Can You Actually Retire Early When You Have Kids?

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting, Personal Journals, Technology

4.3 • 833 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Financial advice for parents usually lands in extremes, either panic-inducing warnings about how expensive kids are, or unrealistic frameworks that don’t account for how life actually unfolds. This week’s guests, Christy Shen and Bryce Leung became well-known after publishing Quit Like a Millionaire and retiring at 30 with over a million dollars invested, but their path started from a place of real financial precarity. Christy grew up in deep poverty, at one point living on just cents a day, which shaped how she thinks about risk, security, and the appeal of financial independence. Now parents, their new book Parent Like a Millionaire Without Being One turns that framework toward family life, breaking down how to spend intentionally without getting pulled into the high-pressure baby economy. They talk about buying secondhand gear that holds value, building childcare swaps and babysitting co-ops, and leaning on community rather than defaulting to commercial solutions. Grab a copy of Parent Like a Millionaire Without Being One here. Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sanjeeves just received a decent bonus.
0:02.3	Nice work, Sanjeeve. He knows he could invest all of the money, but he's seen a new watch he likes. He's not worried. With his HSBC Premier bank account and access to their financial advice service, he can get a personalised plan for the future and know how much you can spend a day. Everything's Premier when your bank account is. Search HSBC Premier. HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity.
0:23.1	For financial advice, you need minimum £100,000.
0:25.6	Other criteria and fees apply.
0:26.9	Financial and other eligibility criteria apply for HSBC Premier.
0:37.2	Hey all, Joe here, and you are listening to Under the Influence.
0:41.2	Quick housekeeping note, I'm planning my summer tour for the Parisian heist, and I would
0:45.1	love to come to your city. So shoot me a note on Instagram or email me at joe.
0:50.3	Dot piazza at gmail.com and tell me all about your local independent bookstore. I would love, love,
0:56.2	love, love to see you on the road. And in the meantime, make sure to go into that local bookstore
1:00.2	and pre-order your copy of the Parisian heist today. It helps them. It helps me. And honestly,
1:07.7	it's going to help you because you're going to love, love, love, love, love, love, love,
1:11.1	reading this book and ignoring your kids at the public pool.
1:15.1	Now on to today's episode.
1:17.3	There's no shortage of get-rich quick scams on social media.
1:21.0	As the economy gets more and more precarious, there's just going to be more and more of them.
1:26.4	But today's guests are the real deal.
1:28.9	Christy Shen and Bryce Lung published the book Quit Like a Millionaire back in 2019,
1:34.0	and then they actually did it.
1:36.2	They're part of that fire crew, you know, the millennial thing that is financial independence,
1:40.6	retire early.
1:41.8	And they retired at 30, with over a million dollars in the bank,
	...

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