Here's my experience (and future plans): My wife took a 6 month unpaid sabbatical about a year after we moved in together. She had been with the same company f

Here's my experience (and future plans): My wife took a 6 month unpaid sabbatical about a year after we moved in together. She had been with the same company for 10 years at that point. She saved up about four months worth of rent and we just stopped eating out as much, and she paid for the rest with a ~4% personal loan through her local credit union. I think it was paid off within three months. More recently, my wife took off 1 month unpaid maternity leave. During pregnancy we both saved about 10% of our disposable income, and this more than covered her portion of the living expenses during this month. So, in the five years I've known my wife, she's taken 7 months unpaid leave. That's not a huge amount of time, but at the same time, definitely helped her avoid burnout. And we didn't have to chip in to long term savings for her to do it. I work in a different industry and job hop more often, so I just take 3 weeks unpaid in-between jobs, which is a mild strain on finances, but not significant. Other than the mortgage and boat payment we don't carry any long term debt and continue to save for retirement. As for future plans, in about five years we're planning on taking an unpaid year off, just before our kids go to primary school, but plan on doing that in a low cost of living area. Most of that year will be paid for using savings set aside for that, with any run-over paid for with low interest loans. Will it impact the long tail of my retirement? Probably to some degree, but I'd rather spend my time, now, with my kids, rather than rot away in a retirement home wishing I hadn't worked so much.