Posted on 04/11/2025 9:50:54 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Some young people are spending their savings on an extended break earlier in their careers rather than waiting until retirement.
Marina Kausar wasn’t sure what to call the three-month break she took after quitting her job.
After working in a series of jobs in finance and technology, Ms. Kausar, 30, was feeling stressed and overworked. In December 2023, with a bit of savings built up, she quit without another position lined up to focus on things that had fallen to the wayside while she was focused on work.
“I had more time to work out. I was eating better, sleeping better. It was just like a full reset,” said Ms. Kausar, who lives in Houston. “For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have this looming cloud of ‘work.’”
Eventually, she came across a term for her hiatus that resonated with her: “micro-retirement.”
For most people in the United States, being able to save enough money to not have to work is a faraway ideal. That anxiety, especially for people closer to retirement, has only risen as stock markets have grown more volatile in response to President Trump’s global tariffs.
Discontented employees who do not have the means to leave the work force have turned to “quiet-quitting,” “acting your wage” or simply using their vacation days.
Now, many younger workers are opting not to wait until retirement, and are leaving an extended gap between jobs to invest in other parts of their life. But not everyone wants to call it a sabbatical: Some people prefer the term “mini-retirement” or “micro-retirement.”
“Sabbaticals are seen as the thing that an organization offers to you for paid time off, and then you come back to that job,” said Kira Schabram, an assistant professor at the University...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The summer of George!
I think we called it “vacation” when I was alive.
Did you quit your job to go on "vacation?"
Having health insurance independent of one’s employer makes such things easier.
I can sort of understand the concept of a sabbatical etc but tapping into your retirement savings to fund it is sort of like stealing from yourself IMO.
With volatility and downturns one needs to leave the money alone for a long time for compounding to do its work.
Unemployment insurance is a paid vacation.
-Ronald Reagan.
A family member who worked to 70, was fired after being requested to retire for a couple of years, he was diagnosed with Parkinsons (a family gene for the oldest son). Now retired, can’t feed himself, can’t walk without help, I imagine the bodily functions have to be helped with. Has a couple of million in the bank and ss but can’t vacation, enjoy retirement or enjoy his children or grandchildren. He exists but that is about it.
There is no guarantee, enjoy life while you can.
After 37 years in the work force with a grand total of four weeks unemployed, lots of lessons learned on the way.
1. When you’re on the job, give a conscientious, full effort and take pride in the work you perform.
2. Work to live, don’t live to work. Unless you’re an entrepreneur, you’re there to fund your living expenses, support your family, and pay for your fun and hobbies. Not to donate hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime, miss your kids activities, and ruin your health and relationships.
3. Use your PTO unless you can bank it. Any use it or lose it time off needs to be taken and enjoyed.
4. The workplace is transactional. Your coworkers are not your family and in the end you are still just a number on a spreadsheet that can be cut or replaced at a moment’s notice no matter the platitudes expressed by upper management.
5. Be helpful, reliable, cordial and competent without being a lazy slacker or a brown-nosing suck-up.
6. Live within your means so you can walk away from an unpleasant or exploitative job situation with a minimum of hardship. But don’t burn any bridges along the way.
its one of many consequences of our post-modern, materialist, atomistic world and the general lack of meaning and nihilistic attitude it inculcates in young people.
We had plenty of forced mini retirements with the kung flu lock downs. Damn near ruined my business. I would have rather worked...
That being sad if you’re working for the corporate world by all means quit for a break. They have zero loyalty to you as an employee and one should have zero loyalty toward the company. This is why the gig economy is so popular now. Work when you want just to get by. Get too much and the government starts to notice you.
micro dosing... micro retirements
The participation trophy generation.
Tell you what, this mentality will get them smoked in the work force. You know who I ain’t gonna promote? Yeah, the “mini-retirement” minded employees.
Sorry to hear of your passing. Glad you can still post wherever you are.
As if everything this generation does is somehow new and innovative
Ai yi yiii...
Gotta bite into a block of cheese!
And get a recliner with a refrigerator built in.
Just heard WFTW backing out of the driveway Wednesday
I miss the 80s nearly as much as the 70s
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