This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Johnston Osagie, 32, who retired early and moved from Tennessee to Ecuador with his wife and daughter. Business Insider has verified his finances, former employment, and the comparative costs. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.
My goal was always to retire early. I’d planned to earn well, invest properly, and reach financial independence in my early 40s.
In the summer of 2025, when I was 31, I learned that I was going to become a father. Suddenly, another 10 years of trading the best hours of my life for work instead of family didn’t sound so appealing.
I’d already reached our $350,000 freedom number by 2022. So, last year, I thought: Why am I waiting to do the things I want to do?
I quit my job at Amazon in January, and my wife and I moved from Nashville to Cuenca, Ecuador, in February. My daughter was born here in April. Now, I’m present for everything in her life, no matter how big or small. When I look at her, I can’t imagine that I was ever thinking of not doing this.
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I saw a finance career as a route to FIRE
When I was deciding on a career, I asked myself what I could study that would get me to financial freedom the fastest.
That ended up being finance. I graduated in 2016, started working immediately, and have been saving and investing ever since. I spent nearly 10 years working in finance, most recently as a finance manager for Amazon.
Our financial freedom number was $350,000
In the final five years of my career, I earned $150,000 a year on average. I saved roughly 45% of my earnings. Because I wanted to retire early, I was aggressive with my portfolio allocations to achieve faster growth.
I was fortunate to have earned substantially more than we needed. We could have bought a nicer home, taken nicer vacations, or driven nicer cars, but we chose to live within, or even below, our means.
Our goal for FIRE was $350,000. Coming up with that figure was straightforward: It was a case of working out how much income I’d need to support the life we wanted, then stripping out the costs that didn’t add value.
I wanted to be a fully present dad
I’d always envisioned being a fully present parent, but I was working nine to 12 hours a day. The thing that would give me the most peace of mind before our daughter arrived was to stop working entirely.
I handed in my notice in January, a month before we moved to Ecuador. It was bittersweet. Part of me enjoys the corporate environment.
Cost wasn’t the primary driver for moving abroad
We could have afforded to retire early and stay in the US, but the bigger question was what we wanted our lives to look like. Cost of living was part of the equation. We also considered what it would be like to live in each place as a Black person, the quality of life, and educational opportunities for our child.
We did a lot of internet research into cities around the world. Cape Town, Montevideo in Uruguay, and Arequipa in Peru made the shortlist.
Courtesy of Johnston Osagie
We came to Ecuador on a whim in November 2025, at my wife’s suggestion, and fell in love with it immediately. We knew it was the place for us.
Cuenca is a big city with a small-town vibe. It doesn’t take long to get anywhere. By the end of our first week visiting, we’d already made quite a few friends at coffee shops.
Our rent is $1,120 less than our mortgage payments
We moved in February. It was a stressful process. We had a whole home’s worth of things to sell and donate.
During our trip in November, we visited hospitals, looked at furniture and appliance prices, viewed apartments, and explored the city. We connected with a realtor and locked in our place before we arrived.
On the day we landed, our place was ready to go. Our rent is about $600 a month, compared with a monthly mortgage payment of $1,720 in the US. We sold our home recently because I didn’t want to be a landlord in a different country.
Healthcare is cheaper in Ecuador
Our daughter was born in April, three weeks early, and my wife had a prolonged hospital stay after a C-Section. The birth cost us $2,790. In the US, it likely would have cost us several thousand more.
Previously, we were paying about $300 each a month for health insurance in the US. In Ecuador, we pay as we go because insurance and out-of-pocket costs are similar. On average, we spend about $50 a month taking the baby to the doctor.
Courtesy of Johnston Osagie
One of the most challenging things about the move is that we’re thousands of miles away from our family. As first-time parents, we find it tough that our parents can’t pop in for a weekend to help. However, we have resources available to us here that we couldn’t justify in the US. We have night nurses who come in five nights a week so we can sleep. It costs $44 a night.
We miss some Western luxuries, like getting an Amazon package in a couple of hours, and our Spanish isn’t perfect, but when I look at my daughter, I don’t miss anything.
I value the freedom and the time I get with my daughter. There are so many side projects I can explore.
My only regret is not doing this sooner.
