This first-person article is based on an interview with 32-year-old Johnston Osage ( Johnston Osagie ). He retired early and moved from Tennessee to Ecuador with his wife and daughter. Business Insider has verified his financial situation, past employment relationships, and related cost comparisons. This article has been edited for length and clarity.
My goal has always been to retire early. I originally planned to work hard to earn money, invest wisely, and achieve financial independence in my early 40s.
In the summer of 2025, when I was 31 years old, I found out that I was about to become a father. Suddenly, the idea of spending another 10 years of my best years working instead of being with my family didn't seem so appealing anymore.
Actually, in 2022 I had already reached a "financial freedom" of $350,000. So last year I thought to myself: Why wait any longer to do what I really want to do?
I resigned from my job at Amazon in January, and then in February, my wife and I moved from Nashville to Cuenca, Ecuador. Our daughter was born in April. Now, no matter how big or small the events are in her life, I am always there for her. Every time I look at her, I can’t imagine that I ever considered not doing so.
I regard the financial profession as a path leading to FIRE.
When deciding on a career direction, I asked myself: What can I learn that will enable me to achieve financial freedom the fastest?
The answer is finance. I started working immediately after graduating in 2016, and since then, I have been saving and investing. I have worked in the financial industry for nearly 10 years, and my most recent job was as a financial manager at Amazon.
Our financial freedom goal is $350,000.
In the last 5 years of my career, my average annual income was around $150,000. I managed to save about 45% of my income. Since I wanted to retire early, I adopted a more aggressive strategy for my investment portfolio in order to grow my wealth more quickly.
I'm very lucky; the money I've earned far exceeds our needs. We could have lived in better houses, gone on better vacations, and driven better cars, but we chose to live within our means, even below our income level.
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Our FIRE goal is $350,000. This figure isn't complicated: we first calculate the income needed to maintain the lifestyle we desire, and then we eliminate those unnecessary and valueless expenses.
I want to be a father who dedicates myself wholeheartedly.
I always imagined that I would become a parent who devoted myself wholeheartedly, but at that time I worked 9 to 12 hours a day. Before my daughter was born, the only thing that really reassured me was to stop working completely.
I submitted my resignation in January, one month before we moved to Ecuador. It was a decision with mixed feelings. I actually liked the corporate environment as well.
Moving abroad is not mainly due to cost.
Even if we stayed in the United States, we could easily afford to retire early, but the more important question is: what kind of life do we want? The cost of living is just one aspect of it. We also considered what life would be like for us as black people in different places, the quality of life, and the educational opportunities for our children.
We conducted extensive research online, examining cities around the world. Cape Town, Montevideo in Uruguay, and Arequipa in Peru all made it onto the shortlist.
In November 2025, on the suggestion of my wife, we made a spontaneous trip to Ecuador, and we immediately fell in love with that place. We knew then that it was the right place for us.
Quinka is a big city, but it has an atmosphere like that of a small town. It doesn’t take too long to get anywhere. By the end of our first week there, we had made quite a few friends at the cafes.
Our rent is $1,120 less than our mortgage.
We moved in February. It was a very stressful process. We had an entire room full of things that we had to sell or donate.
During that trip in November, we visited hospitals, learned about the prices of furniture and household appliances, toured apartments, and got familiar with the city. We contacted a real estate agent and secured a place to stay before we even arrived.
On the day we arrived, our accommodation was already prepared for us. Our rent is about $600 per month, while in the United States, the monthly mortgage payment would be $1720. We recently sold our house in the US because I don't want to be a landlord in another country.
Medical care in Ecuador is cheaper.
Our daughter was born in April, 3 weeks earlier than expected, and my wife spent a longer time in the hospital after the cesarean section. The total cost of delivery was 2,790 dollars. In the United States, this expense would likely be several thousand dollars higher.
Previously, in the United States, we had to pay about $300 per person per month for medical insurance. In Ecuador, we pay per visit, as the cost of insurance is roughly the same as the out-of-pocket expenses. On average, we spend about $50 per month taking our baby to see a doctor.
The most difficult part of moving is that we are thousands of miles away from our family. As new parents, it’s hard for us to accept that our parents can’t come over to help us out for a weekend whenever they want. However, here we have some resources that we couldn’t reasonably afford in the United States. We hire overnight caregivers to come to our home five nights a week so that we can get some sleep. The cost per night is $44.
We will miss some conveniences of Western life, such as receiving Amazon deliveries within a few hours. Moreover, our Spanish is not perfect, but when I look at my daughter, I don’t feel that we lack anything.
I cherish this freedom, as well as the time I can spend with my daughter. I still have many side projects I can try out.
My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.
