So, somebody is offering you a nice tax-free lump sum just to stop doing something that you have not really been enjoying for several years.

Your heart says “Yes!” Your head says “Help!” You’re asking yourself if you can afford to take voluntary redundancy.

Your heart is telling you this is what you have been waiting for. An opportunity to change direction and try something new.

The redundancy money is the financing you need to forget about the monthly bills for a while, discover what’s really important to you and what could make you so much happier.

This is the only opportunity you’ll get to make the “leap”, for that’s what it feels like, as you stand poised to jump into the unknown, hoping to land safely on the other side where the grass looks greener. This might be a leap into an early retirement, or maybe an alternative lifestyle free of the repetition of commuting and the demands of an unreasonable boss.

Can you afford to take voluntary redundancy?  

Your head reminds you that making a sudden and major change to your lifestyle is a big financial and emotional risk.

The amount you are being offered to leave looks attractive, but how long will it last? Having considered all the alternatives maybe the status-quo is not so bad after all?

Financial planning will help you to reconcile this head and heart dilemma

Life is a matter of choices. Whether to take the “leap” is one of the biggest life and money choices you will have to make.

Understanding how you feel about a choice should be about having the right conversations and asking yourself the right questions. It’s important to have these conversations with those closest to you, but it can also be helpful to speak with somebody who is more distanced and has no direct interest in the decision you will take. This allows them to tell you what you need to hear and not just what you want to hear.

Ultimately only you can really know how you feel; but identifying and answering the right questions with someone you trust to be a good sounding board is a great place to start.

You don’t need a Plan until you have a Choice

Presented with what seems like impending chaos, your head is looking for structure and security. It normally likes to make life choices armed with facts and certainties that can reduce the process to a positive and negative scorecard.

Until now you might not have felt the need to have any sort of detailed financial plan other than to keep working at your career, put something aside for your pension and try to spend a bit less than you earn every month. You don’t need a better plan than that because you are on a straight road.

But if you’re thinking about taking redundancy, then this is a crossroads in all senses of the word and suddenly you need a map to help you know which way to turn.

If you leap, do it with a map

A professional Financial Plan is the best tool to help you make big choices with your money and  your life.

Using powerful modelling software, it can model various scenarios and display the results in easy to understand graphics.

It can help you visualise if you can afford to take voluntary redundancy, and answer questions such as ‘what if it took 12 months to generate any income from my new life?’ and ‘Where might I be in 10 years’ time?’

Building a professional Financial Plan together with the conversations that go with it, helps to create a bridge between the head and the heart and reconciles the different ways in which they both view the world.

If you do make the “leap”, then you will be doing it with a “map” in your pocket that will be an invaluable guide to your new surroundings, and an increasingly essential tool in making your future life and money choices.