Data verified: Aug 2026 · Source: KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released 2025-10-22
A sabbatical calculator that answers how long your savings really last once health cover, a re-entry buffer and interest earned are all counted.
Your details
Your runway
—
Where the money goes
✓Your return of — a month covers your net burn of —. The balance never runs down — this is indefinitely sustainable at these numbers.
⚠After the — buffer and — of one-off costs there is nothing left to live on. Reduce the buffer, cut the one-off spending, or save more first.
⚠Under six months of runway is tight for a job search in most fields. Consider extending the buffer or lining up some income before you hand in notice.
✓Over a year of runway with an intact — re-entry buffer. That is enough to job hunt without accepting the first offer that appears.
Balance over time
Months
Ad
How this is calculated
The naive calculation — savings divided by monthly spending — overstates your runway badly, because it ignores the two costs that only appear when you stop working. Health insurance that your employer was largely paying for becomes yours in full, and the money you need to still have when you start looking for work again is not spendable runway at all.
It also ignores something in your favor: the balance keeps earning while you spend it. This calculator handles all three, drawing the balance down month by month with interest applied on the way.
If monthly spending is less than the interest the balance earns, the runway is infinite and the logarithm is undefined — that case has to be handled before the formula is applied.
Worked example
$120,000 saved, $6,000 a month of living costs, $800 for COBRA, 4% return, preserving an $18,000 buffer.
Usable savings: $120,000 − $18,000$102,000
Monthly outgoings: $6,000 + $800$6,800
Monthly return at 4% annualabout 0.33%
Runwayabout 15.5 months
Health insurance is the number people get wrong
Employer coverage hides its own cost — most people see only their payroll deduction, not the full premium. The KFF employer survey puts the average full premium at roughly $777 a month for single cover and $2,249 for family cover. COBRA lets you keep your existing plan but you pay all of it plus a 2% administration fee. Marketplace coverage is often cheaper, and if your income during the break is low you may qualify for substantial premium tax credits — worth checking before assuming COBRA.
The buffer is the point
Running your savings to zero and then starting to look for work is how a sabbatical turns into a bad decision. The buffer exists so that you interview from a position of choice rather than desperation. Three to six months of expenses, untouched, is a reasonable floor — and it should be genuinely ring-fenced, not merely intended.
The costs that are easy to forget
Income tax on any withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts, plus a 10% penalty if you are under 59½.
Losing employer retirement matching for the whole period — a real cost that compounds for decades.
Social Security credits, since a year with no earnings is a zero in your benefit calculation.
Life and disability insurance that was employer-provided and stops when you do.
Frequently asked questions
How much runway should I have?
Enough for the break itself plus a realistic job search afterwards. Twelve months of total coverage is a common target: six for the sabbatical and six for finding the next role. Allow longer if you are changing field or industry, because those searches routinely take twice as long as people expect.
COBRA or the marketplace?
COBRA keeps your existing plan, doctors and deductible progress, but costs the full premium plus a 2% administration fee. Marketplace plans are often cheaper, and with little or no income during the break you may qualify for substantial premium tax credits. Get quotes for both before electing, because COBRA has a deadline.
Should I count my 401(k)?
No. Withdrawing before 59 and a half triggers income tax plus a 10% penalty, and it permanently damages your retirement compounding in a way that is very hard to recover. Runway should be liquid, taxable savings only, which is why this calculator asks specifically for that figure.
What if I earn something during the break?
Enter it as monthly income and it reduces your net burn directly, extending runway substantially. Even modest freelance or consulting income makes a large difference over a year, because it attacks the denominator of the calculation rather than the numerator. It may also affect any marketplace subsidy you qualify for.
Does a career break hurt my prospects?
Far less than it once did, and a clearly explained deliberate break reads very differently from an unexplained gap on a resume. Have a straightforward account of what you did and why you did it. Keeping some professional contact during the break also makes the return considerably easier.
What if my return is higher than my spending?
Then the balance grows rather than shrinks and the runway is indefinite. That is a genuine outcome at low burn rates and high balances, and the calculator flags it explicitly rather than returning a nonsense figure, because the underlying formula involves a logarithm that is undefined in that case.
KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released 2025-10-22
Disclaimer
Estimates for general information only, not financial advice. Health cost defaults are national averages from the KFF 2025 employer survey and vary widely by plan, age and location — use your own election notice or marketplace quote. Investment returns are not guaranteed.