A married couple who both retired at 31 as self-made millionaires had spent years traveling the world — until the pandemic sent them home. Take a look at what life is like for these digital nomads under quarantine.
Hillary Hoffower
- Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, a married couple, both retired as self-made millionaires at age 31 to travel the world.
- They were staying in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when the coronavirus pandemic hit.
- They've since been riding out the storm in their home base of Toronto.
- While Shen and Leung no longer have access to foreign culture, their quarantine days don't look all too different from their travel days.
For Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, the biggest difference in quarantine life is location.
The couple, who retired at age 31 from their computer engineer jobs to travel the world, is riding out the pandemic in their home base of Toronto, Canada. It's a far cry from Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they had been staying when the pandemic hit.
But their typical quarantine schedule isn't so unlike their typical travel schedule, which is often centered around wellness, passion projects, and their friends. It just comes with different views.
Shen and Leung still make time to meditate, but now it's with an app instead of on a rooftop with friends. And they still dine on flavorful international food, but now they make it in their kitchen instead of eating out at a street stall. They also carve out time to engage with the early retirement community. But with many of their speaking engagements canceled, they're focusing on their blog, Millennial Revolution, more than ever.
Here's what a typical day in quarantine looks like for Shen and Leung, who have traveled to 40-plus countries, in their Toronto home base.
Read the original article on Business InsiderFive years ago, self-made millionaires Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung retired at age 31 from their computer engineering jobs to travel the world.
Shen and Leung run the personal finance blog Millennial Revolution and wrote a book, "Quit Like a Millionaire." It was published in 2019.
They were in the midst of a three-month stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they'd been renting a condo for $650 a month, when the pandemic hit in March.
They told Business Insider that they returned to Canada, where they're from, to "ride out the storm." With flights around the world suspended and borders closed, they've "been forced to stop traveling" for the first time in five years.
Since returning to their home base of Toronto, they've been staying in a $950-a-month Airbnb. But they've still kept with a similar schedule, waking up at 8:30 a.m. every day.
With travel restrictions causing Airbnb bookings to drop significantly, they said, they've been able to "snag accommodations at a steep discount."
"A similar one-bedroom condo in the same building was listed on the long-term rental market for $1,480 a month before this pandemic hit," Shen said.
Half an hour later, they brush their teeth, shower, and make a healthy breakfast of Greek yogurt, grapes, and organic strawberries.
They're typically not a fan of big breakfasts.
At 9:30 a.m., Shen and Leung always meditate. But during quarantine, this no longer includes rooftop views views of Mount Doi Suthep. Instead, they use the Insight Timer app.
In Thailand, they meditated on their condo roof with friends and fellow early retirees, Katie Donegan from Marvelous Katie D and Alan Donegan from the Rebel Entrepreneur podcast.
That couple is now quarantining in the UK, so the foursome meditate virtually together. "Although we can't see each other in person, we've been having regular Skype calls to stay in touch," Shen said.
Shen follows up meditation with yoga on her condo balcony half an hour later.
Since gyms have been closed, Shen has been doing YouTuber's Yoga with Kassandra's monthly yoga challenge to stay fit.
After, Shen continues her zen time reading a book on meditation for the next hour-and-a-half — something she did even when she traveled.
Right now, Shen is reading Tara Lenley's "Lean Out" — what Shen calls "the antithesis of Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In."
"Since we've been in lockdown mode for two months now, this book is a breath of fresh air and reminds us to slow down and reflect on what's really important in our lives, instead of constantly striving for accomplishments," Shen said. "Books like these and meditation have been very helpful during the shutdown in calming our minds."
At noon, Shen and Leung would eat lunch out all the time in Thailand. "Now that restaurants are closed, we've had to up our cooking game," they said. "It's been a huge adjustment."
They've been following simple street food recipes from the YouTube channel, Chinese Cooking Demystified. They said they've also been getting recipes from their Mexican-American friend, Angel. "If I can't physically travel, at least we can travel via food," Shen said.
Today, they made Mexican nachos, guacamole, and Coctel Mixto and hand-pulled oil seared Biangbiang noodles and iced tea, all from scratch.
"One of the few upsides to this pandemic is that you learn to develop new skills, like cooking, out of necessity," Shen said, adding that it helped their cost of living plummet to $1,760 for the month of May — less than their $1,972 cost of living in Thailand for the month of January. "Somehow, now living in Toronto, one of the most expensive cities in Canada, during the pandemic is less expensive than how much we spent living in Thailand. Go figure."
True to their non-pandemic schedule, they sit down to answer reader emails and comments for their blog an hour after lunch.
"One of the biggest criticisms of the FIRE movement is that it only works during bull markets," Shen said. "But now that we're in a bear market, we are teaching readers how to invest during a downturn — since that's how we learned index investing via trial-by-fire during 2008."
They also started a series called "How is this pandemic affecting your FIRE journey?" to interview people on the path to FIRE and on how their finances have been impacted by COVID-19.
At 2 p.m., they go for a social distancing walk with their friend, Clover.
"It's important to stay inside as much as you can to keep everyone safe during this time," Shen said. "For your mental and physical health, it's also important to go for walks in wide open spaces."
Two hours later, they head back to their condo to write upcoming blog posts. Prior to the shutdowns, their schedule was packed with events that have since been canceled.
On the pre-coronavirus schedule: A documentary to shoot in LA, a Google Talk in Austin, and a keynote talk at a financial conference in St. Louis.
"For the first time in the past few years, our calendar is completely empty," Shen said. "This has been a great time to reflect and refocus on the most important things in our lives — our family and friends."
Apart from working on the blog, they've spent time clearing their task list and making themselves available to help their parents and stay in touch weekly with friends.
At 5 p.m., they relax with a nice glass of wine on their condo balcony.
An hour later, they find themselves traveling through food again as they make Mapo tofu for dinner.
It's a "Sichuanese specialty that's unapologetically spicy, just like its people," Shen said.
Shen reads again for an hour at 7 p.m., but picks up a different book: "Why I Hate Canadians" by Will Ferguson.
Shen calls it a "tongue-in-cheek satire."
At 8 p.m., she and Leung sit on the balcony, watch the sunset, and listen to music for an hour.
After, they play an online board game: Settlers of Catan. "I manage to trounce Bryce three times in a row," Shen said.
By midnight, it's bedtime. "We fall sleep to the bright lights within the concrete jungle of Toronto, dreaming about the elephants, street food, and $10-foot massages of Thailand," Shen said.
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