Wealthfront co-founder Dan Carroll, 36, said the attitudes of clients, particular younger ones, have shifted: “Retirement is no longer the ultimate goal. We want to live enriched lives today rather than waiting to begin life at retirement.”

When the robo-adviser surveyed its clients, more than half listed “take time off to travel” as a top priority, listing it ahead of all other goals except “financial independence” and “early retirement.”

Taking a break to travel isn’t a crazy move, especially for millennials, because it can help give workers the stamina for longer, more sustainable careers, says Jamie Hopkins, a professor and director of the retirement income program at the American College of Financial Services. The prospect of a future trip also gives young workers an extra reason to save, live within their means, and pay down debt—an incentive that’s far stronger than the dream of retiring in several decades’ time.

“I’m not sure we can picture what retirement is going to look like in 30 or 40 years,” Hopkins said. By the time millennials hit their 60s, technology could have fundamentally changed work lives, and medical advances could have fundamentally lengthened human lives.

How It Works

Of course, two years living in Paris in your mid-30s can make it a lot harder to afford your other long-term goals—like sending children to college. Wealthfront tries to help customers assess the true financial costs of their travel dreams, allowing them to customize the costs of their trip, and the amount of time they’ll be away from work, and factor in other costs (such as continuing to pay a mortgage) or benefits (such as collecting rent) while they’re gone.

The tool then calculates for clients whether their travel plans are “comfortable,” “manageable,” or “unaffordable.”

For example, the company estimates a 32-year-old who earns $250,000 a year, with $100,000 saved and a 20 percent savings rate, can comfortably afford a two-year trip costing $3,000 a month—assuming they keep the same salary and savings rate after the trip.

Those two years of lost income—and the subsequent loss of years of compounding gains on those savings—definitely comes with a price. Wealthfront estimates this 24-month, $72,000 trip ultimately would reduce this hypothetical client’s net worth at age 65 by $1.1 million, from $8.2 million to $7.1 million. That’s still more than enough to cover her estimated needs in retirement, however.

A four-year trip would be unaffordable for this client, but a three-year trip could work with another couple years of saving, the firm estimates.