Part 8: quitting work and what’s next

Vimal Fernandez
Nov 8
6 min read

My wife with all our possessions, and literally, carrying the team. Photo: Chur, Switzerland.

Disclosure: I’m not a financial advisor. This isn’t financial advice — just what worked for our family. Your financial journey is yours to chart.

Turns out it’s easier to sell your house than your mint condition Pokémon cards. 🏠🃏😅

Why are we talking about Pokémon cards? Because there are a lot of paths after reaching Financial Independence (FI). We chose to retire early, sell most of our possessions, and travel the world full-time. We wanted to show our girls as much of the world as possible while they were young.

But going full nomad was a challenge. We had to downsize dramatically and prepare for long-term nomadic life.

This post breaks down how we executed our early retirement exit strategy.

But first, a shoutout to some trailblazers:

Downsizing 99% of our possessions

It took 15 months to get rid of almost everything. It’s crazy how much we had accumulated. Cars. Furniture. Sentimental stuff. We condensed 15 years of “life” into a few suitcases. This was unexpectedly one of the hardest parts of our entire FI journey.

Here’s how we did it:

Sold the house, cars, and camper through traditional channels.
Offered the homebuyer a discount to buy most of the furniture—win-win.
Liquidated everything else via 100+ Facebook Marketplace listings, 6 days of garage sales, many donations runs, and gifting things to friends and family.

By the end, we were living in an Airbnb with only our essentials. It was both liberating and surreal. Everything we owned was now either digital (investments) or inside a few suitcases. Here's where I'll build out our top travel items.

Removing US dependencies (and building backups)

We probably made this more intense than it needed to be—but with plans to travel full-time, we had to either eliminate US dependencies or make sure we could handle it from abroad.

Here’s what we tackled before we left the US for long-term travel:

Renewed everything with an expiration date: passports, driver’s licenses, credit cards.
Got international driver’s permits.
Changed our primary address to a friend’s (decided not to use a mail service due to all the fineprint. I just buy my friend a gift every year).
Got medical checkups, bulk-filled prescriptions, and set calendar reminders for future vaccinations and doctor visits.
Switched to Google Fi to keep our US numbers and for decently priced international roaming. After 90 days, when Google Fi cuts off data, we switch to the Flexible plan ($35/month) and use Airalo/local eSIMs for data (ex. $20 for 20 GB).
Enabled two-factor authentication on all key accounts (enabled both an auth app and SMS/email options) like Schwab, Apple, Google, Meta, banks.
Updated recovery contacts on Google, Apple, Meta, and banks jic we get robbed or hacked.
Canceled US-only financial accounts and services: Amex Blue, Amazon Prime, Costco, toll tags, insurances, gym memberships, etc.
We’re Texas residents, but if we weren’t, we’d establish residency in a no–state-income-tax state (South Dakota has a 1-day option).

This felt like a lot, but it gave us peace of mind and so far everything is working!

Mitigating low-probability, high-impact risks

We can handle annoying things as they come. What we wanted to protect against were disasters.

Here’s what we put into place:

Global health insurance: Our goal was to protect against catastrophic events like a cancer diagnosis or serious injury. We chose IMG Global Gold: $5k/year for 2 adults + 3 kids, with a high deductible ($30k) and a $5M max coverage per person. It’s US-based, well-reviewed, and other than the protection we get through our credit cards, it’s the only insurance we carry. I researched other types (long-term care, life, travel, etc.)—more on that in a future post.
Backup payment methods: We hold multiple debit and credit cards across multiple banks. We travel with them in separate bags in case of theft. Back ups on back ups.
- Funny story: After fraud on my card, Capital One FedEx’d me a new one to our 150-person village in Turkey. It took 2 weeks and a 40-minute drive, but I got it!
Kid tags: We use AirTag bracelets + ID necklaces for busy cities and big travel days. Really don’t want to lose a kid.
Estate plan: We created a trust and updated beneficiaries on all our accounts. We also put POAs, guardians, and appointees in place for worst-case scenarios. It sucks to think about, but it’s critical.
Document backup: We scanned and uploaded everything (IDs, credit cards, trust documents, passports, birth certs, etc.) to Google Drive and shared it with trusted contacts. Originals stayed with our parents.

Worldschooling

We pulled our kids from school and began our own version of worldschooling. Our flavor of worldschooling is built around a few core ideas:

Mastering skills through hands-on, project-based learning.
Integrating our surroundings into everyday lessons—turning local culture, geography, and nature into the classroom for reading, writing, math, and science. Field trips to gorges, beaches, ruins, and markets become the spark for new lessons, often powered by ChatGPT as our teaching assistant.

We mix it up between teaching ourselves, enrolling in local schools, and bringing in local tutors. Most days, we keep it simple—a focused 2-hour session split into four 30-minute blocks:

Circle Time: We kick off with the date, time, and where we are in the world.
STEM Block: Alternates between math and science activities.
Literacy Block: Alternates between reading and writing.
Khan Academy Kids: Independent time to reinforce skills and fill in gaps in a fun, interactive way.

These ideas aren’t new. Below are two books that helped us:

Quitting work gracefully

We left our jobs on great terms and were told we’re welcome back if things change. We gave our teams time to adjust. I told my manager ~3 months in advance and asked how much time they needed. I officially submitted notice 2 weeks before I left (HR rules).

Here are a few things we did before we quit:

Timed it relative to bonuses and RSU vests.
Pulled final pay stubs to help calculate estimated taxes.
Maxed out 401(k) and HSA contributions before quitting.
Used volunteer/floating/flex days and other non-refundable days (our PTO was paid out).
Scheduled final medical/dental appointments (our insurance lasted until the end of the month).
Rolled over our 401(k)s to IRAs for lower fees and more control.
Had our 3rd kid so we could use that parental leave, lol.

Leaving was bittersweet. We worked with great people and built cool stuff. But honestly, the fact that it was hard to say goodbye told us we were already living parts of our 'why.'

Giving back

We’ve been incredibly fortunate that this has all worked out. Less than a decade ago, we were living the 9-to-5 life with no end in sight. Now, we’ve hit FI, actually retired early, and are traveling the world with our kids.

We didn’t get here alone. We leaned on the time, work, and encouragement of so many others who shared their journey. Writing these posts and building this site to share our story is our way of giving back.

We’re not experts, and a lot of this is tailored to our specific situation. But we hope it inspires you to at least calculate your FI number, see how long it could take, or talk to a pro. Even if you’re slow-rolling it, small steps now can bring you closer to some level of financial freedom.

And if you ever need a push, here’s a collection of short stories of people in all walks of life who reach FI: Pathfinders by JL Collins.

Just like others helped us, we’re here for you. Reach out anytime.

This post is part of our 'journey to early retirement' series, sharing our path to Financial Independence (FI) and early retirement with kids.

AI epilogue:

We were about to do something few people we knew had ever done. Using ChatGPT helped us brainstorm what needed to be done.

Prompt:

I have reached FI. I am planning on quitting my job and travelling nomadically with my wife and kids for 1+ years. What are the top things I should do before leaving the US?