Building freedom through a mini-retirement

I remember telling my wife sometime years ago that I don’t expect us (especially me) to just retire one day and not make money after that. As active as we are as a couple and as much of a serial hobbyist as I am, I assumed there would always be things that kept me busy and could also make some kind of money for us. If you assume this too for yourself, your path to retirement looks very different than the traditional grind until a date and then you are done. This is because you need less money saved before your true retirement because you’re assuming you’ll have other sources of income during retirement. This is why so many people in the Financially Independent, Retire Early (FIRE) community over save for retirement: they save a ton because they are driven and because they are driven, they find other ways to make money in retirement, thus leading to over saving. When you over save, that then is opportunity cost. Opportunity to exit the rat race sooner and lean on the new sources of income longer.

This got me thinking in terms of phases of retirement, which reminded me of the phases of life concept from the book Die with Zero. For us, having a child dictates a lot of what we can do and what risks we can take. But, as our son gets older, we could transition to different phases, slowly working down to part-time in early retirement (say when our son is in college - or crazy thought, even high school). Or heck…if our son goes out of state for college, maybe we sell the house and get that dream Winnebago Revel van and tour the country for a few years while working on the road until he settles down somewhere and then we settle down again for a new phase.

I’ve mentioned the term “mini-retirement” in past posts, specifically from my first month journey and my 60-day check-in. I first learned the concept from Jillian Johnsrud through her Retire Often podcast (though I think it was actually Choose FI, episode 451, where she was a guest). It’s an interesting idea, because before learning about it, I had been following the FIRE movement for some time. But I was not very frugal. I wasn’t set in a strict budget. We lived comfortably, but we’d also done well financially, as I discussed in my finance post and how we were able to afford me walking away from a very comfortable salary at a Fortune 25 company. It always sounded great, but I wasn't sure how it fit into our path and our phases of life.

We were already on a path to retire in our early 50s like my father and grandfather, so I guess we were on a path to FIRE (assuming “retirement” is defined in your 60s). But I didn’t really know. I was just on the mental path unclear of the financial progress and what we needed at retirement age. As I dug deeper into FIRE, I came across other flavors: Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE. Coast FIRE resonated most.

Quick tangent: I was sweeping the kitchen while listening to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast (episode 544, I believe). A guest said he wasn’t working, although he wasn’t “Financially Independent” either, because his wife was still working. Mindy Jensen, the host, tongue-in-cheek, called it “Wife-FIRE” (financially independent if your wife is still working). I sent that one to my wife…she laughed, but I’m not sure it landed as well as I hoped. I am learning the more of these I send, the faster I’ll end up at “Husband-FIRE.”

Man, I hope she doesn’t read this post.

Anyway, back on track. Over a year ago, I told my wife that Coast FIRE is probably what our retirement would look like. The way we vacation reflects that. We don’t take city vacations. We’re exploratory people. We like adventure. We like learning. For me, I don’t just sit around and veg. If I do, it’s one day tops. That’s just not my style. So I never saw myself retiring into idleness. Coast FIRE fits that theme: you have enough money by the time you retire to enjoy it, but you still need to make money now because you’re not ready to start withdrawing. The idea is to coast into retirement instead of slamming on the brakes one day.

“Coast” is relative. I’m still grinding to make money right now, and the runway to withdraw from retirement accounts without penalty is just under a long 20 years away. But not having the Sunday scaries, not sitting in endless meetings, not dealing with leadership policies I didn’t agree with, sometimes it does feel like coasting, even if the work itself is harder to find and maintain.

So Coast FIRE blended well with the mini-retirement concept. Buying a business was core to this journey, but exploration has ended up being just as central. That’s been my theme: exploration. In many ways, this is a mini-retirement. How can I live more true to myself, doing things I want to do, exploring projects that make me happy, and figuring out ways to make money from them? Ideas aren’t the issue. Drive isn’t the issue. Making money from them is the challenge. But the mini-retirement creates the mental clarity to explore both shelved ideas and new ones. Without the mental clarity, you cannot devote time to those ideas with the same passion and energy.

Timing also mattered. This was never going to be a one- or two-month mini-retirement where I’d return to the same role. If that were the plan, I’d have tried negotiating a short-term sabbatical. Because I didn’t plan to return, I needed enough time to 1) build or buy something that could scale and allow me to coast into retirement in about ten years and live off that income for 10 years before I could withdraw from retirement accounts, and 2) if it failed, return to corporate long enough to rebuild that financial bridge between pre-retirement (~50) and actual retirement (~59.5). Or maybe if this doesn’t work, I’ll take another 9-to-5 and then another mini-retirement. Jillian’s podcast is full of people who’ve done multiple rounds of this, each one better executed than the last.

Timing also mattered for our son. He’s 7. He’s impressionable. He’s hitting the stage where big life events will stick. I wanted to teach him a few lessons. First, entrepreneurship is an option. I wasn’t raised that way: everyone I knew worked in automotive. Only one person I knew growing up owned a business (and they were th only one that I knew that had season tickets to a professional sports team...coincidence? I think not). Second, I wanted to model resilience and creativity. My son has traits that line up with entrepreneurship: stubborn, risk-taking, constantly talking about making money (even if his ideas are things like selling rocks for a million dollars and not doing his chores). My wife and I read The Child Code, which says that difficult children - those who are stubborn, argumentative - often grow into strong leaders, entrepreneurs, and social activists. That is because the traits that are hard for parents in childhood become driving traits for them as adults. That gave me even more conviction that this risk for me could benefit him, whether through memory or later reflection.

If you’re considering a mini-retirement yourself, the biggest trap is getting past the “now is not the right time.” You’ll fill in the blank “I will do it after ___” forever.

Clarity on your goal is also key. The goal drives duration. Duration drives approach.

If you just want a mental break from the rat race or for a once-and-a-lifetime family trip, a month or two may be plenty, and you might even negotiate your way back into your job when you return. Think of paternity leave: 12 weeks is normal now and being able to negotiate a 1-2 month block of time off is easier than it ever has been. If you want to try something new, like entrepreneurship, then you need to understand your finances, how long you can sustain it, and when you’d pivot back to a steady paycheck. And lastly, if relevant, get your partner on board. It’s easy for the one “retiring,” but the weight on the other person’s shoulders can be heavy.

Try this exercise, write down what you think you can accomplish if you had the freedom of time. Reflect on it. What does the list say about your goals? How much time do you think you need reach your goal?

What would have to be true to make your mini-retirement happen?

How can you make those things true?

I do sincerely want to hear your answers to these questions so if you are subscribed and getting this via email, hit reply and tell me. Or if you are reading on the site, comment below or shoot me an email.