‘I am not a millionaire’: American retires early at 34, chooses to live in Quebec due to ‘cheaper’ rent

As rent and property values continue to skyrocket across Canada, an American turned Quebecer decided to move to the province to take advantage of the lower cost of living.

Grigory Lukin says he managed to save enough money to retire at 34 years old and living in Quebec City allows him to spend just over $1,300 monthly on all expenses.

“When I tell people I live on $1,000 USD a month or $1,360 Canadian, it just blows their mind and they refuse to believe because it’s so far outside their belief system and what they perceive as normal,” he said.

Lukin says he made a list of what he needs for housing that would allow him to live well. It came down to these things: a quiet place with hot water, Internet and no roommates.

“It’s basically that simple,” he said. “I managed to pare down my budget to something most people just think is ridiculous.”

It started with his location.

Lukin is Russian-born and moved to the United States with his family at 16. He lived in several American cities and eventually settled in Seattle, while working for Amazon.

That all changed when he requested a transfer to Toronto, since he was inspired by Tim Ferriss’ book called “The 4-Hour Workweek,” which speaks about geographic arbitrage.

“It’s essentially when you move some place in the world that is much cheaper but has the same standard of living,” he said. “For example, the rental apartments here in Quebec City are infinitely cheaper than they in Toronto or Vancouver.”

Once he obtained permanent residency with Amazon’s help, Lukin said he was free to move anywhere else in Canada. He decided to make the jump to Quebec, not only for his appreciation of the French culture, but also the lower cost of rent.

“I compared a lot of data because I used to work as an analyst and the cheapest rent in Canada is in the province of Quebec, the two cheapest cities is Sherbrooke and Quebec City,” he said. “For me, Sherbrooke was a little bit too small, but last I checked, you could rent an apartment for $450.”

He opted for Quebec city, what he described as a beautiful and walkable city. He lives in an apartment that has a separate bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. A place that in Montreal would rent for, on average, $1,800 a month.

“I’m renting it for $674 a month,” he said. “It’s a brick building, in a nice part of town and within walking distance of all the fun places.”

When you add electricity and insurance to his expenses, it comes out to around $734 a month on housing.

“When I lived in Toronto that would have been impossible,” he said.

Lukin established a fixed budget for groceries and miscellaneous spending, all fitting into the $1,300 amount.

He says he is able to live off his savings and investments, which was all part of his early retirement plan. When he was working, he was able to saved over half of his pay, and invest a lot into his retirement fund.

He stopped working for Amazon right before he made the move to Quebec.

“I am not a millionaire, I just live like a monk or a grad student,” he said. “I managed to squirrel away enough money by the age of 34, just a few hundred thousand dollars to basically to embark on the most universal basic income scheme and that worked for me.”

Lukin says he is aware his plan would not suit all people, especially since he doesn’t have children. But he does say it is an adaptable plan that is possible for most people.

He wrote his own book “Let’s Retire Young” to inspire others.

Now his next goal is to receive his Canadian citizenship and join the Canadian Army Reserve, while working on passion projects like writing.

“Basically the idea is not to retire and sit in the corner for the next 25 years,” he said. “It’s to have fun and do whatever you want.”