Mike and Lauren reached financial independence at age 30 and 29, respectively.
But their story begins a dozen years earlier.
Mike and Lauren started dating high school. Mike worked as a restaurant server in high school, earning $19,000 per year. He built his first net worth tracking spreadsheet in December 2005 as a high school student. He had a net worth of $416.
In 2007, Mike dropped out of college to start a commercial cleaning company. He made $76,000 that year. As history would have it, that was the couple’s second-highest-earning year ever.
They married in 2008, when Lauren was 20 and Mike was 21. Two years later, they moved to New York, paid $18,000 in cash for Lauren to enroll in a gemology training program, and earned a combined income of $55,000.
Their income peaked the following year, at $82,000 combined. That’s the highest combined income they’ve ever earned, to date. The following year, their combined income dropped to $61,000, and the year after that, $55,000.
In 2012, they moved back to Florida. Mike took a job at a church, making $36,000 per year. Lauren took a job at a jewelry store, earning $14 per hour. Between the two of them, they earned a combined income of $55,000. Their earnings, effectively, “stabilized” at that rate (so to speak).
Over the last 12 years, they’ve made an average income of $56,000 per year.
They’ve saved at least 50 percent of their income. At their savings rate peak, they saved between 60 to 75 percent of their income.
Today, their net worth is more than $500,000, and they’re generating all the passive income that they need to live.
How did Mike and Lauren reach financial independence by age 30 and 29?
How did they grow a $500,000 net worth on a $56,000 income?
And what lessons can we learn from their story?
Tune into this episode for a peek inside Mike and Lauren’s fun and fascinating life.
Resources Mentioned:
- How Mike and Lauren Retired at 30 (YouTube video)
- MikeandLauren.com


Thanks to our sponsors!
Freshbooks
Save time by using Freshbooks, an easy-to-use, cloud-based accounting system that takes the stress and hassle out of bookkeeping and, especially, invoicing. You can create an invoice in a few seconds, and Freshbooks’ automated system will handle the rest. Visit Freshbooks.com/paula for a free 30-day trial. Please mention this show when they ask how you heard about them.
Headspace
Headspace is your guide to health and happiness – just 10 days of Headspace has been proven t reduce stress and increase happiness. Learn the life-changing skills of meditation and mindfulness in a few minutes a day. Sign up at headspace.com/paula today for a free month trial.
Grove.co
Grove makes shopping for natural products easy. You don’t have to search for a local store hoping that they carry what you want, and you don’t need to worry about overpaying for “organic” products from questionable sites. Interested? Go to grove.co/affordanything to get a free $30 Mrs. Meyer’s gift set with your first order!
Skillshare
Skillshare is an online learning community with more than 20,000 classes in things like business, design, and technology. And you know what’s awesome? You can go through many of these classes in the time it takes to watch a movie. Want to take your learning to the next level? Grab 2 months of Skillshare for free at skillshare.com/paula.
Max Out of Pocket
Thanks Paula. Very interesting couple. I was particularly interested in the ‘baby delivery arbitrage’ down in Costa Rica and definitely something I will reading up on. I was actually surprised the price for the delivery wasn’t a little cheaper.
Lucia
Hi Paula,
Lucía (double citizenship from Uruguay and Spain), listening from the Netherlands. Great podcast and what an impressive journey for the couple!
I just wanted to make a quick note regarding the comment about the Spanish citizenship.
1. It’s true that if you are from the former Spanish territories, you can REQUEST citizenship after 2 years of residence, instead of the 10 years for other nationalities.
2. To be able to REQUEST citizenship, you need to reside LEGALLY in Spain for those two years (this means with a job contract most likely, I am not sure a student visa would qualify).
3. It takes at least about 3 YEARS to get the nationality after you submit the REQUEST…My mother is actually in this process, as she is married with my father (who is a Spanish citizen) for over 40 years and only moved to Spain 3 years ago. She had to wait 1 year (marriage citizenship is 1 year regardless where you were born) but she had legal residence from the start, as she was married with a Spaniard. Right now, they are solving REQUESTS from 2015… so imagine that it takes in total over 5 years even if you are doing everything according to the law!
Congratulations again on your work! Happy to be part of this community.
Best regards,
Lucía
coromondelsea
Were they able to quote prices for complications? NICU stay? Post partum hemorrhage? Neonatal sepsis? Emergency c-section? Presumably those are all included in the original price?
I’m just curious- how did you KNOW it was going to only cost $2700? What would it have cost (thankfully not the case) if you or the baby had ended up in the ICU? Would they have treated you if you weren’t able to pay cash for ongoing care?
Harsh
Hi Paula, I am your fan now.
Simply brilliant your podcast is.
Lot to learn from it – Thanks!
Alice
Interesting episode.