I Didn’t Want a Cabin. I Wanted Out. A few years ago, I googled “how to quit my job and never come back” on my lunch break. That probably tells you most of what you need to know about my headspace at the time. I was tired, eating sad desk salads, and fantasizing about running … Read more
First Hearing about FIRE/FI I first heard about FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) about 7 or 8 years ago. Back then, I was all in — saving like a maniac, eating frozen veggies, and dreaming of quitting my worst job as soon as humanly possible. Mr. Money Mustache’s shockingly simple math blew my mind, and … Read more
FIRE to FI It hit me the other day while I was rinsing out my battered, sticker-covered travel mug — the one that’s seen more existential coffee breaks than I care to count. I wasn’t thinking about money. I was thinking about how quiet the house was (miracle), how good the coffee smelled (also miracle), … Read more
Net worth, no-worth I used to think tracking my money meant becoming a finance bro—all “Q4 projections” and “leveraging assets.” My life before burnout was all about optimization, and I applied that same exhausting energy to my finances. My spreadsheets had so many tabs and formulas they looked like they were trying to solve for … Read more
