How to retire by 40 (while working in STEM) feat. Lennis Perez, Wellness Engineer & Speaker

Latinos Who Tech

Welcome to a new episode of Latinos who tech, my name is Hugo Castellanos.

This a podcast about the stories of latinos working in the tech industry and tools to help you take your career to the next level.

In this episode we explore the FIRE Movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and what does it mean to retire before 40.

I spoke with my friend Lennis Perez, a chemical engineer and speaker that achieved financial independence after working 16 years in the industry.

The kicker: she achieved it while making less than six figures a year.

Imagine how fast you could do it with a six figure tech job?

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**### Connect**

Hugo Castellanos https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugocastellanos/

Lennis Perez https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennis-perez/

and check out her website at https://lennisperez.com/

📧 Feel free to say hello via hello(at)latinoswhotech(period)com

## Timestamps

0:00 - Intro

9:48 - Icebreaker

11:56 - Tell us about yourself and working in Chemical Engineering

16:36 - Breaking away from the 9-5 mentality

17:25 - What is FIRE anyway?

20:18 - The 4% rule : How much money do you actually need?

23:48 - Doing FIRE is like building your own pension

25:20 - 401k and 401k matching

30:38 - How tech workers get paid. Cash + Stock

31:40 - Did you have to do any lifestyle changes? aka - Prenups are not only for rich people

32:07 - Divorce and how it can affect your Financial Independence plan

34:30 - Moving to a different state can be a great move to accelerate FIRE

35:30 - How to calculate your FIRE number

40:27 - Financial Independence WITHOUT retiring early

41:00 - Living a full life at 3K a month

43:00 - Financial Literacy

45:00 - Why Hugo pursued FIRE

47:00 - Burnout and pursuing FIRE to avoid it

51:31 - Unlimited PTO is a SCAM

54:00 - Different kinds of FIRE: CoastFIRE, FatFIRE, LeanFIRE, Regular FIRE

55:46 - 2 sides of FI Podcast

59:00 - Lennis reinvention as a Wellness Engineer

1:11:00 - Breaking away from 9-5 mentality and immigrant guilt

1:15:00 Becoming a money archetype coach and making sense of IRAs, 401ks and brokerage accounts

## Resources we mentioned:

Mister Money Mustache Blog:

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/11/29/how-to-retire-forever-on-a-fixed-chunk-of-money/

Rich, Broke, Dead calculator

https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/

Ramit Sethi - I will teach you to be rich https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second-dp-1523505745/dp/1523505745/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/