Future plans

I have been a translator for 25 years, freelance translator for 16 of those, but now it is time to do something else. I will be going back to school for a couple of years. It wasn't easy to find something that would be suitable for me, considering the limitations set by my health, but I finally decided on "Vocational Qualification in the Textiles and Fashion Industry", which sounds complicated, but what it means is that I will (hopefully) become a dressmaker.

In practice this means that my business will go on hold for a couple of years. The break is very welcome as I hadn't realized how fed up I was with my job. I also lost most of my customers due to the current crisis, so I'd need to start basically from scratch, obtaining new customers (as I don't trust the old ones would come back), and I think I can delay that for now and take my time to do something I will enjoy. I don't expect to leave translation entirely, rather I'm hoping that after the studies, I will get back to translation in a smaller scale, while also working in dressmaking in some form.

When it comes to the financial side of things, I'm glad I live in Finland. I'll be getting about 600 €/month (minus taxes) in financial aid for my studies for 15 months (1.5 years in practice, when excluding June-July). After that, I should be eligible for another form of support, which is about 250 €/month. All these are of course conditional and tied to finishing a certain amount of courses per month.

In addition to these, if I graduate, I will earn myself some extra pension. Regardless of how much time you use to finish the degree, once you graduate, you earn extra pension that corresponds to 3 years of working in a low wage job (in this case it's 3 years, higher degrees give a longer time). Of course I'll also earn the pension I'm going to be paying for during the first 15 months with the higher aid (getting it requires a valid pension insurance during that time). I think there's also a stipend you can apply for when you have graduated, but that's only a few hundred euros. Still worth keeping in mind.

So, 2021 will be the first year my business is going to make a loss. It has never been hugely profitable, but profitable enough for me to make a decent living. Like we say in Finland, it's not about the big earnings, but about the small expenses. And I do recognize that I am in some ways in a privileged position compared to young people who are just starting their career as I've paid my debts (student debt and mortgage) and have some savings to make sure I can finish my studies.

Starting from January, I will be writing about my studies as well in this blog. I'm looking forward to learning about all the aspects of making clothes. I expect I'm going to find out that I've been doing a lot of things in the wrong way, but we'll see.