37-year-old quit her $390,000 Google job after saving up $1.5 million—see the 'no buy checklist' that helps her spend less

In April 2024, Florence Poirel left her $390,000-a-year job at Google for what she calls a “mini retirement.”

Eighteen months later, she’s not sure she’ll ever return to full-time work. “I have to say, I’m not particularly antsy to go back to employment,” she tells CNBC Make It.

The 37-year-old lives in Switzerland with her partner, Jan, a fellow Googler who stepped away at the same time. Poirel first started thinking seriously about financial independence in 2018, after meeting Jan, who is 17 years her senior.

“I could not just wait for retirement to enjoy my time with him because he would be much older at that time,” she says.

Thinking about how they could enjoy more time together led Poirel to the FIRE movement — short for “financial independence, retire early” — which focuses on saving and investing aggressively to gain the freedom to step back from work sooner.