What if someone told you that you could retire earlier than you thought and more often than you realized? Yes, I said more often, meaning you’d be retiring more than once.
That’s going to sound like a pretty wild idea if you’ve been thinking your life will follow the typical three-stage journey of school, work, and then retirement. But if I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that the one-size-fits-all path doesn’t work for the majority of people. Not only that, you can choose and create your own path.
One of the people at the center of this choose-your-own-adventure style of retirement is my good friend Jillian Johnsrud. Jillian started out like a lot of us, in a low-paying job with $55,000 in student loan debt between her and her husband.
During a year off, she started writing about personal finance, mini-retirements, and intentional living. And she’s now taught thousands of people how to take career breaks between speaking at conferences, courses, one-on-one coaching, the Retire Often podcast, and group coaching.
I recently had the chance to interview Jillian for my Money Shop podcast and wanted to sit down and learn more about how she’s doing retirement differently with her retire-often approach and how these “mini-retirements” are more attainable than you might realize.
Hey, Jillian! Glad to talk with you. Can you start out by explaining what a mini-retirement is?
I define a mini-retirement with three points: a month or longer, away from your 9-5, and to focus on something that matters to you. This time away can go by many names: sabbatical, career break, mini-retirement, hiatus. The label doesn’t matter as much as the intent.
Okay, that all makes sense, but can you explain the criteria more?
While a four-day weekend is great, it’s not long enough to start resting deeply. I find people really settle into their time away around week three or four. The stress hormones start decreasing, they start sleeping better and feeling less tense. A month away can be life changing. In a waiting room, I met a receptionist who had just returned from her first trip out of the state of Montana. She got on an airplane for the very first time and flew to Peru, where she spent a month in small villages in the jungle. Her excitement was palpable. It was an affordable trip she could get the time off for, but it was also something she’ll remember for the rest of her life.
Stepping away from your 9-5 doesn’t mean you have to abstain from all work either. We remodeled rentals during two of our mini-retirements. These had a huge impact on our financial progress and still bring in $1,500 of income a month. Some people use the time to try turning a hobby into a side hustle or as a runway to scale up a business to see if it can cover the bills.
The last part—focusing on something that matters to you—is what separates a mini-retirement from an unexpected layoff where you mope around the house binging Netflix. It’s possible to completely waste your time off. But if you have a plan and some money set aside, you can also leverage those unexpected career breaks into something incredible. I teach people how to pack a “mini-retirement go-bag.” Do some brainstorming about how you would want to spend an unexpected month break, plan out a few options, and set the money aside. That way, if you’re suddenly unemployed, you can mentally and emotionally pivot quickly and take advantage of the time. One of my most important mini-retirements was after a layoff.
What prompted you to start pursuing this lifestyle?
I have always had this desire for adventure, learning, and doing exciting things. But I couldn’t reconcile how to accomplish those dreams alongside the reality that we didn’t earn a lot of money and didn’t come from rich families. Being able to travel Europe, snowbird in the winter, or write books felt like things only other types of people could do. Taking these sabbaticals gave us a small taste of this life we dreamed of.
What I didn’t understand when I started this was how life changing this time would be personally, financially, and professionally. The more mini-retirements we took, the more our life changed. Our financial freedom grew, and it helped me create a whole new professional trajectory.
All of that sounds great, but can you tell me about some of the challenges you faced when you first started?
At first, it seems like getting the time off or the finances would be the hardest. But for us, and a lot of people, the hardest part is the fear. We were doing something really unusual. None of our friends and family really understood. Nobody talked about this 20 years ago, so we had to deal with a lot of self-doubt. Each mini-retirement had (and still has) logistical challenges. At some point, we had to decide to take the leap and trust we could figure those out. Thankfully, after you have experienced the benefits of a few mini-retirements, that confidence helps you overcome the fear.
I think most people are thinking about the potential costs of a mini-retirement, but what are some unexpected financial benefits?
Over and over, sabbaticals improve not only people’s well-being and happiness but also their finances’ and career trajectories. Here are three ways this can happen.
- Create a new source of income. I’ve seen people use their time off to build up a side hustle or add a new source of passive income. We used two of our mini-retirements to buy and renovate rental properties, which would have been really challenging to accomplish while working our 9-5 jobs. The time away gives people the time and bandwidth to explore passions or experiment.
- A better-paying job after. When my husband took a year off, three organizations approached him multiple times about working for them with higher pay and better benefits. My friend Kevin also took a mini-retirement; his next job was at 150% of his old pay. Plus, his sign-on bonus almost covered the entire cost of his year off.
