It’s time for our first round of successful saver stories. It can definitely feel isolating, choosing to live with saving in mind rather than spending, because everything in the whole world seems to cost money! We’re here to tell you that it’s okay, and that there’s a huge community of people out there who are also doing the exact same thing. You’re not alone!
Joe and Ali Olson, of Adventuring Along, are probably some of the best savers out there. After all, they may well be the world record holders for retiring early after starting work just 8 years before, as teachers.
After leaving college, they didn’t let their new higher incomes, boosted from working all the side-hustles they could find, make them think they needed to live new, higher-spending lifestyles.“We just never succumbed to lifestyle inflation,” Joe said. Ali added: “We had that same TV that he bought in college all the way through.”
Even when their combined incomes grew to $80,000 a year, they spent only $20,000, putting three years of spending in the bank every single year, after paying back their student debt.
“For me, financial independence was really easy because we were happy just living in our fairly small place, and eating at home, and just being efficient with how we spent money,” Joe said. “And so our high savings rate was because we enjoyed simplicity. We didn’t have to cut our budget. We didn’t have to deprive ourselves.”
Of course, Joe and Ali invested their money too, using savings to pay for a deposit on property that they could then rent out for more income, which they used to pay down their mortgage – and invest in more property (house-hacking). By the time they had been teaching for 8 years, they had saved enough money that they owned 15 rental properties – and could retire to travel the world with their young child.
“Don’t blindly follow what other people expect you to spend money on.” Joe advises. “Appreciating what you have, even the small things, can enable you to save your money towards a better future.”
