Millionaire who retired at 35 and lives off his investments: I’m making ‘almost no changes’ to my spending despite recession fears

For the past six years, since he retired at 35, Steve Adcock has stayed prepared for the possibility of an economic downturn.

With stocks sliding and a potential recession looming, Adcock’s careful preparation is paying off. Though he and his wife Courtney, who is also retired, almost exclusively make money from the growth of their investments, they are able to get through the current market turmoil without making any major changes to their spending or their portfolio. That’s thanks in part to their strategy of always keeping two years worth of expenses in their savings account.

It’s also possible due to the couple’s minimalist lifestyle, says Adcock, now 40. They live off the grid in the Arizona desert; their home is powered by solar panels and they get water from a well installed on their property. As a result, their budget is largely made up of discretionary spending.

“People thought we were crazy living so minimally during a bull market where everybody’s making money. [They said] we should be living large,” Adcock says. “But we didn’t do that. Now we’re making almost no changes, and everybody else is.”

Since the market began sliding from its highs in December and January, the Adcocks have hardly adjusted their expenses at all. They’ve tried “to eat out a little bit less” and not buy top-shelf bottles of liquor quite as often, but even runaway inflation hasn’t put a damper on their spending.

“If your expenses are low, you’re not going to feel inflation like everybody else is. It’s just that simple,” Adcock says. “You’re not exposed to the same level of inflation as somebody who spends significantly more money than needed.”