10k is “a hefty savings”? That money is gone very quickly if you have a family and a mortgage, etc.

I don’t think 10k would change anything, I would still need to hurry to get a job.

10k will last you about 3 months comfortably, 6 if you’re single and willing to scrimp or live in your car. That’s your time limit to get a new job.

I had about 3x that saved and took a year off after working a decade at my previous position (I was pretty burnt out and hadn’t been able to take more than a week off since I started). Having that padding gave me the time and peace of mind to look for something I really wanted, and gave me the freedom to turn down offers that would have put me back into the burnout cycle.

I ended up with a full WFH position with a 50% bump in salary. Within a year, I made back what I had spent simply by maintaining my budget from my previous salary.

If I hadn’t had the cushion, it would have been pedal to the metal and accepting the first position offered, and I would have likely hit burnout before a year was out.

Hefty savings? $10k? Is that us dollars? 10k is not much, that would not last more than a few months at most for most people

That would stress me the fuck out to only have $10k to live off of until I got another job. If I already had a job I’d just keep it until I found a new one. And it looks better if you have a job when you’re looking for a new one. What kind of employer wants to hire someone who doesn’t have good enough sense to stay out of that kind of situation? They’d have to wonder what could have happened to make you leave one job without having another one lined up. From their perspective how would they know if the problem was the other people or if it was you? And when there are other candidates to choose from, why would they choose the one that might bring a lot of drama?