An Asian woman retires at 40 and relies on a set of financial management methods to achieve global star chasing BTS

Filipino woman Bernadette Joy died last year at the age of 40retire Although she has experienced major changes in her life, her love for the Korean idol group BTS remains unchanged. She said that by the end of 2027, she will have enjoyed a total of 20 performances and traveled to three continents. “Doing everything to the stars” may not seem like a retirement goal for someone who has helped hundreds of clients plan their finances, but Joy believes that too many people only focus on how much money they need to retire without thinking about what they really want their retirement life to look like.

CNBC Make It reported that Joey said attending BTS’s concert gave him a specific goal for his retirement life and made many financial decisions easier. He believes that financial freedom does not mean accumulating as much money as possible, but having the flexibility to use time as one wishes.

Joy said she and her husband have enough retirement savings, and they can live comfortably with monthly expenses of US$6,000. Had it been 10 years ago, when she was burdened with a debt of US$300,000, she might not have believed that she could live the life she has today. Given the hard work she has put in along the way, she is very grateful to have been able to make her dream life come true. Here’s what Joey learned from the experience.

Joy said that when the BTS members suspended their activities in 2023 to fulfill their military service obligations, they started saving money to prepare for a future reunion. After BTS announced their tour last year, a cash savings account was opened called “Tour with BTS”. She didn’t want to sell her investments or use credit cards to do so, so she began creating a budget that took into account concert tickets, air tickets, hotels, transportation, meals, and other potential expenses of traveling abroad.

Joy said it also changed her retirement savings plan. Originally, he had planned to put his retirement funds only into investment accounts and securities accounts. But when she realized that she was looking forward to meeting BTS, she understood that she needed a cash account that could be used at any time, so she needed to plan her finances according to the lifestyle she really wanted. Their retirement investment portfolios now include index funds, dividend-distributing ETFs, currency funds and other investments with easy access to liquid cash, giving them greater flexibility and peace of mind in using their funds.

Joy said she is an ambitious person and loves her career, so retirement is not an escape from the workplace for her; But when work is no longer a priority, he needs to think about how to organize his time. She has met many retirees who, after decades of allowing others to control their time, when they retire, they suddenly have the freedom to make their own decisions every day. Although it feels very liberating, many people underestimate how disorienting this change can be.

Joey said that BTS made his free time more organized because he needed to plan trips and organize parties, which made his transition towards independence easier. In her first year of retirement, she learned to think about two questions: “Is this expense worth it?” and “What kind of life can this expense bring?” In late 2025, she and her husband moved from North Carolina to a two-bedroom apartment in Las Vegas because Las Vegas offers the lifestyle they currently want, including concerts, comedy performances, and various entertainment activities. It is convenient to visit national parks, and there are also airports that are convenient for traveling abroad. After moving to Las Vegas, he attended four BTS concerts.

Joey said that being immersed in the world of BTS has changed the way he interacts with the outside world, especially the online world. She often shares her personal financial experiences publicly, and has become very concerned when she has received negative comments in the past. BTS has received far more criticism on the internet than it deserves, but it still retains its original intention and provides positive energy, which inspires one to follow BTS’s example.

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Joy said her father worked until he was 72 before retiring. He only had 10 years to live a truly human life before his death. He couldn’t believe that his father worked so hard for so long only to let his children make the same mistakes. She decided to retire at the age of 40 because she wanted to enjoy the things she loved while her body was still able, and while there was a financial cost to doing so, there was also a cost to continuing to wait. Throughout her adult life, a sense of accomplishment was an important part of her self-identity, and she was great at setting goals, working hard, and achieving them.

Joy said retirement made her think about who she would have been if she had no other goals to pursue. Being a part of the BTS fandom helped her find answers, and she now understands that she values ​​comfort and relationships, two things she ignored while trying to build a career.

Touring with BTS has taken Joey around the world, and the art, joy and camaraderie at concerts energize him. Although these things won’t show up on the net worth statement, watching BTS concerts is the purpose of his net worth. She has spent many years learning how to save, invest and accumulate money. Now she wants to learn how to use this money to create the life she wants.