About Desert FI
Most people don’t end up here by accident. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve spent years building a life — a career, a family, a home, a reputation — and somewhere along the way, a quieter question began to surface:
Is this really it?Or is there something truer I’m meant to build next?
That’s the question that started Desert FI.
How This Began
It was a dark winter morning in Minnesota, long before sunrise. Negative twenty degrees. I was scraping ice off a car windshield at 6am, headed into the office knowing I wouldn’t leave until well after dark — thousands of miles from the life I missed.
By every external measure, I had “made it.” 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 felt something I couldn’t ignore anymore:
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 questions, the clarity, and the courage it takes to build a life that finally feels like your own.
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 a decade 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 a clear sense of what I’m capable of. The nonprofit chapter gave me a memory of what work feels like when it actually fits who you are.
Both 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 an escape from work, but a foundation for stepping toward work that matters.
My writing often leans toward the inner life — the part of us that notices sunsets, kindness, and the small moments we almost walk past.
That’s the lens I bring to Desert FI.
What Desert FI Is
Desert FI is a place for people who have spent years building a life — in whatever form that took — and are now asking a deeper question:
What is the second half of my life actually for?
Some readers built careers. Some built families. Some spent years pouring themselves out for others. But all of them reached a moment when the outer life and the inner life stopped matching.
Here, I write about:
financial independence
midlife reinvention
identity and purpose
the quiet courage it takes to change direction
the difference between a life that looks good and a life that feels true
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 I Write Anonymously
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, these are the posts that will give you the clearest sense of what Desert FI is about — and what might be possible for your own life:
The Moment I Realized the Life I Built Wasn’t the Life I Wanted — where this journey began
7 Principles for a Rich, Balanced Life — the foundation
Cutting the Ankle Weights — the most‑read post on Desert FI
How FI Led Me to FINE — the framework behind the freedom
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
