There is a great episode of Seinfeld where George becomes enraged with his boss over a toilet controversy and quits his job. He comes over to Jerry’s house to discuss his decision and map out a new career plan. He quickly realizes that getting a new job isn’t going to be as easy as he thought and he tries to get his old job back. Of course, he is laughed out of the office.

Just because you can survive without your current job doesn’t mean you should. When you realize that you want to quit your job, you should begin to plan your exit. Quitting without another job lined up has many negative consequences. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

The Cost

Your emergency fund is supposed to be used for emergencies. Let’s say you’ve done what all the experts recommend and you have 6 months living expenses saved up. You may feel like you have a good cushion to live off of while you have another job, but your thinking is all wrong. Each day that you are out of work you are losing money. Can you really afford to be out of work for two months or more while you find that next job? Tough it out at your current job for a few months while you find your next adventure.

Time to rebuild

If you had to live off your savings for three months, how long would it take you to rebuild that saving account to the same level it was at before you quit? People tend to overlook this calculation but it shows why you should never use your emergency fund for anything but emergencies. Let’s say your monthly expenses are $3,000. For you, six months living expenses means you have $18,000 saved up. Now let’s say that you quit and are out of a job for three months. You just spend $9,000. When you get a new job, and you are able to save $1,000 a month, it will take you 9 months to replenish your emergency fund.

Your Resume

When a employer reads your resume they will be looking for gaps in employment. You may have quit your job, but a employer will think you were fired. We all know that companies let their employees leave gracefully, and that’s exactly what it will look like.

No matter how valid your story is, this new employer will not understand your old work environment, and they won’t want to hear about it either. It would be much easier to get a new job with no gaps in your employment record. Leaving for a new job is easy to explain, it was a new opportunity. Quitting without another job lined up looks bad and costs you more than you can afford.