Today I will briefly explain why my wife and I decided to quit our 9 to 5 jobs and semi-retire abroad. Then I will share our main income streams and what those look like in terms of monthly cash flow.
Table of Contents
Why take the plunge and quit our day jobs?
We hit our Coast FIRE number (which was 500,000) at ages 26 and 29 late last year. At that point, we knew that our investments or nest egg would continue to grow and be large enough at retirement age for us to retire, EVEN without us contributing anything. All we needed was enough to cover monthly expenses.
On top of that, we have an entire year’s cost of living saved and have a fully funded emergency fund. For these reasons, amongst others, we decided to make the huge decision to quit our 9 to 5 jobs and semi-retire abroad!!
The goal now is to build pursue our passion for building this online business to help inspire and help others achieve FIRE. If we don’t happen to make enough money from our online business, we always have the option to find some part-time work here in China.
Although we have money from our income streams to help cover daily expenses in China, we want to increase our income to continue maxing out both of our IRAs each year and continue contributing to our kids’ education funds (529 accounts).
Our income streams
Our two main income streams can be broken into two categories: rental income and influencer income.
We technically have investment dividend income and high-yield saving account interest payment income but those are basically re-invested so I will not count them today.
Rental Income
Currently we have two properties being rented out in Utah. The first one is a condo and the second property is a single family home.
We have a good friend who owns her own property management company so we decided to have her be our property manager for both of our properties.
After property management fees, HOA, and mortgage payments, the total positive cash flow we have from both properties is $900 per month. In Chinese money (yuan) that is about ¥5,850.
Influencer Income
This category includes our social media and online presence such as our blog, YouTube channel, and social media accounts in China. In total these combined is giving us $400 a month or ¥2,600 yuan.
Honestly the majority of this income is coming from my Wife’s Chinese social media platforms.
We are still working hard to create valuable content on YouTube so we really appreciate your support. A like and subscribing both go a long way to help us grow and reach more people!
The reason we decided to build a YouTube channel, blog, and social media is due to the low cost of starting. There is also the added benefit of flexibility and being able to work anywhere and anytime, not to mention no work drama and can be our own bosses. haha
Even after hitting full FIRE one day, we would love to keep sharing on these platforms!
Conclusion
The total amount of positive cash flow we get from all income streams each month is $1,300 USD. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is enough to cover our expenses while living abroad in China. This amount wouldn’t full cover our living expenses in America though, haha.
Since we’ve hit Coast FIRE we have the flexibility to work where we want and on what we want. It’s our hope that we can continue to improve, we still have a lot to learn and want to help others better understand and manage money to achieve financial peace!
