Beyond FIRE: Planning for mini-retirements

A growing trend among midcareer and younger professionals is less about retiring as soon as possible (known as the FIRE, or Financial Independence Retire Early movement) and more about taking mini-retirements or sabbaticals throughout their careers while spreading their earning years over more of their lifespan. In fact, the term “retirement” is increasingly eschewed by younger generations, who see it as something their grandparents enjoyed but not what they aspire to, let alone feel is accessible to them.

Social Security is facing a funding shortfall in the coming decade, while defined benefit pension income, something that nearly one-third of older adults currently enjoy, is becoming as obsolete as pay phones. As such, retirement, in the sense of enjoying institutionally sponsored guaranteed income for life, is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Today’s young professionals and midcareer workers are realizing that the ability to completely stop working at age 67 or younger, then living for 20 to 30 more years at the lifestyle they desire, is increasingly out of reach. This sounds bleak if the assumption is that the only definition of retirement is the one we commonly see today and that most financial planning software is built to assume: Work hard for 40 years, then enjoy decades of front-porch sitting, travel, and golf. Younger generations are creating a new definition.

Too many workers have watched parents sacrifice and save throughout their working years while delaying the life experiences they truly want, only to see them suffer from age-related illness or succumb to an early death, their dreams unrealized. Finding the balance between enjoying life while you’re of sound mind and body while still attending to the fact that you will someday need retirement savings is leading workers to make unconventional life and career choices. They are less concerned with being able to start living off their savings at age 67 and more concerned with making the most of their 40s, 50s, and 60s, while planning to continue earning in some capacity into their 70s. To do this, the new retirement planning — if you can even call it retiring — is to spread more of your earning years across your lifespan, while spending more of your “healthspan” (the years of your life when you are healthiest) on life experiences.

The idea is not to eschew saving for retirement; no one can predict when their ability to earn money will run out. Instead, CPA financial planners should be helping clients find ways to save for the future that are flexible, through vehicles that offer tax benefits when used as intended but with fewer drawbacks to accessing the funds sooner if desired. Here are three key concepts that can help midcareer and younger professionals create life and financial plans to support flexibility and achieve work-optional status sooner. (Note: The author will present on this topic at the 2026 AICPA ENGAGE conference on June 10.)

1. Prioritizing the Roth IRA

The primary purpose of a Roth IRA is to offer tax-free retirement income after age 59½, but what elevates the Roth IRA to a higher-priority savings vehicle when it comes to offering flexibility of access is the ability to tap contributed principal before retirement age for any purpose — in addition to the first-time homebuyer and education distribution exceptions (see “3 Strategic Uses for Roth IRAs Beyond Retirement,” JofA, Aug. 2, 2022). Other retirement saving options such as workplace plans offer higher contribution limits, and any employer-matching dollars should be optimized, but for clients with limited resources to save, the Roth IRA should be prioritized.

2. Choosing HSA-eligible health insurance

Too many young people choose higher-premium, higher-coverage health insurance plans that they don’t need or use, missing out on valuable years to accumulate funds in a health savings account (HSA). Coaching clients to choose the HSA-eligible health care plan while they are young and healthy and to optimize the account is a critical aspect of future career and health care planning.

To see why, consider that numerous studies of employer-provided health insurance and so-called “job lock” find that the older workers are, the more likely they are to stay in a job solely due to health insurance.

Having a robustly funded HSA can relieve that concern, enabling midlife career changes or breaks without factoring in health care coverage. Outside of costly chronic conditions requiring ongoing treatment, a well-funded HSA can ease the risk of opting for lower-premium catastrophic coverage later in life versus always needing to be insured against all potential health care costs.

The critical aspect is that HSAs should not be used for everyday medical expenses during the accumulation years. Instead, clients should be contributing the maximum amount each year and investing most of the funds for tax-free growth. At the same time, any eligible expenses that are incurred and paid from outside savings should be tracked meticulously. This gives even more flexible access to the HSA later in life, allowing it to serve as a backup emergency fund in addition to funding ongoing health care expenses when needed (see “How an HSA Can Be Viewed as a Flexible Tax-Favored Investment,” The Tax Adviser, April 1, 2022).

3. Fostering a diverse set of marketable skills

By thinking creatively about the ways they could earn money, clients can facilitate mini-retirements while minimizing the risk of falling behind peers or becoming obsolete while out of the workforce. For example, in a traditional public accounting career, you’re often either on a partnership track or opting into an industry role at some point. Choosing instead to take a role that’s more consulting-oriented can enable more flexibility in the future, whether that’s going part time or making work more seasonal or project-based.

Brainstorming ways that job skills and industry knowledge can be parlayed creatively into income streams can open gig opportunities that facilitate a less demanding working life, enabling travel and other life experiences without fully exiting a career. To make this shift, clients must prioritize early saving into tax-advantaged vehicles. Then, when they are ready to shift to a more work-life integrated season, the primary focus can be on earning enough to pay the expenses of daily life without worrying about saving for the future. The goal isn’t to replace their full-time professional income; it’s to shift to a lifestyle where retirement-focused savings are working in the background while the day-to-day focus is on cash flow only, either through gig work or even less-skilled but satisfying jobs such as dog walking.

Implementing these suggestions may require a mindset shift as well as re-prioritization of current spending, but for younger generations who realize that dedicating their best health years to their career is not their priority, these steps are critical in helping them to realize the flexibility needed to enjoy their healthy years without compromising their financial security in later years.

The author will be elaborating on these ideas in an upcoming presentation titled “Beyond FIRE” at AICPA ENGAGE 2026. The conference takes place June 8–11 at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and live online. Early-bird pricing ends May 11.

— Kelley C. Long, CPA/PFS, CFP, is a personal financial coach and consultant in Arizona. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Dave Strausfeld at David.Strausfeld@aicpa-cima.com.