So 2009 finishes... and thank you to everyone who's followed this blog this year

I can't believe 2009 is nearly over - in around two hours from now, in fact. It's been a rollercoaster of a year for me, feel free to let me know what it's been like for all you guys!

Thinking back to the start of the year, I can't believe how different my life was back in January to what it is now:

• I was an accountant in a reasonably well-paid (but temporary) job working in a bank
• I was totally bored in my job
• Actually, I hated my job
• ...and possibly feeling slightly bitter about having ended up as a chartered accountant when I'd never really wanted to be one
• Didn't really "fit in" with many of my accountancy colleagues (at any of the places I worked at, come to think of it)
• I hadn't had any writing published since 2002 when I wrote for my university's student magazine
• I knew that I wanted to change career, but had no definite plans of how to do it.

Actually that last bit is probably slightly inaccurate: I was saving money from my job every month "for the day I change career", but I had no idea when and if that day was going to happen. I had vague ideas about maybe being a journalist, and vague ideas about needing money in savings to retrain as a journalist, possibly even getting a second degree, and funding myself through the low-paid journalism employment every school and university careers book says you must do before actually being able to earn a living from being a newspaper or magazine employee.

Then from February onwards, things changed. I lost my job.

As you all know, I figured that I'd soon get another one, so that I could keep saving up for the "big day" that I finally changed career. To pass the time while I was jobless, I decided to do some distance learning courses in English Literature and Sociology; partly because I'd always wanted to do them, and partly because I figured they'd come in useful for "the day I do a journalism-related degree".

I also started this blog in March, just for a bit of fun. Even though I don't post here very often (I know, I know...) I underestimated just how much effect simply writing this blog would have on my life.

I think I can honestly credit you guys, all of you who have followed this blog, left comments, and given me your time and support, for the direction my life took after that - because without it all, I think I would still be stuck moaning about hating being a chartered accountant!

You guys encouraged me to take a chance. You guys encouraged me to overcome my fears and just go for it. You guys did your best to keep my spirits up when I hit roadblocks in my initial job hunting. And your feedback made me realise I needed to stop wishing for a change and come up with a definite, concrete plan on making it happen. Sometimes I wonder why the hell I didn't do this sooner - I'd already quit my job once before, only to take up the same job but in a different organisation (i.e. the temp job in the bank until this February).

I think I can honestly say that, once I'd taken stock and decided to pursue the journalism idea, I might not have got the confidence to approach a national newspaper for an unpaid two-week work experience placement in June if I hadn't had so many of you rooting for me in your blog comments.

It also encouraged me to get my arse in gear and do something about this flippin' career change - after all, what would be the point of any of you reading about my career change if I wasn't actually doing it?

By the end of my two-week work placement in June, I was still jobless and with no hope of getting a job either in the dreaded accountancy profession or any of the newspapers in this recession, it was suggested that I try going freelance, and breaking into journalism that way.

After some research (well, mainly reading "The Freelance Writer's Handbook: How to Make Money and Enjoy Your Life" by Andrew Crofts - which I thoroughly recommend for UK readers, by the way, though there are some really good US books too that I'll go into another time) not only did I realise that it WAS possible to make a living as a freelance writer, but also no extra qualifications were required as long as I was prepared to be persistent, professional, imaginative and able to market my current knowledge and skills - nope, I didn't even NEED a journalism (or English) degree! I couldn't help thinking back to my rant on the value of education on learning this!

So here's where my life stands now, in December 2009:

• Four articles published in a national newspaper during the work experience in June
• My first paying client - an accountancy magazine who were happy to take on a former chartered accountant with a small portfolio of published writing for a two-day paid trial in their offices in July
• Being commissioned again and again by that accountancy magazine as well as pitching an article to them that I wanted to write at home
• Being self-employed, as opposed to being employed - and having to be completely responsible for EVERYTHING now, rather than my employer being responsible for everything
• Actually GETTING PAID to write - the joy! I'm actually a writer now!
• Winning my second and third paying client this month, in quick succession. And looking forward to payment for my articles for those publications in January.

The second publication was a tax-related magazine that I pitched an article to, where they only pay on publication (fortunately they published my article in December) and with much more favourable contract terms, meaning that I get to keep the copyright in my work and can re-sell it on to other publications if I wish, as long as they get First British Serial Rights (i.e. the right to publish that article first in the UK before any other publication, usually for a limited amount of time, after which it can be reprinted elsewhere. Like how First North American Serial Rights works for articles published in North America).

The third publication was the sister publication of the accountancy magazine - a monthly magazine which will publish my article at the beginning of January 2010 - and came about because the editor of the accountancy magazine recommended me. Hooray!

I really couldn't have done it without knowing you were all rooting for me every step of the way. Of course I have the support (and grocery money!) of Lovely Boyfriend to be grateful for too, but I honestly, actually don't think I would have achieved any of the things I have this year if I hadn't had this blog to focus me on my goal, and all of you to sympathise, joke, encourage and give me the occasional kick up the arse along the way.

So for that reason alone, I hope you all have a brilliant New Year's Eve and an absolutely bloody fantastic 2010 in which all your hopes and dreams come true. Thank you again xxx

Back after a 3-month absence... and how things have changed!

Oh my God, is it November already???? And did I really last post on this blog in July????

I really can't believe I've been away from the blogosphere for so long - I've not even logged into my Blogger account since August. Again, many many apologies, and perhaps it's just better for me to say I'm only going to post sporadically from now on... sorry guys... but I will take the time to check all your blogs and catch up with what I've missed from the last couple of months - starting from after I finish this blog post.

So many things have happened since I last posted here that this is going to be one long blog post I'm afraid! I turned 28 just over a month ago, and the days in the run-up to any birthday are always a time for reflection on what you've achieved in the year. At least, they are for me, anyway.

In my final days - well, final months, really - of being 27 years of age, I actually started to feel a little depressed. That was partly the reason why I didn't post on this blog during August and September - I just kind of felt that I was fast approaching 30 with not much to show for my life career-wise, and I'd always imagined that in my late 20s I'd be hugely successful and fast climbing the professional ladder in a high-powered career.

The reality, of course, was completely different. I still hadn't got a job, and it didn't look like I had any hope of getting one - despite hating accountancy, I was still applying for those jobs just so that I'd have an income to pay off the mortgage and bills. It sounds crazy, doesn't it - why the hell would I still be applying for jobs in a profession I was so desperate to leave to begin with? To my great shame, the only answer I can give you is that it was what was familiar, and the habits in my brain were telling me to go back to what was familiar rather than risk trying something new and unknown. I think most of us do that to some extent, even when we're consciously in the process of changing things for the better!

Thanks to the ongoing credit crunch, I still couldn't get an accountancy job. Ever more accountants were being made redundant, yet I still foolishly kept trying to get an accountancy job. What made it even worse was that I'd already been commissioned for a two-day reporting stint at a magazine in late July. I think I mentioned a little bit in my last blog post. So it's not as if I was totally failing at the freelance journalism thing at that point. There was another reason too, for why I felt a bit down, which I shall go into later in this post.

