{"id":838512,"date":"2026-06-02T06:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T06:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/838512\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T06:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T06:30:15","slug":"we-manage-expenses-with-gold-fds-rentals-indian-couple-shares-how-they-retired-early-to-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/838512\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We manage expenses with gold, FDs, rentals\u2019: Indian couple shares how they retired early to travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does a typical day look like when you walk away from your career<\/a> decades ahead of schedule? In a detailed chat with Hindustantimes.com, 52-year-old Yogesh and 51-year-old Seema opened up about their journey as a “FIREd” (Financial Independence, Retire Early) couple. After encountering widespread scepticism from peers when they first retired in their 40s, the couple established a growing online community to teach financial literacy. They noted that while a robust multi-currency portfolio secures their daily expenses, the true challenge of early retirement lies in finding a new identity outside of corporate titles.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Indian couple, Yogesh and Seema, who retired in their 40s to travel the world. (Yogesh and Seema)Where are they from?<\/p>\n

The couple explained, \u201cSeema is from Delhi<\/a> while Yogesh hails from a small village near Abohar, Punjab. Now retired in Thailand. Spend 6-7 months in Thailand, 2-3 in India and the rest of the time travelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>\u2018I felt I belonged\u2019: NRI Justin Bhandari on rediscovering Delhi with his Canadian partner<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When did they retire?<\/p>\n

The couple told Hindustantimes.com, \u201cSeema retired when she was 42 and Yogesh retired when he was 48. We decided in our mid\/late thirties that we would like to retire early rather than work till our 60s. So started working towards that goal by saving at least 30% of our income and investing diligently every month. Also, started scouting for different locations based on our evaluation criteria (quality of life, cost of living, residency visas, taxes, healthcare, social life, nature, proximity to family etc).\u201d<\/p>\n

How do they manage their monthly expenses?<\/p>\n

Is it tough to manage their expenses without having jobs? The couple answered \u201cno\u201d. They went on to explain that their primary source of income comes from a diversified portfolio of investments, including real estate, mutual funds, fixed deposits, debt funds, and gold.<\/p>\n

They continued, \u201cAlso, while working in different parts of the world during our professional life, we invested in Euro and USD assets to diversify currencies,\u201d adding, \u201cNow we are able to meet our expenses from the quarterly dividends, monthly real estate rentals and annual interest from fixed deposits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why run a YouTube channel when they\u2019ve retired?<\/p>\n

The couple recalled, \u201cWhen we informed our friends, family and colleagues that we were retiring early, we got tons of questions that made us realise that the overall personal finance awareness in even very smart people at senior positions in corporates is shockingly low and there are lots of myths around retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added, \u201cSo, around 2 years back, we started this YouTube channel \u2018The FIREdCouple\u2019 to share our financial journey, retirement experiences and personal finance knowledge. We\u2019ve now had quite a few meetups and built a good community where we exchange ideas, thoughts and share experiences with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

This digital venture, however, has triggered a fair share of scepticism from onlookers. The couple explained that people often assume they haven’t truly retired because they manage an active online presence.<\/p>\n

Addressing this misconception, they pointed out that running the channel is far from a demanding corporate gig, requiring just a single day of work a week to maintain.<\/p>\n

Did they face any criticism for their decision?<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, it has been more curiosity, scepticism and cliches than negatives. Curiosity: as to how we went about this journey, especially as a couple (most people we know are generally not aligned as a couple or the husband does most of the planning),\u201d the couple recalled.<\/p>\n

They added, \u201cClich\u00e9: The general stereotype about retired life is that doing nothing and that means people lose their sense of purpose, especially if one retires early. Retirement actually means doing the things that you love and with the flexibility of deciding if and when you want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do they spend their day?<\/p>\n

The couple explained that they now live at a relaxed pace and also invest time in learning new skills. As for their daily routine, the couple described, \u201cTypical day (when we are not travelling) is waking up \u2026 without an alarm clock, doing some yoga, having a slow breakfast, chai and reading up on news, playing pickleball with a group of friends for around 2 hrs, lunch, rest, and replying to YouTube video comments.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also spend time speaking with people they mentor and coach on a pro bono basis. Other than that, the couple love socialising with friends, learning new things or simply reading books or watching a series.<\/p>\n

Did they regret their decision?<\/p>\n

The couple told Hindustantimes.com, \u201cThe only regret is not doing this sooner (could have retired earlier but fell for the \u2018One More Year\u2019 syndrome).\u201d<\/p>\n

However, this lifestyle comes with its fair share of challenges. For instance, the couple’s social network has changed \u201cdramatically\u201d. They explained, \u201cOver the years, our professional network slowly starts becoming our social network. This takes a nose-dive as soon as one retires. So, it becomes important to define a pivot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>\u20b94 LPA job at TCS to make nearly \u20b914 LPA on her own terms: \u2018Couldn\u2019t afford expensive education\u2019”>Kanpur girl leaves \u20b94 LPA job at TCS to make nearly \u20b914 LPA on her own terms: \u2018Couldn\u2019t afford expensive education\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s their advice for others?<\/p>\n

The couple shared that the transition from being defined by their corporate title to only their personal identity can be hard for some. \u201cOur corporate identity defines us for so long that it is an actual loss that happens, especially in early retirement. Suddenly, you are no longer a Manager, Director, VP, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yogesh and Seema also told Hindustantime.com, \u201cRetirement means spending a lot of time as a couple compared to the working years. This means we need to invest time in aligning on our hobbies, goals, areas of interest, etc. Also to find that \u2018me time\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What does a typical day look like when you walk away from your career decades ahead of schedule?…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":838513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,143361,9401,343558,255,1164,67,132,68,1062],"class_list":["post-838512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-fd","tag-gold","tag-indian-couple","tag-personal-finance","tag-travel","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-viral"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116679110081773399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}