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Six months off costs $37,200 in cash — but the $9,000 of skipped retirement contributions becomes $68,510 by retirement. True cost: $105,710.
Career breaks are priced by the cash they burn; the compounding they interrupt is the real bill. Six months off at $5,500/month of spend plus $700 of COBRA is $37,200 direct — painful but graspable. Add the $1,500/month of retirement contributions you skip: $9,000 now, $68,510 of missing retirement balance at 7% over 30 years. True cost: $105,710. That is not an argument against the break — burnout collapses cost more than planned pauses — it is an argument for pricing it honestly and shrinking the compounding damage: keep IRA contributions running, time the break across two tax years, and check ACA subsidies before paying COBRA rates. This calculator runs the full ledger.
Anyone planning a sabbatical uses it before resigning: six months off costs $37,200 in cash but $105,710 with retirement compounding — and ACA subsidies plus IRA continuity shrink it dramatically.
Run the ACA quote first — the break-year income is the trick. COBRA keeps your exact employer plan for 18 months at 102% of the premium: typically $600–800/month single, $1,700–2,200 family, no subsidies possible. The ACA marketplace prices on ANNUAL income: a half-year break can cut your year's income enough to qualify for large premium tax credits — subsidized Silver plans often run $100–400/month at reduced income, sometimes near zero with cost-sharing reductions at low enough income. The caution: subsidies reconcile on the year's TOTAL income, so a high-earning first half plus a break can still price you out — estimate the full year honestly, and update the marketplace when income changes. Strategy that works: elect COBRA retroactively only if needed (you have 60 days to elect, coverage is retroactive — some healthy breakers ride the election window uncovered, a gamble with real tail risk), or bridge with a short ACA plan. Watch the deductible reset either way: a January break restarts your deductible; a mid-year break on COBRA keeps the accumulation. Price both in this calculator — the insurance line is often the difference between a $30k break and a $40k one.
Four moves, in impact order. Keep the IRA contribution running: fund $7,000 from savings during the break — that single deposit is worth roughly $53,000 at retirement (7%, 30 years), and Roth contributions in a low-income break year go in at a temporarily cheap bracket. Time the break across two calendar years: July-to-December off means two half-income years, each potentially dropping a bracket and each preserving a full IRA/401(k) eligibility window — the same six months, a different tax footprint. Front-load before the break: if the break starts mid-year, max the 401(k) contributions during the working months (contribution limits are annual, not monthly — ask payroll to spike the percentage; mind the employer match true-up rules). And skip the 401(k) loan temptation: borrowing against the account to fund the break risks the 60-day repayment trap if the job ends — a loan that converts to a taxable distribution plus penalty. The break-year also quietly opens doors: Roth conversions at the temporarily low bracket (the conversion calculator prices that), HSA contributions if you are on a qualifying plan, and capital-gains harvesting at 0% — a planned break can be a tax-planning year, not just an expense.
Under six months, almost never — that window reads as a long vacation and rarely requires explanation at all; between jobs, on a resume, it disappears into month-level dates. Over six months, the answer is preparation, not the gap itself: hiring managers accept REASONS, not gaps — "planned sabbatical," "family care," "completed a certification" are complete sentences; an unexplained void invites the imagination. The return playbook: keep one professional thread alive during the break (a certification, freelance micro-projects, an industry newsletter presence — anything with a date on it), stay in light touch with your network before you need it, and frame the break as chosen and completed: "I took a planned year for X, finished in June, and I am fully available now." The structural protections: negotiate the break as an official leave if your employer offers sabbatical programs (job protection beats resignation), and if resigning, exit well — the reference from the employer you left gracefully is the break's career insurance. The counterweight this calculator exists to balance: an unplanned burnout exit — rage-quit, health collapse, divorce-adjacent chaos — costs more in cash and career than any priced sabbatical. A break you buy on purpose is an expense; the one that buys you is a crisis.