How Some People Work Mini-Retirements Into Their Career
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it. Inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need. While increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
What is a micro‑retirement and who is choosing them in their 20s and 30s?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, September 4th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. A lot of us are just back from a nice summer vacation, but some workers are already planning their next break, a long break that's more like a mini-retirement.
These are people who are maybe in their late 20s, early 30s, who see long careers for themselves and want to just take more frequent breaks and mix in a bit of that retirement, borrow those years from their later selves to enjoy that fun now.
Our personal finance reporter, Oyen Adedoyen, has been looking into how to get your finances in order to take an extended break. We'll talk with her about it after this much shorter break.
Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it. The inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need. While increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
Some workers in their 20s and 30s have a new view on retirement. Do it early and often. Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Oyin Adedoyin joins me. Oyin, retire in their 20s and 30s? What, do they win the lottery?
No, not exactly. These are people who have saved up as much money as they could, maybe for a year or so, and are spending that money a year later.
Something like a small retirement?
That's exactly why we're calling it a micro-retirement.
How do people describe what they do during a mini‑retirement (travel, hiking, sabbaticals)?
It's not the full thing that happens after you've finished your career. These are small, maybe six-month to a year-long gaps in your work where you're just taking that time off to maybe travel, see family, have different and new experiences and recharge and figure out where you want to go in your career next.
What sorts of things do people do in these micro-retirements?
I spoke with one couple in California who decided to take six months off to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail. It's this trail longer than 2,600 miles or so, and it spans from Mexico to Canada. They both quit their jobs and pretty much just hiked this trail. And she said it was an amazing experience. I spoke with another woman who lives in Florida who did this when she was in her late 20s. And she just backpacked across Europe. She stayed on this kangaroo farm for a length of time. Where was this? In Australia. Yeah. Naturally.
When did non‑academic workers start taking sabbatical‑style breaks and how common are employer sabbaticals?
She jumped down waterfalls in Bali. She went on a safari in Sri Lanka. She just had these really amazing, colorful experiences. And what she said was that it was really empowering for her as a young woman to travel on her own and do these things while she still could.
It almost sounds like a sabbatical, which is pretty common among people in academia. When did people in other fields start considering this and how common is it?
It's been a thing in other fields in recent years, at least. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, about 6% of employers offered paid sabbaticals, while 8% offered unpaid ones. And that's as of this year. So some employers see this as an employee retention mechanism. A lot of the people that I spoke with for this story who were taking these breaks actually had to quit their jobs in order to do so.
We've talked on the show about the FIRE movement, which is short for Financial Independence Retire Early.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:34
2
What is a micro‑retirement and who is choosing them in their 20s and 30s?
0:34–2:31
3
How do people describe what they do during a mini‑retirement (travel, hiking, sabbaticals)?
2:31–3:34
4
When did non‑academic workers start taking sabbatical‑style breaks and how common are employer sabbaticals?
3:34–5:04
5
How do mini‑retirements differ from the FIRE movement and long‑term early retirement?
5:04–7:17
6
How often are people planning to schedule mini‑retirements over a full career?
7:17–8:32
7
What financial steps do advisors recommend before taking an extended break from work?
8:32–9:47
Speakers
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