Micro Retirement Planner

Micro Retirement Planner Skill

The new generation isn't waiting until 65 to be free for a while — the mini-retirement between chapters is now a normal career move. What separates the break that becomes a great story from the one that becomes a panic is planning three things before resigning: the real runway (spoiler: your monthly costs don't drop as much as the fantasy says), the re-entry story (written now, because "what did you do in the gap?" is coming), and the kill criteria — the pre-agreed line where the break ends early without shame. This skill plans the break like the project it is, without killing the point of it, which is that it isn't one.

What This Skill Produces

• A runway budget: honest monthly burn during the break (including the costs that appear when employment disappears — health cover, pension gaps), a buffer, and the re-entry cushion nobody budgets (2–3 months of job-search burn AFTER the break)
• A break charter: what this break is for in one sentence, what "worth it" looks like, and the kill criteria for ending early
• The re-entry story, drafted before departure: the interview answer, the LinkedIn line, and the one-per-month habit that keeps it true
• An admin flag-list by situation: notice timing, health insurance gap, pension/social-security contributions, visa rules if abroad — flagged for verification, not asserted (rules differ by country and change)

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The dream: how long, doing what, where — and the one-sentence why (rest? a project? travel? caregiving? burnout recovery? — the why changes the plan)
• Money truth: savings, monthly costs now, fixed obligations that continue (rent/mortgage, subscriptions, dependents), any income during the break
• Career context: field, seniority, how fast their skills date, and their honest read on re-hiring demand
• Country/citizenship for the admin flags, and health-cover situation today

Framework

1. Runway math with the multiplier. Break burn = current monthly costs − commute/work costs + health cover + break activities (travel months cost MORE, not less) → × months → + 20% buffer → + re-entry cushion of 2–3 months' burn (the search starts when the break ends, not a job). Show the equation; the answer is a date, not a vibe: "your money supports X months of THIS plan." If X < the dream, present the menu: shorter, cheaper geography, partial income, or save longer — not "stretch it."
2. Charter the break in one sentence. "Six months to [the why], and it was worth it if [observable thing]." Breaks without a charter become a long weekend with anxiety attached. Rest is a valid charter — "recover until rested, measured by [sleep/dread-of-inbox test]" counts; charters aren't productivity smuggled back in.
3. Write the re-entry story NOW. The future interview answer, drafted before leaving: "I took a planned break to [charter]; I [one true thing per month-ish]; I came back because [pull, not push]." Then the keeping-it-true habit: one small monthly act (a write-up, a course module, a kept skill) — chosen to serve the story without colonizing the break. Planned-and-owned reads completely differently from gap-and- apologetic, and that difference is manufactured in advance.
4. Set kill criteria without shame. Ending early is a plan feature: savings floor touched (the floor is sacred — it IS the re-entry cushion) · the why gets satisfied early · a can't-refuse opportunity · health/family. Pre-agreeing these converts "I failed at my sabbatical" into "the plan executed a branch."
5. Flag the admin, don't bluff it. Notice period & timing vs bonuses/ vesting · health insurance from day 1 of the gap (the uncovered month is the classic error) · pension/social contributions during the gap · visas/tax residence if abroad · references lined up while warm. Each flagged with "verify for your country/employer" — the skill's job is the checklist, not fake legal certainty.

Output Format

## The break, chartered
[One sentence: length, why, worth-it-if]

## Runway math (shown)
[Burn equation → months supported → verdict vs the dream · the menu if short]

## Kill criteria (agreed while calm)
[The savings floor · the early-success case · the can't-refuse case]

## Re-entry story (drafted today)
[Interview answer · LinkedIn line · the monthly keeping-it-true habit]

## Admin flags — verify each
[ ] Notice/vesting timing … [ ] Health cover gap … [ ] Pension/contributions …
[ ] Visa/tax if abroad … [ ] References while warm

## Departure checklist & dates
[Resign by · cover starts · break starts · re-entry search starts]

Quality Checks

• The runway includes health cover, the +20% buffer, AND the re-entry cushion — all three, itemized
• The verdict is a number of months of the actual plan, compared against the dream, with a menu if short — never "should be fine"
• The charter fits one sentence and rest-as-charter is treated as fully legitimate
• Kill criteria include a sacred savings floor equal to the re-entry cushion
• Every admin item says verify — zero country-specific rules asserted as fact

Anti-Patterns

• Do not romanticize the math — travel-month costs and the job-search tail are where break budgets die
• Do not turn the break into a productivity program; the charter protects the point of it
• Do not write the re-entry story as an apology — planned, chartered, owned
• Do not assert visa/tax/insurance rules — flag and route to verification
• Do not skip kill criteria because the user is excited; excitement is exactly when floors get set too low

Related

[[fire-number]] for the permanent version's math; [[relocation-planner]] if the break moves countries; [[the-time-capsule]] — seal one to open on re-entry day; [[resignation kit|pip-responder]] neighbors in plugins/pm-resignation for the leaving itself.