My monthly Extraordinary Lives series is one I truly enjoy sharing, and I’m pleased to bring you another insightful interview. Today’s conversation is with “Purple,” who retired at the end of 2020 at age 30 with $500,000 invested.
Interested in financial independence or early retirement? This interview will be especially relevant.
You may know Purple from the popular blog APurpleLife.com. It’s one of my favorite personal finance blogs, and I’m excited to share her story.
In this interview you’ll learn:
- How she arrived at a $500,000 retirement target
- Why she chose to retire early
- What career she had before retiring
- Whether she still earns income in retirement
- What tough choices she made to reach early retirement
- Her approach to health insurance as a full-time nomad and early retiree
This interview is packed with practical insight and detailed experience from someone who accomplished early retirement. Enjoy!
P.S. If you’re planning for early retirement, tools such as Boldin can help you test scenarios and evaluate the realism of your plan by plugging in your numbers and projecting potential outcomes.
Related content:
- What Is Financial Independence, Retire Early? Answers To FAQs About FIRE
- Boldin Review: Is This the Best Retirement Planning Tool?
- 21 Best Early Retirement Tips To Help You Retire Early
- How This Couple Retired at 38 and 41: Interview With OurNextLife
- How This 34 Year Old Owns 7 Rental Homes
- 12 Passive Income Ideas That Will Let You Enjoy Life More
- 13 Best Early Retirement Books
1. Tell me your story. Who are you and what do you do? Can you go into detail on how much you saved for early retirement, how you chose that amount, etc.?
Hi, I’m “Purple.” I blogged about my retirement journey at APurpleLife.com. I’m 31, born and raised in Atlanta, and I attended college in the Northeast before moving to Manhattan to start my career in advertising—think Mad Men-style agencies.
A few years later I moved into marketing and stayed in that industry for the rest of my working life. In 2012 my partner introduced me to the idea of financial independence (FI). At first I dismissed it, but after some job changes and realizing that even my “dream job” wasn’t work I wanted for decades, I began to take the idea seriously.
I quietly started my blog to document my path in January 2015 and moved to Seattle that summer. I launched the blog publicly in July 2018 and reached my financial goal in October 2020, quitting my job and retiring at age 30.
I set my retirement target at $500,000 invested. I arrived at that number by examining my annual spending—about $18,000 in Seattle—and adding an 11% buffer. Then I backtested the result: if I had retired with that portfolio at any point in the last 70 years, would the plan have survived? Given my flexibility (no home, car, children, or pets) and a plan to live a nomadic lifestyle, even modest adjustments to cost of living would have made the portfolio resilient across historical market sequences, including severely adverse periods.
If you want a full breakdown of the reasoning and numbers, I published an in-depth post explaining why I’m comfortable retiring with $500,000. Since retirement, my finances have performed better than expected: my net worth is currently flirting with $700,000.
2. When did you begin saving for early retirement?
I began actively saving for retirement in 2015. As mentioned, I needed a couple of years of skepticism and experience before I fully embraced the FI concept—but once I did, I dove into learning about investing and financial planning.
My first retirement account was a company 401(k) I opened at my mom’s suggestion when I started my first job, though I initially chose poor funds based on her financial advisor’s advice. Once I understood investing better, I aimed to max my 401(k) and then contribute to a Traditional IRA and a taxable brokerage account with any remaining savings.
Below is a concise summary of my salary, spending, and net worth since college, showing how things evolved as I increased savings and prioritized investing:
2011
- Age: 21
- Location: Manhattan
- Salary: $35,000
- Spending: ~ $35,000 (not tracked well)
- Net Worth: $5,000
2012
- Age: 22
- Location: Manhattan
- Salary: $48,000
- Spending: ~ $35,000
- Net Worth: $20,439
2013
- Age: 23
- Location: Manhattan
- Salary: $65,000
- Spending: ~ $35,000
- Net Worth: $29,545
2014
- Age: 24
- Location: Manhattan
- Salary: $68,000
- Spending: $35,000
- Net Worth: $48,562
2015
- Age: 25
- Location: Seattle
- Salary: $85,000
- Spending: $30,000
- Net Worth: $89,450
2016
- Age: 26
- Location: Seattle
- Salary: $85,000
- Spending: $22,518
- Net Worth: $137,612
2017
- Age: 27
- Location: Seattle
- Salary: $103,000
- Spending: $18,436
- Net Worth: $234,822
2018
- Age: 28
- Location: Seattle
- Salary: $106,000
- Spending: $17,715
- Net Worth: $280,884
2019
- Age: 29
- Location: Seattle
- Salary: $110,034
- Spending: $18,000
- Net Worth: $448,230
2020
- Age: 30
- Location: WA, GA, CT
- Salary: $114,229
- Spending: $15,886
- Net Worth: $620,767
3. What made you want to retire early?
I realized I had followed conventional advice—work hard, buy status symbols, chase promotions—and still felt unhappy. Even when I landed a position that on paper was ideal, I didn’t want to keep working for another 40 years. That disconnect pushed me to explore alternatives.
