切贝莉．罗德里格兹(Chabely Rodriguez)是持有合格证照的麻醉师助理(Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant, CAA)，她很重视理财，读大学时就策略性选择学费可负担的大学，同时规画高收入职业道路。如今，她年仅30岁，年收入便超过30万元，安心而自信地过着舒适生活。
CNBC报导，罗德里格兹2024年从固定支薪职位转换成合约机动麻醉师助理，使得年收入增加。她拥有麻醉学硕士学位，不必就读学费昂贵的医学院就可获得CAA资格证书。麻醉师助理是须有硕士文凭、接受密集训练的麻醉照护者，在麻醉师的监督下工作，从手术前到手术后对病患给药、监控、进行医疗程序、管理麻醉等。
罗德里格兹即使之前领固定薪资，每年就净赚20万元，除了全时间工作外，还经常加班。她说，从小就有「匮乏心态」(scarcity mindset)，所以想拚命赚钱。她总是为最坏的情况做准备，大量加班就是要确保有额外收入。
罗德里格兹现在每周维持工作40小时，偶尔在缺人手时加班。转换为合约职，如果像以前一样加班，年收入可能近50万元；罗德里格兹确实想赚更多钱，但又不想累垮，现在收入超过30万元，感觉很好，不再急切加班。
随着收入增加，罗德里格兹的愿望改变了。她在佛罗里达州踏入职场，曾想过在当地买房，但2023年搬到乔治亚州、2024年在那里获得六个月合约工，发现自己想花更多时间旅行，而且做合约工能赚更多钱。
罗德里格兹目前还不想在任何特定地方定居，想要继续探索、改变，一年中希望有两、三个月左右待在国外。
乔治亚州的合约结束后，罗德里格兹搬到目前居住的新墨西哥州。她积极投资，计划将40%税前收入存入经纪和退休帐户；2025年1月总投资额达50万元。年纪轻轻就能经常性投资，部分原因是她在2023年迅速还清近12.4万元学贷。
罗德里格兹认为自己一路以来的表现超出预期，感觉很棒，变得更快乐平静，而且更有安全感、有自信。
目前，罗德里格兹的首要目标是避免工作倦怠、为未来储蓄并享受当下生活。以前她设置明确目标要投资200万元，并提前退休；如今不再执著于数字，更注重持续成长，希望有本钱在50岁时放慢脚步。
有了安全感，罗德里格兹金钱观开始摆脱先前的匮乏感。她仍力求量入为出、与伴侣分摊房租、开着阳春的丰田卡罗拉(Toyota Corolla)，但也愿意在旅行时挥霍。
罗德里格兹打从心底觉得现在舒服多了，而且有筹码可以在感到不舒服时抽身离开；现在可以对别人说，「嘿，我赚的钱够多，可以自由呼吸了。」
30-year-old makes over $300,000 a year in a hospital—without going to med school: ‘I exceeded my expectations’
Chabely Rodriguez takes money seriously. She strategically chose an affordable college and lucrative career path that has set her up to live comfortably at 30 years old.
Rodriguez is a certified anesthesiologist assistant, and in 2024, she switched from a salaried role to working as a traveling CAA in contract positions. As a result, she brings in over $300,000 a year. She has a master’s degree in anesthesiology, which allowed her to then get her CAA credentials — without needing to attend medical school.
She still cleared $200,000 a year in her previous position, often picking up overtime hours and 24-hour shifts on top of her full-time schedule — the product of a “scarcity mindset” she says she carried with her since childhood.
“I always want to prepare for [the worst],” she told CNBC Make It in 2023. “I’ve worked a lot of overtime hours just to make sure that I always have something extra.”
Now, she sticks mostly to 40-hour workweeks with extra shifts here and there when her staff needs coverage. She could be making closer to $500,000 a year if she worked similar overtime hours to what she previously took on, but she doesn’t feel pressured to, she says.
“I want to make more money, but I don’t want to burn myself out along the way,” Rodriguez says. “So now I’ve hit above the $300,000 mark, I feel good about that.”
‘More secure, more confident’
As her income has grown, Rodriguez’s aspirations have evolved. She started her career while living in Florida and thought she would one day buy a house there. But she moved to Georgia in 2024 and soon started a six-month contract position there.
Realizing she wanted to spend more time traveling and that she could make more money as a contractor, her priorities shifted away from homeownership.
“I’m still not to the point of wanting to settle anywhere,” she says. “I still want to continue to explore and switch things around and potentially be outside of the country for two months or something out of the year.”
When her contract finished in Georgia, Rodriguez moved to New Mexico, where she lives now. She invests aggressively, aiming to put 40% of her pre-tax income into her brokerage and retirement accounts. Her total investments hit $500,000 in January 2025.
She’s been able to invest consistently in part because she paid off her student loans — nearly $124,000 — quickly in 2023.
“Because I was aggressive with paying off my loans, I could then shift towards investing,” Rodriguez says. “I would say, I exceeded my expectations along the way. So that’s been nice, and I feel like that’s made me just a happier, calmer person — more secure, more confident.”
Her main goals now are to avoid burnout from work, save for the future and enjoy her life in the present.
She previously set a goal of investing $2 million and retiring early, but she’s become less tied to a number and more focused on sustainable growth so she has the option to slow down by the time she’s 50 — if she wants to.
‘I can just breathe’
Rodriguez’s money mindset has also begun to shift away from the scarcity she previously felt. She still aims to live within her means, sharing rent with her partner and driving a standard Toyota Corolla. But she’s willing to splurge on travel, balancing bigger international trips with backpacking and camping.
Rodriguez is now willing to acknowledge her own accomplishments and no longer pressures herself to pick up every extra shift. “That’s something that I feel like I couldn’t have done until I got to this point,” she says.
“I feel so much more comfortable, and I can remove myself from situations if I’m uncomfortable,” she adds. “I can treat my partner to something, or treat myself to something … I am now saying, ‘Hey, I make enough. I don’t need to push it past my limit to pay for this.’ Now, I can just breathe.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Rodriguez moved to Georgia in 2024.
