The Plutus Community Directory

We are Jay and Sara, just a couple of happy, adventure-driven elementary school educators born and raised in the great state of Minnesota. Our earliest learning experiences in kindergarten through our graduate degrees happened there. So did the first 18 years of our teaching careers. It’s a swell place to learn, grow up, and call home. In 2012 we decided to shake things up and took our lives on the road, becoming international school teachers, first in South Africa and then Hong Kong. As a result, our whole life changed for the better. We always loved to travel but living abroad gave that a whole new meaning. It provided insights and perspectives of the world that we never thought we’d have. And to this, we’ll be eternally grateful. The moves also helped us further prioritize what was important in our lives. For the longest time, we’ve been crazy about the outdoors, doing activities that get us moving and exploring by human power. This could mean biking, hiking, trail running, backpacking, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing, and anything in between. Put us in the outdoors, and we are happy. Living overseas made us long to do that more, and that required less full-time employment. We had a reason. Now we just had to find a way. Since neither of us was a trust fund baby, nor did we have that mysterious rich aunt or uncle, we determined we needed to learn as much as we could about investing and living within our means to maximize our savings. Enter reading more about the financial independence movement and advice from some of its founding members. We gobbled up as much information as we could and quickly changed our philosophy with money. These efforts swiftly proved successful, leading to financial independence and retiring early from our teaching careers in the summer of 2022. This blog chronicles our personal experiences leading to financial independence and beyond. More importantly, it proves people can create adventurous and rewarding lives with pretty regular jobs and a typical upbringing. You may learn something new, be inspired to think differently, or live vicariously through our experiences as we continue to try to figure out this thing called life. If none of those things happen, we hope at least to entertain you. So take it as you will and enjoy your life journey while making our planet a better place for all humans and critters. We wish you well! Peace.