Gigi Gonzalez has set a new rule for herself. That means I don’t work on Fridays.
“Friday is my errand day. That’s the day I go to the dentist. That’s the day I take my dog to the groomer (or) get my nails done,” said Gonzalez, 36.
Gonzalez maintains a tight schedule the rest of the week, working Monday through Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m.
That wasn’t the case a year ago. As a financial educator, content creator and author who runs The First Gen Mentor and is her own boss, Gonzalez said she used to log a more traditional 40-hour work week.
It’s not like she suddenly got a windfall or her rate went up significantly. Rather, Ms. Gonzalez moved with her husband from Chicago to Valencia, Spain in May 2025. Since then, her personal expenses have decreased enough to allow her to work 16 hours a week.
This move changed her work-life balance, her financial situation, and her prospects for a long-term future abroad.
Save $40,000 to start your own business and move abroad
Gonzalez’s international travels began in 2019. One day, at a high school job fair, she discussed financial services jobs and advised her students to study abroad if possible, but she regrets not doing so herself.
After repeating her regrets that day through seven different presentations, Gonzalez decided it was not too late to live abroad as an adult. She said she saved about $20,000 over the next two years with the goal of taking a year-long sabbatical.
With plans derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, Gonzalez said in April 2021 she used her savings to launch her own business, The First Generation Mentor, which provides financial education to first-generation students and young professionals of color. After a few years of becoming her own boss, Gonzalez realized she could do her job anywhere in the world and revived her plans to move abroad.
After some research, she and her husband set their sights on Spain. Gonzalez can apply for citizenship after two years of residency through Mexican Citizenship. (She currently holds dual citizenship in the United States, where her parents were born, and Mexico.)
In 2019, Gigi Gonzalez decided it was never too late to grow up and live abroad. She spent years planning and moved to Spain in 2025.
Courtesy of the subject
Spanish was Gonzalez’s first language, so there was no major language barrier. Additionally, Spain will launch a digital nomad visa in late 2023, allowing foreign freelancers, remote workers, and self-employed people to earn money abroad while living in the country.
From July 2024 to April 2025, the couple saved more than $20,000 for moving abroad by selling furniture and focusing on values-based spending. “It didn’t feel like poverty. It felt like we were budgeting for a larger purpose: moving abroad,” says Gonzalez, an Intuit financial backer.
She also limited her impulsive spending. This meant no new furniture, plants, or clothing was needed. “Basically, anything that couldn’t fit into three suitcases didn’t pass,” she says.
Gonzalez obtained a digital nomad visa in April 2025 and added her husband as a dependent. He works for an international company and has secured a transfer to a subsidiary in Spain. Gonzalez’s visa allows him to stay for three years, during which time he plans to apply for citizenship in Spain.
Semi-retired after working 16 hours a week
Gonzalez said the cost of living in Spain is much lower than in the United States, so he can usually work 16 hours a week, sometimes up to 20 hours, and still live comfortably.
As a result, she says her sense of work-life balance has “completely changed.” She enjoys the luxury of a slow morning, starting with breakfast, exercise, self-care, and lunch until she logs on at 2pm, when her US-based clients start their day.
Gonzalez said some of the company’s aggressive early investments are also paying off. During the pandemic, Gonzalez says she invested up to 35% of her income in retirement accounts. This was enough for her to reach a number where she could quit her job and live solely on distributions from her portfolio after retirement. Gonzalez currently has more than $220,000 in retirement savings.
“So now you have enough money to invest, you don’t need to add any more money. You can just let compound interest do its magic and retire at the traditional age of 65 without adding any more money,” Gonzalez says.
I don’t think twice about going to the doctor for anything because I don’t have a co-pay. It’s already paid.
With his retirement income secured, Gonzalez says he now only needs to work enough to support his daily expenses. “If one day I want to quit[running a business]and become a barista or a waitress, I can do that because I just have enough to pay my current expenses,” she says. “I don’t need to earn more money to fund my retirement.”
González hopes to stay in Spain long-term and says retirement is even more within reach, especially given the low costs of health care and other costs. That said, she says she doesn’t fear working a few more decades thanks to her newfound sense of work-life balance and slower pace of life.
“Just because I’m semi-retired doesn’t mean I’m in a hurry to retire,” she says.
what is cheap and what is expensive
Gonzalez says her personal expenses have decreased since moving abroad. The rent for her and her husband’s downtown Chicago apartment, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, was $3,700. Meanwhile, in Valencia, couples pay 1,900 euros (approximately $2,200 USD) for a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom apartment.
Health insurance also makes a big difference. In the United States, Gonzalez said she and her husband paid more than $400 a month for insurance in a high-deductible plan offered by their employer. In Valencia, private healthcare costs approximately $200 per month, with no copayments or deductibles.
“As an American, I’m really shocked,” she says. “I don’t think twice about going to the doctor for anything because there are no co-pays and it’s already paid for.”
Gigi Gonzalez said the low cost of living in Spain allows her to work about 16 to 20 hours a week.
Courtesy of the subject
Not all of Gonzalez’s spending has gone down lately. Doing business in two countries is expensive.
Gonzalez says he employs a U.S.-based tax team to keep the LLC operational and compliant. Her digital nomad visa requires her to register her business in Spain, so she has a Spanish tax team to help her with that.
Given the added complexity of her business since moving, Gonzalez’s $350 per month tax support has doubled to nearly $700 per month. “It was a big learning curve at first, but I got used to it,” she says.
Her best advice for people who want to move abroad
Gonzalez says that when she told her friends and family about her plans to move abroad, many people didn’t realize how long she had been planning it.
“A lot of people see[others]living their best lives in Europe and don’t do it because they look into the process and get overwhelmed,” Gonzalez says. She encourages people to really consider why they want to move abroad. Then, “create a system and change the way you think about money to help you achieve that goal.”
Gonzalez said her biggest moments of inspiration were not only her high school career day, but also binge-reading episodes of “House Hunters International” and traveling abroad and wishing she could stay longer. That was enough motivation for her to research, save, and adapt to a new life abroad.
“This is definitely one of the things that is important to me. If I was on my deathbed, I would regret not experiencing life abroad,” she added. “You only live once. Live right.”
Conversion from EUR to USD was performed using the OANDA exchange rate of 1 EUR to 1.16 USD on March 9, 2026.
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