It will be tricky for him to get a new job without the college recruitment machine behind him, unless he has a great network. Most employers would see the gap and assume he is lazy or trying to hide a bad first job.

Tell him most careers are less time-intensive than college, especially the way he did it with a compressed timeline. Unless he is in banking, consulting or similar, he can have his nights and weekends free. And he can travel at off-peak times and not have such a shoestring budget.

Is the job itself something he is not excited about? Can he try to find something else before he graduates? Or look for a light at the end of the tunnel like grad school or lateraling out to another company?

Finally, I am curious why he pushed himself to graduate in three years given he had a scholarship. Would have been better to take classes at a more leisurely pace, or more fun electives

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely encourage him to do this. He will never get this time back. He knows he is burned out and knows what to do about it, and he has the time, the money, and the lack of other responsibilities to be able to do it. Would that we could all be so lucky!

I would, however, suggest that he budget to spend only a portion of his $25k, maybe $25k, which may mean that he isn’t able to travel for a full year. Of course this will not be luxury travel. I’m sure he expects that.

The remainder of his savings he can live off of while he looks for a job once he gets back.

Bad idea. And, what about things like health insurance?

He is probably healthy . . . You people are so dumb and boring. I did this after college. It was AMAZING. I'm a partner at a law firm today many years later and doing quite well. That year changed my life and gave me perspective for the rest of my life. OP, encourage your son to live his life. He seems like an incredible person and will absolutely find his footing.

Doing this for a year before you went to law school is a totally different thing than after undergrad when you have job offers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d let him do it. Once in a lifetime opportunity. And if he’s talented enough that he’s being offered a 130k salary straight out of undergrad, there will be another job offer.

Op said $103k, which is a standard professional salary these days with inflation and hot labor market. OP should clarify how much of a hot shot he is job market wise — my feeling is if he was that desirable he would have multiple offers and negotiated a 6 month start date. That’s what adults do.

LOL no.

WHich part is "NO"? when I graduated I negotiated a late start date 4 months later, and I was just a run of the mill student (though I was from an elite school).

NP this is not possible in every industry (ie you are an absolute idiot for assuming this is possible in every industry). For example in many *elite* investment banking firms, the incoming analysts all attend an introductory training seminar for several weeks. It would be near-impossible to be allowed to skip that, unless you had special connections within the firm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my child doing this. He’d have a gap on his resume for no legitimate reason (sorry, traveling the world doesn’t quantify). As an employer, I’d have reservations about hiring a recent grad who wanted to delay working for a year so that he could travel. I’d assume he wasn’t serious about employment. Savings of $25 isn’t much when you consider down payments, retirement and rainy day funds.

That said, maybe he can delay the start date a month and use that time to travel. That’s much more reasonable IMO.

As an employer, I think traveling for a year after college would make the candidate more intriguing and competitive and therefore more employable.

So this candidate would be better than a currently employed candidate with skills matched to the job? Or someone directly out of school with recent training in field.

Sure, if your career is sales, and having good travel stories to tell can be a handy tool, sure it’s relevant. But “tourist” on your resume generally has limited applications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my child doing this. He’d have a gap on his resume for no legitimate reason (sorry, traveling the world doesn’t quantify). As an employer, I’d have reservations about hiring a recent grad who wanted to delay working for a year so that he could travel. I’d assume he wasn’t serious about employment. Savings of $25 isn’t much when you consider down payments, retirement and rainy day funds.

That said, maybe he can delay the start date a month and use that time to travel. That’s much more reasonable IMO.

As an employer, I think traveling for a year after college would make the candidate more intriguing and competitive and therefore more employable.

ITA

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who takes a year off after college will become completely unemployable, except in a poor people job. If this were me, I would realize I’d failed as a parent, lock DS in room like Eos did to Tithonus, and have a new kid who does exactly what I want.

You should work with a professional for your catastrophizing and delusions of grandeur. They aren’t mentally healthy.

I’m pretty sure the pp was joking.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my child doing this. He’d have a gap on his resume for no legitimate reason (sorry, traveling the world doesn’t quantify). As an employer, I’d have reservations about hiring a recent grad who wanted to delay working for a year so that he could travel. I’d assume he wasn’t serious about employment. Savings of $25 isn’t much when you consider down payments, retirement and rainy day funds.

That said, maybe he can delay the start date a month and use that time to travel. That’s much more reasonable IMO.

As an employer, I think traveling for a year after college would make the candidate more intriguing and competitive and therefore more employable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely encourage him to do this. He will never get this time back. He knows he is burned out and knows what to do about it, and he has the time, the money, and the lack of other responsibilities to be able to do it. Would that we could all be so lucky!

