over before you send in your resignation letter.

What’s Driving My Decision To Quit?

In some cases, the decision to leave a job is based on a clear motive. For example, if your company requires a return to the office and you don’t want to, or you were up for a promotion and didn’t get it. Quitting—sometimes on the spot—can feel like the best response you can make to an unfair situation.

It’s not usually that simple, though. First, ask yourself why you’d like to quit. Are you truly unhappy with your profession and industry? Or are you reacting to a temporary circumstance? If your unhappiness is temporary, consider how you can make improvements without changing jobs. Sometimes all you need is a candid conversation with your manager.

However, if your job simply doesn’t satisfy you or offer enough flexibility, that’s another matter. You may need to change jobs or start your own business in order to achieve your goals. For example, when my third child arrived in 2011, I realized that the aggressive Wall Street lifestyle wasn’t for me. It didn’t leave me with enough flexibility or time for my family.

In 2012, I decided to put my family first and left my corporate job in New York City to move to Upstate New York. Then after a few years, I became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and in 2016, I founded Lake Road Advisors. It was the best way for me to achieve the lifestyle I desired and help other people with their financial well-being. You can read more of my story here.

What’s My Purpose?

Finding meaning in work requires the fulfillment of purpose. Do you know what yours is? How do you define yourself?

Think about your role in the company, who you interact with, and how those interactions go. For example, a woman who works at NYC Health and Hospitals defines her purpose as working to make New Yorkers healthier. She doesn’t see the City of New York as her employer; she feels that New Yorkers are her stakeholders and strives to do an excellent job because she is paid with their tax dollars.

Her actual job role and responsibilities are unimportant to her defined purpose. Creating a mission statement for yourself that encapsulates your purpose and how you will derive meaning from work is the starting point of understanding if your job is fulfilling.

If your current job doesn’t allow you to fulfill your purpose, think through why not and if it can change—before you take the leap to quit.

• Is there a different role you can take on?
• What is the path to getting promoted or gaining more responsibility?
• Do you believe your manager is ethical and has your interests at heart?
• Is there a different manager or department you can move to at the company?
• Would incorporating more philanthropy/volunteerism into work help you?

But sometimes you need to quit to find a profession that allows you to fulfill your purpose. For me, my mission is to offer a simpler, more transparent method of financial planning services than most advisors. I want to help families feel peace of mind about their finances—and slow down so they can enjoy their lives. Starting my own business was the best way for me to fulfill this purpose.

What Do I Feel Most Comfortable With?

If you’ve decided that your current company is not where you want to spend your working life, you’ve opened up essentially unlimited choices for yourself. Job boards such as Linkedin can be invaluable sources of information.

Don’t approach this as a job search yet—you’re not looking at specific companies that fit your existing profile, or you’d most likely stay at your job. Unless you are moving because you genuinely don’t like your company but want to do the same thing somewhere else, this is an opportunity to rethink your career.

Take time to ask yourself:

• What makes you comfortable?
• What makes you uncomfortable?

If you’ve built up specific expertise, you may find renewed purpose in moving from a traditional corporate role to a start-up company. The ability to build something, stretch yourself, and be a crucial part of a team are all things that start-ups offer. They also come with more risk. Ask yourself, will that work for you?

Depending on what you want to do, you may be able to execute a career change. Start by identifying your core skills, and then do searches on them. What comes up? Is there an application of your skills that is more appealing to you?

How Much Am I Worth?

 Do you know how much you are worth? What do other companies pay for people with your experience and skill set? Utilizing job boards can help you find different salaries, as can salary-reporting websites. Or you can work with a recruiter to understand your market value.

Whether you stay at your firm or jump to a new opportunity, you will have the ability to negotiate your compensation, responsibilities, and workday structure. You want to approach this thoughtfully— changing jobs is disruptive, and you don’t want to be in a similar boat just a few years down the line.

Delineate what you expect, what you can and cannot live with, and what each piece of a compensation package is worth to you. For instance, is a 401(k) match more important than stock options?

If you do decide to leave the corporate rat race…

Sometimes, the only solution is to leave the working world behind. If you want to quit your job to take a sabbatical, start your own company, or make another change, you should first have a plan in place.

• Top up your emergency fund—this is in addition to saving enough money to pay expenses for some time. An emergency fund is for unexpected items, so always keep a reserve.
• Undertake a budgeting exercise and pare back where you can.
• Rethink your investments and your debt. Are you taking enough risk to compensate for losing additional contributions to your retirement fund? Can you refinance debt to reduce the expense?
• Set a time limit. You need to know how much to save and how long your cash will last. Check-in every month to be sure you are on track.

The Bottom Line

Finding meaning in work and contributing to a company that you feel has your best interests at heart is increasingly important. If you’re thinking of making a shift, be sure to get your finances in order first to land on your feet.

Lake Road Advisors, a Fee-Only, independent financial planning firm with offices in Corning, NY, Ithaca, NY and Portland, OR works with clients virtually all across the country. Paul Sydlansky, the founder of Lake Road Advisors LLC, has worked in the financial services industry for 20+ years. Prior to founding Lake Road Advisors, Paul worked at Morgan Stanley in Manhattan for 13 years. While at Morgan Stanley, Paul was a senior-level manager within the Institutional Equities Department. In 2018 he was named to Investopedia’s Top 100 Financial Advisors list. Paul received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Marist College and holds an MBA from New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Paul is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the XY Planning Network.