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Ask HN: What would you do with 6 months?

29 points by 6monthsoff ↗ HN
I recently sold a product for a small amount - enough to not have to work for 6-9 months without touching any other savings or investments. I'm curious - what would you do if you had 6-9 months (call it runway or time off)

Note: after 6 months I'd likely be consulting.

30 comments

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kohanz
If I had another idea that I was passionate about and knew how I wanted to execute on it, I would do that. If not, I would dive back into consulting to defer that runway until I did have the right idea/plan/inspiration.

Note: I've got a family, so "travel the world" is not really an option. If single, I would consider that.

taprun
I would write a book in my field of interest. It would position me as an expert for consulting. As a bonus, this could be done while traveling, or doing other things.
TobyGiacometti
Something similar happened to me last year. Instead of just relaxing or taking time off, I used those 6 months to work on my life :) Most of the time I would advise people to keep the wheel rolling: use the momentum to turn your idea into reality. Taking too much time off can make it difficult to get back into it. Of course, if you need a break then take it, but keep momentum in mind...
lsiunsuex
Define small amount. Are we talking $5000 or $50000 ?

"Note: after 6 months I'd likely be consulting."

I'd try to accomplish a life / financial goal. If I was a renter and wanted to buy a house, I'd use the money down on a mortgage. If I had a house and wanted a bigger / nicer house - same. Both - contingent of finding a job or starting that consulting gig ASAP.

If I was into really nice cars (100k+ cars - Porsche, Ferrari, etc...) - I'd consider putting the money down on that. If I was into traveling - maybe a tour of Europe or something.

In other words, something that would be financially difficult to accomplish under normal circumstances. If you really need a break, take it - but if your willing to jump back into work now - take the money and do something that you've wanted to do but would take significant financial effort to do otherwise.

tedmiston
I'd definitely dedicate it to world travel. While it might not be expensive, it's challenging to go far away across many time zones while working even as a contractor. Perhaps consider a round the world ticket.
cdnsteve
Travel. Time and money are the two things no one has at the same time. Enjoy it.
sdflkd
Finally be able to go to the gym 5 - 6 times a week for however long I deemed necessary. Cook a lot of good food. Read & write.

I'd basically spend it on self-improvement.

Justen
I'd live in other countries for a little bit at a time. Maybe a couple weeks, maybe a couple months.
bartvk
A couple of months of living costs in savings is not a luxury, if you have a family.

I'd stash it in a savings account. Feel free to take a holiday, but then I'd get back to work.

jogjayr
This, except I'd put it in a low-fee index fund. Or some sort of rental property.
milesvp
Index funds have short term risks. bartvk was giving the basic advice of putting it into savings since 6-9 months is a very appropriate cash buffer. Always keep in mind, that reasons for needing cash and down markets tend to be highly correlated (think losing your job because the stock market lost 40% of it's value in less than a month).
maxsavin
Assuming you're in the west, move abroad. You can probably stretch your money for a year or two and live very well. There, you can work or do whatever you want.
lfx
1 month would plan the trip.

3 months travel.

2 months back to working rhythm, look for clients, ideas, etc.

I would really fortunate to get such possibility during this year season!

bsvalley
I'd be very interested in your story. Have you posted something somewhere about your product and how you got approached by the buyer? Is it an app, a desktop tool, etc?

Curious to hear about these kind of stories in detail... if you guys agree just thumbs up that comment and it'll stick at the top.

drewrv
Lets change the question to "how do I want to spend this money?". It sounds like you don't know, since you're unsure how you want to spend this time. If I were in your situation, I'd bank the money until I was certain I knew how I wanted to spend it. By all means take a bit of time off, but be thoughtful about how you spend large quantities of money and time.
petiepooo
Sock it all away and keep working. You seem like a smart guy. Google "compounding interest."
billconan
finish a side project and write a tech book.
milesvp
6 months is a good amount of time to become a world expert in a topic. If you're looking to make yourself more marketable, this can be an invaluable way to spend your time.

Personally, I've had a few papers that I'd like to spend several months understanding. There was a world changing paper in 2013 titled "Causal Entropic Forces" by Wiesner-Gross and Freer, that I only understand conceptually. I have a strong suspicion, that if I knew how to apply the knowledge it could lead to breakthroughs in many areas of applied computation and data modelling.

I also have a lot of interest in autonomous drone swarms, and could easily spend 6 months working on those.

Similarly, I could lose 6 months playing with the limits of nylon (twisted monofilament fiber) muscles.

zuiper
How was it world-changing? Do you like to learn by discussion?
kamphey
Are you:

Single or In a Relationship? Renting or own a home? Into Traveling short term or long term? From a country with good visa allowances?

guy_c
Yep. I think more context would help people to answer.

How old are you? What country are you from? Have you travelled?

spapas82
This question is interesting because the answers depend on culture. For example in my country (on south Europe) I don't think that anybody (raised in our way of thinking of course) would have thought of taking such a long break from work and living off the extra money he earned.

Instead I can think of the following three possibilities:

- Use the money immediately to buy a car, fix his house, pay his loans, go a long trip etc

- Add the money to his saving account or use it as an investment (stocks, real estate etc)

- Change carreer (use the money to open a business)

I'm aware that people in the USA are able to stop working and live off money they have earned but this rarely (if at all) happens in my country.

However let's say that for some reason I would get a 6 months leave of absense from my work and wasn't allowed to work elsewhere in these months. Well then probably I'd spend the extra hours for self improvement (learning new techs, writing blog posts etc). That would have been the plan anyway because now that I think of it most of this time would probably have been spent playing Overwatch :D

guy_c
If you've never travelled then I'd stick your apartment on airbnb, get a friend to manage it while you are away on travels. Give them a one-third cut of the income for their troubles.

Assuming you are from the US, find a cheap return flight to any major Asian hub (Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, ...). Don't bother with around the world ticket. You can fly to many other Asian countries once you are there via low cost airlines. I don't think I ever paid more than 100 usd for a one-way ticket within Asia.

Travel slow. Find places you like and hangout there for a few weeks. Go to local meetups, language exchanges, spend 25% time in coworking spaces doing a bit of work on a side project. Spend the remainder siteseeing and having fun.

I did this a couple of years ago. Total expense for 3 months (including all flights) was maybe 6000 usd.

rootsudo
I'm doing this now, but somehow have stopped and fell in love with the Philippines.

HK, is expensive. Tokyo, is not, but I suggest doing a sharehouse, do not do an apartment. Serviced share house should be $350/month in Tokyo. You don't have to commute so who cares where, right? Manila/Philippines, cheap enough condo to rent a month for about $400.

Also, meetup.com and language school. I love Japanese, and need to continue picking it up.

guy_c
In Japan I found more events on doorkeeper.jp rather than meetup.com
Mz
Note: after 6 months I'd likely be consulting.

Then you should be laying the groundwork for this. It is fine to take a holiday or just sleep in for a couple of weeks or whatever, but getting a consulting service off the ground is not typically an overnight thing.

ak39
Just two things for me.

1. Get my sleep schedule back on track (retire 10 pm, wake up 6 am).

2. Get my body standing, running, lifting most of the time.