Our second Mini-Retirement in Puerto Rico begins tomorrow!

My family of 4 will be living in Puerto Rico for a month this summer, taking a mini retirement. This will be our second mini-retirement in less than 5 years. And our plan is to take one every 2 years if possible, planning and saving diligently towards the next in the interim years. 

A mini retirement is a series of intentional breaks from work, instead of saving up for one final retirement (at usually the age of 62+). We hopped onto the mini-retirement train in 2022 when I was on maternity leave for our second kiddo, and my husband had saved up enough leave to take an entire month off and we lived in Providence, Rhode Island when our son was only 3 months old and daughter was 3. 

I first heard of mini retirements from personal finance expert Jillian Johnsrud who puts out *free* fantastic resources (as well as offers paid group coaching and personal consultations) and has a podcast where she interviews people who have taken mini retirements for a number of reasons, avoiding burnout at work, transitioning to new careers, divorce, etc. Some people take mini retirements for two months to 1 year, some travel internationally for their mini retirements, but one thing is clear, there’s no ONE way, just the shared intention to break from the norm and to live life in a different way.

Jillian interviewed a couple recently who have taken a mini retirement every year since 2010, often going to national parks and camping for a month with their family of 4 starting when their kids were young. I took note of a few things but a couple of takeaways stood out to us as we are planning on a second mini-retirement.

1. Start when your kids are young, because their enthusiasm and energy will inevitably change as they grow older. 
2. Other people will not understand how you’re taking these mini retirements and will often make assumptions you either have a cache of trust fund money and/or there’s just something about your life that is unique from others.

The first takeaway hits close to home, our kids are growing up fast and with our daughter entering into kindergarten and the formal school year, I can see why summers are appealing with the longer school breaks but we will face the inevitable higher prices and busier travel seasons.

The second takeaway is something we’ve been grappling with as we bid farewell to friends and family. They often give us the “I wish I could take a month off to travel” and I’ve been tempted to explain how we are doing it, and it’s not out of reach of most that we’re coming across. 

How do we pay for it? We plan diligently starting almost 9-12 months ahead, we save what we need to pay all our expenses BEFORE the trip by saving extra to a specific checking account each month, and prepay for the bigger items (lodging, flights). I used credit card points (Capital One Venture) to reimburse ourselves for the flights and are employing credit card offers to save on rental cars. When we return, we will have a dedicated checking account to pay for our expenses. All in all, we’ve budgeted about $10K for this trip. 

How do we ask for time off? My husband’s organization started an unlimited (Paid Time Off) PTO policy last year and he’s the first to test it. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding unlimited PTO but his director actually thanked him for testing out their new policy and she supports it. I went out this the more old fashioned way, I saved up my PTO and started asking for the leave almost 6 months ago. I’ve been planning with my team/supervisor so they’re covered while I’m gone.

Another takeaway from that podcast interview was this couple mentioned how important it is to communicate and to take some time for yourself. It’s intense to go from your family’s routine of work and school to spending a full month together all the time. I’ve booked a solo bioluminescence boat tour and my husband will go scuba diving while we’re there. It’s these special excursions that make this kind of trip unique and we don’t have to go together to enjoy them.

Wishing everyone a great summer!