Reading books and blogs on FI was transformative. The idea that I could choose to live differently, with more uninterrupted time for relationships and travel, felt liberating. A practical and sobering motivation was recognizing life’s uncertainty: none of us are guaranteed tomorrow, and that helped cement my commitment to designing a life that prioritized meaningful experiences sooner rather than later.
4. Would you say that you live comfortably?
Absolutely. In many ways my lifestyle feels luxurious. For example, we recently booked a month in a penthouse in Phuket with multiple porches and a private pool overlooking the ocean. Many of the Airbnbs we use while nomading have better amenities than my Seattle apartment did.
Before retiring I lived comfortably, but nomad life has improved the experience: hosts are incentivized to provide excellent stays, and problems get resolved quickly—often within minutes—unlike the frustrating landlord experiences I had in NYC and Seattle.
5. What career did you have before you retired?
I began in ad agencies in Manhattan and later transitioned to marketing after moving to Seattle. Ad agency life can demand long 60–80 hour weeks, though those became less frequent after I shifted into marketing. My final role was largely remote, which eliminated commuting and allowed me to work from home alongside my partner.
One key reason I wanted to stop working was that my job occupied my mind constantly; I couldn’t “turn it off,” and it affected my overall well-being.
6. Do you still earn an income in early retirement?
Surprisingly, yes. I had vowed not to earn another dollar after retiring, but I started monetizing my blog in mid-2019 and small amounts of income still arrive. I generally turn down opportunities that feel like work, but some collaborations and ad revenue have produced modest income—around $2,000 last year—which I documented in my annual post.
7. What sacrifices or hard decisions did you have to make?
I don’t consider my path as requiring sacrifice in the negative sense. I wrote a full post addressing this misconception: the goal is to figure out the spending level that makes you happy and then plan toward that life. Sacrifices, if taken to extremes, aren’t sustainable.
That said, I did make difficult decisions—like leaving Manhattan, the only city I’d lived in as an adult, and moving to Seattle where my partner had never been. That required trusting we could find housing and work without local connections. It paid off and was worth the risk.
8. What will you do about health insurance in early retirement?
I wrote a detailed post about my health insurance strategy during retirement. The short version: I intended to use international expat insurance, which covers care worldwide (including preventative care after a waiting period). However, many expat plans require spending most of the year outside the U.S., which wasn’t feasible during pandemic-related travel restrictions.
As an interim solution I used travel insurance from World Nomads for catastrophic coverage in the U.S. and abroad on trips included in the policy, while waiting for the ability to travel more freely and access the expat options I prefer.
9. What are your long-term plans now that you have more time?
I don’t have rigid long-term plans. My priority is to see the world, try new experiences, eat great food, and spend time with people I love. I prefer a flexible approach that allows inspiration and curiosity to guide me.
Retirement has given me space to develop hobbies and tackle projects I wouldn’t have time for before—birding, nail art, public speaking, completing NaNoWriMo, and a personal challenge to read one non-fiction book per week in 2021. Now that we’re vaccinated, we’re traveling around the U.S., staying about a month in each place and learning along the way.
I also publish regular monthly recaps of what I’m doing in retirement; the posts detail activities, expenses, and lessons learned during each month.
10. If you were starting back at ground zero, what would you do differently?
I wouldn’t change much. I identified the life I wanted, saved for it, and tried to enjoy the present while investing for the future. My approach included an “anti-budget”: I spent on what mattered, tallied totals at month’s end, and invested the rest. Over time I averaged expenses across months to form a practical, flexible budget. I focused on steady progress instead of forcing myself into an unsustainable strict plan.
11. What’s your best tip for someone seeking similar success?
Be honest with yourself. Identify what truly makes you happy and prioritize spending—both money and time—on those things. Ask yourself if a purchase or activity genuinely adds value to your life. If it does, keep it. If it doesn’t, cut it.
Intentionality matters more than deprivation. Spend on what brings you joy and don’t be afraid to live differently. People will judge regardless, so choose the path that makes you happiest.
Are you interested in early retirement or financial independence? What other questions would you ask Purple?
Recommended reading: 16 Best Side Hustles for Retirees