American woman moves to Valencia, Spain and works four hours a day Monday to Thursday

At 36, Gigi González decided to make a major change in her life and move from Chicago to Valencia, taking advantage of the fact that her online business allows her to work from anywhere in the world.

Her story, reported by CNBC, dates back to 2019, when González, who worked in the financial services sector, realized she had told seven consecutive groups of students that she regretted not studying abroad when she was younger. That day, she decided she could still live outside the United States and began saving to take a sabbatical year.

In 2021, she launched her online business, The First Gen Mentor, which provides financial education to students and young people. After another year focusing on her company, she chose to take full advantage of being her own boss in a remote role: working whenever, wherever, and however she wanted, and she set her sights on Spain.

González and her husband moved to Valencia, and since she also holds Mexican citizenship, the language was never an issue. Between July 2024 and April 2025, they saved as much as possible to make the move. González obtained a digital nomad visa in April 2025 allowing her to work and live in Spain.

It would appear that she made the right decision for herself telling CNBC: “This is definitely one of the things for me, if I would have been on my deathbed, I would regret never experiencing life abroad. You get one life. Live it right.”

And you could say González is doing just that radically changing her work-life balance. For now, she works Monday through Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and takes time off from Friday to Sunday. She used to work around 40 hours a week in the United States, but because the cost of living in Spain is lower, she can afford to work just 16 hours, or up to 20 hours at most, per week.

As a result, González enjoys relaxed mornings. She logs on to work at 2:00 p.m., just as her clients in the United States are starting their day.

Nearly a year later she definitely is feeling at home in her new abode with plans to apply for Spanish citizenship in the not-too-distant future.

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