What You Need to Know About Mini-Retirements

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I've written newsletter articles about why you need to take a mini-retirement, how much a international mini-retirement costs, and European cities you need to visit (for a mini-retirement).

But I never specifically defined what a mini-retirement is.

Let me remedy that:

In 2011, I became a New York City public high school science teacher.

I transitioned into this career from practicing law full-time.

There are many reasons why I decided to make this change (perhaps the subject for another newsletter article).

However, one of the many benefits of being a teacher is having summers off (while I still have a career in education, I’ve been out of the classroom for the past 8 years).

My financial situation was chaotic at the time.

My biggest struggle was dealing with law school student loans of which I accrued nearly a quarter of a million dollars (becoming an attorney is not cheap).

As such, I didn't really have any money to travel.

So, I started working on improving my financial situation as my salary increased.

And then I started to travel.

A week here, a few days there: Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Miami.

And then, in 2016 or 2017, I read the book, "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss.

It's a fascinating read, albeit outdated, but worth the time to read.

One concept from the book stood out to me: the mini-retirement.

I thought, "I have summers off. I should take advantage of all this time off and up my travel game."

I no longer wanted to travel for 7 to 10 days at a time.

I wanted to travel for a month or longer.

And in 2018 I took my first mini-retirement to Europe.

Since 2018 I've been on 4 month-long European mini-retirements.

So, what exactly is a mini-retirement?

Here's everything you need to know:

Tim Ferriss is widely credited with creating the concept of the mini-retirement.

A mini-retirement is simply defined as an alternative to binge travel.

It solves the problem of what most people have with only 2-3 weeks of vacation per year:

They go on vacation with a packed agenda.

If traveling internationally, they may want to see multiple cities (or countries) in 14-21 days.

This is known as binge traveling.

The result: you end up a wreck.

Full disclosure: I traveled to 5 European cities in a month during my first mini-retirement. I lost a day traveling between each city. It was faster than I would've liked.

A mini-retirement is about doing the exact opposite (I learned my lesson).

"It is the anti-vacation in the most positive sense."

It entails relocating to a destination for 1-6 months "before going home or moving to another locale."

A mini-retirement is "not an escape from your life, but a reexamination of it."

Whether you take a mini-retirement in a foreign or domestic destination, you want to travel to a place "where meetings, emails, and phone calls don't exist for a set period of time."

The objectives of the mini-retirement are to:

• Learn to slow down

• Get lost intentionally

• Disincorporate old habits & rediscover yourself

• Experience the world at a speed that lets it change you

The most important objective: you don’t have an agenda.

How much does a month-long mini-retirement cost?

You don't need to be financially independent (or ultrarich).

I projected the numbers before taking my recent (4th) mini-retirement.

I spent way less.

Plus, I guarantee a mini-retirement can be cheaper than those numbers based on location, research, and effective use of credit card reward points.

Where can you go for a mini-retirement?

The sky's the limit:

• Pick a destination you're interested in traveling to

• Buy an airline ticket (using CC reward points)

• Find & reserve accommodations

• Go and explore

I choose Europe for the following reasons:

• Cost

• Ease of travel

• Laid-back way of life

• Plenty of restaurants and bars

• European cities are very walkable

Three European cities I can confidently recommend for a 1st month-long+ mini-retirement:

• Vienna, Austria

• Barcelona, Spain

• Prague, Czech Republic

What do you pack?

While the overpacking impulse is hard to resist (I'm always astounded by the size of luggage I see people carrying/pulling in airports), the unanimous recommendation for 1st-time extended travelers:

"Take less with you."

On my first mini-retirement, I packed my gear in a small backpack and a small gym bag.

Now, I pack my gear in a small piece of luggage and the same small backpack.

I rarely use all of the clothes I pack (I can probably pack half of what I usually pack and still be perfectly fine).

Ferriss (and I) recommend:

• A travel guide

• One week of clothing appropriate for the season

• Backup photocopies/scans of important documents

• Debit, credit cards, and $200 of small bills in local currency

• Electronic dictionary of the target language (Google Translate)

Additional reminders from my experiences:

• Forget sight-seeing and just explore

• Automate your bill payments at home

• You will always find a place to wash clothes

• You'll probably spend less than you think you will

• Build a travel fund in a HYSA 9-12 months out (beneficial)

Finally:

Don't over-think or over-plan.

A mini-retirement is all about slowing down.

Remember:

And:

Source of article quotes (unless stated otherwise): The 4-Hour Workweek

That's mini-retirements in a nutshell.

What can you do to have a similar experience if you can't take 1-6 months off from work?

I'll get into alternatives in next week’s newsletter article.

My question to you:

When and where do you plan on taking your first mini-retirement?

Thanks for reading!

Please feel free to reply to this email with suggestions, questions, or comments.

I read every email.

If you have a question about personal finance, travel, or mini-retirements email me and ask, I’ll discuss the answer in a future article.

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