Mr. Nomad Numbers

Tara and Squash live on the outskirts of a large urban county in the western United States. While Squash can trace at least three generations back to his home state, Tara is a second-generation American whose parents immigrated to the US in the 1970s. She have been a financial independence/retire early (FIRE) adherent since 2015. Squash joined her in its pursuit after they were engaged to be married. While she is a social worker by profession, she currently is employed in higher education administration. Squash is employed as a programmer analyst in a research institute.

In this interview you will learn how they are on track to reach financial independence and retire from their job in their 40s while choosing work they love. What does a typical day in their life look like for them today vs before, what inflection point led them to decide to change their life trajectory, what were some of the limiting beliefs that hold them back, how much they spent per year and so much more!

This Thailand-based, mixed nationality family has decided to raise their children outside of their own cultures. Joe was born in California and Ayie was born in the Philippines. They met in Bangkok during Ayie’s birthday present to herself: a solo holiday to Thailand. They married in 2015 and have two young boys. For the last two decades, Joe has had a job in what he considers the best, most fulfilling field in the world: international humanitarian assistance. This has led to an extremely nomadic lifestyle. Ayie grew up in Mindanao, Philippines. She is a nurse by training, a professional photographer specializing in lifestyle and portrait photography, and a stay at home mom.

As far as their approach to life as a family, they try to live simply and prioritize experiences over possessions. They also try to live life with meaning and purpose in mind, hope to impact the world positively, and incorporate giving and service into our lives. While they are taking inspiration from the FIRE movement, they know they are not promised tomorrow – they don’t want to be so driven by their financial goals that they don’t enjoy the adventures along the way. Their mid-term masterplan: aggressively save enough to be able to take at least a year off to slow travel while worldschooling their kids.