I would, however, suggest that he budget to spend only a portion of his $25k, maybe $25k, which may mean that he isn’t able to travel for a full year. Of course this will not be luxury travel. I’m sure he expects that.

The remainder of his savings he can live off of while he looks for a job once he gets back.

Bad idea. And, what about things like health insurance?

He is probably healthy . . . You people are so dumb and boring. I did this after college. It was AMAZING. I'm a partner at a law firm today many years later and doing quite well. That year changed my life and gave me perspective for the rest of my life. OP, encourage your son to live his life. He seems like an incredible person and will absolutely find his footing.

He is probably HEALTHY? That’s your answer to no health insurance????

He has insurance until 26

So his parents will continue to pay for a family health insurance rather than a couple so he can travel? It’s not free just allowed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely encourage him to do this. He will never get this time back. He knows he is burned out and knows what to do about it, and he has the time, the money, and the lack of other responsibilities to be able to do it. Would that we could all be so lucky!

I would, however, suggest that he budget to spend only a portion of his $25k, maybe $25k, which may mean that he isn’t able to travel for a full year. Of course this will not be luxury travel. I’m sure he expects that.

The remainder of his savings he can live off of while he looks for a job once he gets back.

Bad idea. And, what about things like health insurance?

He is probably healthy . . . You people are so dumb and boring. I did this after college. It was AMAZING. I'm a partner at a law firm today many years later and doing quite well. That year changed my life and gave me perspective for the rest of my life. OP, encourage your son to live his life. He seems like an incredible person and will absolutely find his footing.

He is probably HEALTHY? That’s your answer to no health insurance????

He has insurance until 26

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely encourage him to do this. He will never get this time back. He knows he is burned out and knows what to do about it, and he has the time, the money, and the lack of other responsibilities to be able to do it. Would that we could all be so lucky!

I would, however, suggest that he budget to spend only a portion of his $25k, maybe $25k, which may mean that he isn’t able to travel for a full year. Of course this will not be luxury travel. I’m sure he expects that.

The remainder of his savings he can live off of while he looks for a job once he gets back.

Bad idea. And, what about things like health insurance?

He is probably healthy . . . You people are so dumb and boring. I did this after college. It was AMAZING. I'm a partner at a law firm today many years later and doing quite well. That year changed my life and gave me perspective for the rest of my life. OP, encourage your son to live his life. He seems like an incredible person and will absolutely find his footing.

Who paid for law school AND your year of traveling??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely encourage him to do this. He will never get this time back. He knows he is burned out and knows what to do about it, and he has the time, the money, and the lack of other responsibilities to be able to do it. Would that we could all be so lucky!

I would, however, suggest that he budget to spend only a portion of his $25k, maybe $25k, which may mean that he isn’t able to travel for a full year. Of course this will not be luxury travel. I’m sure he expects that.

The remainder of his savings he can live off of while he looks for a job once he gets back.

Bad idea. And, what about things like health insurance?

He is probably healthy . . . You people are so dumb and boring. I did this after college. It was AMAZING. I'm a partner at a law firm today many years later and doing quite well. That year changed my life and gave me perspective for the rest of my life. OP, encourage your son to live his life. He seems like an incredible person and will absolutely find his footing.

He is probably HEALTHY? That’s your answer to no health insurance????

Anonymous wrote:Stay at college another year & study abroad for a sem.

this is a much better idea than graduating and being a beach bum for a year.

Stay at college another year & study abroad for a sem.

This could kill his resume. Maybe he can negotiate starting in the fall rather than summer, take few months off? The company would save almost $20k. A year, even a summer, will do nothing to change the inevitable adult life of endless work. Maybe what he needs is therapy to work on how he perceives adult life and does self care.

Anonymous wrote:I'd let him support himself any way he chooses. He's an adult.

Assuming he understands that he's on his own financially post-graduation it wouldn't matter to me how he chooses to do it. If he wants to take a cushier job next year, that's understandable but he won't have as much spending money. He will have to live leaner, but he'll find his way.

It's amazing how fast they figure this all out once they have to support themselves. He'll know pretty quickly if he's willing to trade off longer hours or a more intense job for more $$, or if a simpler life with a tighter budget is a better path.

Now, if he's asking you to fund a vacation for a year, my response would be no, but that's obviously your call.

This, yup! I’d probably let him stay on my health insurance if he decided not to start working immediately but I would e supportive of whatever he decided to do with his own financial independence.