Is a pre-retirement sabbatical a good idea?

People traditionally think of taking a break or sabbatical from work either when they are early in their career where the impact of taking time out doesn’t have much influence in their long-term future, or due to major life events to themselves or loved ones such as bringing up children or caring for elderly parents.

An emerging concept that has been gaining popularity is the idea of a pre-retirement sabbatical. But what is it?

The idea is that you take a period of time as you would ideally like to without the day-to-day stresses of life such as work. This could be anything from a few months to a couple of years. You could use the time to go travelling and tick off bucket list items, undertake major renovations at your home or just have a period to relax and re-group. You would then return to the world of work, whether that be in your current job role or by taking up another.

Who would it be suited to? Well it could be anybody really, but typically those who could leave their career for a period and resume it again later. Or it could be after just selling a business before deciding to move onto the next venture or career choice. There also needs to be the means by which to afford this.

What are the potential pro’s? Well, it enables the opportunity to really do the things that you want to do without the concern about whether you will be able to do this later in life either due to resources or ill health. It is also useful as a reminder that there can be more to life than work.

What are the potential cons? I mean it sound like a positive concept, but if we were looking to be critical there would be a few things. Firstly, whether this is actually realistic and whether it would hinder future career prospects. Finally there is the impact of the cost and the potential to reduce future spending capacity or delay eventual retirement date.

So what do you think … Is this something that you might seriously consider and we should have a chat about how to incorporate this into your future plans? Or if you are already retired is this something that you would have liked to have done if you had known and had the opportunity?

Aristotle
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