A woman who was able to leave her job and enjoy a ‘mini-retirement’ at the age of 38 has revealed the financial tricks that allowed her to spend three years without working.
Sabina Horrocks, 41, was able to enjoy a three-year break from work after the birth of her daughter in 2021.
By then, she and her husband had amassed a net worth of around $2 million and were both generating six-figure incomes in addition to running a rental business.
“We didn’t do anything extraordinary; I’d say the way we became millionaires is pretty boring,” Sabina said. Business Insider.
‘That’s what I think most people don’t understand. Getting rich is not a matter of haste… It is discipline and consistency over time,’ he stated.
Sabina Horrocks, 41, was able to take three years off work in a sort of mini-retirement after scrimping and saving in her twenties.
On your blog, The MoneyairesSabina explained that her and her husband’s combined income in 2007 was $80,000.
By 2020, however, they “managed to become millionaires,” he wrote.
‘Who better to learn from than someone who has already been down the road?’ —He asked BI.
Sabrina grew up in a lower middle class family in the suburbs of Chicago. While she never went hungry, she told BI that her parents lived a very modest lifestyle.
He managed to secure a scholarship for his first two years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he double-majored in political science and history.
He then earned his MBA from DePaul University in Chicago. The program is It is estimated to cost just under $35,000.which is a fraction of the price of MBA Programs at Neighboring Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University.
Sabrina met her husband when they were both younger and tied the knot with a low-cost wedding once they both landed corporate jobs.
From there, they figured out how to optimize their financial future, taking it one day at a time.
‘I had never thought about our future financial goals. In my house no one really talks about it, other than indulging in certain things,” she said.
She explained that growing up, her family “was always trying to save, and my parents would go to four grocery stores on the weekends to save $3 on bread and eggs.”
As an adult, it wasn’t too difficult a leap to adopt smart financial habits with her husband.
When the couple was ready to purchase property of their own, they chose a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo for $137,000.
After marrying her husband in a low-cost wedding, the two worked hard to maintain financially responsible habits.
In the late aughts, when they were ready to upgrade and balked at the shiny condos in downtown Chicago, they opted for a house in the suburbs for half the cost.
‘My husband and I have always worked together as a team and treated the finances in our marriage like a business. We have always had transparency, objectives and shared effort,’ Sabina explained to BI.
‘We treat income as household income, not mine or your income. I personally don’t understand how marriages can survive without transparency and a “me” mentality.’
As they climbed the corporate ladder, they continued to manage rental properties, even successfully weathering the burst of the real estate bubble in 2008.
After the housing crisis, when their rental properties plummeted by $60,000, Sabina admitted the couple may have gone over budget, even selling one of their cars, while cutting back on simple pleasures like a night out with friends.
When housing prices were low, they briefly bought more rental properties, but Sabina’s husband hated the task of managing them and they eventually sold their properties and retired the money.
In total, their combined net worth now exceeds $2 million.
It’s spread across about $1.16 million in retirement accounts, $460,000 in an after-tax brokerage account, $250,000 in home equity, $30,000 in an HSA, $25,000 in a 529 and $25,000 in savings.
When she left her job in 2021 to spend time with her daughter, she was earning $120,000.
One day, while facing eight hours of meetings, she realized she would rather spend time with her baby.
Her husband earned enough to support them all if she took time off, and he encouraged her to do so.
Sabina was finally able to enjoy some of the fruits of all her hard work, including recently taking a transatlantic cruise with her daughter and mom.
“We’re at a point where we can do things like that, and I think it was because, when we were 20, we made big sacrifices,” he said.
