Interviews

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.

Gigi is a writer and content strategist who has been on the road for over eight years. She originally from the US, though she spend most of her time in Europe these days. She has been truly nomadic, with no home base, for most of that time, though she has also had long-stay visas in both Switzerland and Estonia (where her partner and herself are currently loosely based) for at least a year each.

She is also an outdoorsy foodie, an advocate of slow travel, and a nomad with a dog in tow (yep, you read that right: her Yorkie-Schnauzer mix Luna has been to something like 30 countries now). So usually you’ll find her staying in one place for anywhere from one to six months and spending my non-working time hiking, cycling, browsing fresh markets, and seeking out a location’s best food, all with a little dog at her heels or in my dog-carrier backpack.

In this interview you will learn how Gigi cope with depression, what does a typical day in her life look like for her today vs before, what inflection point led you to decide to change your life trajectory, what were some of the limiting beliefs that hold her back, how much she spent per year and so much more!

Scott and Caroline are both 49 and have been married for 26 years! They met in high school in New York City, dated throughout college and married a year after college, settling into a tiny apartment in Manhattan. They had their first child a year after they married and their second child 5 years after that. By age 30, they already had 2 kids and were well into our corporate careers.

They focused early on saving, career, and raising a family, and saving early definitely gave them a jump start towards financial independence. With that said though, they were your typical dual-income in a High Cost Of Living (HCOL) city – making six-figures but still feeling like we were just getting by and watching every penny, as we tried to prioritize saving.

Let’s learn more about how the decided to quit their corporate career to build their path to financial freedom to travel the world early on in their lives.

Steven and Lauren are 29 and 30 respectively. They have been born and raised near Tampa, Florida, and they currently live in Gainesville, Florida — although they also lived in California for 9 months, Hawaii for 6 months, and the back of an ever-moving van for 7 months! Beginning shortly after college graduation, they saved and invested anywhere from 50-90% of their middle-class salaries with a goal of reaching financial independence at a young age.

In this interview you will learn how they managed to retire in their 30s & 40s, the benefit of designing your life early on, their cost of living in Hawaii for 6 months, their 6 steps financial roadmap and everything in between.