Experts warn new career trend growing in popularity among workers comes with risks

Why wait until your 70s to enjoy life? It's the philosophy behind the growing micro-retirement movement and it's not just an American phenomenon.

Some workers are taking shorter, planned, self-funded career breaks rather than waiting 40 years to retire.

Perth financial planner Fran Hughes has set herself up as a micro-retirement specialist with a growing client base.

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"Sometimes you have to pay it forward and go without today in order to actually have that mini retirement," Hughes said.

Melbourne resident Angus Hill took a career break between his first and second jobs after university.

"I ended up taking a five-month trip to Europe, and stopped down in Morocco, because the budget was getting a little tight," the 26-year-old account coordinator said.

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"You just don't know how much time you have on this planet."

Riley McPherson has just finished his first micro-retirement, which involved two months off between jobs in property.

"I wasn't spending as much time with my family and connecting with my kids," the 39-year-old said.

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Both men are planning micro-retirements every five to 10 years.

"We're working longer but also we're living longer and if we continue this trend, we might actually continue to work till age 70 and only have a short period of time that is 10 years to enjoy our golden years," Hughes said.

Colonial First State head of technical services Craig Day said while micro-retirement sounds fun, it is not without long-term costs.

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"You may end up actually having a much bigger impact on your retirement nesting than you may otherwise have thought," Day said.

The numbers are confronting.

A 26-year-old who takes a year off each decade could end up with 20 per cent less in their super by the time they retire.

That is a hit of around $105,000, which means their retirement savings could run dry six years earlier.

"The biggest planning mistake is not to plan it out," Hughes said.

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