The Great Pause: Micro-Retirement & Career Break Planning

What if you didn't have to wait until traditional retirement age to take a meaningful break from work? The Great Pause is a practical limited-series podcast about micro-retirement, mini-retirement, sabbaticals, career breaks, and designing an extended pause from work without destroying your finances or damaging your career. Hosted by TJ Walker, this series takes you through the real mechanics of planning a three-to-six-month career pause. You'll learn how to calculate your financial runway, understand the true cost of stepping away from work, choose the right exit strategy, negotiate your departure professionally, design a meaningful break, manage the boring but essential logistics, explain a résumé gap, and return to the workforce with confidence. The series is organized around four simple principles: Fund it. Leave it. Live it. Land it. You'll explore questions such as: How much money do you really need for a