BiggerPockets Money Podcast - FI at 44 AFTER Taking a Year Off at 31

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

What if you could take a year off at 31 and still retire early? Alex Morales, also known as Girl Chasing Wealth, is doing exactly that. In this BiggerPockets Money episode, she sits down with Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench to reveal how she's funding a year-long sabbatical while staying on track to achieve financial independence by 44, all on a median salary in a high-cost-of-living area. Alex's journey proves you don't need a six-figure income or to live in a low-cost city to make FIRE work—you just need the right strategies. Alex shares her unconventional approach to building wealth, including managing roommates to slash housing costs, ruthlessly cutting expenses that don't align with her values, and building side income streams for flexibility. But this isn't just about saving money—it's about designing a life that lets you take meaningful breaks without derailing your financial goals. Whether you're burned out, curious about sabbaticals, or convinced early retirement requires constant hustle, this conversation will change how you think about the path to financial freedom. This Episode Covers: How to calculate if you can afford a career break without ruining your FIRE timeline The exact house hacking strategy that saved Alex thirty thousand dollars per year Which expenses to cut first when living in a high-cost area How to maintain a high savings rate on a median income Alex's investment portfolio breakdown and FIRE number What she's actually doing during her sabbatical year Her strategic plan for returning to work at a higher salary Why taking time off might accelerate your financial independence journey And SO much more! 00:00 Taking a Year Off at 31 Without Ruining FIRE 01:39 How She Started 03:17 The Lifestyle Cuts That Actually Worked 07:46 Roommates Saved Her $30K/Year 12:10 Her Exact Investment Strategy Revealed 14:29 Why She Left Her Job 15:50 The Return Plan: Higher Pay, Same Freedom 22:30 What She's Actually Doing on Sabbatical 32:06 Follow Her FIRE Journey! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest gave herself permission to hit pause on her career in her early 30s for an entire year, all while staying on track to reach financial independence by age 44. Today, we're exploring what it takes to take a sabbatical without derailing your fire plan. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. My name is with me, Jen, my name is with me, Jensen. I don't even know my own name. Oh, my goodness. Okay. My name is Meegh, my name is Mee. Mindy Jensen. And with me as always is my sunshiny co-host, Scott Trench. Thanks, Mindy. Great to be here with you, Jensen. We are so excited today to be joined by Alex Morales on today's episode. You can find her online as Girl Chasing Wealth. As of today, she is a few weeks into her year-long sabbatical, which we can't wait to talk about. And we can't wait to talk about the lead-up to her making this decision as well.

Welcome, Alex. I'm Mindy. Hi, Scott. Thank you guys so much for having me on the show. I'm really excited to be here and fan girling a little bit. I'm a huge fan of bigger pockets. So I'm excited to talk to you guys today. Well, I'm excited to talk to you. I want to know what your job was that you decided to take a break from. Yeah, absolutely. I have been working in marketing since I graduated undergrad in 2017. So I worked full time in marketing since then. And I was feeling super burned out and kind of ready to take a break. And pursuing a sabbatical was something I always wanted to do. So I decided everything aligned and it was the right time to take that leap. When you first discovered the concept of fire, but what was your position like in life? How far along were you in this journey

in your marketing career? And where were your finances? Yeah. So I remember the specific day. It was back in January 2021 and I was just doom scrolling on TikTok and I came across a video by Katie, aka millennial money honey. And she was talking about how you actually don't have to work until 65 to retire and how retirement is a number. It's not an age. And that was the seed that was sort of planted in my mind. So this was four years ago now and I was 26.

so pretty early on in my career. But I did all of the research. I kind of did a deep dive on fire. I binged the Mad Scientist podcast, the Mr. Money Mustache blog. I read all the personal finance books. And I kind of discovered that, hey, early retirement is actually a possibility for me. And I had about $50,000 saved in cash at that point. So I think I already had a bit of a start there.

