A 29-year-old software developer from Minneapolis who makes $135,000 a year can retire early at age 35.
Tanner Firl and his wife Isabel have already saved more than $380,000 and plan to have about $625,000 in the bank by the time they reach their mid-30s.
The couple, who also have a son and three cats, describe themselves as extremely frugal and have adopted FIRE (Financial Independence, Retirement Early) as a financial strategy.
“I don’t really like buying anything. In fact, it makes me a little anxious. If I had to guess, I would say that, in terms of the entire population, I would probably be in the top 1 percent of the most frugal people, maybe even the top 0.1 percent,” he told CNBC.
“It’s never made sense to me. Most people have a problem not spending money. We have almost the opposite problem.”
Tanner Firl and his wife Isabel have already saved more than $380,000 and plan to retire with about $625,000 in the bank by the time they reach their mid-30s.
The person who made the most money was also able to get their couch and patio furniture for free on Craigslist.
He also told the network that he buys second-hand sneakers once every year or two as a gift to himself.
Firl explained that by consistently saving about half of his salary, he has more than $221,000 in his personal investment account, more than $57,000 in his Roth IRA, and he’s managed to save more than $26,000 in his health care savings account.
He also has more than $75,000 saved in his 401K account.
When asked how he manages to be so frugal, Firl explained that it was the same when he was a kid. He said that going to the bowling alley and getting a gumball from the machine was a treat for him and his siblings.
“If we wanted something, we had to spend money on it ourselves or wait until our birthday or Christmas,” he noted.
The couple, who also have a son and three cats, describe themselves as extremely frugal and have adopted FIRE – an acronym for financial independence, retiring early – as their financial strategy
In 2017, the couple bought their first home and rented out the ground floor through Airbnb to raise money to pay off their entire mortgage.
The following year, the couple purchased their current 63-square-metre home for $185,000 and again listed part of it for sale on the short-term rental website.
But this hustle and bustle quickly came to an end when they became parents.
The pair’s intensive budgeting techniques come days after American financial guru Suze Orman revealed the main reason why American workers feel like they never have enough money – and that it’s down to self-sabotage.
On stage at a personal finance conference, Orman told the audience that each individual’s mindset is the reason he or she is constantly strapped for cash.
In 2017, the couple bought their first home and rented out the ground floor through Airbnb to raise money to pay off their entire mortgage
She explained that it was either because Americans felt they “didn’t deserve it” [money] or give away’.
In a short clip, Orman passionately tells the bystanders: ‘I’m here to tell each of you that if you don’t have the money you want in your life, you’re the reason why.
“You think you don’t deserve it, you say you’ll never get out of debt, or you take action and give all your money or whatever you do to someone else because you don’t think you’re worth it.”
In May, Orman advised people who eventually plan to retire to put as much money as possible into a Roth IRA.
A Roth IRA is a type of individual retirement account (IRA) where you deposit net income from your paycheck. And as money expert Orman points out, all future withdrawals are tax-free.
