Forty-one-year-old Christina and 39-year-old Amon Browning touched the million-dollar mark by doing anything they could get their hands on.
They renovated homes, drove cabs, and sold things on Facebook to save more than $2 million.
And now, they can spend their remaining lives retired and free.
The couple has not disclosed the exact amount of money they have put aside but, according to them, they have enough money to spend the rest of their lives without having to work.
The savvy couple has started a new life in Lisbon, Portugal, after shifting from their home in San Francisco. They have two kids, 13-year-old Sunoa and 11-year-old Melea.
When the couple was working, Amon had a $98,000 annual salary from his Urban Planning job while federal attorney Christina managed to bring $70,000 home every year.
In 2011, Amon got an award marking a decade of his service at his office. It was when he decided to retire at an early age.
Speaking about his decision, Amon said: “I’d been working for ten years and I received a service award. At the same ceremony, another guy got an award for working for 40 years.
“That was a life changing moment. You can work for so many years and all you get to show for it is a piece of paper.
“I really wanted more out of life than this. The idea of working another 30 years in a cubicle and missing out on life was crazy to me.”
The couple discussed the idea together and opted for the Financial Independence Retire Early plan, chalking out a 10-year plan.
In 2013, the couple entered the property business. They used to buy homes, renovate them and sell them with handsome profits.
Amon explained: “We decided to ‘live and flip’. We lived in the home and put in our own sweat and labor doing it up.
“We sold it, took the equity and did the same thing again. We did it on three properties and turned that $17,000 into a little over $400,000 in profit.”
In a desperate effort to raise the maximum money they could, the couple even signed up as drivers for Uber and Lyft and, according to them, they made above $26,000 from the cab services without even having to pick a single passenger up.
Speaking of the experience, Amon said: “For a period we drove for Uber and Lyft in the San Francisco Bay Area. For us, it was all about the hack.
“The companies were giving $40 an hour just to turn on the app. We would literally get no rides but we’d still get the sign-up bonus. I think we made $26,000 just on this Uber and Lyft hack, not driving at all.”
The clever couple didn’t only increase their income but also decreased their living expenses. For example, they exchanged their new BMW SUV with an $800 minivan.
Christina said: “The shift in mindset from going from a luxury car to a minivan was actually incredibly freeing.
“We can’t be consumed with this idea that we need to keep up with the Joneses. Some people might say it was a sacrifice, but to us it was liberating.”
It was because of good planning and clever thinking that the couple even visited Europe and Hawaii during those days, taking advantage of credit card discounts.
They have successfully busted the myth that parents can’t save money while raising kids.
“People will go broke for their children but they won’t become rich for them. We’ve seen people overspend on toys and activities,” Amon said.
“We have a minimalist mindset. We certainly never deprived our children of anything.
“We didn’t give out gifts at Christmas but we went on trips. Our girls can remember that they were in Paris on Christmas Day or in Singapore or in Thailand.”
After three years of rigorous money saving, the couple moved to Japan as they could live there without having to pay rent.
“We had free housing and our utilities were covered,” Amon told about the Japan experience, adding: “That was a huge area of savings. We got to the point that we were saving up to 70 percent of our income and investing it.”
Two years in advance of their expected time, the couple saved the money they had thought about.
Amon handed his resignation at work with a feeling which he says was ‘the most amazing feeling in the world.’
He said: “Talk about freedom. It was like everything was falling into place and having the confidence to go into work and say, ‘I’m sorry, this is my last two weeks here’ was the most amazing feeling in the world.
“We just know how fortunate we are to have this lifestyle. Some people don’t get this until they are 65 years old and they have less time to enjoy it. We have so much time.”
After settling down in Lisbon, Portugal, the couple spends time playing sports and learning Portuguese with their kids.
For others who aspire to do the same, Christina advise: “The FIRE journey is all about saving money, making money and investing that money.
“But before you do all that, you have to believe that you can do it. It’s about your mindset.”
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