Yeah, you had a huge start there. What were you saving that $50,000 for? Or was it just for the future? Yeah, it was kind of for the future. Maybe do I want to buy a house, put a down payment down on a home and build wealth that way. Growing up, I was kind of taught like, hey, go to college, get a job, buy a house. And so I think that was kind of the savings goal, but really no full intention or plan there. Once you kind of stumbled into the fire universe, it sounds like you went

down the rabbit hole pretty deeply, probably presumably for years, consuming all that content. What are the things that began to change in the immediate aftermath of this? With that $50,000 saved at your 26th, how do you begin to change the trajectory of what you're doing? Yeah. So from there, I immediately opened my first IRA. I opened a brokerage account. I already had a 401K, but I bumped up the contributions significantly. And then I immediately started tracking my spending so that I could see my savings rate and ultimately project my timeline to fire. Awesome. You were clearly saving before this

because you had the $50,000 saved. But what specifically changed about your spending after discovering fire where you're able to, presumably, can contribute more to your 401k and begin accumulating wealth outside of it at an even faster rate. What were some of the changes there? I cut out unnecessary spending. I lowered my food budget a lot. I was someone who was going out to eat many times a week, and I also shopped a lot.

So I was buying clothes all the time. So those were two easy things that I could really cut out right away and start saving significantly. I don't think you really realize how much you're, spending on these certain categories until you're really tracking it. And then you start to notice, like, oh my gosh, hundreds of dollars a month are going to this. And for what? Like, why? Yeah, it's just a dollar. It's just $20. It's just $50. What do I care? It's no big deal, especially when you've got a higher income. But when you start tracking it and you see how

fairly easy it is to remove some of these, especially when you go from not tracking to tracking, You're like, I'm spending how much? Like my Amazon budget is cringe-worthy for a while because I think, first of all, I think that Amazon Prime is like a brilliant thing for Amazon and not so brilliant for somebody trying to get their spending under control. But let's talk real numbers here. What sort of income were you making and how much were you saving versus what you cut out? Like how much did you cut out of your budget?

Back in 2021, like I said, early on. my career, I was only bringing in 60,000 a year and like a four to five percent bonus there. So I think I'm a really good example of someone who's not a high earner who's pursuing fire. So when I started out, it was, you know, so middle of pandemic. I wasn't traveling much. I wasn't really going out to do things still. And I was able to hit like a really high savings rate around 55 to 65% each month. As you guys know, on a $60,000 salary, that's not really sustainable. I was living in, like, extreme frugality. And so over the years, I think my spending has transitioned to more of an

attentional approach. And so I don't really align with, like, the extreme frugality anymore. I really think that you have to prioritize enjoying the time now while also planning for the future. So my spending has changed a lot. I don't want to say I've fallen into lifestyle creep because I do still keep my living costs low and my transportation and food, but I do allow myself more flexibility with travel spending and experiences. So you know, you're making $60,000 a year with a couple percentage point bonus and you're hitting a 60% savings rate. So surely you are in like Memphis, Tennessee or somewhere in the Midwest with a really

low-cost living area, right, Alex? Absolutely not. I unfortunately live in a high cost-of-living area in California. So it just came down to keeping the housing costs really low by having roommates and then shopping at discount grocers and just keeping food budget super low. I was fortunate that I paid off my car back in 2020. So when I did discover fire and start pursuing early retirement, my car was already paid off, so I didn't really have that big payment every month over my head.

So I just want to chime in here that it sounds like there was some changes in your food and shopping budget, but I want to call out that the biggest, it's almost impossible to move towards fire in a situation like yours, in a high cost of living market, if you don't do something special with your housing. In your case, it's as simple and as scoffed at by many as having roommates. Can you tell us about your housing situation and how you were, variable to presumably keep it very low to be able to spend $30,000 a year in total in California? Most people don't want to live with roommates. It's not fun all the time. And of course, you want to have your own space. But if building wealth is what you really want, it's crazy

not to do so. Just as an example, like to rent a one bedroom by yourself is going to cost around, you know, $2,200 a month. In what city is that again? So I'm in Ventura, California. Okay. Yeah, so that's a one bedroom. But if you split a two bedroom, you're looking around 2,500. If you get like a three bedroom condo, you can bring your housing costs even lower to about $1,000 for a room and living with two other roommates.