But it's not all doom and gloom. The other reason I didn't post in August was simply because I was out of the country (on a dead-cheap European holiday) for some of it, which was pretty nice.

And getting my first commission was a pretty pleasing result. As mentioned, I used the four articles from my work experience stint on a national newspaper for my portfolio, bought a copy of The Writers' Handbook 2010 (it was on sale at half the price, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered) and worked my way through it. I decided to target magazines specialising in accountancy and finance to start with, on the grounds that I used to be an accountant and therefore would be able to draw on my knowledge and training in writing about it.

I cold-called a few of the editors, and most of them simply asked me to send them my CV and a sample of clips from my portfolio. However, one of them, on hearing I used to actually be an accountant - qualified and everything - asked me to come into their offices in London for coffee and a chat. I dragged my portfolio along with me and he gave me the most gruelling "chat" ever. It turned out he was being so tough simply because he was treating it as a job interview - unbeknownst to me, he was thinking of hiring me for a reporter role and just wanted to see how I interviewed under a pressured situation! I saw the funny side though, and he did apologise for putting me on the spot like that!

As a result of our interview "chat" he decided to give me a two-day trial at the end of July to see how I got on, knowing that I had very little journalism experience and even less news-reporting experience. He offered to pay me the usual daily rate for reporters.

So that's where I left off from my last post. I was so proud to send my very first invoice, for quite a nice amount too. However, it turned out I had to sign their Freelancer Terms & Conditions.

I was very unhappy with some of the clauses - especially the ones where the freelancer had to agree to take all responsibility for any legal action brought against the publication - and tried to suggest an alternative contract, which I don't think the editor was too happy about, especially as it had to be sent through their legal team. As the weeks wore on, the contract remained unagreed, and I still hadn't been paid, I began to feel very very unhappy. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), who usually advise freelancers not to sign contracts like this, refused to help me as I wasn't an NUJ member but I couldn't become an NUJ member until I'd been paid. As a result I didn't blog or even do anything to further my budding freelance journalism career during August or September, that's how unhappy it made me.

By mid-September, it was clear that the contract was never going to be changed, and until I signed it, I wouldn't get paid. I still had no other clients, so I decided to just swallow my pride and sign it. After all, as a brand-new freelancer without a name for herself, it was hardly likely I'd have much negotiating clout in these matters anyway. I decided that if I signed it, I'd simply have to be careful what I wrote about (to minimise any chance of court action) and look into getting professional indemnity insurance. Funnily enough, even though I wasn't totally happy about signing such a contract, once I had signed it the depression lifted and I was soon buzzing with writing ideas.

The moral of the tale here is: agree on a contract first before agreeing to do any work for anyone - it really was my own fault for blindly going into something without first making sure I knew exactly what I was getting into!

So I rang up the editor at the end of September, told them I was signing and sending back the contract (so that I could actually be paid for July's work) and while I was at it, pitched a new idea to them. The editor agreed to commission the article from me, and gave me a week to do a 1,000-word article which they featured as a three-page spread in the centre of the magazine. Nice!

Due to a hiring freeze, I didn't get the reporter role that he initially wanted to hire me for (even after making me do a screen test to see how I coped on TV - they have their own web TV channel for topical interviews), but fortunately that editor was so happy with the work I've done for them so far they've agreed to commission me as a freelancer anyway. I've signed off Job-Seeker's Allowance as a result - which is great, because fortnightly trips to the Jobcentre were really doing my head in!

So to conclude my story, I spent a total of seven days in October covering on the newsdesk in their offices whenever any of the reporters were away, and contributing a lot of articles to both their website and their printed paper publication. My portfolio is now considerably larger and I actually feel like I've established myself as a freelance journalist - even though I currently only have one client!

About a week ago - yes, near the end of October - I finally received payment for July's outstanding invoice (really need to do better at credit control and cashflow in future) and have sent two more invoices to that publication, establishing a 30-day term for payment so that I don't have to wait so long for payment again (though I admit I had a lot to do with the hold-up for not agreeing the contract). I registered myself with the tax authorities as self-employed - a scary but necessary step - and am now looking for my next client and next article commission.

Funnily enough I am STILL registered with recruitment agencies for accountancy jobs and have had my CV forwarded to employers even now, but the lack of success and/or response is no longer bothering me. I'm hoping that my freelance journalism career will soon be so well-established, and paying me so well, that I'll never need to be bothered about accountancy jobs ever again.

Taking a step backwards to go forwards?

This week has seemed a bit more positive. Two accountancy recruitment consultants rang me today to put my name forward for two new accountancy roles that have become available. One's a permanent role in an accountancy firm, the other's a permanent role in a film company. In addition, my usual recruitment consultant James rang me yesterday to put my name forward for a temporary role at another large bank, so hopefully something will come out of these three prospective roles.

Especially after I went to the Jobcentre today to sign on only to find out they'd lost part of my signing-on file - but the less said about that the better, I think!

For those of you wondering why I am looking for another role in accountancy when I am trying to leave the profession, fear not: it is actually all part of the plan.

Last summer the plan was to save money for the eventual career change from a temporary contract role or two. I chose to take up a temporary contract role in a global bank partly because it paid more money than a permanent accountancy role - meaning I could save more money - and for temp roles, you get paid for the exact number of hours you work, so if you worked more than your contracted seven hours in day you would be well-rewarded for it (unlike most permanent jobs). In my previous permanent job at an accountancy firm (i.e. my second-to-last job) it wasn't unusual for me to work so late I didn't get home until well past 9pm, by which point I was too tired for any career-changing planning or activity... and even when I got home it didn't stop, for I was expected to do further accountancy study and training, which would have been fine if I wasn't trying to find a way out of the profession!

Obviously I wasn't counting on the credit crunch to bite harder than it did, so when my temp role at the Bank ended in February this year, I was surprised to find the job market as quiet as it has been. I had been hoping to take on another temporary contract, but thanks to the lack of jobs in the supposedly recession-proof accountancy sector (it's not recession-proof at all by the way) I am having to be less fussy and take on any job which pays. Needs must, after all.

And that, of course, means that I can't necessarily escape from chartered accountancy just yet. It looks like I may need to take on another role for a while if only to ensure the bills get paid. I'm still applying for the TEFL summer jobs in case these three roles come to nothing; however, as with most career changes, the change may have to happen quite slowly, being planned for all the way.

Update on the Jobcentre situation - and the job situation

This is a going to be a very quick post as it's my lovely boyfriend's 28th birthday today, so I will need to head off very soon for the birthday party I've been busy organising all week. Would you believe it, I completely forgot to buy him a card despite trying to organise the big day... how the hell did I manage to forget that???? After all, it's not as if I actually forgot his birthday (well, you'd hope not, seeing as I've spent the week organising it!) Ah well, hopefully all will be forgiven very soon!

