{"id":445486,"date":"2026-02-25T21:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T21:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/445486\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T21:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T21:46:12","slug":"im-burnt-out-at-work-i-want-to-liquidate-my-401k-and-go-on-a-big-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/445486\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m burnt out at work. I want to liquidate my 401(k) and go on a big vacation."},"content":{"rendered":"

Pay Dirt is Slate\u2019s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here<\/a>. (It\u2019s anonymous!)<\/p>\n

Dear Pay Dirt,<\/p>\n

I am really burnt out at my job, and I\u2019ve got an idea for how to fix it. My lease is up in a few months, and I\u2019d like to quit my job, sell my stuff, and go to Southeast Asia. I have $80,000 in a 401(k). It is my only savings, for anything. I would like to take this money out and stay in Southeast Asia for as long as it lasts me. I know someone who did this, you can spend three months in Thailand, three months in Vietnam, etc., and live very cheaply. I think this is a good plan, and it\u2019s the only thing that has made me feel anything but despair in a very long time.<\/p>\n

But my best friend says I\u2019ll be \u201cthrowing my future away\u201d if I do this. I think it doesn\u2019t really matter. I\u2019m 42 years old and it\u2019s not like I was ever going to be able to retire with that money anyway. I\u2019ll just start over when I get a new job after my big adventure. Please tell me that this is OK.<\/p>\n

\u2014Burnt Out<\/p>\n

Dear Burnt Out,<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the math. Once you withdraw from your 401(k) early, taxes (24 percent federal, plus applicable state taxes) and the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty will take a big chunk of that $80,000. Your remaining funds\u2014about $50,000\u2014might still take you far, but also might go faster than you think. And when that money is gone, you\u2019re not just starting over\u2014you\u2019re starting over with zero savings, a gap in your work history, and maybe even the same burnout.<\/p>\n

That said, your friend is exaggerating a bit when they say you\u2019re \u201cthrowing your future away.\u201d People rebuild careers and retirement savings in their 40s and 50s all the time. But you might also be underestimating the consequences. There\u2019s a good chance you\u2019re downplaying the risks because you\u2019re desperate for relief. There\u2019s the opportunity cost<\/a> of pulling out your retirement, too. Just to put things in perspective, $80,000 at age 42, left invested until around age 67, might realistically earn $300,000 to $500,000, depending on returns. In other words, this isn\u2019t just $80,000\u2014it\u2019s potentially several hundred thousand dollars of future retirement money if you were to leave it invested.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a break from the burnout (and I\u2019m sure you genuinely need one) consider versions of your idea that don\u2019t require defunding your retirement account. You could take a shorter trip you fund by selling your stuff. You could quit your job, but keep the savings intact and give yourself a more defined, affordable window abroad\u2014or even just a gap year at home. You could find a lower\u2011stress, part-time job while you figure things out. There are so many options that give you some breathing room without wiping out the only long\u2011term asset you have.<\/p>\n

Take the trip if you want, but design a version of it that doesn\u2019t leave you with nothing to land on if you decide to come back.<\/p>\n

\n Please keep questions short (<150 words), and don\u2018t submit the same question to multiple columns. We are unable to edit or remove questions after publication. Use pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. Your submission may be used in other Slate advice columns and may be edited for publication.\n <\/p>\n

Dear Pay Dirt,<\/p>\n

My daughter is in college at a four-year university, in the second semester of her junior year. The school is in-state, and we pay for her tuition, room and board, and expenses. She has an on-campus job for extra money, too. My wife and I saved carefully to be able to pay for her school, and we are proud to be able to do it.<\/p>\n

Well, our daughter called yesterday with a proposition. She has found out that she has an enough credits to graduate one year early, at the end of this semester! She wants to know if we will give her the tuition and housing money in cash if she does that. My immediate thought was that no, we wouldn\u2019t be able to do that\u2014we saved for her tuition using our state\u2019s 529 plan, and so the money we pull from that has to go to educational expenses. I\u2019m not sure why, but it feels wrong to me, for her to ask for the tuition money as a cash. My wife thinks that we should at least try to negotiate with my daughter on something that seems fair. I feel like this is money that we saved specifically for her education. A \u201cgap year\u201d after university is not what we intended. Please advise.<\/p>\n

\u2014Disappointed Dad<\/p>\n

Dear Disappointed Dad,<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the logistics. You\u2019re right\u2014529 withdrawals generally have to be used for qualified educational expenses. If your daughter graduates early and you take out funds for non\u2011education purposes, you will likely owe taxes and penalties. There are a few exceptions (for example, if a student receives scholarships), but graduating early on its own usually doesn\u2019t remove those taxes and penalties.<\/p>\n

So what can you do with unused 529 funds? Aside from just taking it out and dealing with the taxes and penalties, you can change the beneficiary to another family member, roll it over into a Roth IRA, or use it to pay for K-12 education expenses. There are other options, too<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, you don\u2019t owe your daughter a year\u2019s worth of tuition in cash, but your wife has a point. Graduating early can save parents tens of thousands of dollars, so offering some benefit might be fair and still responsible.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Help! We\u2019re Taking Our Nieces and Nephews on a Summer Camping Trip. My New Sister-in-Law Is Already Ruining It.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

As a compromise, you could decide that some portion of the savings can support your daughter\u2019s transition into life after college. That might mean helping with a security deposit, a few months of living expenses, or funding some kind of professional program or certification. If she wants to take a gap year, great, but if you\u2019re against just giving her the funds as a gift, you might consider \u201crewarding\u201d her by paying for a specific expense.<\/p>\n

Either way, this doesn\u2019t need to be a negotiation. Having parents pay for tuition is a privilege. It\u2019s wonderful that she\u2019s graduating early, and you can celebrate that without forking over a year\u2019s worth of tuition. On the other hand, there\u2019s nothing wrong with wanting to give your daughter a little extra financial help in a world where most of us are struggling financially in some way. For you, it sounds like it\u2019s about making a decision on your terms so that it\u2019s about supporting your kid, not giving her something she feels she\u2019s entitled to.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kristin<\/p>\n

More Money Advice From Slate<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, in my early 20s, I had a winning lottery ticket that paid just under $1 million after taxes. My older sister \u201cElena\u201d made a case that she deserved a share because she stepped up and raised me after our single mom died when I was 7 and she was 20. But I knew giving Elena a pile of money outright would probably do her more harm than good, because at the time she was an active drug addict.<\/a><\/p>\n

Get the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pay Dirt is Slate\u2019s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here. (It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7657,84,4176,1371,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-445486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advice","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-jobs","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}