Woman who was able to retire at AGE 38 after amassing a net worth of $2 MILLION reveals her top tips for building up major wealth

A woman who was able to quit her job and enjoy a ‘mini-retirement’ at the age of 38 has revealed the financial tips and tricks that allowed her to live without work for three years.

Sabina Horrocks, 41, enjoyed a three-year break from work after the birth of her daughter in 2021.

By then, she and her husband had amassed a net worth of approximately $2 million, both bringing in six-figure incomes in addition to running a rental business.

“We didn’t do anything special – I’d say the way we became millionaires is pretty boring,” Sabina shared Business insider.

“That’s what I don’t think most people understand. Getting rich is not a hassle… It is discipline and consistency over time,” she asserted.

Sabina Horrocks, 41, was able to take three years off work in a sort of mini-retirement after cutting back and saving in her twenties

On her blog, The cashiersSabina explained that her and her husband’s combined income in 2007 was $80,000.

However, in 2020, “they managed to reach millionaire status,” she wrote.

“Who better to learn from than someone who has walked the walk?” she asked BI.

Sabrina grew up in a lower-middle-class family in the suburbs of Chicago. Although she never went hungry, she told BI that her parents lived a very modest lifestyle.

She managed to secure a scholarship for her first two years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she double majored in political science and history.

She went on to earn her MBA from DePaul University in Chicago. The program is estimated at just under $35,000which is a fraction of the price of MBA programs at neighboring Kellogg business school at Northwestern University.

Sabrina met her husband when they were both younger, and they tied the knot in a cheap wedding after both secured corporate jobs.

From there, they figured out how to optimize their financial future, taking it anew every day.

‘I had never thought about our future financial goals. It’s never really talked about in my house other than paying for certain things,” she said.

She explained that growing up, her family was “always trying to save, and my parents would go to four grocery stores on the weekends to save $3 on bread and eggs.”

As an adult, falling into financially smart habits with her husband wasn’t such a big leap.

When the couple was ready to buy their own home, they went for a modest one-bed, one-bathroom apartment for $137,000.

After tying the knot with her husband in a low-budget wedding, the two worked hard to maintain financially responsible habits

By the late aughts, when they were ready to upgrade, they resisted shiny apartment buildings in downtown Chicago and instead opted for a house in the suburbs for half the cost.

‘My husband and I have always worked together as a team and we have treated the finances in our marriage like a business. We have always had transparency, objectives and shared efforts,” Sabina explained to BI.

‘We treat income as family income, not mine or yours. Personally, I don’t understand how marriages can survive without transparency and a ‘mine’ mentality.”

As they climbed the corporate ladder, they continued to manage rental properties, even successfully weathering the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008.

In the wake of the housing crisis – when their rental properties plummeted by $60,000 – Sabina admitted that the couple may have gone too far with budgeting, even selling one of their cars, while also enjoying simple pleasures like a night out with friends scaled back.

When housing prices were low, they briefly bought up more rental properties, but Sabina’s husband hated managing them, and they eventually sold their belongings and put the money in retirement.

In total, their combined net worth now stands at $2 million.

It’s spread across about $1.16 million in retirement accounts, $460,000 in an after-tax brokerage account, $250,000 in home equity, $30,000 in an HSA, $25,000 in a 529 and $25,000 in savings.

When she left her job to spend time with her daughter in 2021, she earned $120,000.

One day, when she had an eight-hour meeting, she realized she would much rather spend time with her baby.

Her husband earned enough to support them all when she took time off – and he encouraged her to do so.

Sabina found herself finally enjoying the fruits of all their hard work, and even recently took a transatlantic cruise with her daughter and mother.

“We’re at a point now where we can do things like this, and I think that was because we made great sacrifices in our twenties,” she said.