Travel the World, and Not Go Broke

“I’ve always been a saver,” says Olivia, who has chronicled her adventures and her search for a new job at her blog, Powered By Tofu. “I was actually considering buying the condo I was renting, but I didn’t want to get stuck.”

She didn’t want to give up her financial freedom. And why not? Olivia is far more fortunate than her peers. Five million 25-34 year-olds still live at home, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Unemployment among those in their early 20s is now 14%, well above the national average of 8.5%, CNN reports.

Olivia, by contrast, had been working since she graduated college. First, in graphic design. Then, in marketing. All the while, she saved relentlessly. Every bonus and much of every raise went in the bank. When her MBA-induced quarter-life crisis hit, Olivia was financially prepared.

And she still is, thanks in part to growing up in what she calls a “lower socio-economic environment.” Her dad made a decent living as a logger and laborer but money was still hard to come by. “I wanted more than we had,” Olivia says. “If I wanted to change my circumstances, I knew I would have to learn and save.”