Five money-saving tips from the couple who retired in their 30s.

They quit their jobs.

Saved over 70% of their income for 10 years.

And then, retired.

It’s not how many people plan on doing it, but by their 30s, Jeremy Jacobson and Winnie Tseng had retired and were travelling the world.

We know – a little crazy, right?

So how the heck did they do it? On the latest episode of This Glorious Mess, Holly Wainwright and Andrew Daddo spoke to Jeremy and Winnie about how they managed to fund their (very) early retirement. And they had plenty of advice.

Listen to them talk about it here:

Like:

1. Try to save 70 per cent of your income. 

They did that for 10 years. TEN YEARS. That meant no trips to the movies, no eating out and scrimping like a Depression-era housewife. It was challenging, admits Winnie, who is now a mum to 11-month-old Julian, but surprisingly do-able. “After a few years we realised early retirement was possible if we tried really, really extra hard to reach our target,” she says.

2. Invest your savings wisely.

And keep track of where it’s going. “Not many people analyse their bank statements to see how their money is allocated and figure out how to save more,” says Victor Sun from Fox Symes and Associates, who provide budgeting and debt advice. “Not many have that amount of discipline.”

3. Sell your house and rent something small.

When they hatched their plan, Jeremy sold his house and went back to renting something small and close to work. “We sold the house, we sold the car, sold the motorcycle. We took away all the things that people spend 80% of there income on,” he says. “We bought our furniture online second-hand.”

4. Ride your bike.

“We didn’t want to run a car, so got an apartment near work, grocery stores and a farmer’s market. I rode a bike to work, we prepared simple meals at home and bought a lot of food from the market.”

5. Ate all their meals at home. And NEVER went out for dinner.

Instead of expensive nights out, they met friends in parks or went to fun “soup nights” where people would each bring a soup to sample in someone’s home.

If you are feeling depressed at that very idea, Jeremy thinks you’ve got it wrong. “During our whole savings journey, life was awesome – it was just different.”

And now, it was worth it.

If money was no object, when would you retire?