Free Career Break Even calculator with clear step-by-step results.
A career break costs forgone earnings plus whatever you pay to retrain, offset by any income you keep earning. Dividing that total by the annual salary uplift afterwards gives the number of months of the new job needed before you are financially back where you started.
Cost of the break
Cost = (salary / 12 - side income) x months + retraining cost
Break-even
Months = cost / (new salary - old salary) x 12
Then there is no financial break-even and the calculator shows zero months. The decision has to rest on non-financial grounds such as hours, health or direction.
No. Add employer pension contributions and any vesting you forfeit to the retraining cost field for a fuller picture.