We're maybe 7 of 10 years away from being FI, which feels really far away. Also, the kids will be teenagers by then, and I'd prefer to spend some time with them as a relaxed parent sooner rather than later. My current job doesn't really allow for part time work, and I'm really looking for a proper break from work rather than just cutting my hours. That's why I'm hoping to take a year's sabbatical in about two years' time.
There are lots of threads here about sabbaticals, but they mostly involve some kind of extended traveling. I have no need to go anywhere, and definitely not for homeschooling the kids, I just want some peace and quiet and time to focus on myself while also having more time for family. So our situation is a bit different from those I read about here. Also, my spouse isn't interested in a sabbatical or FIRE (or retiring at all, for that matter...), so basically the rest of the family would keep doing what they are doing while I would have the weekday working hours to myself for a year.
Spouse thinks I'm nuts and that I'll be bored and depressed, but then they love their job and I merely somewhat like mine. Some friends I have told of my plans say "sounds great, go for it", but I think that's more a reflection of my own enthusiasm for this plan rather than any deeper analysis of whether it's a good idea and what I should think about.
Since I'm a planner, I want to start preparing for this well in advance. The reason why I'm thinking I'd take the autumn of 2024 and the spring of 2025 off is that the younger kid will be starting school then, and I know from experience that the first year involves quite some changes and adjustments for the whole family. The older one will be 12--13 that school year, so still young enough to spend a lot of time with us and need some support for hobbies, homework, etc. Also, I can live with the idea of "2 years until I can start my sabbatical" much better than the thought "maybe another decade until FIRE"!
My employer has a system for applying for up to 1 year unpaid leave. I've only been here a couple of years, but I'm liked and appreciated, so I think they would grant me the 1 year off and take me back afterwards. I guess I still need to keep in mind that nothing is certain and that there is a small risk of my job disappearing completely during that year (cf. Covid, war in Europe, etc.). If it does disappear, I'd receive very little unemployment benefits because I haven't worked in a year, and I'd also need a good explanation for the gap in my CV.
My plans for spending those 8 glorious hours every weekday include:
- a lot of exercise (running several times a week, swimming and yoga once a week each. I've done all of these at some point, but never all at once.)
- attending courses (I currently have time for one language class a week, but I'd like to do a lot more, and also other stuff like open university courses. I've done more of these in the past before the kids and when we have only one kid.)
- reading books and napping (self-explanatory, right?)
- keeping an eye on and helping my elderly parents (they already require some help from us, which we are able to give, but it would be great to be able to spend some more quality time and do stuff together, not just put out fires, so to speak)
- take on more of the cooking (we share this task pretty evenly now, but I wouldn't mind using more time and effort and being able to make even healthier and more Mustachian food than what we manage to do now)
- be able to be more flexible when it comes to the kids' school, hobbies, meeting up with friends, etc. (Doing fun stuff now almost feels like a burden, since anything outside of the routine requires planning, remembering, organizing,...and takes away from the unstructured time we also crave.)
- start a company and do a little work through it (this would solve the potential CV gap problem, might actually be kind of fun, and I could sell this to my employer as "learning more about entrepreneurship", which would have the added benefit of being true)
- turning off all the news (my current job requires me to stay on top of things)
- volunteering a bit (not too much, I don't want to take on too much responsibility or then feel bad about probably having to drop this once I go back to work)
Money-wise, I'd need a bit more cash to cover my half of our costs for that year than what I have in my emergency fund right now, so I need to save up a bit more cash until then. Because I'll be working about half a year one calendar year and half of another, I'll save A LOT on taxes both years, though, which will cover some of this difference. Of course, it wouldn't be ideal to go down to my last euros at the end of the sabbatical either and have to touch my investments, so I'll probably oversave a bit on purpose.
I don't think it'll be a big problem to go back to my job after my year off. By then, we'll be even closer to FI, so that working for a few more years should be bearable after a nice, relaxing year. Or alternatively, a boring and annoying year, which might make going back to the structure and routine of working event pleasant...
Which aspects have I not thought about yet? How could all this possibly go wrong?! :-)
