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$80,000 a year? I would take it too

Jill


Laos, originally uploaded by JillNic83.

Yeah, I would go back here.

Some law firms are offering associates $80,000 a year to take time off and do whatever they want. It’s sort of a scary prospect in this economy to leave your job for a year — who knows if you’ll be first on the chopping block when you get back — but on its face it sounds like a pretty sweet deal. If I didn’t have loans to pay off, I would probably do precisely what Heather Eisenlord is doing: Travel around the world, mixing pleasure and play with volunteer work. I would do half the year in South and Central America, since I’ve never been further south than Mexico, and maybe the other half in India, Nepal and Southeast Asia (probably the only place I would go back to is Laos, which I have officially deemed The Greatest Country In The World, because it is). I would eat my way through all the places I visited. I would sit in cafes in Buenos Aires, drink wine and work on that book I’ve been meaning to write. I would work on my yoga practice in India. I would volunteer at not-for-profit women’s rights, reproductive health and/or legal organizations. And maybe I’d finish it off visiting friends in Greece, Italy and Germany. Ah, if only…

What would you do if someone gave you $80,000 to go play for a year, and you had no personal or financial obligations?

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32 thoughts on $80,000 a year? I would take it too

  1. Given that I’m looking at starting salaries around or under $40,000 in my chosen profession, I’d sock half away in case I still couldn’t find a job after the first year…

    Sigh. Dontcha just love the economy?

  2. I’d pay for GRS and spend most of my time with the books and video games I’ve been neglecting for years… I haven’t played a final fantasy game all the way through since 7, and I’ve been wanted to finish up Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles…

    Do you have to be a lawyer and/or currently employed with a law firm to get this deal, by the way? Because I’ve gotta tell you, when it comes to spending a year on leisure, I can show anybody what-for. If somebody’s really looking to throw money into a black hole, I assure you, there is no better black hole than my purse.

  5. I don’t make that kind of money either, so I would probably save part of it, give part of it to organizations, and live on the rest for a year while spending more time volunteering and playing & writing music and sleeping and blogging more.

    Actually, that’s not true. I would go get another job, I don’t like not working and I wouldn’t be able to just do those other things. Then I would still be making money, on top of the $80k, even if I had to be a little circumspect about it, so I’d be able to save more and give more away. I mean, if I wanted to run around traveling, I would figure out some way to do that, but I have been pretty lucky in that I have gotten to travel quite a bit in life already. And I can always go on shorter vacations, but I don’t really want to check out and go somewhere else for a year, or hang around here for a year doing nothing.

  6. I think I would stay home and write, maybe take a class or two in some things I really want to learn, and spend more time with my daughter.

  7. I would totally start a sustainable farm. Hobby and some money in one step. and once the initial time investment is made (set up), I’ll be able to keep it going for a few more years, save up my income, and then “retire” in 5 years. and continue to educate about sustainable living.

    or maybe do the same with a vinyard.

    Granted, in my field, we’re lucky to make more than 40K after 10 years in the industry. ::sigh::

  9. let’s see…
    my best friend and i would get chest reconstruction surgery ($20000 total)
    i would get a total hysto/oopho/etc (eh…10,000ish? i think)
    with the remaining 50,000 i would pay off my girlfriend’s and my own remaining student loans. just barely. then i’d be broke again.

  10. i would take my fiance to england since he likes castles, and show him all the places i visited when i studied shakespeare for six weeks, then we’d go to paris so i can see Baudelaire’s grave, then i would do all the camping i haven’t gotten to do since my fiance’s busy in med school. i would also take my mom on a trip to someplace she wants to go, since one of my favorite memories is of her taking me to orlando, just the two of us. i would like to do that again, but go someplace new

  12. I’d use the monies to start my own business. If it fails, at least I have the experience of trying full time. If it succeeds, then there’s not much to fear from the chopping block.

  14. Well, I’d go on my Beatles-centric tour of England. Go see all of Liverpool, and stuff in London like Abbey Road. And unlike when I finally do it in real life (I will do it), I sure as hell wouldn’t be doing it on any kind of budget. I’d blow money on Beatles crap like there was no damn tomorrow. Oh, and while I’m at it, I’d obviously go finally see LOVE in Vegas. Hmm, maybe go to that John Lennon museum that Yoko set up in Japan. Oooh, and as a final blowout on New Year’s Eve, I could go see the Imagine Peace Tower!

    Yes, I’m fully aware that I have a problem.

