I’m born and raised in San Diego, CA and a proud father of two boys. In 2001, I graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and started my career as a CPA in public accounting. Over the last 25 years, I’ve held leadership roles in accounting and finance, in both technology startups and a Fortune 500 technology company.

As I reflect back on my career, I’m super grateful for the experience, lessons learned, and incredible mentors. However, the greatest lesson I’ve learned is the value of time. As the old saying goes, “…the trouble is, you think you have time…”

With that quote in mind, I want to shift my focus from long corporate hours to raising my two boys, working on projects I’m passionate about, and spending time with family and friends. To do this, I set out to grow my financial nest egg for early retirement. Not retirement in the traditional sense, where work fully stops, but rather working on projects that I find interesting, while also maintaining flexible hours. Some call it “FIRE” Financial Independence Retire Early, but I call it financial independence.

This blog doucuments my journey as I learn about retirement planning along the way. It’s mostly for me to use as reference guide, but I hope others can learn from my research as well.