How much should I save before quitting my job?

The candidates who get squeezed are those who quit assuming they'll land within a month. The 2026 UK market doesn't move that fast. Mid-level commercial and tech roles are running 10-14 weeks end-to-end. Senior roles take 4-6 months. Career changes take 4-6 months minimum. Plan financially for the full quarter, not the optimistic week three.

The minimum I'd want any candidate to have before quitting: 6 months of essential expenses (rent or mortgage, utilities, food, transport, debt minimums). Strip discretionary spending out of the calculation — if you cut everything optional, what does survival cost per month? Multiply by six. That's the floor.

When you need more. Career changers should have 9-12 months because the search runs longer. Senior candidates (£100k+) should have 9 months because senior offers take longer to negotiate and finalise. People with dependants should have 12+ months because the cost of a wrong-call decision is higher. Anyone in a sector currently in pullback (tech middle management, marketing leadership) should add 3 months to whatever they'd otherwise plan.

Where the money should sit. Cash or instant-access savings only. Not in shares (you'll need to sell at the wrong moment), not locked in pension (illiquid), not in fixed-term bonds (you can't access without penalty). Premium Bonds work if you're disciplined. A mortgage offset account works if you've got one. The point is access without timing risk.

Reducing the amount you need. The biggest single lever is ratcheting down lifestyle while you're still employed. Move to a cheaper flat. Pause non-essential subscriptions. Sell the second car. The candidates who do this 6-12 months before quitting buy themselves an extra 2-3 months of runway without changing the savings number. Fixed costs going down extends every pound of savings.

The exception. If your current role is genuinely intolerable — health is suffering, the manager is abusive, mental health is collapsing — sometimes you have to leave even with a thin runway. In those cases, the cheapest move is to find any bridging income (part-time, contract, freelance) immediately to extend the search runway, then apply to your real target roles in parallel. Don't pretend you can survive the search on savings alone if savings are thin.