Thanks so much for sharing a bit of your story, Stuart! Very cool to hear how you lived and were able to save so much at a young age and are now able to live semi-retired in Japan. Sounds like you have a great plan in place and are able to live the life you truly want to live. All the best to you as well. 🙂

I love Nate and Andrea's Spanish podcasts. I have been a saver all my life too. I was fortunate enough to be alive during the boom period in stocks from the 1980s to today. I tried picking stocks and bonds myself, let myself be tempted by self-serving advice from Motley Fool and Seeking Alpha, but eventually learned that slow and steady mutual funds are the best way to go. I think early on, I was a fanatic saver, plunking 50% of my pay into investments, it was so addictive. I semiretired at age 38, moving to Germany and starting to teach English. I eventually ended up in Japan where I still live today. The low salaries I earned overseas prevented me from saving much, but by then my investments had started a life of their own. Today I am fully retired and will delay taking social security as long as possible because I don't need it and would have to pay taxes on it anyway. Japan isn't a very cheap place to live, but so far so good. I live entirely from interest and dividends and I reinvest 20% of my income in hopes that it will help me ride out any future dips in dividend income. I get a thrill out of working in my vegetable garden (save money too!), and spend a lot of time attending Duolingo Zoom events. My health is good. I wish you two great success with this podcast.