The rest of the week has been spent battling a nearby wasps' nest - the little blighters keep mysteriously getting into our bathroom - and sorting out my application at the Jobcentre. I'm pleased to tell you that the interview went smoothly this time, so hopefully things will be sorted out soon.

The other thing that's kept me busy this week is writing an article for one of my favourite blogs, Laura Reviews at http://laurareviews.blogspot.com. Quite aside from my article (about things for a bookworm to do when in London), I do urge you all to go and visit this intelligent, insightful and frankly wonderful blog, dedicated to reviewing the written word in all forms.

I still haven't managed to find an accountancy job, though, and dole money won't be enough. So what I'm considering now is other paid employment, specifically Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), which is what I did in China in 2004. While there aren't so many long-term TEFL opportunities in England, plenty of schools are recruiting for the summer months at the moment. OK, the salary's a fraction of what I got as an accountant working for a global bank in the City (London's version of Wall Street in New York), but it'll be just about enough for the mortgage and bills I think - and I don't mind living cheaply for a while. At the moment it's just more important that I have some sort of income coming in! Many people working in my field (particularly at the Bank I worked at till this February) tend to live very luxurious and expensive lives, but fortunately for me I cut out a lot of those things over the last year or so for the future career change, so I'm more used to it than most!

I've heard from my recruitment consultants that many newly-qualified accountants like me are struggling to find jobs as a result of the credit crunch, so a lot of them have either gone travelling for 6 months, found voluntary work, or are generally doing something completely different to keep them busy until the jobs market picks up. Personally I'm happy for the opportunity to do something different... and dare I confess it, secretly enjoying my time off...

Recession and redundancy - disaster or opportunity?

My mate Steven's 26th birthday party was on Saturday night, so my boyfriend and I had the perfect excuse to spend the day - well, the whole weekend, really - wandering round in the glorious sunshine before heading over to Covent Garden where the party was. Despite a spate of redundancies at the City law firm he works for, Steven confided cheerfully that he wasn't worried.

"I've decided to take voluntary redundancy," he confessed over his pint of beer. "There's so many people losing their jobs, I'm not going to sit around and wait to see if I'm next."
"You're doing what?!?" I gasped. "I thought you liked your job?"
"Oh, I do like my job," he answered airily, "but I work such long hours all the time, I haven't had a break for years. So the opportunity's come up, and I've decided to take it. Besides which," he added, grinning, "I get a much bigger payoff this way."
"But, mate," I continued to protest. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Well, yeah," he said. "I mean, come on, this is an opportunity, innit? I can sit at home, have a rest, do nothing for a year, maybe I'll even travel a bit, then go back to work somewhere else..."

Now that's a response I haven't often heard this recession: "It's an opportunity". Open any newspaper or turn on any TV, and you'll hear a thousand and one doom-and-gloom articles about the failing economy and the ever-increasing queues outside jobcentres up and down the UK. In the past 18 months the BBC news website has featured stories of despair from people who have either been made redundant, or are under threat of being made redundant. People are worried sick, taking on more work, taking pay cuts, working longer hours, being nice to the boss, all in a desperate scramble to hold onto their jobs as tightly as possible, yet here's my mate Steven jumping at the chance to lose his job - hell, he's even asking his firm to let him go.

While the next few weeks will show if Steven actually meant it (or whether he'd simply drunk too much beer), I couldn't help wondering about both points of view. Clearly the media have painted the credit crunch as an unmitigated disaster, the worst financial crisis for a century; but there is a small crowd who feel that the recession has thrown up plenty of opportunity. In Steven's case, he's 26, single and has no domestic or financial commitments. He went straight into practising law after university, so unlike myself, he didn't have the chance to travel or try something else before embarking on a career. It's easy to see how he'd view this recession as a big opportunity for himself.

But it's not just him, though. Some businesses are taking that view as well. Budget supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl in the UK are apparently having a great time, as is any business marketed for "the credit crunch". Foyles Bookstore in London's Charing Cross Road put up posters listing their examples of businesses that had started in recessions:

• Burger King
• Disney
• FedEx
• Microsoft
• CNN
• General Electric
• MTV
• Sports Illustrated
• Hewlett Packard

among others.
While I am not going to be one of those dismissive or unrealistically "optimistic" people who bray that this recession is nothing to worry about, or who belittle the hardship and distress of many going through tough circumstances, I do feel it's probably worth remembering that there are two sides to every story as with everything else.

Now I just have to sit down with a cup of tea and consider what opportunity my own redundancy has given me!

A much-needed afternoon tea break

As you can imagine, the reason I called myself "Afternoon Tea Break" to start with is because I started this blog during an afternoon tea break - well, one of many, being your typical tea-gulping Brit. After some of the news I've had this week I reckon I'll need a nice soothing cuppa or two!

Sometimes changing career can really feel like you're taking one step forward and two steps back. Or, in my case, one giant leap forward... and an equally giant leap back.

No sooner had my delight subsided over winning a two-week work experience placement in the office of a national daily broadsheet, I got dealt several setbacks on the job front this week. Not only did I get rejected for the accountancy jobs I'd applied for, I found out I won't qualify for the full entitlement of Job-seekers Allowance from the government, on the grounds that I have savings, no children and my own home. I had to laugh a little. Yeah, I've spent the last four years paying a fair amount of taxes and National Insurance (social security) out of my wages, so you'd have thought I'd qualify for the full entitlement on losing my job, but apparently not. Ah well.

I could sit here and moan about it some more, but it would serve no purpose so I won't. It did make me realise that my little career-changing plan may have to undergo some tweaking.

Some people are able to jump straight from one career to another, but I am not in that fortunate position. As you know, the original plan was to use the accountancy jobs to build up some savings to cope with a fall in income, especially as I was sure I would have to either re-train or take some courses to get into either of my chosen fields. However, with accountancy jobs very thin on the ground at the moment - most of the chartered accountants that have been made redundant are newly-qualified, like me - the career change may have to happen a lot sooner than I'd planned. I'd had a chat with a recruitment consultant this week who told me that some of the newly-qualified chartered accountants on his books had been looking for jobs for the past seven months, so my situation (i.e. having been out of work for two months) wasn't so unusual.

"Seven months?!?" I screeched, "but I can't be out of a job for seven months!!! How on earth do these people survive for that long???"

I didn't get a definite answer, but it really didn't matter. I realised I had to kick-start something, and soon. While I was glad that I had already embarked on my distance-learning A-Level courses - English Literature is hopefully helping my writing ability and Sociology is giving me a fascinating insight into that field - the original idea was to study them alongside a full-time job. Despite hating accountancy, it was still in the original plan to use them to fund my next move, but obviously if there are no jobs (as well as the fact that I want to quit anyway) then there's no point hanging on, is there? The courses are certainly enjoyable, but not bringing in an income, and career-change or not, we all need something to live on!

So it's back to the drawing board for me; I shall need to re-think the original plan. But not before I take another afternoon tea break.

