A British couple sold their home and all their possessions and moved to Bali to become "financially free" - now their rent is just £2k a YEAR.<br /><br />Matt Dearing, 36, and his partner, Carlie Donnelley, 35, say building their home there will also save them £236,000 overall.<br /><br />The family from Denton, Manchester, wanted to "escape the rat race" and were sick of "living to work".<br /><br />They felt they were constantly chasing bills and not spending as much time as they wanted with children Lincoln, seven, Delilah, four and Adelaide, one.<br /><br />The couple started researching Bali - due to the year-round tourism and hot weather - and sold their three-bedroom property for £365k.<br /><br />They booked one-way tickets in November 2022 and say relatives thought they were "mad" and didn't believe they'd go through with the move.<br /><br />In March 2023, they found a three-bedroom house to rent for £2k a year, as well as a nearby 1,200 square-foot plot of land for £100k.<br /><br />They plan to build their dream home - which will cost them 263k less than in the UK.<br /><br />Matt, a joiner, now living in Ubud, Bali, said: "This was something we have wanted to do for years.<br /><br />"A couple of times we would go over to Spain, and I was looking for cave houses as I wanted to go off grid.<br /><br />"In the UK it got to the point where I wasn't spending much time with my kids, I would spend about an hour with them before bedtime.<br /><br />"I was constantly chasing bills and working.<br /><br />"I did a lot of research into Bali as it has all-year-round tourism, and the weather is great.<br /><br />"The return on your investment here is amazing.<br /><br />"We sold the house we were living in and doing up for £365k.<br /><br />"With that money, we were able to buy a 1200 square foot plot of land to build two villas on.<br /><br />"We have struck gold - this is everything we want.<br /><br />"For us, being financially free is literally freedom to do whatever we want with ther kids, compared to working 10 hours, seven days a week sometime.<br /><br />"I have always dreamed of dropping the kids off at school and picking them up - I can do that here.<br /><br />"The people here are lovely and show a lot of gratitude - it ticked all the right boxes."<br /><br />When Matt was 24, he had a dream of becoming financially free - having sufficient income, savings, or investments to live comfortably for life.<br /><br />When he turned 36, he slowly started to realise it would not be possible in the UK - despite working 10 hours a day six days a week.<br /><br />Matt said: "At the time I owned five houses in Manchester, and I realised that in order for me to be financially free I would need 10 of those but I wanted to do it quicker.<br /><br />"I was working so hard at home - I didn't have much of a social life.<br /><br />"I didn't really go out partying - my main goal was that I wanted to be financially free.<br /><br />"It was something I have been pushing for the last 10 years, because of the cost of living in Bali, it is something we will achieve quicker."<br /><br />When Matt and Carly told their family about the move, he says they thought they were "mad" and told them to "stop being silly".<br /><br />
