What Should You Do When You Are Planning a Sabbatical?

There are many occasions when you might need to take a sabbatical . It refers to a period when you take a break from work. It can be either on mutually agreed terms with the employer or an unplanned one. Whatever may be the case, you should make the best use of this time to upgrade yourself. This article talks about the various things you should do during this period and how you can fund them.

• Learn new skills Today’s job market is pretty demanding which warrants a constant upgradation of skills. Today, recruiters prefer technically-sound candidates. Thus, it’s imperative for you to hone your skills while on a sabbatical.In the age of digitalisation, many skills can be learnt online. Look for the course you want to do and see the applicable fees. To fund your course, you can either use your existing savings or opt for monetary help from your family or friends. In case of a planned sabbatical, it’s advisable to build the desired corpus for the course through disciplined investments in various instruments.
• Explore new places Exploring new places while you are on a break can expand your horizon and meet new people. This, in turn, gives you a chance to build your network that can give you a leg-up in your career in the future. Should you plan to start your own business in the future, you can visit locations that you want to tap and understand the market sentiments.To fund your travel, you need to build a kitty for the same. To do so, you can put a certain amount of money in a liquid fund which offers higher returns than a traditional bank savings account. You can also start a SIP in a conservative hybrid fund to build the desired corpus.
• Give wings to your passion Sabbatical is a good time to give wings to your passion. For instance, if you have always wanted to write a book or learn singing, a sabbatical is a good time to do so. This is because you can concentrate all your energies in your hobby and learn it at your own pace.

Each hobby warrants funds of different propositions. Based on the need, you can either pull out a portion of your savings and bridge the gap through gains made from different investments or ask your near and dear ones to fund it.Knowing the objective of your sabbatical can help you plan it in a better manner. At the same time, do build an emergency corpus which can take care of your day-to-day expenses for at least 6 months or if possible, a year.

The information contained herein is generic in nature and is meant for educational purposes only. Nothing here is to be construed as an investment or financial or taxation advice nor to be considered as an invitation or solicitation or advertisement for any financial product. Readers are advised to exercise discretion and should seek independent professional advice prior to making any investment decision in relation to any financial product. Aditya Birla Capital Group is not liable for any decision arising out of the use of this information.