How a Seattle couple achieved financial independence in their mid-30s after paying their way through school — and why they don't want to retire early

Tech Insider : Economy
Mai-lan Phan and her husband Ryan Wagoner with their kid
Mai-lan Phan and her husband Ryan Wagoner reached financial independence in their mid-30s.

Mai-lan Phan

Uber, Doordash, and other gig workers in Seattle may be about to face a pay reckoning

Tech Insider : Economy
DoorDash driver on motor bike
Gig delivery workers in Seattle could get paid at a lower rate under proposed changes to the city's new pay law.

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Move over, New York and San Francisco, the US's major job hubs are now cities like Charleston and Hilton Head, South Carolina

Tech Insider : Economy
People take a photo in May 2021 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which has one of the fastest job growth rates in the country.
People take a photo in May 2021 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which has one of the fastest job growth rates in the country.

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Seattle gave low-income residents $500 monthly payments with no strings attached. Some got new housing and employment rates nearly doubled.

Tech Insider : Economy, Economy
A view of the Seattle skyline.
A view of the Seattle skyline.

Jeff Halstead/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Seattle's Instacart shoppers are having to go miles out of their way because of the new gig worker pay law

Tech Insider : Economy
A shopper wearing a baseball cap loads several cases of bottled water onto an orange flat-bed cart at a Costco store.
Seattle-area gig workers have had to go miles out of their way as Instacart arranges orders outside of the city limits.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Instacart, DoorDash, and other apps appear to be trying to roll back Seattle's new laws for gig workers

Tech Insider : Economy
A woman with red hair puts a box of Wheat Thins in a brown paper grocery bag sitting in a cart at a Safeway grocery store in early 2020.
Instacart is pushing its gig worker shoppers to tell the Seattle city council to alter a pay law that took effect earlier this year.

San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images

Jeff Bezos just purchased his 3rd mansion on a gated island off Miami. Take a look at all the lavish US properties he owns.

Tech Insider
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos announced he is relocating to Miami, one of the many places he owns property.

Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images

We bought a house in Japan for $30,000. We'll have more land than we could afford in the US, and our kids will be more independent.

Tech Insider
A man and woman taking a photo in Japan.
Leika and Brandon Hansen bought a home in Japan and plan to move there from Washington.

Courtesy of Leika Hansen.

I retired from Amazon at 34 and chose to settle in Canada, where I only need $1,000 a month to live well

Tech Insider
A man posing on the Northern Terminus sign in between trees.
Grigory Lukin retired in his early 30s and moved from the US to Canada.

Grigory Lukin

Boeing's board shut down a shareholder's bid to move its headquarters back to Seattle

Tech Insider
A Boeing 737 Max is displayed during the Farnborough Airshow, in Farnborough, on July 18, 2022
A Boeing 737 Max.

JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

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