4 Gen Zers on track for financial independence explain the mix of passive income, businesses, and sacrifices it took to get there

Many Gen Z Americans are prioritizing financial savviness, aiming for financial independence and early retirement. BI spoke with four who are on track.

• Many Gen Z Americans are prioritizing financial savviness, aiming for early retirement.
• Young Americans invest more than previous generations; two-thirds save for retirement early.
• Four Gen Zers said they're embracing FIRE principles like cutting spending and diversifying income.

Gen Z is becoming more financially savvy — and many are doing whatever they can to retire early.

Many more young Americans are investing compared to their parents in their early- and mid-20s, and two-thirds of Gen Z has already started saving for retirement, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

Four Gen Z Americans told Business Insider they've followed the principles of the FIRE — financial independence, retire early — movement to achieve a high net worth before their 30th birthdays. These include cutting back on spending, investing in index funds and real estate, having passive income from side hustles, and maxing out retirement accounts early.

Some said they don't intend on following the "retire early" part of the acronym and instead want to pursue their passions while making money doing so.

Their stories vary widely, from a serial entrepreneur, to a Boeing engineer, to an enlisted sailor in the Navy. But all four emphasized that their sacrifices and risks earlier in life may be the key to their financial stability down the road.

Cody Berman, entrepreneur and "passive income expert"

Cody Berman, 28, hit financial freedom at 25 but has no plans to retire early. He started a handful of businesses in college, some of which failed. He achieved success with his disc golf manufacturing company.

"I had always thought of 'rich' people being people who made a really high dollars per hour — doctors, lawyers who make $200, $300 an hour," Berman said. "Then I realized that you didn't actually have to trade your time for money on a linear basis. You could trade your time, your energy, your money, for things were going to pay you perpetually, whether or not you're working on them."

He got a corporate job as a commercial real estate lender but worked on side hustles each morning and night, sometimes working 15-hour days. He left his job after seven months and went all in on freelancing, digital products, blogging, and podcasting.

At 25, he made about $400,000 in a year from side hustles, which is when he considered himself financially independent. He saved about 90% of his income, investing most of his money into index funds and his portfolio of 11 rental properties.

"I'm not in the FIRE movement for the RE part," Berman said. "I love building businesses."

His net worth is about $2.8 million, but he drives a 2015 Nissan truck approaching 100,000 miles. He and his wife live in a one-bedroom property and rent out a four-bedroom property next door. Cutting back on housing costs allowed him to spend almost $10,000 a month in travel, dining, and concerts.

Berman co-founded Gold City Ventures, which helps others launch Etsy businesses selling printables through workshops and courses. Berman said they've seen people quit their corporate jobs and make much more through online selling.

Jubilee Bosch, engineer taking a sabbatical

Jubilee Bosch, 26, has worked as an engineer in St. Louis since graduating from college, though with over $190,000 in net worth, she's taking a sabbatical.

Bosch was raised in a lower-middle-class family in California by a stay-at-home mom and military father who worked three jobs until starting a house-cleaning business. Though raised to be frugal, she never learned how to invest.

After attending community college and a four-year college, she got a mechanical engineering degree and graduated debt-free due to merit scholarships, college jobs, and some assistance from her parents.

After an internship, she was hired full-time by Boeing, making $64,000. She struggled to transition to the corporate world and burned out quickly, but she kept rising up the ranks, negotiating a promotion and a salary increase to $95,000 a year. Around this time, she read about strategies for reaching financial independence, and increased her investments while helping her friends open Roth IRAs.

She kept expenses to about $22,000 a year and put most of her savings into the market. She moved into a smaller space with her partner, strategically meal-prepped, and got travel credit cards to lower out-of-pocket flight expenses.

"I was starting to realize I probably didn't want a traditional career, and I'm sure I'll probably have gaps in my life where I don't have a regular job, so I can roll those over and be tax efficient," Bosch said.

She had enough investments and savings to take a year off from work, so she eased up on investing to build a cash cushion. She realized she didn't need to be "hyper-frugal" anymore and could spend on things that mattered to her. She now anticipates retiring between 45 and 55, as she wants to try different career paths.

"I started to spend more in areas that brought me a lot of joy and realized that some lifestyle creep is worth it and changes the bottom line very little," Bosch said.

Amber Smith, tech worker-turned-online reseller and content creator

Amber Smith, 27, has a net worth of about $250,000 and quit her tech job earlier this year to pursue her side hustles full-time.

Smith, who lives in West Des Moines, said her parents sold things on eBay for extra money and stressed the importance of side hustles. She got a full scholarship at college and stumbled into a financial planning internship. She read finance blogs and received training from her manager on how to help others — and herself — best prepare for the future.

"Here I was in my first real office job, and I thought I could do this for another 40 years of my life, or I could save aggressively now and cut that timeline much shorter," Smith said.

After graduating, she did contract work with her local government and a bank. She landed at a startup making $78,000 two years out of college, then transitioned to a financial tech company making about $100,000. However, she was laid off from two jobs back to back, and when she landed in an insurance role, she felt stressed and directionless.

She quit her insurance job to grow her side hustles, as she had a large enough nest egg to avoid the office for a few years. She turned down recruiter interviews and focused on monetized content creation and reselling secondhand clothing.

She made $30,000 to $50,000 a year reselling part-time while at her previous companies. She brought in more from brand deals and influencing in the first five months of 2024 than in all of 2023. Content creation hasn't been as consistent, though she made $2,800 once for a brand deal and accepted others paying over $1,000.

Though her savings are down this year because of the drop in income after leaving her corporate job, she said she's been smart about her investments and isn't too worried since her net worth continues to grow.

"I want a way to pay my bills and afford my life, and I want to do that in a way where I'm not stressed out," Smith said. "The peace of it is such a big part, even if I am making less than I was in my insurance job."

Cory Sarkisian, enlisted sailor in the Navy pursuing a financial planning role

Cory Sarkisian, 27, has been an enlisted sailor in the Navy for eight years, saving and investing $375,000 in the process. He and his wife, who have two kids, have been a single-income household for the last six years, moving between San Diego, Hawaii, and Connecticut.

Sarkisian had $10,000 saved by the time he joined the Navy, and for his first three years, he didn't have to worry about food or housing, allowing him to save most of his earnings. In 2016, he bought a four-year-old Honda Civic in cash and still drives it.

In 2018, he moved out of government quarters and got married. He was given a housing stipend of $2,700 a month, the set amount for someone of his rank, and he and his wife found an apartment for $1,700 a month and kept the rest. He has also never had to pay for healthcare, which is free through the military.

In 2020, he began investing in index funds through his Roth IRA and Thrift Savings plan, and he and his wife put 10% down on a condo with a 15-year loan and 1.75% interest rate. He was forced to move to Connecticut two years later, though they sold the condo for $70,000 more than they paid, which they used to start funding their kids' 529 plans, purchase a used car, and put more into brokerage accounts.

They've put $180,000 into their Roth accounts, $125,000 in after-tax brokerage accounts, $45,000 in savings, and $21,000 in 529s. With their savings, they traveled to four Hawaiian islands and New Zealand. Sarkisian said he's looking to pursue financial planning after his time in the Navy.

"We don't feel like we are depriving ourselves," Sarkisian said. "Maybe early on, we endured some deprivation, but we think we have found a pretty good balance."

Are you part of the FIRE movement or living by some of its principles? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.