Finances First - How to "sort out your finances": advice and detailed tips

I really do apologise for the delay between posts, but I've been pretty busy these last few weeks for some reason - I've hardly been near the computer. I intend not to let this slip in future, and blog more regularly - otherwise what's the point of anyone following my journey of changing career in tough economic times if I'm not keeping you all updated?

Now that I'm back, however, I need to follow on from the previous post. This will be quite long as it's packed full of advice and tips, so be prepared. It's easy for me to advise "sort your finances out first before you think of a career change" without actually explaining what the hell I'm talking about, or even explaining what I did.

By "sorting out finances" I mean putting into action some sort of plan for your finances that will help your career change than hinder it; your own personal financial plan that will free up time and energy for you to consider what you want to do.

This means considering the following areas:

• Debt
• Living within your means
• Saving
• Maximising your income

How to deal with each of these will be covered in the rest of the post below - click on the above links to view each section in more detail. Click here to read more...

Debt

You will need to put a plan in place for paying any debts off as quickly as possible (barring mortgage debt and perhaps any university student loan debt). The debts with the highest interest rates must be paid off first - credit card debt, for example. Ideally you will be able to pay off your credit cards debts in full by the payment date. If not, you could try transferring the balance of any credit card debts you have onto a limited-period 0% interest rate credit card (so that you don't incur additional interest which will cost you more money) and try to pay off the debt before the 0% interest rate offer runs out. Some people, at this stage, transfer the outstanding balance to another limited-period 0% interest rate credit card and continue to pay down the debt.

Alternatively, you could pay off all your credit card debts by taking out an unsecured personal loan with the lowest interest rate you can find, and pay this off. This is often a sensible idea, as with a credit card you are often paying interest at about 20-30% a year (which, on an outstanding balance of £10,000 - or $10,000 if you prefer, but I'll use British Pounds rather than Dollars as it's easier for me - equates to an extra £2000-£3000 a year that you owe the credit card company, or about an extra £167-£250 a month) and with a personal loan at say, an interest rate of 8% a year, you would be paying A LOT less (a loan of £10,000 which paid off the outstanding balance on your credit card of £10,000 will only be paying an extra £800 a year on top of the loan, which is an extra £66.67 a month).

If you're a homeowner, there is option of paying off your credit card debts by taking out a secured personal loan - which is a loan that gets added onto your outstanding mortgage. The advantage of this is that the interest rate on mortgages is far lower than that on credit cards. Personally I don't think it's a good idea to consolidate debts on your house if you're a homeowner, particularly in times of falling property prices. However, it is best to seek advice on whether this is the best option for you or not, as in some cases it may well be the best way for you to pay off debt. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service in the UK (see below for details of website) may be able to help.

Debt is the fastest eroder of wealth there is; it is also the fastest eroder of a person's peace of mind. While it is highly likely that it can be paid off overnight, it still must be paid off, and by putting a plan in place for doing so you would be well on the way to attaining that peace of mind. It's not pleasant, I know, but think of it as a sacrifice now that will bring you far greater rewards in the future.

In the same vein, try to think of your current job as providing the financial means for your future, even though you hate it. Again, it's a sacrifice now that will bring you far greater rewards in the future.

In the meantime, do not get into any more debt. Try to kick the habit of relying on debt to pay for your life. Not just because of the credit crunch and the likelihood of losing one's job, but also because the longer you are committed to paying back debt, the less time and money you will have for building up some degree of wealth which will buy your freedom, and enable you to make that career change.

If you're renting, do not buy a property. I know house prices are the lowest they've been in the last 3 years, but unless you have a 50% deposit or down payment on your desired property, you are probably going to pay more money for your mortgage every month than your rent. And having the monthly commitment of more debt (this time, your mortgage) is going to keep you in your hated profession longer than you would like rather than freeing you up to make a career change.

Trust me, I know all about this one. While the property I bought was reasonably priced (a rarity even back then in spring 2006) and the mortgage payments are still not too high, the fact remains that I was renting a room in a very nice house with very nice tenants for half my monthly mortgage payment. Which was stupid as I knew even back then that I hated accountancy and wanted to get out. The fact that I had a mortgage means that I have had to stick with that accountancy career right up until the present day - when I could really have left it a lot earlier: probably back in 2006 actually, when the deposit I had saved could have lasted me at least a year without work, if that's what I wanted. So don't make the same mistake I did!

If you're unemployed (and many of us are during this credit crunch), don't panic. You should be entitled to Unemployment Benefit in the UK, and although readers anywhere else will have do some research into similar government welfare programs in their countries for financial assistance while you look for another job. There are government debt agencies (like the Consumer Credit Counselling Service at http://www.cccs.co.uk/, which is a UK charity that gives free debt advice) if you are struggling with debt.

And remember: you SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY for any debt advice, so please steer clear of those sharks who prey on the debt-ridden to "help" them with their debts "for a small fee". Please don't give them either your time or your money - they are only there to rip people off.

[back to top]

Living within your means

This basically means not spending more than what you earn. If your income per month (after tax) is £1,500, then your spending each month should not exceed £1,500. This might sound obvious, but the average household in the UK and the US is breaking this basic rule every month, sending people deeper and deeper into debt and ensuring they are back at square one, continually paying off debt. It's like being a hamster on a wheel - no matter how fast you run, you will never get anywhere unless you break the debt cycle.

Living within your means does not mean you have to spend exactly what you earn either. You need to be able to meet your essential financial obligations (mortgage/rent, utilities, property taxes, transport and food) and still have money left over to save.

You may need to rein in your spending and change your spending habits to do so. One way to do so is to spend only using cash. People using cash tend to spend less than people using credit cards. Alternatively pay for your spending on your debit cards and check your bank balance regularly (I check mine at least every other day). That way, you can see how fast your bank balance is decreasing and put more thought into what you buy. You may well find that you are spending a lot of money on nice things (we ladies are particularly prone to shoes and handbags!) that you don't really need and won't really use. Even if you see a gorgeous pair of shoes in a sale for only £10, if you're hardly going to wear them and you already have lots of shoes, it's still £10 wasted. It's still £10 that could have gone towards your eventual freedom from your crappy job!

Spending less and being frugal does not have to be a chore. You can still lead a great life and look good for less money. It's about getting more use and more joy out of the stuff you have, and about getting exactly the same experiences and products for less money. Which of course can't be a bad thing, can it?
[back to top]

Here are some money-saving tips that can still ensure you enjoy life and spend less:

1. Never pay retail. Make use of discount coupons (you can find some online at the website http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk/), "3 for the price of 2" offers, or Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) offers, particularly on non-perishable items such as toothpaste, bathroom cleaners, books, drinking glasses, toilet rolls and so on. The "never pay retail" rule can also apply to buying food items like meat and veg on BOGOF offers or similar, although you have to make sure that either you eat them in time (because throwing away bad food would be a waste of your hard-earned cash) or that you put them in the freezer to keep longer.


