About Desert FI
My Backstory
It was a dark winter morning in Minnesota, long before sunrise. Negative twenty degree wind. I was in my corporate apartment parking lot, scraping ice off the windshield at 6am, headed into the office knowing I wouldn't leave until well after dark — thousands of miles from the life I missed.
I'd built a good life by every measure that was supposed to matter. Senior executive at a Fortune-150 company. Strong income. A family I loved. A house that looked exactly like success was supposed to look.
And standing there in that parking lot, watching my breath disappear in the cold air, I couldn't shake the feeling that the life I had built and the life I actually wanted were no longer the same thing.
That moment didn't fix anything. But it cracked something open.
Desert FI is what came out of that crack. The full story is here, if you want it.
Who I am
I've spent two decades in corporate leadership — the last fifteen years at the senior executive level — in strategy, operations, and large-scale team leadership. Before that, nearly ten years in nonprofit work: coaching college students, leading international service teams, helping people navigate seasons of genuine change.
The corporate chapter gave me financial security and hard-won clarity about what I'm capable of. The nonprofit chapter gave me something harder to quantify — a memory of what work feels like when it actually fits who you are.
I hold an MBA. I've managed large and global $500M+ P&Ls and led hundreds of people at a time, thousands over the course of a career. I've also sat with students in crisis at 2am and served the poor in places most people never see. Both of those things are true, and both of them shaped how I think about money, meaning, and what a rich life actually requires.
I'm in my early 50s now. I'm approaching financial independence on a deliberate timeline. And I'm building toward something I call FINE — Financial Independence, Next Endeavor — the idea that FI isn't just an escape from work, but a foundation for stepping toward work that actually matters.
That's what I write about here.
What Desert FI is
It's a place for people who are successful on paper and restless underneath. People in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who have done the hard work of building a career — and are now asking a harder question: what's the second half actually for?
I write about financial independence, midlife reinvention, identity, purpose, and the quiet courage it takes to build a life that finally feels like your own. Some posts go deep on the math. Others go deep on the meaning. Most try to do both.
No hype. No performative minimalism. No pressure to optimize anything. Just honest essays from someone who is genuinely in the middle of this — not looking back from the other side.
Why anonymous?
I keep Desert FI anonymous because of my current corporate role and the season of transition I'm in. I can't be publicly associated with a personal brand while still in a high-profile executive position — that's just the reality of where I am.
But anonymity here isn't about hiding. It's about creating the space to write honestly while I'm still in the middle of the story. The ideas stand on their own. The writing is real. And when the corporate chapter closes, I'll step fully into this — publicly, with my name attached.
For now, you can reach me at Hello@DesertFI.org. I read every message.
Where to start
If you're new here, start with the post that started everything — The Moment I Realized the Life I Built Wasn't the Life I Wanted. Then the 7 Principles. From there, follow whatever pulls you.
And if any of this resonates — if you're somewhere on this trail yourself — I'd love for you to stay close. The newsletter goes out Sunday mornings. It's a personal letter, not a broadcast. Join below.
The trail is better with good company.
🌵 —Desert FI
