A self-made millionaire tells of the shocking lifestyle change that made him effortlessly rich.
Writer and entrepreneur Steve Adcock, 42, traveled the road to financial success in a camper van.
He and his wife Courtney quit their jobs, sold their 1,600-square-foot Arizona home, and moved with their two dogs into a 200-square-foot Airstream camper.
In a CNBC Steve wrote: ‘In retrospect, that was one of the main reasons I was able to build wealth.’
Steve was tired of his boring day job as a software developer and quit his job when he and Courtney made the big move in 2016. Courtney followed in 2017, leaving her days as a rocket scientist behind.
Steve and Courtney Adcock quit their jobs and sold their house to live in a camper for three years, making Steve a millionaire by his own admission.
The couple had about $900,000 in savings at the time, giving them “some breathing room” to explore their new life.
For the next three years, they toured the country, documenting their journey on YouTube and writing about it.
Steve wrote: “During that three-year period, living cheaply in our Airstream allowed us to increase our net worth as we drove, even though we no longer had a full-time job.”
Steve said the hardest part about moving to a smaller house was sorting through all the stuff he and Courtney had.
He wrote: “We offloaded some stuff from friends and family. We donated a lot to Goodwill, probably enough to fill an entire store. We had multiple weekend garage sales and digitized thousands of photos onto CDs instead of keeping physical photos.”
By keeping only what was absolutely necessary, Steve and Courtney realized how little they actually needed to live comfortably. Steve described having less stuff as “very liberating.”
Another disadvantage was the lack of electricity, water and sewage connections.
They were making a few hundred dollars a month from YouTube videos and about $1,000 a month from a blog Steve wrote about retiring early. They also had stocks that they largely left alone.
Their total expenses per month were about $3,500. Overall, Steve said this was a much cheaper life than the life he was living before.
The only expense that increased was the grocery bill: by 25 percent. This was because they had to go to local stores more often.
They camped in about half the states and kept living costs down by staying on Bureau of Land Management land, where campers can stay for free for two weeks.
The couple traveled to about half the states and increased their fortune by about $150,000 over the three years
When you factor in all the expenses that come with traveling, the adventurous couple now have a net worth of $150,000 more than when they started, making them officially millionaires.
He wrote in the CNBC story: “Not bad for a guy who’s never set foot in an office!”
Steve’s website is dedicated to sharing financial tips that can help anyone grow their wealth.
After their three exciting years of seeing the country and saving money, it seems they are both back to work.
Courtney is a real estate agent and software engineering consultant, according to her LinkedIn. Steve wrote a book called “Millionaire Habits” that was published in January.
