When she realized she wanted to quit her job at a San Francisco software company, Anna Rider was taking care of two babies: a food blog that she wanted to grow, and her actual child — the son she had five months ago.

So Ms. Rider left, becoming one of the tens of millions of Americans who gave their notice in the past year and joining the cultural moment that has come to be known as the Great Resignation.

She not only gave up her regular income but stopped saving for retirement consistently. She knows that choice came with some risk.

“As someone who has been future-focused my whole life, including saving for retirement, I’m grateful I can borrow from my future self to fund my present ability to take care of my son,” said Ms. Rider, 32, who moved with her husband to Boulder, Colo., in 2019.

With a spouse who is employed and some side income from her blog, her risk is cushioned. Her plan is to resume saving for retirement when her income from the blog, Garlic Delight, triples (it brought in $10,000 last year). At her job, she was able to save 60 percent of her income, thanks to having no student loan or credit card debt and her husband’s earnings.

Ms. Rider concedes that it’s clearly easier to save for retirement when you have a full-time job. “When you’re working for someone, the mind-set for saving for retirement is different,” she said. “

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