2. Borrow and rent books and DVDs, rather than buying them. If I had to buy them, I bought them on Amazon or eBay. If your local library is utterly useless for books, like mine, borrow from friends or use a book-swapping website like http://www.swapcycle.co.uk/ (this, like Freecycle at http://www.freecycle.org/, can be used for swapping other items for free, too).
   Lovefilm (http://www.lovefilm.com/) does a DVD and computer games rental service - for a subscription of £10 a month you can order up to 4 DVDs or computer games to watch or play.


3. Change your utilities suppliers for better deals. http://www.uswitch.com/ is a popular choice for comparing and contrasting deals on water, gas and electricity.
   
4. Buy your clothes in the sales, or with discounts (either online or in-store). Or at low-price stores like Primark and Peacocks, especially for ultra-fashionable items that will go out of fashion next season and therefore be unwearable - you won't feel so bad if you've spent only £5 on a shirt or blouse which will look silly if worn in the next season or so. Charity shops also throw up the odd gem - I bought a gorgeous Oasis woollen-blend pencil skirt for £4 which originally retailed for £50, and hardly worn too! For those of you ladies who love designer clothes, check out http://www.dwslondon.co.uk/ for the Designer Warehouse Sales dates in the UK, or Billion Dollar Babes sale in the US - see http://www.billiondollarbabes.com/ (got this tip courtesy of Merryn Somerset Webb's excellent personal finance book for girls called "Love is Not Enough: A Smart Woman's Guide to Money").


5. Remortgaging onto a cheaper mortgage can often save you hundreds of pounds per month (and thousands of pounds per year), especially as our mortgages tend to be our largest monthly cost.


6. Take your own sandwiches to work. A typical Londoner easily spends £3 or £4 a day just buying lunch. That's roughly £55 to £80 a month, or £660 to £880 a year! If that money was in a bank account at, say, a 5% annual interest rate, it would easily earn you half a month's worth of free sandwiches at the end of the year.


7. Cut down on buying coffee or tea on the go, and make your own at home or work: it's worth noting that a small Starbucks latte is around £2, compared to making your own for pennies. One Starbucks latte a day for 5 days a week can add up to over £500 a year.


8. Cut down on your transport costs and walk. Working in London often means I get the train to one of the London stations, then pay a small fortune to use a dirty, smelly, stressful, overcrowded London Underground train to get to work. Taxis, while considerably more pleasant, are ridiculously expensive - if you can help it, don't. When I spent 30 minutes walking to work from London Bridge station, rather than using London Underground (which I hate anyway) for 10 minutes means that I don't have to pay for travel within central London (zone 1), which saw my monthly travel costs fall from £111 a month to £73 a month. North Londoners who have to use the tube may find that they don't save so much money this way, but using a bus instead of the tube, or walking for part of the journey (starting your walk from just outside London's zone 1) can still save a bit of money. Plus not only do you save money, you get fit too!


9. Eat out less, get takeaways less, learn to cook basic nutritious meals. This can save you a lot of money in the long run. If, like me, you love eating out every now and again, then check http://www.toptable.com/ for discounts on restaurants worldwide. You earn points for eating at and rating each restaurant you book through them, and if you earn enough points you get a free meal at a selection of top restaurants. Hooray!


10. Cancel any gym memberships you don't use - you really are paying £500-£600 for nothing. If you do go occasionally, it might actually work out cheaper to just pay as you go. If you need to exercise, running is free, save for the cost of a pair of trainers - if you hate exercise, then disregard the running advice...


11. Switch to own-brand supermarket products where possible - they're generally exactly the same products as the branded goods (sometimes even manufactured by the same companies) for less. Sometimes you may find there are some exceptions (supermarket own-brand baked beans never taste as good as Heinz, for example) but generally you won't notice the difference.


12. Buy food in bulk where you can at outlets like Costco.


13. Buy your fruit and vegetables at a local farmers' market instead of a supermarket - they're generally cheaper and last longer.


14. Get the cheapest insurance you can.


15. Get discounts where you can on booking holidays. Ask travel agents for any discounts, or better still, book on the web at budget airlines like easyJet, Ryanair or Air Asia. Other airlines will often run their own promotions too, often in conjunction with hotel deals.


16. Get the cheapest mobile phone (cellphone) contract you can. As a pay-as-you-go customer I was shocked to learn I was spending around £50 to £60 pounds a month (sometimes even £70 in a hectic month) on mobile phone cards, so I switched onto a contract deal where I pay only £35 for 600 minutes and 500 texts. I never actually use up my allowance, but it's saved me a heck of a lot of money.


17. If you're a woman, get your hair done every two months instead of every four to six weeks (I hated this one at first, but having my hair done only 6 times a year instead of 8-12 times a year has saved me at least £200 a year). Alternatively if you're willing to go to a trainee hairdresser, they will often do it for free (though you won't have a choice in the style). If you're a bloke, it's a lot easier to save money: there are lots of barbers who charge a mere £5 or £6 a haircut. I have a male friend who has taken saving to the extreme and cuts his own hair - he's surprisingly good too and hasn't paid for a haircut in years!


18. The smokers will hate me for this one, and I apologise profusely, but - ignoring the health implications and the wrath of the anti-smoking lobby - if you smoke a pack of 10 cigarettes a day, as the average price for a pack of 10 is about £3 that adds up to £1,095 a year. That's an average of £91.25 you'd be spending of your monthly pay-cheque, on your habit alone!

Tough economic times are horrible for all of us to live through, and cutting your spending becomes even more important. However the flip side of the credit crunch is that, with discount supermarkets like Aldi booming and increasing their advertising spend; with retailers frequently holding discounts and "sales" to boost their revenues; with airlines and hotels and restaurants holding - sometimes quite drastic - discounts and freebies for customers; with interest rates so low that many mortgage-holders are paying less every month; there's actually never been more opportunities to live within one's means!

There are some very good websites for helping you cut down your costs on all aspects of life, such as the following:

• in the UK: Money Saving Expert http://www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk/
• in the US: The Dollar Stretcher http://www.stretcher.com/

Merryn Somerset Webb in her book "Love Is Not Enough" mentions the US money-saving websites http://miserlymoms.com/, http://www.tightwad.com/ and http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com/ as ones that are also worth a look.

[back to top]
With all that extra money you have every month, we can move onto the next section....

Saving

Once you've managed to change your mindset from spending everything you earn, it's time to adopt the discipline of saving. There are different ways of doing this. Some people recommend you get paid directly into your savings account, with most of being sent out by direct debit into a current (or checking) account, which you use. So, say, for example, your after-tax monthly salary or income is £2,000, this whole amount goes straight into your savings account, with an automatic direct debit set up to send, say, £1,800 to your current account for everyday spending, paying your bills, paying your debts, and so on. That way, you don't touch the money in your savings account, and when you get a bonus the bonus automatically goes into your savings account, meaning you're less likely to spend it. Another way (and probably the way most of us do it) is to have your salary go into your current account, for everyday spending and bill payments etc., and then transfer an amount to your savings account some time before the next payday.

