When I was studying computer science in college just over 10 years ago, I told my partner that I was going to retire early. They didn’t understand what this meant at the time, nor was I taken seriously. We hadn’t even started working yet, so how could we think about retirement already? Well, fast forward to today, and I have 2 major life updates to share with you all!

First, I have officially quit my corporate career at the age of 31, having worked for just a decade. Second, I’m relocating from Silicon Valley, California to Dallas, Texas, accelerating my FI/RE timeline by nearly a decade! These were some of the hardest decisions I’ve made in my life, but they are ultimately right for me and my family. I’m positive that at least 80% of you have thought of relocating (however fleeting) and are also wondering why I am quitting my corporate career at such a young age, so I will share my thought process and reasoning in this blog post.

My Motivation

There are many reasons to strive for financial independence, but my top 2 are:

Peace of mind
Time

Knowing that my family will be taken care of (financially) for the rest of our lives brings me peace of mind. It can be stressful thinking about that next paycheck, keeping the resume up-to-date in case I need to find a new job, etc. By achieving financial independence, those worries now disappear, and I feel a huge weight off my shoulders.

But my primary motivator is time (“time freedom” as some call it in the FI/RE community). By reaching financial freedom, I now have the flexibility and freedom to practically do whatever I want, whenever I want. And by quitting my corporate job, I unlock tons of my invaluable time. I can reprioritize what matters most to me in life. And you can be sure that the family is at the very top of my list. I also get to pursue passions and hobbies that have been put on the back burner for years!

Lastly, I’ve always wanted to build a dream house. While I could do that in Silicon Valley, it would push out my FI/RE timeline by many years. So instead of delaying FI/RE, I decided to relocate to Dallas! Doing so allows my family to live in the dream home years sooner and enjoy it while we’re still quite young!

How I Decided To Move To Dallas

Cost of Living

Everyone will have different factors that impact where they want to move. But for nearly everyone, one of those factors will be finding a place where the cost of living is lower than the status quo. Be sure to read my previous blog post on when it makes financial sense to relocate!

My annual budget will drop from $180K to roughly $147K per year once I officially relocate to Dallas! That’s huge! Not only will my budget drop by about 20%, I also plan to sell my primary residence here in Silicon Valley, California. Doing so will unlock hundreds of thousands if not $1M+ in equity, which will go straight into investments, adding fuel to my FI/RE.

The majority of the $33K drop from $180K to $147K in my annual budget is due to lower housing costs. Other areas of my budget like gas and childcare are about 2/3rds the price compared to Silicon Valley. I left some categories like groceries and restaurants the same (for now) since I want to keep my numbers relatively conservative. Here’s what my updated budget looks like:

Category	Budget	Reason
Shopping
Groceries	$600	Whole Foods, Costco, Trader Joe's
Restaurants	$550	2-3 meals per week for a family of 3
Clothing	$250	2 adults, 1 child
Online Shopping	$750	Mostly Amazon
Personal Care
Personal Care Products	$250
Gym	$0	Home gym
Health Care	$50
Childcare
Childcare	$1500	Tuition + extracurriculars
529 Savings Plan	$500	$6,000 per year, though I may contribute a lump sum in 2022 and finishing contributing for good.
Home
Mortgage	$2,900	$680,000 30-year fixed jumbo loan
Property Taxes	$1,550	$18,700 per year (~2.2% property tax rate)
Maintenance	$300	Gardening, cleaning, fixes
Home Improvement	$0	Will have a brand new home
Utilities	$450
Services
Streaming Services	$50	Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, etc.
Wireless Plan	$60	1 phone plan is fully covered by my partner's employer.
Travel and Auto
Vacations	$1,250	$15,000 annual budget. In reality, it ranges from $10,000 to $20,000 depending on if there's a multi-week international trip that year. Usually 1 trip per quarater on average.
Car Payment and Maintenance	$425
Gas	$100	Gas is much cheaper in TX, but we'll have to drive longer distances
Insurance
Home Insurance	$150
Car Insurance	$200	2 vehicles
Umbrella Policy	$100	Arguably a business expense
Charity
Gifts and Donations	$300
Total Expenses	$12,285

Almost everywhere is cheaper than Silicon Valley. But I would not consider Dallas to be cheap. Okay, gas is, but most other things are above average. While homes are cheaper than Silicon Valley ones, that’s not saying much. Many homes in the Dallas area are nearing the $1M mark and Texas property taxes are almost always above 2% throughout the state. As they say, “Everything is bigger in Texas.” That means homes are generally expansive, so maintenance costs will add up! Nevertheless, our Silicon Valley home is much costlier than our future Dallas one. And our Dallas one will be much larger, brand new, and custom built!

