Millionaire Monday with Jeremy and Winnie of Go Curry Cracker!
We've been early retired for the past eight years and retired in our 30s. We are big fans of Southern Spain and France and Central Mexico. We have family epicenters around Minneapolis and Taipei, which we visit regularly, and there are a lot of places we love to visit but wouldn't necessarily want to live (e.g., NYC.) We've largely settled down the past couple of years and now spend most of our time biking, swimming, playing guitar, painting, parenting, but before that, we did a lot of travel (our 5-year-old has been to 42 countries.) Our 2nd child joined the adventure last month in August 2020.
When, and how, did you hit millionaire status?
If you don’t know where your money goes, it makes it very difficult to make improvements and reduce waste. We became financially independent in our early 30s. We spent much of our 20s saving aggressively - upwards of 70% of our after-tax income. We did this by living lean - small apartment, no car (biked and walked), and making meals at home; basically living like poor college students for a few years longer than is socially acceptable even as our income grew. One example: for several years, Jeremy's main form of transport was a bicycle purchased on Craigslist for $50. We later sold it for $60.
By plowing our savings into index funds, eventually, our investment income exceeded our cost of living, and then some.
If you could share a lesson or advice with others who are looking to achieve millionaire status, what would it be?
Go to school. Get good grades. Get a good job. Buy a house. Work for 30+ years. Be a good consumer. Retire on a golf course. For many, these are the ingredients for success. But life has more to offer those willing to change the recipe. We believe that people can spend money on stuff, experiences, or freedom.
Only by choosing the latter can you--eventually--get all three. We now spend 4-5x what we did during our hardcore saving years, but we can only do it now because we didn't do it then.
We both grew up poor and had to unlearn a lot of negative ideas and attitudes about money. Being able to see a path to a happy and financially successful life that didn't require connections, luck, or shenanigans would have been a godsend.
Where can people find you and learn more?
We blog at Go Curry Cracker and can be found on Instagram @gocurrycracker
If you want help cultivating a life aligned with your values, have you considered financial therapy or coaching? As one of 5o financial therapists in the United States, I love working with clients who have big financial goals and need help working on the emotional side of them so they can achieve them. Learn more about working with me here.