So I think it's very doable. And I think a lot of people just don't want to share their space. And I totally get it. but it's all about the sacrifices that you're willing to make, really. All right. We're going to take the first of two mini retirements from the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. But while we're away, feel free to go over to YouTube and subscribe to our channel. That's YouTube.com slash Bigger Pockets Money.

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Kickstart your well-being journey with your first audiobook free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com slash BP money. Welcome back to the show. I love the Dave Ramsey quote, live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later. You are going to have people in your life who are saying, Oh, nice, but I could never live with roommates. I could never live with roommates.

And then in 10 years, when you're retired, they'll be like, oh, my God, how did you do it? Well, I lived with roommates. I didn't shop at the brand name stores. I willingly made small sacrifices. You're not eating beans and rice and living in your car. You still have a place to live. You just are sharing it with people. And I think that there's this mentality in America that,

that we have to have everything. I want to have the nicest of everything. Well, sure, but you're not going to retire early. I mean, you've got to pick what you want. And then once you are retired, you do all the things that you want to do. So I think your approach is better. One way of putting it is you have a roommate, I presume still right now, right? Yes.

All your peers have a desk. Yeah. Right? So that's the difference. It literally is that simple. In the position that you were in where you were making a reasonable, a pretty good income at $60,000, year. It's not crazy in California, but it's good for someone at 26 at that point. And you were able to achieve this outcome. I think in large part because of that single choice, that in the

paid off car, oh my gosh. I mean, you know, there's even additional ways on top of that, like the live-in flip or the house hack that can accelerate things, but it's the roommates. And can you tell us about what your situation is with your roommate? Do you have one or multiple? Yeah, I have one roommate at the moment. You know, it's easy. I enjoy it, to be honest. I've actually never lived alone and I think I would be a little lonely or a little scared like it's nice to have someone there to connect with at the end of the day. Scott, having a roommate is just a fancy way to say house hacking or house hacking is just a fancy way to say having a roommate. You just owed the place in the house hack, but Alex, I also have never lived alone. So I've never

I shared a room with my brother growing up. So having my own room was a huge privilege in there. I didn't have my own room until my senior year of college in there because of the way that the dorms worked at school. So, and then after that, I didn't have, I had a roommate all the way through until when I met my wife. Then we moved, then I moved out with a place of the roommate and in with her. So, um, and I think that's been an enormous, an enormous, an enormous boom, um, to building wealth.

There's no way I could, I could have gotten to where I got or I think, I guess you, you could have got to where you got without that choice. So I want to call that out because it's, it's the most essential ingredient in it. And I, I, I think. in a situation like yours with your income to being able to move into that next barrier. Do you agree with that? Would you reflecting on your journey? Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, like I said, a high cost of living area. If you're able to keep that housing expense down, that's really going to put you ahead. So I totally agree. So let's talk investments. What were you doing with this $35,000 a year that you were saving from your $60,000 salary? Like I said, opened my IRA right away, and I maxed it out since I did have that big cash savings. I maxed it out for the year before and then the current year. And then I was contributing a large percentage to my 401K. I believe when I first started out, I bumped it to like 29%. So that was huge. And then more recently, I started a second brokerage account and started to, like, 29%. And to dollar cost average into Bitcoin every month. So I've been doing that for a few years and just throwing like a hundred bucks in each month to diversify a little bit more. I definitely want to

disclose that it's very small percent of my portfolio. And I do not think Bitcoin is a sound investing strategy to reach early retirement. But I didn't want to miss out on what that could possibly be. And, you know, the risk has paid off. It's done really well for me. in the last few years. So that's definitely bumped up my net worth quite a bit. Do you use the Bitcoin investment to fuel your sabbatical? Are you spending portions of that right now? Or are you keeping that invested? No, I'm actually not selling any investments to fund the sabbatical. So I decided I wanted to take my sabbatical back in March. And so since then, I lowered my 401k contributions down to just my employer match, and then I've been saving all my cash in my high-yield savings

account. I really wanted to avoid selling any positions because I know that those are going to continue to grow while I'm no longer contributing over the next year. And so I'm very, I think I'm going to be able to do it with just the cash I have. This is the first year I'm actually earning some income from my side business as well. So I'm hoping that any extra income I need, I'll have that as a safety net. But that's definitely not Plan A. Plan A is just to use the savings that I've built up.

