I Quit My Job.
Then I Built This.

The Longer Version

I spent nearly two decades in tech — eighteen years at the same software company, a dot com from an era when that meant something. Started out traveling the country and the world installing hospital software. Eventually moved into the corporate office and worked my way up to senior director.

I managed teams. I sat in meetings about meetings. I answered calls in the middle of the night, pulled all-nighters at the office, and lived and died by email — first thing in the morning, last thing before bed.

I was good at it. More than reliable. I was also slowly losing the plot on what the work was actually for.

Then I found the FIRE community and the retirement calculators. I ran the math. Then I ran it again. And again.

Not revenue projections or sprint velocities — my actual savings rate, my actual expenses, the actual number of years standing between me and freedom. The math was clearer than any retirement seminar had ever been: I didn't have to do this for another twenty years.

It helped that my dad showed me what was possible. He retired at 53 — early for his generation — because of injuries and other life-happens things. I watched him build a life on his own terms and it didn't take much convincing.

I knew early on this was the best plan. It just took me a decade to really nail it down.

I left corporate at 49. I was also in the military reserves, and I kept that going — thirty-seven years total, nearly twice what most people serve. I genuinely loved the work, and with my years of service and position, I could apply for assignments outside the country.

I had the opportunity to accept positions overseas and bring my family along. Those years exploring the world with them taught me more about expat life than anything else could have. No death by email. I retired at 55 — while most of my peers will keep working until 65 or longer.

My wife, our son, and I moved to San Miguel de Allende — a colonial town in central Mexico where my father had landed decades earlier. He saw something here before the rest of us did: a place where the pace of life matches the pace a life actually requires.

I don't work a job anymore, but I stay busy. I spend time on the rooftops — including my own — looking at the church, having a coffee in the morning or a sundowner in the evening.

I set up a plan that doesn't require me to keep working, but plenty of people down here do. Plenty around the world figured out post-COVID how much can be accomplished outside the traditional office.

My wife runs a side hustle and I help manage that. I run into expats everywhere who are doing the same — and we talk about it over coffee or a cerveza, all at a nominal price.