Another way - a variation on the last way - is receive your salary into your current account, and automatically set up a direct debit for a certain amount to go straight into your savings account. So, for example, if your after-tax salary or income is £2,000, the moment it arrives in your current account £200 is automatically transferred by direct debit into your savings account, leaving you with the remaining £1,800 to spend. David Bach, in his book "The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich", recommends you do it this way: that you set up an automatic bank transfer to your savings account of 10% of your monthly income (or whenever you receive your income). He argues that you soon learn to do without this 10% of your income, and rather than having the mindset that you have £2,000 a month available to spend, you soon get used to only having £1,800 without even thinking about that extra £200.

It doesn't matter which way you do it, as long as the habit of saving is established. Saving between 10-20% of your income is the fastest way to build up your savings, but if you're already so committed to paying of debts, start with a much smaller amount. Bach himself described in "The Automatic Millionaire" how, in his debt-ridden 20s, he started off by saving only 1% of his income a month so that it did not hurt. The important thing is the habit, rather than the amount.

While interest rates are so low that savers are almost being punished with rubbish returns, it's still worth having cash set aside, especially in these times. Having started cutting my spending and saving in earnest around January 2008, I was fortunate enough to take advantage of high interest rates on savings accounts, opening a cash ISA (stands for Individual Savings Account, a type of UK savings account that doesn't deduct tax from the interest that you earn) which paid 6% gross of tax, and a regular saver (which does get tax deducted from the interest) that paid 10% interest provided I didn't withdraw any money within a year and made a payment of at least £25 a month - very punitive conditions, so only worth taking up when I was absolutely sure I wouldn't need to access the money within a year. But it's meant for the last year I've managed to earn a nice couple of hundred pounds in interest income, without me having to lift a finger.

Of course, savings rates have dived since then, but if you look hard enough, you will still find savings accounts that offer interest rates of 3% or 4% a year. Not great, but it's still a lot better than what most people do with their savings - leave them languishing in current accounts that pay a measly 0.01% a year! If that's you then please move them into a decent savings account NOW!!!!

It is never too late to start saving, even if you missed out on the high interest rates of the last couple of years. In the credit crunch, as I've said before, it's even more important to have a pool of savings to draw on in case you lose or job, or if you've lost your job. Remember - when the going gets tough, the tough have cash!

Some people advise paying all your debts down first before starting to save, but in my opinion it's a big psychological boost to start saving small amounts even while you're paying off debts. It is recommended each person has at least 3 to 6 month's worth of savings to draw on, but if you're thinking of changing career, you probably need 6 to 12 in my opinion! Of course, much depends on what you're comfortable with - some people feel they need around 2 years' worth of cash saved up in order to sleep comfortably at night - but as long as it's in a bank account paying a decent rate of interest, that's perfectly fine.

In these times of failing banks, it's best to spread your cash out between different banking institutions. The idea is that if one bank fails, then you won't be left high and dry - while in the UK the government compensate the first £50,000 of cash balances in each institution, you'll still need to wait quite a while in order for your cash to come through.

There's one more important thing to mention: pensions. If you have an employer-linked retirement savings plan (referred to the 401(k) in the US) it is worth contributing some money into that, or at very least accepting your employer's contributions into the plan. I am not going into this any further as pension rules take a lot of explaining, plus it's more saving for your retirement (which is still important, of course) rather than helping to sort out your career change.

If you feel that you'd like to save more money or pay off debts faster, there are other things you can do as below.

[back to top]

Maximising your income

While we have discussed one way of maximising your income - by cutting your spending so that you do indeed have more money - there are other ways of increasing your income that you can deploy.

You might want to consider the following:

1. Rent-a-room scheme. In the UK, this is the one allowance the government gives you for tax-free rental income, and in my eyes it's an absolute godsend. If you have a spare room in your main property of residence (whether you live there as a homeowner or tenant), then you can let the room out to a tenant for tax-free income provided total receipts do not come to more than £4,250 within any tax year (the UK tax year runs from 6 April to the following 5 April). This is roughly £354.16 a month of extra income! Income, however, must ONLY be from rent rather than any other services (for example utility bill payments, laundry and meal services, council tax etc). If you are renting, you may have to check the terms of your contract with your landlord to see that you are allowed to sub-let a spare room to a lodger. Further details can be found at the following website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804


2. Selling items on eBay. Any old or unwanted items can easily be sold on eBay for some extra cash.


3. Asking your boss for a payrise. You will need to have a strong argument to support your case: your boss doesn't care that you think you deserve it, so point out all the good work you have done for the company and get recommendations from others within your team. Note, however, that this one might not work in the current economic climate! Even in better times, they may say no - this happened to me!


4. Remember, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Beware of scams that promise you can earn lots of money in a short space of time - chances are they will cost you a pretty penny and earn you nothing.


5. Starting your own (profitable) business. I am not really able to comment on this one, having never done it myself, but I will be looking into it seeing as I currently have the time to do so...


6. Taking on a second job, if you have the time and the energy to do so. You'll have to make sure that you're paying the right amount of the tax though - UK readers should see H M Revenue & Customs' website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ for more details.


7. Investing/trading on the stock exchange. I'm quite reluctant to mention this one, as many people have tried with disastrous results, but unfortunately it is a valid way for some people. It's not a way to make money fast though, which you'll hear some people falsely bragging about. Again I can't comment on this one, having not done it, but I think you should only go into this one if you know what you're doing - having done plenty of research, are interested in business news, read some books on the matter and have plenty of cash to start with. NEVER USE MONEY YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE.
   For UK readers, Robbie Burns's book "The
   Naked Trader: How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares" is a good read on the subject, and there are
   plenty for US readers to choose from: Peter Lynch's book "One
   Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The
   Market", for example. Warren Buffett, the world's richest investor,
   was tutored by Benjamin Graham, and hails Graham's book "The
   Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of
   Practical Counsel (Revised Edition)" as "by far the best book on investing ever written". It is probably best to read as widely as possible on the subject of investing before committing to it, but as I say, having never done it, I'm not in a position to recommend whether it's a good way to maximise your income or not.

[back to top]
I apologise for making this so long, but I wanted to make it as comprehensive as possible... and include it all in one post so that I can actually get on with talking about career changing rather than personal finance.

Thanks very much for reading. If you have any comments or corrections, or want to discuss anything I've put in this blog, please leave a comment below.

Finances First - An introduction

So you're unhappy in your job. The thought of going through the same routine every day for the forseeable future fills you with dread. You long to do something useful, something fulfilling. Something that uses your talents. Something for yourself, rather than some faceless corporation who you feel don't truly value your input. Something that enables you to see your family more often. Something that makes you feel enthusiastic about life. What should you do then?

