Reading time: 5 minutes
Published: May 4, 2025
Modified: May 11, 2025
We’re all familiar with the traditional path: work hard for 40+ years, save diligently, and hope to enjoy retirement when you’re finally in your 60s. But what if you could experience a bit of retirement right now? That’s the idea behind the microretirement trend, and it’s gaining traction—particularly with Gen Z—for good reason.
Key Takeaways
- Microretirement means taking planned breaks, not retiring forever.
- You don’t need wealth to microretire—just a smart plan.
- Gen Z is driving the microretirement trend with lifestyle-first values.
What Is a Microretirement?
A microretirement is an intentional, extended break from full-time work taken before the typical retirement age. Rather than deferring all of life’s adventures to some far-off future, you take mini-retirements throughout your working years to travel, raise a family, explore creative passions, or simply reset.
Think of it as a career intermission, a pause, not a stop.
Unlike a weekend off or a short vacation, microretirements are usually measured in months, sometimes even a year or more. But they’re not aimless breaks. They’re purposeful, planned, and often life-enhancing.
Why Consider a Microretirement?
Let’s be honest burnout is real. Many of us are juggling demanding jobs, family responsibilities, and the weight of long-term financial goals. A microretirement offers a way to reclaim your time without walking away from your career entirely.
Here’s what draws people to the concept:
- Time to explore: See the world, write that novel, or just spend quality time with your kids.
- Avoid burnout: Step back before stress takes its toll on your health or happiness.
- Rethink your path: Use the break to reassess what you really want in your career and life.
- Live while you’re young and healthy: Retirement in your 60s may come with limitations. Why wait?
Is It Just for the Wealthy?
Not at all. While microretirement does require financial planning, you don’t need millions saved up. You just need enough to support your lifestyle for the duration of your break.
Consider using one of these strategies for your microretirement:
- Work in bursts—saving aggressively for several years before taking a 6–12 month break.
- Freelance or consult part-time during your microretirement to cover some costs.
- Live abroad temporarily to reduce expenses and stretch your savings.
It’s not about being rich. It’s about being intentional.
Planning a Sabbatical or Microretirement That Works
Here are a few practical steps to make the dream a reality:
- Define your “why”: Is it travel, caregiving, creativity, education, or something else?
- Estimate your costs: Budget for living expenses, travel, insurance, and emergencies.
- Set a savings target: Work backward from your estimated costs and set a realistic savings timeline.
- Automate savings: Funnel a portion of your paycheck into a separate microretirement fund.
- Plan your return: Think ahead about reentering the workforce. Keep your skills sharp, and stay active within your personal and professional networks.
Potential Drawbacks of Microretirement
Microretirement isn’t just about kicking back—it’s about pursuing meaningful goals on your own terms. It comes with trade-offs that are worth thinking through:
- Lost income: Stepping away from work means no paycheck (unless you’re freelancing). That’s money not going toward savings, debt payoff, or retirement.
- Career impact: Depending on your industry, taking a break may stall your advancement in your career. Some employers might not view a gap in your employment favorably.
- Benefits gap: Time away from full-time work may mean losing health insurance, retirement contributions, or other benefits.
- Reentry challenges: Getting back into the workforce can take time. You may need to re-skill, network heavily, or be open to a lower salary at first.
- Requires discipline: Without a strong plan and budget, it’s easy to burn through savings or extend the break longer than intended. Embracing strategies like the No Buy Challenge can significantly reduce expenses, making it more feasible to take a career break without compromising financial stability.
That said, many people find the trade-offs worth it, especially when they plan ahead and treat the break as an investment in themselves.
Can You Really Retire Temporarily in Your 20s and 30s?
Yes, but it takes planning. Many people in their 20s and 30s have taken 6–12 months off by building a financial cushion, lowering expenses, and sometimes relocating to cheaper areas. It’s not about being rich, it’s about being intentional.
Microretirement vs. FIRE
Microretirement shares some traits with the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, but it’s more flexible. You’re not aiming to stop working forever—you’re looking to just pause with purpose along the way.
In fact, some people combine both approaches: taking microretirements while still working toward long-term financial independence.
Final Thoughts
A microretirement isn’t for everyone. But if you’ve ever found yourself daydreaming about pressing “pause” on the daily grind, this might be your sign to take the idea seriously.
Because the truth is, you don’t have to wait until 65 to start living.
If you’ve already taken a microretirement or are thinking about it, we’d love to hear your experience. Share it below!
For tips more focused on traditional retirement planning, check out our guide for people in their 50s.
I “microretired” and came back twice, although when I did it, it was simply called “taking a break”. With 20/20 hindsight, I’m glad I did both times, and in both cases, getting back into my career wasn’t an issue.
The first time was in my late 20s. I was single, my expenses were very low, and I wanted to write a book, so I stopped the world and did. It was a great experience that also gave me time to strengthen connections with family and friends.
The second time was due to burnout. I was in my early 40s and had spent almost six years at a startup with brutal hours and responsibilities and very little in the way of vacation. I intended to write fiction but the “intermission” turned out more to be a mental/emotional health break. I didn’t realize how needed that was for me at the time or how burned out I was. The break got my head back into a good place and enabled spending a lot of time with friends and family.
For me, taking breaks or microretiring, whatever you want to call it, worked out very well. During those times, I cut expenses to the bone, cooked at home every night, and focused on experiences (friends, family, the beach, trail hiking, etc., lots of free fun things to do) rather than cash. I also saved up as best as I could before taking the plunge. Both times, I came back to my career path refreshed and ready to be my best.
I think this path works if you’re not the type of person who gets too caught up in worrying about financial stuff (while on break) and has faith that they can handle any bumps in the road. I imagine that without a good and realistic attitude, stopping the world to do your thing could be pretty angsty and counterproductive, so I think honestly evaluating what type of person you are is key to whether it’s a good idea for you. The other part of the evaluation is, do you have something you want to do?