Retire Often launches September 9, 2025
Available for Preorder!
“Retire Often provides a roadmap for ambitious professionals to accelerate their careers — without working nonstop! Sabbatical programs aren’t talked about enough, and Jillian Johnsrud is starting an important conversation.”
— Jason Feifer, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine
“…But you should read this book, and boy howdy how I wish I’d had it back then. If I had, my mini-retirements (which, make no mistake, were great) could have been so much better. So much less stressful. So much more beneficial. Instead of wandering in the wilderness feeling lost, I would have had this map. I would have had Jillian at my metaphorical side, guiding and reassuring me as I made my way. But I didn’t. She hadn’t written this book yet. But now she has, and now she is here for you…”
— JL Collins, Author of The Simple Path to Wealth and Pathfinders
Interested in Retire Often Group Coaching?
This group coaching is for people who are looking to step away from their 9-5 for a month or longer, maybe even forever. If you are considering taking a career break this year, group coaching will help you navigate that transition more effectively and make the most of your time off.
About Me
I started my financial journey at 19 with $55,000 of debt. Adam and I didn’t have high-earning jobs, but we still had big dreams. We wanted to be able to Retire Often and take mini-retirements to travel the world, adopt kids, and have financial freedom.
Over 20 years we took a dozen mini-retirement. It took over a decade to pay off our debt, pay cash for our home, adopted 4 kids (and had 2 biological kids), bought rentals, traveled to 27 countries, and lived abroad.
At 32, I became financially independent, and we left our full-time jobs. We live in Kalispell Montana, near Glacier National Park with our 5 kids.
I host the Retire Often podcast, where people share their mini-retirement stories. The motivations, struggles, employment strategy, finances, logistics of their mini-retirement and how they Retire Often.
Sample the Retire Often Workbook with
Retire Often Worksheets
Latest Content
See what I’m creating on my podcast Retire Often and blog posts
The secret to doing it all (or not)
I might be the worst self-improvement / productivity influencer. People frequently ask me what my secret is for doing so much. Maybe it’s the 5 kids, traveling, or writing a book that has given them the impression of my amazing productivity skills. How do I do...
What If Every Employee Had a Month Off Every Year?
Crazy, right? That’s what most people would say. The idea of giving every employee a full month off every year sounds radical—maybe even impossible. But is it? We’ve put people on the moon. We’ve created the internet. We’ve made enormous strides in workers’ rights...
Burned Out? Why Time Off is the Reset You Need
Burnout doesn’t just hit overnight. It creeps in—slowly at first, then all at once. One day, you’re pushing through long hours, checking off endless to-do lists. The next, you wake up dreading work, feeling exhausted no matter how much sleep you get, and wondering if...
Making Career Transitions with a Mini Retirement
One of the biggest challenges in making a career transition is finding the time, space, and clarity to do it well. Too often, we’re stuck in the daily grind, feeling exhausted and uninspired, yet too busy to make meaningful changes. That’s where a mini retirement can...
Solutions and Permission
What if you knew what the solution was? You have this thing you want to change, an area you want to grow or something you want to accomplish. And you finally figured out the solution. You aren’t 100% sure, because we never are. But you feel rather confident this...
How to Decouple Identity from Career for a Mini-Retirement
Summary In this conversation, Mitch shares his journey towards a mini-retirement, discussing the challenges of decoupling his identity from work, the role of therapy in his transition, and the planning involved in their adventure. He reflects on the joy of spending...