Many books and resources usually encourage you to think about what you're good at, what you enjoy doing, and spend some time brainstorming to come up with an answer. My experience was slightly different. For me, with a mortgage to pay - and some of you may even have other commitments, such as a family to support - there was something that I felt must be done first: before any brainstorming, before thinking about what you enjoy, and before thinking where your talents lie.

In my opinion, as soon as you even get the tiniest inkling that you want to change careers - even if you have no idea what you want to change to, or whether you will see the career change through - the first thing you must do is this: sort out your finances.

I am not saying this just because of the credit crunch, although it becomes vitally important during times of economic insecurity. It is because getting in the habit of managing your money now will relieve you from a major source of stress in the future. Many of us will be familiar with the notion of setting some money aside - we're usually advised to set aside 3 to 6 months' salary - as savings, in case of unexpected emergency expenditure (such as repairs that can't be put off) or in case of being made unemployed (so that you have a few months' worth of cash to live on if you are not able to find a new job soon after the previous one). Having a nice cushion of cash savings gives you peace of mind that you will be able to cope financially with any unexpected events that life throws your way.

When you are thinking of changing career, there are various other reasons why you need to build up your savings:

• you may need to pay to re-train
• you may need capital to start up your own business or franchise
• you may need to invest in attire appropriate for the industry you are hoping to work in (for example, a smart, well-fitting suit for an interview for a banking career)
• you may need to relocate
• you may be out of work for a few months while you try to break into the new career field
• you may experience a drop in your standard of living
• the income from the new career may be lower than what you are used to
• the income from the new career may be irregular.

Not all of these reasons will be appropriate to your situation, and there are probably other reasons that I have missed out (feel free to suggest more), but this is why it is important to start building up a cushion of cash savings before considering your new career path. The last thing you want to realise when embarking on your big journey is that your dream job involves significant training that you are not able to fund.

And of course, let's not forget the possibility that at this stage, where the thought of changing career is merely an inkling rather than a fully-considered idea, any extra cash savings you have are always useful to weather the economic storm!

Once you have a plan for managing your money and have started saving regularly the income from your job, then you are free to explore whether you want to change career, and if so, what you want to change to.

In a future post I shall detail tips on how to start saving money, budget, deal with debt and potential ways to increase the income you already have (legally of course). As most of my tips will be aimed at people in the UK, any US tips for American readers would be very much appreciated.

Quitting your job???? Don't you know there's a recession on????

I swear, if I could have a pound every time I've heard a version of the above question I'd be a seriously rich girl by now. One of the first things you realise - when you first announce your intention to change career - is that not everyone agrees that it's a good idea. I reckon it's fair to say that once you've made that decision, you need a mind of steel to resist some of the doubt and incredulity that comes your way. As if making the decision to do it wasn't hard enough!

Obviously I'm not referring to my closest friends, boyfriend or family; they were relieved as it meant they didn't have to hear me moaning about my job anymore. Well, my mum isn't totally comfortable, bless her, as I explained in my previous post ("Back To The Beginning") but I'm sure she'd want the best for me.

No, the people I'm referring to here were my accountancy colleagues, or friends that had been colleagues, even the ones who'd proclaim (either in the office or at Friday drinks) that they didn't like their jobs either. Many of them thought I was mad. I remember when I handed in my notice last summer at the accountancy firm I worked at: I'm sure my boss just thought I had a bad case of PMT. It took some time for me to convince him I was absolutely serious. "But... but... but..." he spluttered, "don't you know there's a recession on? You won't find another job! Accountancy firms aren't hiring that much at the moment, you know, it's not like two years ago!"

By that stage, I wasn't quite so fussed. I'd been planning this for a good few months, since about Christmas 2007 in fact. Even if I didn't know what career I wanted to change to at that stage, knowing back then that I definitely wanted to change career was enough to galvanise me into taking my first action: sorting out my finances.

What? I hear you cry. You mean like budgets and savings? But that's boring! And you'd be right. It is. But necessary. Who was it who said "when the going gets tough, the tough have cash"? Making a career change isn't always smooth sailing. So, you have to be prepared. That means financially as well as emotionally - the last thing you want to be thinking when you're worried about whether your career change will work or not is "Shit - I'm flat broke!"

After doing some research, I was shocked to discover that I was being vastly underpaid; the market rate for someone of my skills and experience was about 10-15% more than what I was being paid. I asked my boss for a pay rise. He refused. I realised then that I had to leave.

The other factor in my decision to leave was that around this time I started to get sharp pains in my chest, like searing hot knives, on a permanent basis. I was only 26 and in good health. The doctor was convinced it was stress; while I was doubtful of his diagnosis for a while I did notice that as soon as I handed in my resignation notice, the pains magically disappeared. 'Twas a miracle, I tell thee!

Before I handed in my notice, I contacted a recruitment consultant to sound out the job market, and in particular, the market for temporary and contract jobs. In summer 2008, the job market was certainly a lot better than now, so I was able to get a temporary job in commerce rather than an accountancy firm. I figured that, while I had enough savings to last me a few months without work, it wasn't enough to give up accountancy completely. In fact, with a mortgage to pay, it may well take quite a while before I am able to give up accountancy completely. But I'm on the way to doing so, rest assured.

The temp job paid pretty well, which was good as it enabled me to to save more money into the "emergency cash fund". (Also known as "career change fund" or "my boss can shove this job up his arse fund" - take your pick). It was so hard trying not to spend the extra cash I was earning - why is it that the moment you go on a budget, suddenly you are surrounded with so much temptation? I think the only thing that kept me from splurging during this time was the knowledge that the less money I had saved for the career change, the longer I'd have to stay being an accountant!

While I still don't have the financial resources right now to quit accountancy completely, I've had time to read books on changing careers and think about what I want to do. I can't quite sit down and say "OK, I want to do X, and I definitely know that's what I want to do," so what I've decided to do is follow what I'm interested in and actually try it out. My temp contract finished last month, so I'm looking for another accountancy job to continue funding the career change, but in the meantime I have started that English Literature A-Level I wanted to do 10 years ago. I found a place that does distance-learning qualifications - it's called the National Extension College and for those of you in the UK, the website is http://www.nec.ac.uk/. I spent ages looking for a reputable distance-learning company as there's some real scams out there on the Internet, and I found this one on a UK government advice website.

In addition to that English Literature A-Level that I've finally got round to doing, I'm also doing an A-Level in Sociology (opted not to go for Psychology in the end), also by distance-learning with the National Extension College. I had to use some of my savings to pay for all of them, but hopefully it'll be worth it.... when I actually get started on the courses! The good thing about doing it this way is that I get to try out whether it does suit me or not; and if it doesn't, then I suppose I shall retreat back to my accountancy stepping-stone and think again.

So.... that's a potted history of how I started my career change, and where I am at the moment. Obviously it's very much a work in progress and there are topics I've touched on, like personal finance issues and first steps, that I want to go into more detail and share my tips and advice on. Probably the next time I take an afternoon tea break.

Back to the Beginning

Now that the blog appears to be up and running - and now that I've figured out how to work it - I suppose I should explain a little bit about me and how I came to be where I am now. The story starts ten years ago - when I was 17 years old....