- Score a promotion. You can use your time to rest and recharge, but you can also spend some time improving your skill set and getting additional certifications. When you return to work, this can help you get promoted faster. I interviewed Diana on my podcast, and after she took a month off to hike the Camino, she had her best sales year ever.
For someone first hearing about a mini-retirement and interested in taking one, can you give a quick overview or step-by-step outline of how to prepare for one?
To prepare, there are three steps you can start with. The first is figuring out how to spend your time during your sabbatical in a way that will be meaningful and enjoyable. This time off can be life-changing, but you need to be intentional. I teach people how to map out all their goals and dreams and determine which makes the most sense for the first mini-retirement. It’s best to pick your three biggest intentions for the time away. Popular ones include rest, travel, and time with friends and family. You can map out what your days and weeks could look like to help optimize for those goals.
The second step has to do with getting the time off. You might be able to negotiate with your current employer if you are planning only a month or two off for your sabbatical. You might need to separate from your employer and find a new job for longer sabbaticals. I help people craft their mini-retirement stories to be interesting, positive, and time-sensitive. People use this story we crafted when asking for time off or when interviewing for their next job. It’s also important to plan how you’ll network and keep your connections warm during your time off. When done right, most people get lots of inbound interest and end up in much better jobs than they had before.
Figuring out the finances is the third step. You must understand your current budget and what might shift during your time off. Plus, you need to set a budget for your mini-retirement activities. Because you don’t have as much time scarcity during a sabbatical, your time off should be much lower than your typical vacation cost. For example, a week-long trip to Paris could cost you $4,000. During a gap year, you might spend $4,000 a month in France.
I imagine passive income is part of your planning. But is that something you think is necessary for others to pursue early retirement?
It’s absolutely not necessary for your first mini-retirement. I think there are a lot of benefits to starting with a month-long mini-retirement. It’s easy to get the time off, you don’t need to quit your job, and it might only cost a few thousand dollars. Once you experience the magic of having long chunks of time off for rest or adventure, you can scale up for the next one.
Once you realize this is too good to be a one-time thing, many people start thinking about how to finance these going forward. If you are traveling, renting out your home can be a simple way to help cover your expenses. Others invest in real estate or start a side hustle to help pay for their mini-retirements. It doesn’t actually take much extra income to have these mini-retirements regularly. Saving $300 extra monthly for three years gives you $10,000 towards your next career break. Taking a mini-retirement every three years gives you three opportunities every decade to experience a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
What are some misconceptions about mini-retirements?
One big misconception is that your role in the company is too important for your employer to allow you a month off. In reality, your having a critical role makes it easier to secure the time away. Important and demanding positions take longer to fill and longer to train to replace you. If you do the legwork to figure out the logistics, you should make it much easier for your employer to give you the time off versus replacing you.
Another misconception is that taking a sabbatical isn’t possible if you run your own business. It’s definitely more work up front, but it’s like spring cleaning. It’s a little messier while you are getting things organized, but you return to a simplified business with better processes and documentation. Plus, your team is more capable. I’ve also seen entrepreneurs’ businesses rapidly grow after they return because they are fresh and full of energy. They return to this more streamlined business, giving them more time and bandwidth to roll new things out.
Early retirement is a hot topic in the personal finance community, but what are your thoughts on retiring early versus retiring often?
Most people aren’t suited for early retirement! I think the reason people love the idea of early retirement is that their work is so awful they can’t imagine it being a positive force in their lives. Many of my students use their mini-retirements to reimagine the second chapter of their work life. What job is a better match to their passions and personality? What type of work gets them closer to their ideal life? One of the huge benefits of taking career breaks is it gives you a chance to explore new types of work. You could switch fields, start a business, or turn a hobby into something profitable. One of my clients negotiated an 80% workload after her mini-retirement, giving her every Friday off. Returning to her career rested and having a three-day weekend every week was a game changer. By taking consistent career breaks, you have time for family, hobbies, slow travel, learning new things, and rest. Anything you are waiting to do in your early retirement, you can start now in a mini-retirement.
This all makes a lot of sense, and I really appreciate you taking your time to talk with me, Jillian!
If you want to learn more about Jillian, check her podcast, Retire Often. Jillian has taken over a dozen mini-retirements and teaches thousands of people how to leverage sabbaticals to improve their happiness, finances, and careers.
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