Did you take an actual sabbatical from your company, or did you quit your job completely? I resigned. So my company doesn't offer sabbaticals. I gave my notice and quit my job. You know, it felt like it was really time for me to move on. And before I decided to take my sabbatical, I was looking for a new job. I was applying to new jobs. I really felt like my salary and my professional growth was kind of stagnating where I was at. So the move was to find a new job. And then while doing that, I was realizing, hey, I'm super burnt out. Like I'm exhausted trying to keep up with the full. time job with my side business. I just didn't feel like I could confidently enter a new role and start at a new company at that point. Because when you are moving on to a new company, you know, you want to learn the company. I'm in marketing. So I would have to learn a completely new brand,

potentially a new product. And I just didn't think I could give it my all at that point. So yeah, like I said, it really felt like things sort of fell into place where, hey, now feels like the right time to do this because I had been pushing it back year after year and it just felt like everything really aligned at this point. I'm going to go back a couple of moments here. We, you know, we started the journey with $50,000 and $60,000 in income, $50,000 in savings, $60,000 in income, presumably a little bit in a 401k on top of that and a paid off car. What did your income grow to in the next few years leading up to the sabbatical, which I believe began just a few weeks ago. Yeah, you're correct. I am about.

10 days into my sabbatical. So when I just left my employer, I was at 80,000 per year. So it did grow quite a bit in the last four years. I received a promotion in that time. So I was striving to constantly grow my income there. And I will say, I feel like I stayed at this company a little bit too long. But sometimes it's a trade-off. I did really love the people I worked with. I loved the other benefits. They also paid for my MBA. So I earned my MBA while I was with them, and that was completely free to me. So I did stay too long, but I think at the end of the day, it was worth it. Can you remind me the second part of your question? What did your wealth grow from? Your 50,000 to in the last couple of, until like last,

the last month when you decided it was time to take the sabbatical? Yeah, yeah. And so since then, my net worth just hit 310,000 in August. So I just breached the 300K mark, which is absolutely insane. But I'm not going to get too used to it, fully expecting that to go down as I'm spending some of that cash in my savings account. But like I said, if I'm intentional enough with my business, I'm hoping I can, I guess, limit that hit. So let me ask you this. How much cash did you save up? And what do you spend in a year? What do you expect to spend in this next year? So I based my goal on my spending for this year. And average, I was spending about $3,300 a month. So I needed about $39,000 for the year to take the year off. I actually got close to that. I got to around $30,000.

And then I paid myself $10,000 from my business. Like I said, this is the first year I've been earning income. So I was able to kind of bridge that gap for the rest of my sabbatical. I am intending to travel a little bit over the year. Nothing super extensive but take a few trips. So I'm really lucky that I do have that business income in the event that maybe I go over spending. But I'm also going to be at home a lot. So I'm really going to try to regulate my spending. While I am home, I'm going to try to eat out less and just limit my spending so that I have that extra buffer when I do want to spend more on a trip here or there over the next year.

All right. This is the second of two little mini retirements that we're taking from this episode. We're right back with more after this. Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye-opening. That's why I like Monarch. It helps you see exactly where your money is going. And more importantly, where your tax refund can make the biggest impact.

Because the goal isn't just to look backward. It's to actually make progress. Simplify your finances with Monarch. Monarch is the all-in-one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, including budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth, and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or your laptop. Feel aware and in control of your finances this tax season and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with the code pockets.

What I personally like is that Monarch keeps you focused on achieving, not just tracking. You can see your budgets, debt payoff, savings goals, and net worth all in one place. So every decision actually moves the needle. Achieve your financial goals for good with Monarch, the all-in-one tool that makes money management simple. Use the code pockets at Monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off at monarch.com code pockets. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast?

