Millionaire Librarian

The two houses above are very similar. Both are around 1,200 sq. ft., have central air, and were updated within the last 10 years. However, there are two key differences: the price and the location.

One house is in rural Oklahoma, in a small city of 20,000 people, while the other is in Nashville, where housing prices have boomed over the last decade. Unsurprisingly, the Oklahoma house costs much less, but the margin may be shocking: the Oklahoma house is $80,000, while the house in Nashville is an astonishing $389,000. The old adage rings true: “Location, location, location.”

However, what many people don’t realize is that by choosing Nashville over rural Oklahoma, you may be enslaving yourself to decades of work. By picking rural Oklahoma, you could retire early.

In 2020, I chose to live in rural Oklahoma and retired late last year at the age of 38. While this is possible for many—though not all—I found a position paying 90% of what I would have made in a large city. I bought a cheap house like the one mentioned above, and I saved and invested exclusively in index funds until I could retire. I did this on a public servant’s income, never earning more than $85,000.

Personal finance is simply income minus expenses. Financial commentators often encourage focusing only on increasing income or cutting small expenses, like a daily latte. I prefer to focus on large expenses, such as housing and transportation. As housing becomes increasingly expensive, I’ve found success by earning a median U.S. income in a very low-cost-of-living area.