What if I took a sabbatical?
Six or twelve months away from work is a bounded hole in the income line, and the plan mostly cares about three things: how deep it is, how long it stays open, and what the household spends while it is. The reserve on the day it starts decides how comfortable the rest of it feels.
What shapes the break
- The length of the break, the month it begins and the month work resumes.
- Income during the break, whether that is nothing at all or a partial amount.
- Spending during the break, which often rises if you travel or move.
- The accessible reserve on the day the break starts, and everything it has to absorb.
- Fixed commitments — rent, mortgage, loans, insurance — that carry on regardless.
Make the break the only change
Keep the baseline as the year without a break. In the copy, change the income line for the chosen months and nothing else: income returns to the same level afterwards unless the break itself is meant to change it, and the final plan year stays put. The dip you then read belongs to the break.
Look at the months just after the return, not only at the low point. That is when the reserve is thinnest and has had the least time to recover, so a break that looks survivable at its trough can still leave the plan with no room for anything unexpected in the year that follows.
Questions worth testing
- How low does accessible money go in the final month of the break?
- How many months of normal income does it take to rebuild the reserve afterwards?
- Does a shorter break, or a partial income during it, change the picture enough to matter?
- Could the plan absorb an unexpected expense in the months right after the return?
How to read the result
The plan compares the length and cost of the break you entered with your available reserve. It cannot tell whether or when you will return to work, what you will earn afterwards, or how the break might affect your career. Costs during time away are easy to underestimate. This is a planning illustration, not financial or career advice.
How it works in the app
A bounded income change drops your income to zero (or partial) for a set number of months, then reverts automatically to your regular income. See the dip and its effect on your Could-stop-working year and net worth.
- Tap “Change your income”.
- Choose “For a period”, set the amount to 0, and pick the start and end month.
- Check the year your income reverts, and the change in Could stop working and net worth.
Model this yourself