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Project Hail Mary, only theaters March 20th. Thanks for sticking with us. What is this side business? You've mentioned this a couple of times. Is it scalable? Do you want to do it full-time or is it really just on the side? That's such a good question. And I think I had that conversation so many times at FinCon last week.

It is my Instagram account, Girl Chasing Wealth. So I sell digital products there. I partner with brands and do brand deals. And then I, over the next year, would like to build out a coaching program. It's a really tough question to answer if I would or wouldn't take it full time. I think I ultimately, my goal is buyer. And I don't feel that my net worth is quite. high enough to go all in on my business quite yet. So I think eventually if I could replace my income and all of the benefits that come with the nine to five, I would consider that. But at this point, I do intend to reenter the workforce and then have my business on the side. That way I can build up a little bit more wealth. I'd maybe make up for taking a year off. But it's not a never type of thing. I will consider it in the future. And how old are you right now? I'm 31.

31. Okay. So I hear some people yelling at their podcast player. Well, what about all the time that you're giving up by not putting any money into the stock market right now? How do you reconcile wanting to hit financial independence with taking a whole year off? By the way, I think taking year off is great. I'm just speaking for the people who aren't on this call. Yeah, absolutely.

And I think, you know, in our community, we get so focused on that one end goal and, you know, hitting that savings rate and meeting that timeline. And we can sometimes lose sight of what's really important, which I think is money is a tool to help you reach your goals and spend intentionally on the things that you value. and for me, I value my time and I value my experiences. And I actually was just listening to the Choose Five podcast. And I forget her name, but she's an author and she's writing about many retirements. And that episode really resonated with me because the whole concept is to, yes, pursue early retirement, but also take many retirements throughout your career to test out what retirement looks like and to take advantage of these opportunities during the different seasons of your life,

because they're not always going to be there. And so I think I'm approaching it more balanced now, where if my timeline gets pushed back a few years, that's okay because I'm having all of these breaks in between and all of these experiences in between. And I think ultimately that's really what matters. Yes, I didn't do it like that and I wish I would have. So you are correct. I think that it's really important to have these experiences with the mindset of, yeah, I still have this big goal. So I'm going to have some of the experiences. I'm not going to have all of the experiences. Yeah, totally. And something I'm trying to embrace more is just the abundance mindset and reminding myself that there's

always going to be more money. And, you know, I am building a business and I am resourceful. And so I think there's always going to be a way for me to grow my income and make up for the time that I am maybe taking off or not contributing as much as I would like. So what is the experience that you're going to, you know, you're two weeks in, but what did you have planned? What have you done the last two weeks? And what's coming up in the near future? Yeah. So actually in two days, I am taking off to Europe for almost four weeks. I am doing a girl's trip for the first half of it. We're going to Greece. We're going to go to October Fest in Munich. And then my mom and my family are flying out. And we're going to travel together through southern and western Europe. So I'm really excited for that.

And in addition to that, just taking a few other extended trips, I'm going to go to Brazil next spring for a month. And I want to try out new hobbies. I want to rest and teach myself to rest because I feel like I'm always working. And if I'm not being productive, I feel bad about that. So I want to embrace rest and just be okay with it. And yeah, whatever else I get up to, I want to just go to the grocery store on a Wednesday and be one of those people that I always talk about. I always say, like, don't these people have jobs?

Like, why are you out on a Tuesday at like 10 a.m? So that's going to be me for a year. I'm really excited. It's really awesome to be out there shopping when nobody else is shopping. And then every once in a while, you'll forget and you go there and you're like, why is everybody at the grocery store? Oh, it's Saturday morning. Crud, I meant to do this yesterday.

What did you do last Tuesday? I think I was actually working a lot because I was prepping because FinCon was the next day and I was leaving to FinCon. So I was, you know, prepping content. But I will say the day after my last day of work was last Saturday, and I lounged all day. I just, I kind of like dilly-dallyed, mozied around. I didn't feel the pressure I normally feel on a weekend to get stuff done because my weekends before looked like me making a long list of everything I needed to do or wanted to accomplish. on that weekend so that I could get to Sunday and try to get a head start on the week.

