Retire Often – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Frances Benjamin shares her mini-retirement story and the transformative impact it had on her life. Before her mini-retirement, Frances was working multiple jobs and juggling the responsibilities of being a single mom. The catalyst for her decision to take a break was the pandemic and the realization that her daughter would soon be leaving the nest. Frances prepared for her mini-retirement by decluttering, saving money, and paying off debt. She embarked on her break with her daughter, traveling to Mexico and Thailand, immersing themselves in the local culture and enjoying the freedom to do what brought them joy. 

Unexpectedly, Frances had to return home due to a family emergency, but this experience brought her closer to her father and reinforced the importance of prioritizing family. The mini-retirement allowed Frances to shift her mindset about work, putting herself and her family first. She now values her own well-being and is more selective about the commitments she takes on. Frances encourages other women to take breaks and prioritize their own happiness.

Takeaways

• Taking a mini retirement can be a transformative experience, allowing individuals to prioritize their own happiness and well-being.

• Family emergencies can disrupt a mini-retirement, but they can also bring family members closer together.

• A mini-retirement can lead to a shift in mindset about work, with individuals valuing their own well-being and prioritizing family.

Frances Links:

• Ask Me Anything
  1:1 Career Break Coaching
  Tools & Resources

PT, is the creator of a large event, FinCon. Taking a mini-retirement as a business owner can be stressful, confusing, and scary. PT shares his experience of taking a step back from his business and how he slowly extracted himself while empowering his team. He discusses the challenges and transformations he went through during his mini-retirement, including finding new hobbies, spending more time with family, and healing emotionally and spiritually.

PT also talks about the expansion of his business after his return, including acquiring another conference and taking over his family's CPA firm. He encourages entrepreneurs to prepare financially, trust their team, and be open to the possibility of a mini-retirement.

PT Links:

PT Money blog: https://ptmoney.com
FinCon Expo: https://finconexpo.com
TravelCon: https://travelcon.org
CPA Firm: https://taylorassociatescpa.com

Takeaways:

• Taking a step back from your business can be transformative and healing.
• Preparing financially and having a trusted team in place can make the process smoother.
• Mini-retirements can open up new opportunities and allow for massive business growth.
• Being open to new hobbies and experiences can lead to unexpected passions and connections.
• Entrepreneurs should consider the possibility of a mini-retirement and plan accordingly.

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 bills between adventures. So he rapidly saved money from the corporate job to pursue financial independence. After taking another long mini-retirement to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, he made an even more significant life shift. 

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 narrative to what her life should look like based on her job, Dawn carved out a whole new path.

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 this, showing how much more affordable France was than their life in Boston. His story shows how much can happen in life when you create some space for new things. 

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 helped their finances. This mini-retirement created a huge opportunity for growth as a mom and wife. Plus it gave her new skills that might be a future business. She had a hard time imagining ever leaving her career, but now she and her wife are planning for a life full of travel and adventure.

Vikaash has always been good at work. Professionally, success came quickly. From Harvard Business School to 40 Under Forty Young Business Leaders award by CNBC, to CEO. But that type of success has a cost: 15 to 18-hour work days and little time or energy left over for family, health, sleep, or hobbies. 

At the peak of his career, he decided to take a mini-retirement. What I find incredible about Vikaash is the vision and courage to take this step. I’ve known a lot of successful professionals, and stepping away from the thing they do best, in order to focus on areas of their life that need attention is not common. There is too much ego and fear and unwillingness to lean into the discomfort. 

Vikaash shares about the motivation to make that change and the challenges along the way. Plus he’s leaning into being the best father and husband he can while finally getting enough sleep and exercise. 

The great thing about a professional half-time is that it allows you to regroup, refocus, and refresh. He probably won’t go back to 18-hour work days. But this next chapter might be even more impactful professionally. He can leverage his expertise and skill set in new ways that support the lifestyle changes he’s been making progress on. I’m sure his most impressive professional accomplishments are yet to come. 

Jamie and her husband are both self-employed. Walking away from their business for a month seemed overwhelming. But they desperately needed to rest, recover, and focus on family, health, and fun for a bit. Jamie shares how they planned and prepared for that first month off. It was so good for everyone that they knew they wanted to do it again. Now, after their second mini-retirement, they are figuring out how to create more passive income to fund a yearly mini-retirement. They are organizing their work, home, and lives to be able to Retire Often. 

Chad (Coach Carson) started his financial journey by investing in real estate. It helped fund his and his wife's first budget mini-retirement. Over the years, as his rentals became more profitable, he was able to upgrade the mini-retirement adventures as well. He is just finishing his third mini-retirement, a year-long trip to Spain with his family. 

Chad gives practical and encouraging advice on how being a small real estate investor can give you even more financial freedom. Just a few rentals can fund your Retire Often lifestyle. His new book, The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor is out now. https://amzn.to/3OLykyl

In her mid 30’s, Rachel decided it was time for a change. She had been working 10 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, stressed about even asking for a day off. She was ready for a change of pace and autonomy over her life. Despite never being a hiker and never even traveling outside of the country, she began preparing for a 500-mile pilgrimage in Spain. Her two-month mini-retirement plan expanded into a year, as she finally started working on a business idea she had been dreaming about for years. 

Old beliefs around work and money arose as she started spending down her savings. But this mini-retirement allowed her to focus on her personal growth that she can carry forward as she returns to work.