Home ownership made friends miserable
squirrel away between 50 and 80 per cent of their income annually. (In their last year of employment, their combined earnings after tax were $164,000.)
“We ran the math and housing was not nearly as good an investment as we thought it was,” recalled Leung. So they took the $500,000 they had saved for a down payment and invested it in the stock market and index funds.
“We realized we could retire with $1 million in three years or be in debt for the next 25,” he said.
But their decision to join the FIRE movement (Financially Independent, Retire Early) sparked shock and disapproval among co-workers, friends and family, said Shen.
“I thought my parents were going to disown me. It took forever for them to come around,” she said.
The couple used a personal finance professional for investment advice but now manage their own portfolio, which is made up of 60 per cent equity and 40 per cent fixed income.
Every year they post a detailed report of their expenses, earnings and portfolio composition on their website, millennial-revolution.com, where they call themselves “FIRECracker” and “Wanderer.” They also offer free guidance on personal finance to others.
“The trick to wealth is not stepping on landmines like housing, housing, housing,” Leung advises. “Invest in globally diversified low-cost index funds, and get out there and enjoy life!”
In their first year of retirement, Shen and Leung lived entirely off the passive income from their investments, visiting 15 countries and 42 cities on three continents.
They’re away most of the year, usually staying in Airbnbs and only returning to Toronto for a few weeks to visit family.
Their net worth of $1.4 million — “it’s actually gone up in retirement” — grew thanks to dividends, portfolio gains and income from some computer coding and writing, said Shen.
In 2016, they started a free online workshop teaching people how to invest and last summer Penguin Random House published their book, “Quit Like a Millionaire.”
But unpaid work such as mentoring girls generates bigger rewards, according to Shen.
“Once you stop working for money and start doing things you’re passionate about, that’s what gives you satisfaction.”
Then there are the personal thrills, like bathing behemoths in an elephant sanctuary and getting scuba diving certification in Thailand. Shen, who grew up in poverty, never learned to swim.
“Now we can dive all over the world,” Leung pointed out.