(Money Magazine) — John and Gina Rodrigues have always been good with numbers.
John is a software engineer who manages a team at Microsoft, and Gina spent years processing mortgages at Wells Fargo and Countrywide Home Loans. But the numbers they are especially good at are the kind with dollar signs in front of them.
At age 27, John and Gina already earn a combined $174,000 a year, save half of what they make and have built a formidable portfolio of $380,000 in stocks, mutual funds and cash. Their goal: to become millionaires and retire by the time they turn 40, just 13 years from now.
To make that dream a reality, they have become black-belt practitioners of an art rarely practiced in America these days: While others with their earning power might indulge in fancy dinners, luxury vacations and designer wardrobes, the Rodrigueses live like young couples did before the era of easy credit. They rent the house where John grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area for a mere $650 a month; rarely travel; split an entrée on the rare occasions they eat out; and spend almost nothing on clothes (John wears free Microsoft T-shirts, while Gina gets hand-me-downs from her sister).
They are driven by a fierce determination to control their own fate. John yearns to quit his job to indulge his passion for the outdoors, and Gina plans to cut back her hours at the boutique they own to work with animals and, possibly, raise a family.
Can the couple do it? The outcome depends on the answers to three key questions: Will they be able to keep up their spartan lifestyle? (Anxious for a home of their own, they are now shopping for a house in one of the priciest areas of the country.) Will they invest wisely? (Among their goofs so far: They snatched up three properties near the height of the real estate bubble.) And even if they do, is 13 years really enough time to amass the huge sums required to retire at 40 - enough money to last them for the ensuing 50 to 60 years?
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