Camille Boulianne belays a friend while Sarah Klinkow takes advantage of her rest time to pet Corgnelia, during an afternoon of sport climbing at Murrin Provincial Park, in Squamish, B.C, on Jan. 21.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
Ben Schuller says that getting laid off from his job at a Toronto tech-startup in October, 2023, was the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
That wasn’t the 25-year-old’s first reaction. “I was kind of having an existential moment,” he said.
But instead of feverishly applying for new jobs, Mr. Schuller took it as an opportunity. He set off on a year of travels, including a five-month trip through Asia with two of his best friends.
“Maybe I didn’t make any money, but the good memories and the lack of stress were worth it,” he said. “My overall happiness is through the roof.”
Mr. Schuller is part of a small cohort of Canadians in their 20s and 30s who are rewriting the traditional career playbook. Instead of getting a job right out of school, working until 65 and retiring, they are choosing to take breaks throughout their careers to enjoy life while they’re young. Some are taking sabbaticals, or outright quitting their jobs, weaving together work, travel and personal pursuits throughout their lives.
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This has become referred to as a “mini-retirement.” The term was popularized by author Tim Ferriss in his 2007 book The 4-Hour Workweek, but has taken on a life of its own, especially on social media, with many posting how and why they took breaks mid-career under the “miniretirement” hashtag.
It’s part of a growing sentiment among younger Canadians that the traditional approach to retirement is outdated. Three-quarters of Canadians 24 to 44 believe the road to retirement is no longer a straight path, according to a survey commissioned by Wealthsimple.
While pressing pause in the middle of your career can put a dent in a nest egg for retirement, that doesn’t matter much to these non-conformists. For them, getting to travel the world or pursue new interests in their younger years is worth it, especially as saving for retirement through traditional routes, such as homeownership, feels increasingly out of reach.
“It’s just so unbelievably expensive. Thinking about buying a house isn’t even in my head,” Mr. Schuller said. “Taking a little break and being like, ‘Oh, let’s have some fun and spend some money and see the world’ – I’d much rather do that.”
However, regardless of the prospects of homeownership, experts caution that taking time off mid-career can significantly effect long-term financial goals because stopping regular contributions to an RRSP means losing out on compound growth.
“You’re missing out on the time value of money,” said Desmond Nwaerondu, a Calgary-based certified financial planner at Sun Life.
If you invest $200 a month starting at the age of 30 at a 4-per-cent annual return, your RRSP savings at 65 would be $180,642. But if you start five years earlier, instead of using that money to fund a career break, you could end up with $233,063 – a difference of more than $50,000.
Taking a career break also means putting a big dent into an employer pension plan. When you’re not working, employer payments into your plan will stop, as will yours.
One estimate from U.K.-based Standard Life says that someone who takes five years away from work could potentially have £27,000, or about $50,000, less in their pension plan than someone who doesn’t leave work.
Still, Mr. Nwaerondu notes that early-career breaks are less financially disruptive than later ones, as income and savings are typically lower when you’re younger. “You’re not giving up as much upfront as you would if you were doing this in your 50s,” he said.
For Jillian Colucci, the importance of saving for retirement was drilled into her from a young age. Her mother instructed her to open an RRSP early in her career, and she diligently contributed each year.
But after 10 years, the marketing professional found herself thinking, “What am I saving for?”
She felt as though, despite her saving, she was still “at least a few years away” from affording a home in Toronto, and it felt as though her options for homeownership were “overwhelming and unattainable,” she said.
Ms. Colucci quit her six-figure job last March and set on a 3½-month backpacking trip through Asia, hitting Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan. She saved $20,000 in the six months leading up to her trip, cutting back on discretionary spending to make it happen.
Though she travelled on a budget, she was still able to take a local cooking class in each country she visited, go snorkelling (despite fearing the ocean for most of her life) and went on picturesque hikes.
Now 34, Ms. Colucci is focused on finding another full-time job, but it’s “certainly not easy out there,” she said. To supplement her income, she’s been building up her dog-sitting side hustle.
Taking the career break has affected Ms. Colucci’s retirement savings. In a normal year, she would typically make a one-time annual contribution to her RRSP between $2,000 to $4,000, but this year she isn’t.
“I’m totally fine with whatever comes next because I know that I learned a lot from this and I think I’m a better person in my personal life and in my work life,” she said.
To make a career break financially viable, preparation is key. The first step should be to kill any debt, “especially high-interest debt,” before you take the break, said Jonathan Lazeo, a Vancouver-based certified financial planner at Freedom 55 Financial.
Then, it’s important to save up ahead of your trip, as Ms. Colucci did. Mr. Nwaerondu says to set aside a month of income for each month you take off, plus a three-to-six-month emergency fund.
Before quitting, it’s worth asking your employer about a sabbatical or leave of absence, said Philippe de Villers, chair of the board at Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Canada. Companies are increasingly offering these options in their policies or collective agreements, he said.
Camille Boulianne makes her way up the Petrifying Wall at Murrin Provincial Park, in Squamish, B.C..Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
In her late 20s, while Danica Nelson was working at Telus in Toronto, she saved $1,000 a month for 16 months before presenting her manager with a list of accomplishments and requesting six months off. Her employer granted her the unpaid time off, and she was able to return to the company at the end of her break.
“Ultimately that money could have been thrown into the stock market and could have been making money up until today, but realistically, I just think life is short,” Ms. Nelson said.
When she got back from her trip, Ms. Nelson didn’t let herself fall too far behind. She saved aggressively to replenish what she could have potentially lost while on her break, she said.
But even those who have quit to live on their own terms without much of a plan say they don’t regret it.
When 28-year-old Camille Boulianne picked up her life as a lawyer in Montreal last year to move to Squamish, B.C., she didn’t prepare very much.
Even though she only had $8 in her bank account when she moved (“That’s kind of a joke with my boyfriend,” she said), she says the opportunity to explore her passion for climbing has been worth it. “Squamish is like the mecca of rock climbing in Canada,” she said.
“I feel like I would never be able to save enough for retirement,” Ms. Boulianne said. “So might as well do what I want right now.”
While she looks for work, she’s been spending most of her time doing her favourite activities such as climbing, backcountry skiing, writing and reading. She’s even taken an avalanche rescue class.
Finding a job has been harder than she expected, but that isn’t phasing her much. “I can breathe better now. I’m living the life I always wanted to live,” Ms. Boulianne said.
