Steven’s background is what you might label as a “typical” middle-class upbringing. His dad has run a successful small business for 30+ years, and his mom has been in the same field her entire career.

My own family financial background was a bit erratic. I think coming from a less financially stable background made me more interested in learning how to get to a point of stability, which also made me naturally more of a saver.

None of our parents introduced us to the concepts of financial independence or early retirement (actually, all four of our parents are still working today). We found that information on the internet ourselves as we became young adults with our own incomes.

Our blog is written with younger people in mind because they have the most to gain by starting early, but we’ve found that it’s pretty tough to get through to people before they’re out there in the real world themselves. Most people don’t respond to this kind of information until their 20s or 30s.

From 2013 – 2015, Steven was a public school physics teacher, and I did marketing for a small financial company. We both made about the same amount of money ($36k – $42k per year, per person, in those two years). As time went on, we both job-hopped a bit (in the fields of education and marketing, respectively) and managed to increase our salaries, though neither of us ever hit the six-figure mark. Here’s a detailed look at our earlier years, with specific numbers included: https://www.tripofalifestyle.com/money/we-saved-a-quarter-million-by-26/

As for freelance work during retirement, I don’t actually do very much any more, haha. Although I have maintained one social media client. Steven works something like 10 hours per week doing tutoring.

They’re an amazing young couple. As frugal and my husband and I have always been, these two have us totally beat! Kudos to them for all they’ve accomplished and for reaching freedom at such a young age.

Yes, they are very impressive! Massive savings rate not on two Silicon Valley tech salaries means they have been very mindful of their spending over the years.