In a recent post, I talked about how my first week of unemployment went. Suffice it to say, it was great. In fact, I find myself busier now than when I was working. Funny how things like that turn out.

My current plan is to take three to four months off during the spring and summer and work on growing myself. That includes taking a few courses, which aren’t cheap, getting in shape, which requires a gym membership and lots of groceries, and travel, which is a huge expense.

On top of that, I still need to cover the last few months of my rent, utilities, and basic living expenses. Without a steady income, it’s not easy to do. But it is doable.

In one of the articles in my personal finance series, I mentioned how you should be independently investing in the market if your financial situation allows for it. Ever since I started working (and even before), I’ve followed that advice. Over the past few years, I had been actively investing in a variety of mutual funds through the use of dollar cost averaging.

I’m leaning on those funds now.

Besides my final paycheck and some independent options trading I’m doing, most of my funds will come from those investments. By liquidating my shares and transferring the funds to my checking account, I’ll be able to pay my way through my time off while still being able to enjoy a lot of my passions. Granted, I’ll have to start watching my checking account a little more closely and start being aware of my funds. But as long as I continue to be frugal with my finances, I’ll be just fine.

Many of you may be interested in taking some time off yourselves. If you are, the most important thing you can do is get your finances in order and plan for the times that you won’t be working. If you don’t have a set of mutual funds to fall back on, you can start saving for your time off now. Put in as much money as you can into your “time off” fund and don’t touch it until you absolutely need to. Just like I said in my article on saving for future purchases (link to article), if you consistently put a little bit away now, you’ll be able to acquire a good sum for your future use. It just comes down to discipline.

Image by Tracy Olson.