How a couple turned to travel as a way to retire early

Santa Monica, California — Rob and Allie Marmion spend their days traveling the world.

“I think it’s great to be able to eat ramen in Japan and eat spaghetti in Italy,” Allie Marmion told CBS News.

It’s like a non-stop vacation that started five years ago, after your kids left home and realized they didn’t save enough to retire comfortably in the US.

“Rob probably got the crazy idea to sell everything,” Allie said… “We sold not just our house, everything in it, our cars.”

They invested the money, and now, ages 49 and 50, the couple lives off the earnings and the occasional remote job.

“What you learn growing up is that you retire when you’re 65 and you sit down and play golf and, it’s like, it doesn’t have to be that way,” Allie said.

Ramit Sethi, host of the Netflix series “How to Get Rich,” encourages people to start planning their lives now.

“You have to know how much money you need in order to survive and prosper,” Sethi said. “Most of us don’t know these numbers. My wife and I sat down and made a 10-year wish list together. We compared notes. There were some things, like skydiving: ‘Have fun, I’ll be in the back waiting for you. And then we found a couple of things that we really want to do together. So we zeroed in on that and said, ‘How much is it going to cost?'”

When the Marmions lived in suburban Atlanta, their monthly bills totaled about $8,000. After doing the math, they determined that they could travel the world for around $4,000 per month.

“We’re in Asia right now,” Rob said. “You can rent a luxury apartment on the beach for about $1,200 a month.”

To finance your “rich life,” Sethi recommends dividing up your take-home pay by setting aside 50-60% for your monthly bills, 5-10% for savings, another 5-10% for low-cost, long-term expenses. . investments, and up to 35% for no-fault expenses.

“Eating out, massages, vacations, whatever you love, you could do it guilt free once all your other numbers are worked out,” Sethi explained. “Your rich life should fit you like a handmade glove… You don’t have to wait. You can start it today. After watching this, sit down and write down what your dream week would be. That’s the beginning of your rich life.”