Ali and Josh Lupo are the husband and wife duo behind The FI Couple, an online personal finance platform based in the Capital Region that reaches 2-3 million people per month. They established the company in 2020.
The year the Lupos got married started off with Josh unexpectedly getting fired and the couple realizing they had over $100,000 of student loan debt without a plan to pay it off.
“We were working multiple jobs to pay our bills and were burnt out,” says Ali. “We felt pretty hopeless, but knew there had to be a different way to do life.”
They were both human service professionals: Ali a school social worker and Josh an employment coach for workers with disabilities. They realized their salaries would not help them pay off their debt, so they researched other options.
The duo discovered financial independence and specifically, real estate investing.
They saved “every dollar” they had, and bought a 130-year-old duplex, instead of going on a honeymoon. This duplex cut their cost of living in half.
The rest, Ali says, was history.
Since 2018, they’ve purchased seven rental units, paid off their student loans and are now W2-optional.
“We didn’t come from money, we made very average incomes as social workers, but we educated ourselves on financial fundamentals, made a ton of sacrifices, worked very hard, and stayed consistent,” says Ali.
They now work full-time as The FI Couple, where they share education related to personal finance and real estate.
You may Ali, who is today’s 20 things, on the couple’s Instagram. You may also reach them at info@theficouple.com.
1. I was a DJ at my college radio station. I had a strong passion for music — and also guys that played guitar (sorry, Josh).
2. I grew up as an only child. I had to find creative ways to entertain myself and used to make home videos of myself singing and dancing to Britney Spears. They are as cringy as you would imagine.
3. I met Josh in 2011. He was the cute guy from class who walked me home. I felt like I was meeting someone I had known forever. I don’t know if I totally believe in love at first sight, but this was it for me.
4. I am pregnant after battling infertility for two-and-a-half years (thank you in vitro fertilization & CNY Fertility). It was a long and dark road, but one that changed me as a human and showed me not only how strong I am, but how strong my relationship with Josh is. We are expecting our miracle baby, Zoey, this July.
5. I do a happy dance before I eat something I really like. It happens at home, it happens in public. The dance doesn’t discriminate.