  16. Do you promise I’ll get my job back and the insurance that comes with it? If yes then I’d buy myself a kickin’ laptop with wi-fi and spend a year blogging here there and everywhere. Since I have 10 years in my field and make less that 45 thou, I’d also have to pay some bills 🙂

    A such a nice daydream…

  17. I’d probably put half away in an interest baring savings account and use the other half to take the wife and spend a few months in Europe catching the summer metal festival scene, drinking heavily, sampling local food, and stuffing my body full of any entheogen I could get my hands on. I’d probably take the rest of the year to wrestle my dissertation into a book I could shop around.

  18. I’ve always wondered if I’d be good enough to make a living player poker instead of practicing law. $40,000 sounds like enough to test that theory. If things go poorly, spend the remaining $40,000 traveling.

  19. I’ve always wondered if I’d be good enough to make a living player poker instead of practicing law. $40,000 sounds like enough to test that theory. If things go poorly, spend the remaining $40,000 traveling.

    If things go *really* poorly, spend the other $40,000 buying a new identity and hiding from the Mob. 😀 <–(watches too many movies…)

    Seeing as $80,000 is nearly 4 times what I’ll be making next year… my plans would stay the same but I’d definitely get a pet rat (sadly I can’t afford to pay for pet medical bills, so I can’t afford a pet right now.) Then use the rest to pay for as much of my little sisters’ college educations as I could. ^^

  20. I am one of the 3ls whose firm is offering me tens of thousands because of deferred start dates (not $80k because it’s not even half a year). I’m not doing anything more exotic than Mexico because I need the money! I will be doing a lot of camping rafting and backpacking in TX NM CO and maybe CA.

    It’s not as sweet a deal for me though because my SO is starting a career so much of this I will be doing without her.

  21. I’d make a down-payment on property for a sustainable art commune for my friends and family, and spend the year doing the requisite work to get it going.

  22. I’m a 2L planning to go into public interest law. I’m actually extremely concerned about this trend. Some firms are requiring their deferred associates to work in public interest during the interim year – to make sure their research and writing skills stay tight, to insure they’re doing legal work, etc. And of course public interest organizations are happy to have them (and should be) since it means free, skilled labor for a year. Unfortunately for those of us that actually want to get those jobs as PAYING positions, and intend on staying in them for quite some time, this tightens the market for baby public interest lawyers. If we defer a year, no one pays us $80,000. We just have to keep looking and hoping. PSLawNet actually has a whole job category for deferred associates looking for public interest years. In addition, the law firm might get to count the associates hours at the public interest job as part of their pro bono hours! And they only have to pay the associates half their normal salary. It’s a win-win-win for everyone EXCEPT those of us who actually want these jobs. I also wonder a little about the commitment of the deferred associates to the public interest cause compared to the commitment of the public interest lawyers. Stupid economy.

  23. I’d pay off my student loans, and with the remaining 30,000 I’d spend 3 months or so at a top-notch language school in Latin America to (finally) become fluent in Spanish. Then I’d go back to New Orleans and spend the rest of the time helping out with the ongoing reconstruction work (including outreach/support to the many new Latino immigrants lured there by promises of work).

  24. @Herong

    I thought the same thing after reading this article….and now reading your comment…ugh! im planning on going to law school after this year to pursue public interest law. public interest jobs are diffcult to find now, and this will make it impossible. your comment offically scared the beejesus out of me. i currently work at a non profit working with youth health and justice issues and watching our budget get slashed by the city and seeing how budget cuts are affecting the PD’s office and non profits in general is frightening.

  27. She does have to pay taxes on her 80,000 income, including NYC taxes. In addition, I’m sure she has expenses that she has to cover for the year (rent/mortgage, loans, travel expenses, food). It’s not as though they are handing her a duffel bag of unmarked bills and calling it a day.

  28. …ok? No one said that she doesn’t have expenses to cover, or that she’s being given free cash. No one is criticizing her at all. But hey, way to be the first person to bring down a light-hearted thread about responsibility-free fantasies!

  30. This looks great and all, but in fact it’s horrible for those of us who are graduating from law school and hoping to do public interest work. See, public interest type organizations (firms, non profits, NGOs, etc) are now flooded with applicants who are willing to work for free, and they’re taking them – as opposed to people who are passionate about the job and plan to stick around, because they actually have to pay us a living wage. I certainly understand from a money perspective, but it’s bad for the organizations in the long run and bad for those of us who want to do the work. Fortunately, I’ve decided to pursue another dream (PhD and eventual professorship in women’s studies/LGBT studies), but not everyone has a backup plan.

    As for your actual question, lame as it is, I would save all the money! Man, the interest on 80K for a year could keep me going for at least another year on top of the four I could live on the principal.

  31. Put half of it away, buy my parents a trip to Europe, give some to organizations, and get a round-the-world ticket and blow the rest traveling.

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