This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Ryan Lowe, a 27-year-old living in Massachusetts who shared documentation of his savings with Business Insider. His words have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
I want to retire early. So I tried working two jobs — an office finance job during the day and as a product sorter in a grocery store at night. I also live with my parents and drive a 20-year-old Toyota Camry.
I’m 27. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I don’t go out to parties. My parents buy the groceries. A lot of people would look at my lifestyle and say that I’m a bum, and they’re not wrong.
Over the years, though, I’ve saved up nearly $300,000.
I get paid between $1,100 and $1,200 every week from both gigs, and I usually put $1,000 of that paycheck into the S&P 500. It’s a very safe long-term investment. If that were to crash, then we’d have bigger issues than my retirement fund.
I’m hoping to retire in my 40s and spend time traveling. When I’m not traveling, I want to have a chill, quiet lifestyle — just like I do now.
The grocery store was unsustainable
I quit my job at Stop & Shop three weeks ago.
I wanted to stay, but the time I spent commuting was starting to add up. I also didn’t have time for important things, like working out and eating good food.
Ryan Lowe
I loved my job in the grocery store. It was just me in my own world, and it was as easy as it gets. The managers were usually gone, and they would leave notes for me.
I previously had another grocery store job at Whole Foods. That worked because, at the time, my finance job had a hybrid schedule.
Now, however, I have to go into the office in Boston every day. I work in East Boston, and I’m salaried, so I’m limited to 40 hours a week no matter how much I want to work. For a whole week, I was spending 12 hours commuting on the Mass Pike.
I recently went on a trip to the Italian Alps, and while I was there, I was thinking to myself, I don’t want to go back to doing that with driving every day and working two jobs.
I’m looking for another side hustle I can do at night — hopefully something that pays more than minimum wage.
Right now I’m just taking it easy.
It’s important to strike the right balance.
Ever since my high school days, I’ve been really busy, working extra jobs over the summer.
Sometimes when I’m just sitting around, I think to myself that I could be making extra money.
I also emphasize, however, that it’s important to strike a healthy balance between working and relaxing. People assume I just work, work, work — and that isn’t true.
I’ve been on multiple trips this year, I go swimming, I play sports with friends, and I’m a big football fan. Every Sunday, I go over to my friend’s house and we watch football.
One day, I hope I can visit every country in the world and every US national park. I love the peace and quiet of nature and the exercise hiking brings.
Making content
I don’t like to talk about it at work, but I make videos about my lifestyle and post them on Instagram and TikTok. I have 15,000 followers on Instagram.
My content mostly revolves around personal finance, saving money, investing, and documenting my journey toward early retirement.
I do it to inspire others and talk about something that I’ve loved for a few years. I’ve always kind of wanted to share my perspective and what I enjoy about finance, and, more importantly, to document my journey.
My lifestyle definitely isn’t for everyone, but it has connected with some people. I’ve met a lot of cool people from my videos, and I’ve gone on hikes and to concerts with some of them.
It’s pretty cool what you can do and the people you can meet online just by posting about stuff you like.
