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Micro-retirement
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 31 May 2025
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Only works if you are not working a shitty job and living paycheck to paycheck. Good fucking luck in most economies greedy billionaires are keeping this from happening.
Yeah wtf jobs is she getting where she builds up a safety net in 1-2 years? I've been at this shit for a decade and have 3 digits in my bank account
Edit: I should disclose the fact that I have been making minimum wage this whole time. That said, most people I know make nearly average wages, and still have 3-4 digits in their bank accounts at all times
I mean almost anyone with a stem education is able to do this.
Before you say: "buh have you seen the job market?"
The point of the plan isn't to get stinking rich off of each 1-2 year stint, it's to make just enough money that you can travel around and reset to nearly 0 after not working for a few months to a year
The biggest problem I see with this is staying current and sharp with your tech skills and also explaining those gaps. It’s definitely possible though, especially if you’re able to live frugally.
Not in the US, if you have any medical conditions or if you don't want to gamble with the possibility of getting injured, or if you have a spouse or children who need your insurance.
Yes, fear is a major factor for why people don't do risky things for potential rewards.
As for having a spouse and children or a pre-existing medical condition, you're correct that only a certain portion of the population is able to do this. We already cut it down to people with something like a STEM degree that are able to do this.
You know, you can pay for private health insurance if you don't have a job. And if you have an emergency fund or (micro) retirement fund, it should include funds for health insurance.
~~As long as you line up your micro retirement with open enrollment (which, coincidentally, lines up with the winter and the holidays and therefore one of the most expensive time to travel) and~~
As long as you can afford to suddenly add anywhere from two to ten thousand dollars to your micro retirement plan depending on your health needs, and as long as you live in one of the few states where the most affordable plans are offered.
Take a look at each plan in the link below, and notice under "Pros and Cons" most of the affordable ones are offered in less than half the states, and still cost thousands of dollars.
Keep in mind, these list average plan costs under the ACA, but I specifically pointed out the issue of having conditions or injuries or spouses or children that would put you above average: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/best-affordable-health-insurance/
(Edit - also keep in mind, I'm specifically responding to a comment that said almost anyone with a stem education can do this. Some can, sure, but no, almost anyone with a stem education cannot do this.)
Leaving your job qualifies as a "life changing event" and allows you to sign up for private insurance under ACA. You don't need to wait for open enrollment.
Ah, thanks for the correction. I thought it had to be an involuntary job loss.
If I was looking at a hire who only gives a year I'm thinking that's a big investment to get them up to speed on our tech, train them, and start getting them projects only to know they're going to bounce. Not to mention provisioning tech and tools for them. I think experience and a company willing to hire you becomes the issue if you do this too often.
Stem jobs aren't a spot where you want to be losing your talent every year, it's hard to push forward with that. I see companies avoiding those hires honestly.
Also, how do you advance and make more, if that's what you want, without working somewhere long enough to grow. Self education helps, but practical experience is needed.
If I were them, just be a freelancer. It gives you the freedom and you're your own boss.
That's the key, you don't tell the company you're working for that you only plan to stay for a year or two. After you've done it twice maybe your resume will start to show a pattern, but at that point you've been doing this for 4-6 years, and I can think of plenty of lies to tell corporate that will make for a good excuse.
As for making more, your progress will definitely be stymied by taking breaks, but you're not taking breaks in order to advance your career. It's just a difference in life goals, clearly you value climbing a corporate ladder to increase your salary. Besides, it's well documented that changing employers is one of the best ways to increase your salary so if your goal is making more money you would want to change jobs every couple of years no matter what.
That's not at all true, and I feel like people with this very casual stance on a career think that everyone else is that way. We're not. If anything I feel like we just can think beyond the short term.
Let me ask you, this person that lives this life, are they still working at 70? How much do they really have left to invest with these breaks? What if the market has a down turn when you're on vacation and you come back to a job market you can't get a foothold in? How is your 401k really looking with all these breaks?
My goal is to not work a day after 45. I have taken many vacations and enjoyed my life while working but I plan to never answer to anyone after 45, just live my life for me. The rest of my life without worry and with security. That's what I work for, not climbing a ladder. Security and an exit plan.
Living with parents probably (/gen, non-derogatory)
Live with a group in a LCOL area, eat rice and beans, no other hobbies.
Yeah and if the job market sucks and you’re out a job
I mean, I don't see how it's possible if you're only going to have entry level skills... You're not really building up a wealth of marketable skills if you quit all the jobs after a year.
It works if you can build up the relationships and reputation, which will depend heavily on the industry and the job.
I know two people who do this, and they have jobs that allow them to.
One is an emergency room physician. His shifts are staffed through a middleman at 3 different local hospitals, and the nature of the work is that he just does work during the shift and doesn't bring any home with him or continuing onto the next shift he works. He gets paid very well when he's working (average annual salary of an emergency physician in the U.S. is about $375,000 per year). And occasionally just lines up a long sabbatical, does volunteer work overseas (Doctors Without Borders/MSF), and takes time off for himself and his family. He basically budgets a $200k lifestyle and takes unpaid time off. But his pathway basically required him to just dominate school, from kindergarten through a bachelor's degree and 4 years of medical school, and then put in his time as a resident.
Another friend of mine works as an electrician and lighting crew member on TV shows and movies. He always has to line up his next project after the current one ends, but occasionally can line something up in the future so that he can take a calculated 3-6 months between projects. He's got a good working relationship with some producers and directors, so he basically knows he can find a job anytime with whatever production those people happen to be working on. Whenever he has enough cash, he can go and travel, timed out to where he's not paying rent for an unoccupied apartment. Then he lines up another gig, signs a new lease, and then continues working. I think he lives very frugally on the job (I think stuff like food is covered when filming on location, so not a lot of out of pocket expenses for food/drink while working), and saves money that way.
With that, I think there are a few opportunities to think through which careers might actually allow for this.
Project-based jobs, where people work for a few months or a year towards a particular project completion, might be good for intentionally taking gaps between projects. I wonder if construction and similar industries would allow for this. Academia often has formal sabbatical policies, too, but that's relatively late career.
Personal independent gigs can do this, if you can earn enough money doing it (so, like, not Uber and Doordash). Some people do contract design work, create independent art, write essays and op eds for different publications, etc. If you're paid by the job, taking a break doesn't really hurt your "resume," so to speak. Even some who are expected to publish on a defined schedule can get ahead of the curve by producing a bunch of work for publication on that schedule (some webcomic authors and social media influencers are known to do this).
Jobs where you are employed by some firm but actually work for a client that hired your firm might also be a good candidate, if you have the seniority and flexibility and credibility to just take unpaid time off while still being on the books and website as an employee. I know people who took off a year of parental leave as lawyers, but it really depends on practice area and firm culture whether that will permanently hold them back on career growth.
Jobs that are basically shift work are designed so that no one person is totally indispensable or non replaceable, which gives the worker the flexibility to leave without hard feelings, and come back whenever they're ready. My emergency medicine friend probably fits in this category. But also, maybe any kind of 24/7 coverage job sorta fits this category, too, in health care, IT, critical infrastructure, etc.