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Read up on Project Optional.

Three kinds of thing live here. Start with About if you want to know why the tool exists, or the Methodology page if you want to know how the math works. Below that, every big question people ask before they change something at work — each with a live calculator, a case study, and a screenshot of the same decision inside the app.

• About

  One founder, one question, one tool.

  Why Project Optional exists, what it deliberately isn't, and how it's built. The short version of the philosophy behind the number the tool hands back.

• Methodology & limitations

  The math, the assumptions, the honest limits.

  Real-return projections in today's dollars, how the Optional Number is calculated, what counts toward it, and the list of things the model doesn't yet cover.

Questions with a live calculator

The big decisions, with a calculator each.

A note on the wordingThese questions are usually worded as retirement questions. The pages here answer them as Work Optional questions — same math, different frame. Retirement is a stop date. Optional is an unlock date: the day the money side of your life stops requiring the exact job you have now.

• Can I afford a sabbatical?

  Read →

  Often, if you can cover the break from cash without selling investments. Under those conditions, a 12-month sabbatical typically moves the projected Optional Date by months rather than years. The delay depends on how much you have invested, when you take the break, and what return you assume.

• If I save an extra $500 a month, when can I retire?

  Read →

  Enough to matter. On typical numbers, an extra $500 a month pulls your Optional Date forward by 1 to 3 years. Earlier in your career, the pull is bigger.

• Should I quit my high-paying job?

  Read →

  How funded you already are matters more than the size of the pay cut. Past a certain level, moving to lower-paid work you enjoy adds a couple of years, not a decade.

• Can I work part-time after reaching Optional?

  Read →

  Yes. Full Optional (portfolio-only) doesn't move whether you plan to work or not. But there's an earlier milestone worth naming — Partial Optional — where your portfolio plus ongoing part-time income together cover spending. It only holds while the income holds.

• Should I sell my rental and stop working?

  Read →

  The question is whether the sale proceeds carry you across your Optional Number. Ongoing rental cash flow is a separate question, and it usually loses to a clean invested balance.

• How damaging would a one-year layoff be?

  Read →

  Usually less than a chosen sabbatical, because you cut spending hard while you're out. The question that matters is how long your cash runway lasts.

• What happens if I stop contributing to my 401(k) for a year?

  Soon

  Less than most people expect. The existing balance keeps compounding at market rates; what you lose is one year of contributions and the missed employer match. Late in the accumulation phase the delay is measured in months.

• Can I reduce my retirement contributions and still retire on time?

  Soon

  Depends on how funded you already are and how much of the drop is temporary. If you're already substantially funded, existing compounding does most of the work; a temporary cut costs less than a permanent one.