....and choosing my A-Levels. For any readers from the US, I am not sure what the equivalent is (I think some countries do the International Baccalaureate which is supposed to be the equivalent), but in the United Kingdom, if you want to go to university, you spend the two years between the ages of 16 to 18 at school or a further education college studying for your A-Level exams. These determine which course you study at university - and indeed, which university you study at - which in turn determines the job you do. So when you're about 16 or 17, there's a lot of pressure on you to perform in the chosen three or four subjects that are supposedly going to map out your entire future from now to eternity.

I had a hard time choosing which subjects I wanted to do, truth be told. There wasn't anything that I particularly wanted to do with my life at that stage; although I liked the idea of studying for A-Levels and going to university (and experiencing student life of course). All I knew is that I loved writing, reading fiction and psychology books, but I was also good at sciences and maths. So in this confused state of mind, when my parents plotted that I study for an Economics degree and go into the world of finance - "because humanities subjects lead nowhere and finance pays so well!" - I didn't object, despite having no prior knowledge or interest in Economics. So it was determined that I do Economics (parents' choice), Maths (my choice, but one that would please the parents), Further Maths (ditto) and Physics (recommended by some idiot careers advisor because "it complements Further Maths and universities look highly on it").

In hindsight, I should not have listened to any of them: for starters, it turned out that university admissions tutors really didn't care whether I'd done Physics or not. I was hopeless at Economics, barely managing to scrape a pass in all the tests I was set even with my best efforts. I had no interest in the subject and simply couldn't get my head round any of it. I spent a year arguing with my parents, who felt I wasn't trying hard enough, and arguing with everyone else, which left me feeling miserable and useless. After a year, I managed to persuade the deputy headmaster that I wanted to give it up. I missed writing and reading and wanted to take English Literature instead. Unfortunately, after a year, it was too late to change A-Levels, so I had to just drop Economics without replacing it. To say my parents were disappointed was an understatement.

There aren't many degree subjects you can study with A-Levels of Physics, Maths and Further Maths; so I applied to study Maths at degree level. Within a few weeks of starting the course, I was in a panic: I didn't like the course, but what the hell can you change to when you have Physics and Double Maths as your A-Level subjects? Apart from Physics, which I found worse than Maths, so that was out. Some people had other A-Levels, such as art or geography, which they had good grades in and thus could change to; but for me, it was either finish the Maths degree or drop out of university. Horror stories abounded (at the time) of people who dropped out of university: with no degree, they were condemned to poorly-paid jobs with no hope of career progression or personal advancement. In addition my parents were only prepared to fund one three-year degree as they weren't exactly rich, which was fair enough. After being reassured that Maths was a useful degree which led to a wide array of jobs, I decided to grit my teeth, swallow my pain and finish it.

Which I did, and despite flirting heavily with student journalism and volunteer radio, in 2003, I graduated with a good, solid BSc Mathematics degree. But then what? The careers advisors who told me that "Maths was a useful degree which led to a wide array of jobs" were sought as I asked them what I could do. "You could teach?" one suggested. Er, no, don't fancy it. "You could become a statistician?" Sorry, I didn't like the statistics module. "You could go into finance?" I don't have any interest there, I'm afraid. "Ah, well, then you're stuffed. There's nothing else you can do, sorry." Another asked me, "what do you want to do, then?" Actually, I replied, I want to write for a living. "Ah, well, you've done the wrong degree. Nobody's going to want to take you on to write with a Maths degree. Sorry."

I decided to take a year out to travel, but having no money (and not having parents who were able to fund me) I decided the best way to pay for my travels would be to work as an English teacher, so after getting a TEFL (teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification, I decided to spend most of 2004 in China, teaching English to adults and children and earning enough money to fund my travels. I loved it, and loved living in China, but didn't fancy the idea of teaching in the UK. So when my contract finished I returned to the UK but still had no idea what to do. My parents, though disappointed that I hadn't done an Economics degree, hadn't quite given up on the idea of me working in finance. Not wanting to disappoint them further, I applied to train as a chartered accountant, and with my Maths degree and grades, I had no problem being accepted for a training contract.

I make it sound a little bit as if my parents are to blame, but sitting here writing this, I don't think they entirely were. They had had to struggle all their lives; they hadn't been to university themselves and spent most of their adult lives working very hard for very little money, and clearly wanted the best for me. They simply didn't want me to struggle as they had done, and didn't want me to spend all my adult life worrying about money or living on a tight budget, as they had done. I can't blame them for that; and the fear of their children experiencing the same poverty and hopelessness they had once experienced must have been ever-present in their minds when urging me to do A-Levels and a degree which I may have hated, but would have - in their minds - secured my financial future for ever. I can't fault their intentions, but the guilt I felt at "failing" them or "letting them down" was the reason I chose the path I did, even if I didn't enjoy it or wasn't naturally good at it.

I wanted to quit accountancy so many times though; this was even worse than the Maths degree. I hated every minute of it and frequently cried myself to sleep. I hated the work, which was boring and repetitive, and hated most of my colleagues who were equally boring and repetitive - not to mention arrogant, spoiled, pretentious, chauvinistic and narrow-minded. Yuck. My mum hated seeing me unhappy; but at the same time didn't want me to give up. She didn't want me to miss out on the large salaries that many qualified accountants were supposedly receiving, and urged me not to quit the chartered accountancy training contract; these were just teething problems from a graduate unused to working life, she promised - you'll feel differently when you qualify in three years. I think she desperately wanted to believe that, but three years later I didn't feel any different; in fact I knew, more certainly at that point than any other, that I had been following the wrong path in my life for the last ten years.

And that, readers, is what kicked off the reassessment which led me to decide to change career. I'll pen off here, I think - you must be exhausted after reading this! I shall have to make future blogs shorter I reckon.

Ready... Get Set...

I must admit, I'm a little nervous setting up this blog. I can't help wondering if blogging is old hat now - everyone's got one, everyone feels they've got something to say to the world, so what makes this one any different? I suppose the only answer I can give in response to that question is that there are so many people unhappy and unfulfilled in their jobs or career paths that it really is quite saddening to see. Many people want to change something, but don't know how; others have an idea what they'd like to do, but hesitate to make the first step. Lots of people are fearful or unsure, and just when they plucked up the courage to make even the tiniest first step, the recession arrived like a hurricane and demolished the hopes and dreams of many who now feel that, given the state of the economy and the uncertainties in the job market, they would be foolish, perhaps even selfish, to pursue the career that really is right for them. I don't agree. There is never a "good" or "right" time to change career for many people, but I don't agree that we must doom ourselves to unhappy or unfulfilling lives because of it.

So, this is a web diary of my attempt to change career, and most unfortunately my only opportunity to date for doing so came when the credit crunch was in full swing. But if I manage to persuade one person that tough economic circumstances are no bar to changing career, then I will have achieved something.