So that was my first day to just kind of not have anything pressing or anything that I needed to do. And it was a really weird feeling, to be honest, but I know I'm going to get used to that and really enjoy it. Do you watch football all day is what you're saying? Entire day. Start the college football. Definitely not. No sports here. sports. Alex, do you have a job lined up yet for when you are ready to return to work?

I do not. And that was one of my biggest fears when considering a sabbatical is going back to work and finding something, especially because I've heard just how bad the job market is right now. So I don't have anything lined up. But I also firmly believe that everything happens the way it's supposed to, and I believe that the right opportunity is going to be there when I am starting to look and starting to plan on going back. In the meantime, I'm just trying to make connections. FinCon was really great. I talked to a lot of people, and so, you know, networking and hoping to get my foot in the door somewhere when I do eventually go back. Another part of the plan is trying to get a much higher paying job because I was at 80,000 when I left my job. I feel like I was

pretty underpaid and I know I can earn more. So I'm really excited to move on, maybe move into FinTech or just tech in general because that's kind of where the higher salaries are at right now. So that's kind of the goal when I do get there. So you mentioned that your spending is about $39,000 a year. What is your fire number? Have you mapped that out yet? Yeah. My fire number is 1.75 million. So starting out back in 2021, I chose the fire number of 1 million. But as I realized, very lean living, very frugal. And I realized I wanted to have more flexibility with travel and experiences. So I did bump that up to 70,000 a year or 1.75 million. Okay. And you're 31 right now with a $310,000 net worth.

That 310 does not include the 39 that you're going to spend this year, does it? It does. Yeah. It does. Okay. So, I mean, I'm going to look at it in my crystal ball and say, I think the stock market's going to continue to go up. You will take this time off, spend your 39.

And in about a year, your net worth is going to be at least around the 310 that you're at right now. Past performance is not indicative of future gain. And I'm not predicting. But I am predicting. You know what? This is my show. I could say what I want.

This is not investment advice. That's the disclaimer. I'm trying to find in my roll-a-decks of disclaimers. This is an investment advice, but I believe, I've talked to so many people in this space. Christine Bryce from Millennial Revolution have been retired for 10 years, and it is a longer timeline, but still, they have been pulling their 4% out of their portfolio the entire 10 years and spending it, and they still have more money now than they did when they retired, and they are earning income, but they have, all their earned income goes into a separate

space and they are only living off of their retirement accounts. And that retirement account after withdrawing the 4% is still, has still grown to more money than they had 10 years ago. I have a different prediction here. I don't know what the stock market's going to do one way or that. Your net worth is going to be higher or lower or about the same next year. I don't know. On that. Wow. Really going out on the limb, Scott. But here's my, here's my prediction is in this next year, you're going to continue basically maintaining your side hustle business. And you're going to find path, pathways to that because it's going to be just bubbling in your mind in there that are going to make the return to work delayed indefinitely. That's my prediction that I'll

go with. I'll bet on that one over whatever the stock market is going to do in the next 12 months. I like that prediction, Scott. Let's mark this in the calendar. What is today? September 15th, we are recording this. So let's circle back next year, September 15th. Oh, we'll be at FinCon. next year. So it'll be a couple of weeks later. We'll circle back and we'll have another conversation and see how did your, what was your net worth on the end of your sabbatical? Did you go back to work? And how did your spending happen? I'm super excited to check in with you in about a year. Alex, your position is so perfectly conducive to an entrepreneurial endeavor in the next couple of years because you've been able to consistently accumulate more, or spend less than you bring in.

already got a bit or a taste of the revenue from your business. You've clearly consumed hundreds or thousands of hours of self-educational content in the space here. And the connections are going to start to be, I think, be made at an increasing or compounding rate in there. And I think you're going to find that that's going to be the case. I just think that this is just a perfect position for folks. And I don't, I think it's going to be less of a sabbatical in the purest sense where there's no income being generated. That'd be my guess. Thank you.