Schools

Another standout feature of Dallas was their education system. Education is outstanding and always seems to be top of mind for everyone. Moving from an amazing school district in California, I was shocked to find another school district that was statistically superior.

The school district that we ultimately decided on is much smaller, just a handful of schools rather than the several dozen schools in our current district, and has a much smaller and more active community. The student/teacher ratio, particularly in elementary school, is smaller and surprisingly the infrastructure and technology is newer and far superior to what we’re used to here in Silicon Valley. We were also impressed with the more diverse offering of extracurricular activities and Advanced Placement classes in high school. And while they do offer plenty of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) opportunities, they also excel in fine arts. Texas is also big on sports, an area that is pretty hit-or-miss in California schools. Overall, I am very optimistic about the well-roundedness and variety of opportunities that are offered in Dallas.

While I don’t know if my child will excel in a top-ranked school district, I at least want to provide the opportunity. There are plenty of other backup options throughout the area that aren’t as academically driven, which makes our decision to relocate there reassuring.

Lastly, good schools also attract more educated people, safer neighborhoods, and appreciating real estate. These are all factors I look into when purchasing any real estate, not just where I personally live.

Weather

Lastly, we wanted to relocate to a city where it doesn’t snow. Granted, Dallas can get a few inches of snow every now and then, but it’s not too bad. We prefer warmer climates over colder ones, so that ruled out much of the east coast. We also didn’t want to live in the middle of nowhere, so that left us with the western and southern coasts. While we’d prefer milder summers than Texas has, we can’t have it all!

Surprisingly, Dallas is very lush and green. When I first visited the area, I naively expected a dry, flat desert. But the reality is that it’s quite humid there (compared to California), rains at least every 45 days, and has lots of lakes for recreational use! All in all, coupling our weather requirements with cost of living and school requirements, we ended up picking Dallas as our future home base!

Updating My $10,000,000 FI/RE Number

When I first embarked on my FI/RE journey, I set out to attain $10,000,000 by age 40 in Silicon Valley. Now that I’m retiring early and relocating to a lower cost of living area, it would seem obvious that I would revise my $10M goal. However, because our expenses will drop and, more importantly, because my partner will continue to work remotely at a high-paying job, we will continue to be able to auto-invest $5,000 per week straight into index funds! With another 8-9 years left before we hit 40, $5K per week will easily turn into $2.5-3M by then.

That doesn’t even include continuing to max out retirement accounts every year. It also doesn’t include my real estate business, where I will continue to flip houses and buy long-term and short-term rentals.

Suffice it to say, we’re still well on track to reach $10M by age 40. So why not aim for it? It will further solidify our ability to retire early and cover any unexpected costs. It will also accelerate our goal of becoming philanthropists, which is so important to us.

What’s Next For Me

Family

I believe that time is our most valuable asset. So while quitting the corporate world at age 31 is terrifying, my reward is to be able to spend more of my time with my family.

What exactly does spending time with family mean to me? Well, it means more individualized focus and involvement with both my child and spouse. I am no longer forced to ask a caregiver how my child’s day went. I can witness it with my very own eyes. If my spouse has work problems, I can listen and talk through those issues with my full attention. I won’t have my own set of work problems to throw onto the pile anymore.

I also have the luxury of being able to see extended family more. If COVID would just go away, then traveling and seeing everyone would be so much easier!

Social Challenges I Am Facing

While we have reached FI (financial independence) and neither of us have to work anymore, does it look like that from the outside? No, not at all. Because my partner has decided to continue working, it’s easy for society to judge me (I’ve already experienced it) for “letting” my partner “bring in the dough” while I chill or “play mommy” (whatever that means).

The reality is that my partner is working as a choice, not as a requirement. The optics would be different if I were closer to “normal retirement age”. But because I’ve retired at age 31, it doesn’t look like I’m retired. Society thinks that retiring is an age, not a number. But they have it backwards: Retirement is a number, not an age.

Nevertheless, I am used to going against the grain in society and am confident I’ll find a way to navigate through the negativity. Plus, not all of society is so judgmental! There are plenty of people who are 100% happy for me and my family, for accomplishing so much at such a young age.

Pursuing Passions

I have several passions that I plan to pursue in the short-term such as my house flipping business, as well as the Buck by Buck blog & corresponding Instagram account. I can also relearn how to play guitar & proper swim strokes, become a better cook, pick up new sports like Pickleball, and even begin my philanthropic efforts early! With complete time freedom, the choice is mine.

So next up is even more resources on this blog for all of you and perhaps a glimpse into early retirement life from someone who’s truly reached fat FI/RE! Stay tuned & subscribe below!

I Just FIRE’d Myself At 31