Retire Often

In this conversation, Brooke Thayer shares her experiences with taking multiple mini retirements and traveling the world. She discusses the inspiration behind her mini retirements, including a difficult divorce that led her to reevaluate her life. Brooke shares the challenges and benefits of open-ended travel, staying in hostels, and finding connections in the travel community. S

Brent and his wife were on the path to financial independence, planning to retire early at 40. However, they realized that their plan wasn't serving them well and decided to take a mini-retirement. The challenges of asking for unpaid leave and shifting from saving to spending were overcome by their desire for change. Brent's mini-retirement involved a two-month road trip with his w

Diania shares her experience of negotiating a mini-retirement to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. She initially planned to support her uncle on the journey but ended up going alone. Diania discusses the financial preparation she made, including paying off debt and learning about financial independence. The time off was full of self-discovery and awareness, including recognizin

In this episode, we accompany Cosmin on his remarkable journey from the brink of burnout in his career to embracing a life of nomadic adventure. After years of high-intensity work, he took his first month-long mini-retirement. Cosmin returned with a new perspective: continue on a path of stress and exhaustion or forge a new way of living. He chose the latter, setting off on an insp

In this conversation with Darlene, we delve deep into the journey of early retirement and the surprises it holds beyond the workplace. Darlene's story goes from her demanding corporate career to a retirement decision spurred by an enticing severance package. This episode is not just about the transition into early retirement; it's about the unexpected emotional roller coaster that

In this conversation with my friend, JL Collins, we take a look at a professional journey that defies convention, punctuated by career breaks and the power of 'F.U. money.' His career began marked by intense work periods that eventually led to inevitable burnout. But through these experiences, JL began taking mini-retirements, illustrating that stepping away can often add more mean

In college, Joe fell in love with hiking and climbing. He loved the community and time in nature. He tried pursuing a corporate life, but a mini-retirement where he hiked the Appalachian Trail shifted his path. He realized that corporate life wasn’t how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. But he also wasn’t drawn to the “dirt bag” life of taking odd jobs to pay the bil

Getting diagnosed with a brain tumor during her residency helped Dawn refocus on who she wanted to be as a person and what she wanted her life to look like. Instead of losing herself in her profession, she consistently course corrected by using mini-retirements. The medical profession, like many others, can become an all consuming identity. Instead of accepting the prescribed narr

Eric was a schoolteacher in Boston. Along with his wife and two kids, they moved to France for two years. This seems like an impossible step for many people. But it was after years of practice taking smaller trips and spending time abroad. His wife is originally from France, and she used that time to complete a master's program. Eric shares the financials behind a massive move like

Stepping away from a successful, lucrative, and important job can be tricky. Even when that job is eating up all your free time and bandwidth and at the cost of your health and relationships. It’s scary to kill the golden goose. But Amanda discovered all that life had to offer on the other side during her mini-retirement. Surprisingly, the lower stress and more free time even hel