I really appreciate that prediction. I think it's definitely something to dream about. And I'm really excited where the year is going to take me. I am excited for you too. And I hope that other people see you talking about this. See, Jillian Johns Rood was the one who has the new book out called Retire Often. I hope people see others taking sabbaticals and say to themselves, You know what, I am burned out and I do have options. And the reason that I have options is because I have been so intentional with my spending, so intentional with my savings, and so intentional with my investing, that I can take a little break and then come back refreshed. If you choose to go back to an employer, they will have such a better experience with you. You'll have such a better experience with them just because you're refreshed. I've been in that burned out space before and it stinks. Yeah, agreed. I feel really lucky.

that discovering fire has not only helped me to improve my finances, but to really connect with so many people. And it's allowed me to build a huge platform where I'm hopefully influencing thousands of people to get better with their money and to pursue early retirement and financial independence and to take a sabbatical. So I feel really lucky that I've been able to connect with so many people. Awesome. Well, Alex, we really appreciate your time today. She is Alex Morales. You can follow her on Instagram at Girl Chasing Wealth, all one word. Okay, Alex, thank you so much for your time today. This is a lot of fun. And we will talk to you in a year. Thank you so much. It was great to be here. I loved talking with you both. And I'm very excited to check back in a year and give you guys an update.

I've got a note right now to put it in the calendar so we can circle back. And I will see you at FinCon in a year. Me too. I'll be there next year. Alex, before we go, can you tell people where they can find out more about you and follow your journey? Yeah, absolutely. You can find me on Instagram at Girl Chasing Wealth. And you can also visit my website at girlchasingwealth.com. All right, Scott, that was Alex and her story of a sabbatical at 31 while still being able to retire early at age 44. What did you think of her journey?

I think too many of the guests and the folks on Bigger Pockets Money, as much as I love everything we do, We don't see enough people that are in this stage of their financial journey. And it seems like you got to take 10 years or Brian to get to where you want to go. And she's just thrown it all at the window, doing great, making all the right choices. And she's going to have a wonderful year here at age 31 and probably still have a ton of the same opportunities at the end of it, if my prediction holds true. At that point, I think a lot of us overthink it. And I think it's just really refreshing to hear a completely different spin on the fire movement and, and, um, how she's approaching it. Yeah, I love that she's wanting to enjoy the journey of the entire

FI journey. I love that she is taking time for herself. Maybe she gets three months into it and she's like, you know what? I am refreshed and I want to go back to work. And maybe she gets to 12 months and your prediction holds true, Scott. And that would be really awesome for her to be able to craft the life that she wants. I mean, that's why we're doing this all in the first place, Instead of just mindlessly trudging to the job every single day, we're crafting the life that we want. And maybe she decides that this 39,000 works for her and she's able to generate that kind of income and continues on. And I just am so excited. I want to fast forward a year and see what happened.

But we can't. So we have to wait 365 days. Absolutely. I do want to call out again that the key to this little story is roommates, right? I mean, there's nothing particularly special about her income generation journey, not for a suburb. of Los Angeles, California on the coast there in Ventura in here. It's not it's a good income, but it's not an incredible one. It's a median income in the Los Angeles metro area for a single person household. And there, just a little bit of a little bit of hair above the

medium by the time she ended the journey in there. And so it's it's nothing crazy on that front. No special investment secret sauces here. It's I keep expenses low because I have roommates. And that is so hard for people. I think it's just a brutal fact of life in getting ahead in America today. But I think if you can do that for five, six, seven, ten years, you're going to have tons of options that other people aren't going to have. Live like no one else now. So you can live like no one else later. And she is going to live like no one else later. It's going to be awesome. She's going to live like no one else now. She's going to do both. Yep. Her later is now, right? So yeah, well, I look forward to visiting in a year or two and see which of our predictions come true. That'll be

fun. I do too. All right, Scott, should we get out of here? Let's do it. That wraps up this episode at the Bigger Puckets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench. I am Indy Jensen saying, got to go, bro.