This is how this couple managed to retire after only 8 years of work
May 10, 2020
16 4 minutes read
Joe and Ali_Prague, Czech RepublicJoe and Ali Olson
Joe and Ali Olson spend their time traveling around the world with their one-year-old daughter Annabelle.
When they were both around 30, they were able to quit their teaching positions in August 2015 and retire after only eight years of work.
How do you manage to retire so early as a teacher? The key: Minimize the cost of living and find a good part-time job.
The Olsons met in 2004 when they were both still students. They got married during the winter holidays of their last year of study. After graduation, they moved to Las Vegas, where Joe had taken a job at Teach For America. Ali started as a substitute teacher and after a while got a permanent job at TFA. She taught English in a high school.
“Fortunately, the cost of living in Las Vegas is very low – but teacher salaries are also very low,” Ali told Mad Fientist in a series of his “Financial Independence Podcast”.
So they took on any part-time jobs they could get – vacation school teachers, club management, tutoring – to add to their salary. “It matters a lot because if you earn $ 35,000 (33,000 euros) as a teacher and another $ 3,500 (3,300 euros) as a teacher in the holiday school, you think, ‘Wow, that increases my salary by 10 percent,” “explains Joe.
In a few years they could even increase their salary by 50 percent through part-time jobs.
Eventually they realized that they could achieve financial independence and that their dreams could come true whenever they wanted. They continued to live frugally, saving 75 percent of their income, and bought their first Vegas apartment to rent in 2008.
Over the next few years, the couple bought 14 more properties. Even though they made losses during the financial crisis, their wealth gradually grew to over $ 1 million.
Now they are completely financially independent, travel around the world with their daughter and occasionally share their adventures on their blog “Adventuring Along”. Read on to find out how they did it.
This is how this couple managed to retire after only 8 years of work
9 pictures Open slideshow
This is how this couple managed to retire after only 8 years of work
After graduation
After graduation, the Olsons had to repay a total of $ 30,000 in student loans – not a small sum, but not as bad as it could have been thanks to the low cost of tuition at their college and support from relatives. But they lived frugally and paid regularly, the total decreased steadily.
Joe and Ali Olson
2007
In 2007, Joe and Ali bought an apartment in Las Vegas at an incredible price. At the end of 2008 – in the middle of the financial crisis – they bought a rental apartment nearby and tried to profit from it. At first it didn’t work and they took financial damage.
Joe and Ali Olson
2009 and 2010
“It seemed like a good deal because the property was $ 120,000 and had been sold for $ 360,000 just two years earlier,” said Joe. “But then the prices continued to fall. And the fall in prices continued in 2009 and 2010. And in the end, the property was in all seriousness still worth $ 80,000. So we made a loss with it, but we still made some money because the monthly rent was higher than the loan installments. ”
Joe and Ali Olson
Joe and Ali were not put off.
Joe and Ali were not put off. They bought more objects with falling prices. Although they earned $ 80,000 a year as teachers – plus extra income from their part-time jobs – the couple lived on just $ 20,000 ($ 19,000) so they could keep saving and buying things.
“When we moved to Vegas, we lived in a 416-square-foot apartment for less than $ 500 in installments,” said Joe NewsABC.net.
“We kept the same cars … We hardly ate out,” Joe recalls. “When we started buying rental apartments, friends asked when we would move to a three-room apartment. But we were happy the way we lived. We never felt that we were missing anything. The simple joys were enough for us. “
Joe and Ali Olson
15 rental properties
In the end, they had a total of 15 rental properties. A third of it is in the Las Vegas area, but some is in other areas, namely Michigan, Vermont, and North Carolina. “Some hedge funds started buying rental properties and prices rose quite a bit,” says Joe. “So I started investing in other areas.”
Joe and Ali Olson
The market is recovering.
Eventually the market turned and the value of their apartments rose. Not only did Joe and Ali save 75 percent of their income, they also grew explosively rich as their property grew in value. Eight years after her arrival in Vegas, her fortune rose to over $ 1 million.
How did you manage to pay off so many loans?
Joe explains: “At some point we had 15 properties, but with only four loans. Over $ 13,000 a month in rental income and less than $ 2,000 a month in down payments. “
Joe and Ali Olson
Even if they liked to be teachers, Joe and Ali had other goals, such as traveling and starting a family. “It was great as a teacher, but it was time for new adventures,” Ali writes on her blog. So they decided to pack the bags.
Joe and Ali Olson
2015 and 2016
“In 2015, after eight years of work, we quit and started traveling,” says Joe. “First we walked the Way of St. James, then we explored Europe a little bit before settling in Istanbul for three months in January 2016 to have a baby. Since then we have traveled from Europe to Australia and Southeast Asia. “
Joe and Ali Olson
today
Although they are financially independent and no longer work as teachers, they still have some part-time jobs. They still have their rented apartments and Ali writes trivial literature.
Joe and Ali Olson
This article was published by NewsABC.net in December 2020. It has now been checked and updated again.
