Ankur Warikoo, an Indian YouTuber, entrepreneur and author, said that he could consider taking a career break in 2019 only because his bases were covered financially.
Warikoo, one of the top content creators on social media in India, said having a health insurance policy, a life insurance policy and an emergency fund is non-negotiable. “Everyone who’s earning needs to invest their money first into these three things. That’s a safeguard and gives you the flexibility or the opportunity to consider a career break,” he said.
In a conversation with Mint, Warikoo shared how he managed his finances during his career break, his plan B if things did not work in his favour, and his advice to those considering taking time off from work. Edited excerpts:
When did you take a career break and for how long?
I took a career break in 2019. I stepped down as CEO of nearbuy.com after working with the company for more than seven years.
The break was designed for three months but it went on for almost 12 months before I figured what I had to do. It was a planned break to an extent. All that I knew was that even if the worst thing were to happen, I was covered.
Did you have dependants back then?
Yes, my two kids, wife and parents were dependant on me when I took a break. I had adequate health and life insurance policy in place.
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But I had cash only for five months to meet our living expenses such as the home loan EMI and the school fee for kids. Until then, I had put all the money back into Nearbuy as an investment. So, I had a lot of wealth on paper through ownership in Nearbuy but only little cash.
I wanted to have a running income of ₹3 lakh per month that could pay for the survival of the family, even during my time off from work.
How did you manage to earn that amount?
I was a public speaker for a long while, but I hadn’t ever charged for that. But when I took a break, I gave corporate talks and earned from it. That kept the ship floating. After a few months, covid-19 happened in March 2020 when the entire country was under lockdown. The last thing companies wanted was a corporate talk.
I was again staring at five months of runway, and I had no income stream whatsoever. And at that point of time, I remember speaking to a very dear friend of mine. She asked me to run online seminars charging some amount. While I liked that idea, it was scary because I didn’t know how much to charge and if people would pay for it. Eventually, I launched a webinar with ‘pay what you want’ pricing. It was surprising that what I earned was more than what I expected. I had to learn virtual delivery because I had experience of only in-person sessions. Thankfully it worked.
How important is family support during a career break?
In our country, career break is not so much of an individual decision. It’s a collective decision.
I often say that having a partner who thinks alike is a blessing in life, because he/she goes on to define so many meaningful decisions that you will make. I lucked out. My wife (Ruchi) and I think alike, particularly about money.
Before my career break, my wife and I wanted to make sure that the worst-case scenario is taken care of. We decided that if nothing works out in three months, we planned to sell our house to pay off the loan.
In that case, we will be left with at least ₹50 lakh cash in hand from the sale proceeds. With that amount, we planned to move to a village in mountains, home-school our kids, and find a job in a primary school to teach. We had that conversation before the break and mutually agreed to go ahead.
Were you ever concerned about becoming financially dependent?
No, I have been financially independent for the longest time I know. I started earning when I was in 11th or 12th, giving tuitions to kids.
But my wife went through that. She had a terrific career, but in 2010, she took a break to figure out things. We had our first son in 2011, she decided to become a full-time mother. In 2014, she wanted to get back into the workforce. And my only guidance to her was that we were privileged enough that she didn’t have to go to work for money.
And it was good to see her at the age of 34 almost acting as if she was a 20-year old trying multiple careers. She has worked hard. Today, she is my manager earning what she was getting back in 2010, inflation adjusted.
What were the things you resisted spending on during your break?
Almost everything was cut down. Only the essentials such as home EMI/rent, school fee, food and living expenses continued.
We as a family really like traveling. And we had to cut down on that massively.
What was your equation with money during childhood?
My father was forced to go on a career break because a lot of decisions he took did not work out. While I respect him for the decisions he took, the reality was that we suffered a lot. But it was the safety net created by my mother that saved us from the financial impact of my dad’s decisions. She used to save, if not in bank, somewhere in the house. It was the savings approach of my mother and the risk-taking approach of my dad that somehow balanced itself in some beautiful way for my sister and I to have a fairly good life. I think that there was a joy in just witnessing life in that level of scarcity.
What would you suggest to someone considering a career break?
Make sure your financial base is covered. That includes having adequate health insurance, life insurance policy and an emergency fund.
I’ve been through many breaks, not by design. I have been in a health break, a career break, an emotional break and also in a break where I was devastated by some of the decisions that I’ve made. The only thing that got me out of it was that my base was always covered financially. Further, I somehow had a mind that I couldn’t care less about what the world thought of me.
Do whatever you can to keep your base covered and liberate yourself from the pressure of what the world thinks of you.