Ethan Nguonly, a 22-year-old Google techie, has said that he planned to retire at the age of 35 after he had saved Rs 41 crore ($5 million), according to a report by CNBC. According to the report, Nguonly grew up with his parents teaching him about the importance of investing money rather than save the money in a savings account, which they felt would reduce over a period of time. Those teachings played a fundamental role in him starting to invest at an early age.
Nguonly told CNBC, "(My parents) really explained it to me well. If you leave your money here (in a savings account), over time, it’s going to become worthless,' and they said that you should really learn to invest it into something," he told CNBC.
The techie, who graduated in computer science from the University of California, completed his under graduation in two years which meant he had avoided the student debt. After his under graduation, he secured a job at Qualtrics-a software company and simultaneously started his Masters degree in information and data science and completed the course in August 2022. He began working at Google in December 2021 and currently has an annual income of about Rs 1.6 crore, including bonuses.
The CNBC report said that Nguonly has invested Rs 1.1 crore ($135,000) across his retirement and other investment accounts as well as in residences in California and Florida, with plans to extend the real estate portfolio in future. "When I was younger, the main thing I was thinking about was, 'All this money keeps getting bigger, keeps growing, and I'm not doing any work for this'. This really exposed me to the idea that my investments could make me money instead of me actually having to actively work for it," Nguonly added.
He does not spend a lot of money on food as Google offers free breakfast and lunch, atleast three times a week. He likes to spend on travelling to different locations globally and takes three-to-four trips every year.
Nguonly brought an investment property in Riverview, Florida at the start of 2022 and about a year later, brought his primary residence in La Palma, California. "I love living in Orange County, where the sunshine never ends and the beaches are stunning," he added.