I’m a forty year old husband, father, and superintendent who’s in the pursuit of Financial Independence. I live in the Bay Area with my wife and two daughters. My name is Noel.

Here are a few random things about me in bullet form:

• I’m a 2nd generation union carpenter.
• The grandson of Mexican immigrants to the United States; though I have family here that goes back before the United States acquired the west.
• A veteran of the Iraq War…the first time I crossed the Pacific was by boat and became a Shellback in the process.
• My favorite book is For Whom The Bell Tolls by Hemingway.
• My wife and I have backpacked around the world twice. Each time in a different direction. Each time we quit our jobs to do so.
• My worst fear is to be an old man with many regrets.

My goal is to live a life Happily Disengaged from consumerism, the corporate rat race, and anything to do with commuting on a freeway.

The Early Retirement Plan

My plan is to retire early from my job in 5 years or less (hopefully 5 years).

This will be the year 2025 when I will turn 42.

Once we retire, we will sell most of our possessions, rent out our home, and move abroad.

Where?

We don’t know yet, but Spain tops the list right now. Living overseas in another country has been a dream of ours since our honeymoon. We don’t want to wait until the typical retirement age of 65, or even 50, to experience living life in another country. We want to do it while we are young and when our kids are still living with us.

Sleeping

For a number of years, we were not in control without realizing it. Spending without thinking. Buying without considering the price, as long as we had enough in our bank account to cover the purchase. We were diligent and loyal members of America’s workforce.

We saved 10%-25% of our income for retirement, but the rest we blew. We were not mindful of our finances. The prospect of always being tired at home and stressed out at work for the next 30 years did not sit well with us, but everyone does it, right? Put your head down and work. This is what the American Dream is: Borrow money to buy a home. Borrow money for a nice car. Work to pay bills. Spend what’s left on material possessions to be happy. Live your life on the weekends and wonder why time passes so quickly.

Cohn: “I can’t stand to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.“

Jake: “Nobody ever really lives their life all the way up except bull fighters.”

Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Awakening

When the COVID lockdown occurred in March of 2020 I woke up from the American dream.

I’d been sleeping without knowing it. Drifting through life and doing what I was told.

After realizing how passive I’d been living, I refused to remain reactionary to life. I decided that I would be proactive and design my own life. A life of perpetual Saturdays. With some sacrificing up front we will become non-dependent on an employer and live the life we have always dreamt about. A life Happily Disengaged.

The Blog and its Purpose

This blog will be a chronicle of our path towards a more efficient life. I hope that one day both of my daughters can look back on this blog and be proud of the decisions we made to pursue FIRE. The changes we are making to regain decades of our life back are not easy and I know my daughters will have questions down the road when they realize their parents are not doing the typical “American Dream” thing.

Contact Email: happilydisengaged@gmail.com

Disclaimer: I’m not a financial expert or advisor. I’m a carpenter who likes to invest my money in the stock market. I write this blog for fun. You should not treat any opinion expressed on this website/blog, as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of our opinion. Educate yourself and do what’s right for you.